BADGER'S STATUTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7341, 30 May 1885, Page 3

BADGER'S STATUTES.

Sib,—l regret to observe in your imao of to-day that the Mayor has, ont of his own private purse, paid for the copy of these Statutes ordered by the Council for bis use, for it places councillors in an embarrassing position, and gives colour to a< very scandalous statement. The dogma (if thai is the correct expression) "That any councillor can claim pertonal possession of works purchased by the ratepayers' money on the strength of the adventitious circumstance that his name has been inadvertently placed upon them," is certainly a novel one, ind appears to rest, like many other dogmas, on no better foundation than the Evely imagination of those who entertain it. Nr. reasonable person could draw any inch conclusions from the oiroumstaaoe. On first taking my seat at the Council Board, I found a volume of Acta placed before me with my name on it, but I certainly did not infer then, nor do I now, that thereby it became my property. On the contrary, it appeared clear to me that the volume was so. marked simply to show that I was entitled to the use of it, so long as I remained in office. On Badger's Statute* beiug ordered the Council officials (rightly I consider) continued the practice of marking the volumes with the name of the counoUloi for whose use they were intended, but how thie eimple aot can confer a right, or change public property into private property, J. am at a loss to understand. The purchase of these books baa been said again io be* scandalous waste of public money. Aft the time she motion was before the Coucoil I stated that in my opinion twc or three copies would prove sufficient, but I can see nothing very treasonable in a councillor desiring to have on his desk a copy of the Acts the general provisions of which he is supposed to bear in mind whilst discharging his public duties. There are, I believe, some fifteen or twenty Acta necessary,to be referred to occasionally. Now, the price of a single Aot varies from Is to 3s 6il, and upwards, according to length, and tbe majority of the Council may have been influenced in ordering Badger's Statutes, by the fact that, to procure the necessary Acts and bind them together, would probably cost as much as a copy of the entire Statutes. If it be conceded that the councillors ought to have such Acta before them for reference, it only remains to decide at whose expense? The Mayor will pardon me in saying that his action' has placed councillors in a very false position. To relieve myself from a scandalous and unjust imputation, I decline to uae the Aota provided, and will return the volumes at once to the Town Clerk, with a request to have my name removed from the cover.—l am, Ac, E. A. Maciechnib.