HARBOUR BOARD BUSINESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12696, 26 October 1904, Page 6

HARBOUR BOARD BUSINESS.

At the meeting of the- Harbour Board yesterday Mr. Basley moved, " That the Works and Tariff Committee and the Finance'and Legal Committee be discharged, and that in future, when business is referred to committee, that such committee shall consist of the whole of the Board, of whom three shall form a ' quorum.*' Mr. Basley ; ! said it-' had been apparent to him that the bulk of the work, and- that the most important of it, was done by a section, not designedly, but because of adherence to an old and a bad system. All the members, and' not one-half of them, should be able 'to deal ; with ■ the matters coming before the ;: Board i and have a say in it. Mr. Philson thought it would :be amistake, without more data before the Board, to abandon a system ; which ; had undoubtedly worked well. He suggested that members of one committee should be able to attend and speak and vote at meetings of the other. There was now a belter chance of getting the' work "done if .the ; present system were adhered f ~ s~ Mr. Napier thought when it was nobody's business to attend, the work of the Board might suffer. He appreciated Mr. Basley's motive,; but could not see how \ th a difficulty could be got over with "a Boarc" of 13 members and three to form a quorum. There was a probability that if the meetings were left to everybody nobody would attend. He moved as an amendment, "Thai; there be added to the standing orders, section 40, after the words ' form a quorum' the words, 'and provided that any member of the Board can attend and discuss and vote at the meetings of either the Works and Tariff or Finance and Legal Committee!.' " i Mr. Glover supported, and Mr. Basley was willing to accept the amendment as a motion, and the matter was thus disposed of.v