HARD HITTING

Northern Advocate, 15 August 1935, Page 2

HARD HITTING

A KEEN DISCUSSION SALE OF KAITAIA LIBRARY. “AN ERROROfIuDGMENT.” There was a further long discussion, characterised by plain, direct speaking, at the Kaitaia Town Boaid meeting on Monday night, regardant the sale of the public library with turmtui - an At S the previous meeting, a special order had been passed selling the. horary to Mr A. Gray for £ 170, and the following day the chairman- of the board Mr J. T. B. Taaffe, lodged a notice of motion that the resolution be rescinded. The matter has aroused a good deal of feeling in the town, and a number of ratepayers were present to listen to the discussion. Mr Taaffe, in moving his motion, said he had felt, on looking at the position from every point of view aftei the last meeting, that a mistake had been made, but he was not blaming other members of the board. He made the mistake himself in accepting lion which had been passed. With Mr Archibald, he had been appointed to sell the library to the best advantage. “I made, it my business, Mr Taaffe proceeded, “on learning that Mr r chibald owned the section adjoining the library, to ask him if he was an all 1 interested, and he assured me he was not. I investigated with the object of obtaining a buyer, and ■‘• Save Mr Archibald all the information I had, but received no information from him. At the last meeting, an offer was put in by Mr Archibald, who did not disclose the name of the purchaser, and later wrote out an offer in his own name which was subsequently changed to ‘A. Gray.’ It does not concern me whether it was Mr Archibald or Mr Gray. I had no objection to either applying for the building, but not in the circumstances which existed. Had Mr Archibald not been on the committee with mfe, I would hsvo no objection to offer. It was definitely stated that Mr Archibald was acting as an agent, but the position was such that he had no right to take any part in the discussion when the matter was before' the' board. That was when I made the mistake, and I now feel it my duty to move a motion rescinding the resolution.” Mr Clark Explains; Mr Clark: “I moved that Mr Archibald’s offer be accepted! at the meeting at which it was first received. I understood from you that everything was in order, but it was found that to finalise the matter a special meeting had to be held. Between that time and the special meeting you gave another party permission to put in an offer. You and! Mr Archibald were appointed to dispose of the building to the best advantage, and I was surprised to learn that while you had divulged your offer Mr Archibald had not divulged his. I still stand upon the resolution that the board accept the offer made. There was an offer of £5 better at the special meeting, but the board had given its word of honour at a previous meeting that it would finalise with Mr Archibald. I am surprised at the notice of motion. If there was a legal aspect it would he a different matter. I have never twisted in my life, and in fairness to Mr Archibald, I think we should accept his offer.” Great Mistake Admitted.

Mr Lloyd Peace: “I have to admit that I made a great mistake at the last meeting. I could not give the exact reasons for acting as I did. I thought Mr Archibald was acting for: another party, and this position arose.” At a prior meeting in committee, the chairman made a statement that Mr Archibald’s offer would be accepted and that no other offer would be considered. No one spoke, and this might have been accepted as acquiescence, but in the conduct of public business they had to go a little further, and, seeing that a better offer was received, the latter should have been accepted. Had Mr Archibald been an outsider it would have been a different matter. It was suggested that Mr Archibald withdraw his offer, but he was not prepared to do that. The board’s duty to the public was a little above any arrangement with Mr Archibald, who should have revealed the fact that the tender, though not on his own behalf, was on behalf of a person very close to him. As the buyer was to be Mr Gray, there was no reason why Mr Archibald should not take part in the board’s discussions on the matter. Mr Rutledge said he took the same view.as Mr Clark. The whole position was very unfortunate, indeed, but they had! given Mr Archibald a definite assurance that they would accept his offer, and the chairman had told him that no other offer would be considered. Mr Archibald Explains. Mr Archibald said he was glad to see there was so much interest, and that they had such a large audience. He wanted to make his position quite clear. “Mr Peace said he thought,” continued Mr Archibald, “that I should have advised the board who my client was, and that I was acting cn behalf of someone else. When. Mr Taaffe and myself were appointed to dispose of the building, we did our best to- get the best price. The only price five weeks 1 prior to finalising was £l6O. Discussing the matter with Mr Peace, and acting on his advice that we might be forced to accept it, I held on to that offer. Various suggestions had been made in discussing matters when the special meeting was called, but I did not know till ten minutes before the meeting that a better offer was available. I want to be fair and above board, and I did not know till 7.20 1 on the night of the meeting, when I saw Mr Gray, and asked him for his best offei, that he was prepared! to pay £l7O. I had no opportunity for consulting Mr Taaffe before the meeting, and anything I did was solely in. the interests of the board. It is absolutely wrong to say, as has been said, that the price was well known im the street before the board met.”

