MONDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1918. COUNTY ADMINISTRATION.

Northern Advocate, 14 October 1918, Page 2

MONDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1918. COUNTY ADMINISTRATION.

The events of the last meeting of the Whangarei County Council should provide the ratepayers of the district with some interesting food for thought. It will long be re- ] membered as one of the most remarkable meetings in the history of .the local body. In the actual length of the sitting the record was not reached but the hours were crowded with happenings which cannot fail to be viewed with regret. The Council launched a fine progressive policy promising much advancement for the North, yet at the same time it displayed a condition of administrative indecision calculated to shake confidence in its expressed purposes for the future. There is also the danger that bitterness engendered by factional strife will militate against the good government of the County. Hopes which were entertained of patching up the difference between the clerk and the engineer have been badly shattered and the'position is worse than ever. The Council in its wisdom hoped that by obtaining from Mr Hogg, Hobson County clerk, guidance as to the definition of duties between the clerk and the j engineer, to make the office administration run more smoothly, but the events of last meeting unquestionably show that such is not likely to j prove the case. The situation has i been accentuated by the happenings jin regard to the County clerkship. !It will be remembered that at the September meeting a letter was read from Mr Briggs, who was ill at the time, stating that he could not attend the meeting and asking that he be given a definite appointment at £300 per annum with a war bonus of 10 per cent. If the Council did not agree to these terms he asked for the acceptance of his resignation. The Council did not see its way clear to make the appointment as desired and accepted the resignation, at the same time granting him three months leave of absence on full pay. The engineer, who had been taking the minutes of the meeting, was instructed to carry on the work, pending the appointment of another acting-clerk, applications for which position were invited, returnable in a month. At a subsequent committee meeting the legal committee was empowered to arrange for temporary assistance to carry on the affairs of the Council. To find a way out of the difficulty they went to Mr Briggs to see if he could carry on until another man was appointed. As a result therefore, Mr Briggs, when sufficiently restored to health returned to his office, and proceeded to carry on the duties of acting-clerk. At the same time the engineer, who had been instructed by the meeting to act as clerk pending the new appointment, thought that he must necessarily carry out his orders. Therefore the Council had Mr Fraser doing part of the work upstairs and Mr Briggs the other part downstairs. Add this to the old enmity existing between the engineer and clerk and it is not difficult to understand that there has been an electrical atmosphere in County chambers during the month. Thus the meeting on Friday last was expected to be an exceptional one and the anticipations were not unfounded for a motion was tabled for the reinstatement of Mr Briggs in his position as acting-clerk upon the grounds that his attitude towards the Council had been mis••enrosented. Mr Briggs declared that he did not ask for a "permanent" position but a "definite" .one, which he held was very different. It is cheering to see so many thrifty wives paying spot cash for 'NO RUBBING" Laundry Help—l/S "GOLDEN RULE" Candles. "GOLDEN RULE" Soap. "KEEP SMILING" Sandsoap. — J. Harrison and Sons.

This involved the chairman who had spoken to Mr Briggs on the telephone at the request of the Council. The chairman returned to the Council and made a statement of his conversation which the councillors took to mean that Mr Briggs wanted a "permanent" position. This they did not feci justified in acceding to so the resignation was accepted. Mr Mclnnes (County chairman) is emphatic that he did not mislead the Council i-nd Mr Briggs is just as emphatic thai lie did. The Council accepted Jvlr Briggs' explanation and reinstated him in his position. Meanwhile 17 applications had been received for the position of County clerk and these we fa ordered to be sent back to the applicants. Then to make confusion wovso confounded Cr. Jcnes gives not!:, o' to dispense with the services of the engineer. In July the Council unanimously passed a vote of confidence in the engineer, practically every councillor expressing appreciation of his services. On Friday a motion is tabled to dismiss him. Therefore we nod the Council after months of v struggle with its administrative problems accepting the resignation of its clerk and re-appointing him; calling for application for a new clerk and returning them; unanimously expressing confidence in its engineer and then proposing to dismiss him. These are brieflly the facts of the situation. We shall deal with the merits later.