Manawatu Evening Standard. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1922. ROOM FOR AMENDMENT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 491, 1 September 1922, Page 4

Manawatu Evening Standard. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1922. ROOM FOR AMENDMENT.

The law which practically disqualifies business men in small communities from serving on local bodies, by making it an offence at law for them to have business dealings with such bodies, is one that might well bo revised in the interests of local government. Cases have occurred recently (three have been reported from the Auckland Province alone) in which men holdingpublic positions have been forced to resign the seats they occupied on local governing bodies, in order to protect themselves from possible prosecutions and the disqualification attaching to their having accepted payment for services rendered or goods supplied to the bodies on which they were serving. In one case, the Mayor of a King Country borough received payment for legal services rendered to the municipality prior to his election, payment being made subsequent thereto, a technical breach of the law being thus inadvertently committed. In another case the chairman of a Power Board obtained materials for the board which it was difficult, if not impossible for the latter to get except through him, the cost of the materials being 12s in excess of the amount allowed by law in connection with the supply of goods to local bodies by those who are serving upon such bodies. In the latter case, which occurred in the Waikato, the resignation of the official does not appear to have been absolutely necessary, Mr J. A. Young, M.P., in the course of an explanation of the facts, stating that the gentleman referred to had resigned “to draw public attention to the state of the law.” The latter is, of course, designed to prevent corrupt practices under which a storekeeper, elected on a local body, might use his official position to obtain trade without competition and to make undue profits thereby. While it is desirable that a check 'should bo kept on all such transactions, it does seem absurd that the mere sale of an article, or articles, above a certain limited value, to a local body by one of its members, should be'made an offence at law, disqualifying such member and rendering him also liable to legal penalties, especially as the law practically excludes many a good man of business from entering upon local governing duties. If. for instance, tenders are called for certain supplies, and a firm in which some member of the local body inviting such tenders obtains the contract, the indirect interest held by the member in such firm would result in his disqualification and prosecution, which can hardly be said to bo in the interests of the community. A case of this kind happened some two years or so ago locally, when a well-known and highly respected business man retired from' local body affairs on account of his connection with a firm which had dealings in a small way with the local body of which he was a member. Mr Massey has promised to look into the matter to see if the law can Ire modified in some way without opening the doqr to possible corrupt practices. The law certainly needs revising.