CITY COUNCIL PROCEDURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12229, 26 March 1903, Page 4

CITY COUNCIL PROCEDURE.

A special meeting of the City Coun-; cil is to be held to-morrow for the j purpose of considering Councillor Parr's motion for the abolition of the ward system. On that point we have several times spoken. We believe that it would be of great advantage to the city as a whole if the ward system were abolished. . It would save the present financial absurdities of some wards not knowing what to do with the money to 'their credit, while other wards were much in need. It would, we believe, be the means of getting better men to come out for the Council, and excluding unsuitable men. Prominent citizens, known to all Auckland, are, by the ward system, excluded because very petty men can make interest in a ward and can canvass from door to door for votes in that narrow compass. At present, however, we mean to deal only with the fact that Mr. Parr's motion has

hitherto been prevented from coming before the Council for discussion by the simple expedient of those councillors who object to it, and whose seats, it is presumed, would be endangered by the ward system being abolished, walking out and leaving the Council without a quorum. The councillors who did so on the last occasion were: Messrs. Rosser, Julian, Grey, Glover and Hannan. They left before eight o'clock, so that they had not the excuse that the business had been unduly prolonged. We hope that to-night there will be no repetition of these tactics, but that the proposal will be fully debated. • That certain councillors should resort to the "no quorum" expedient shows that they have little confidence in the case which they have to place before the Council and the public.