The chairman. - ‘"Do you remember Mr Rutledge saying at the first meeting: ‘How about making it another £s?’ and you said. No. my offer is> for someone I am dealing for.’ " Mr Archibald: “Yes."

The chairman: “And at that meeting did' you not write on a pad ‘£l7o,’ and siS'n' ‘D. Archibald’ to it. and hand it to me?”

Mr Archibald’. - "You wanted' it in writing.”

The chairman: “Did you sign ‘D. Archibald’?”

Mr Archibald: “Yes. certainly. You had another otTer and wanted’’ mine in black and white, and I could not go to my client at the time.”

Mr Taafle; “I said we must have a resolution, and you said ‘I don’t want my name in. the Press and I don’t want it in the books.’ You said: ‘ls it necessary to disclose the name?* and' then, you said: 'You had better make it Alt Gray.’ ” Mr Archibald: “Yes."

The chairman; “I did not use my judgment ns I should have done on that

occasion, and gave an incorrect ruling in aJleaving the motion to go through. You did) not give me the particulars I asked about the adjoining sections. If you were interested. I would have asked you to stand off the committee. I disclosed my prices to you, but you disclosed nothing to me, and you attempted to justify that. And; yet you say you want everything to be above board. I had) no objection to you buying the property for a member of your family, but not in that way. The position has given me considerable worry. It does not matter to me whether the resolution, is rescinded or not. I only want to correct, as far as I can, the mistake I made.” Recriminations, Mr Archibald: “You don't believe that the offer was raised' from £l6O to £l7O just before the meeting? ’ The chairman: “No offer of £l6O was before the board. I had been toldi by Mr Clark to go and see Mr Kostonich, who was keen on buying the library. I explained the position to Mr Kostonich, and he seemed quite interested when he found he did not have to put up the whole amount. He asked me when the next meeting of the board would be, and! said also: ‘lf I don t see you before then, you see me.’ I saw Mr Kostonich again, and he showed no further interest, and) I thought you (Mr Archibald! had got a good offer from him.” Mr Archibald: "You went twice to him?” Tire chairman: “When your offer finally came, the name was not what I expected.” Mr Archibald: "The reason Mr Kostonich was not interested was that he had committed himself with other buildings.” The chairman: “I was aghast when you placed your offer before us. and my brain did not work as quickly as it should have done. 1 consider your actions right through very improper indeed. I went into the position with Mr Peace, and found that my action was not correct at the board meeting.” Mr Peace: “I was not a member of that committee, but Mr Archibald did consult mo once or twice about an offer of £l6O. I told him to sit tight on the offer. I wanted it held up lest we could not get a belter price. No other member of the board knew about that.” The chairman: "I don’t wish to be associated with Mr Archibald' on. a committee again.” Mr Archibald: "You are ex officio a member of all committees.” Mr Clark: "I was sent by the board to inspect the road near the library, and was met by Mr Kostonich, whom I told that the old library was for sale, and, that I would get one of the committee to see him." Mr Kostonich was very keen, and asked mo if £SO down would bo accepted, and also stated that he could find the money." The motion was then put and was lost. the voting being:—For: Messrs. Taaffe and Pence. Against; Messrs, I? nil edge. Clark, and 1 Archibald.