NO PUBLICITY OFFICER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19659, 10 June 1927, Page 13

NO PUBLICITY OFFICER.

CITY COUNCIL APPOINTMENT. FORMER DECISION REVERSED. THE QUESTION OF FINANCE. The decision of the Auckland City Council to appoint a publicity officer at a salary of £SOO a year was rescinded last evening, as a result of a recommendation by the Finance Committee, comprising the chairmen of all the committees, that none of the applicants be appointed. , The committee said it considered the time was inopportune to make the appointment, and it suggested the resolution creating the position should be rescinded. The committee had had referred to it at the previous meeting of the council the names of 36 applicants for selection. "Speaking with all due respect, I say this position is farcical," Mr. L. A. Eady said. "The committee has exceeded its powers. It was asked to nominate an applicant, bu£ it now recommends that no appointment be made. I move that the clause be referred back to the committee to carry out the council's instructions." Exception to Recommendation. Mr. Eady referred to the movement for the appointment of a publicity officer, and said that never before had the council as a body been so inarticulate. At no time in the history of the council was publicity so badly needed in stimulating business in its revenue-producing undertakings. Since Sir James Gunson gave up office as Mayor, the citizens had not taken into the confidence of the council or told what was going on, in the way they should have been. "I take such personal exception to the recommendation of the committee, that if it is carried I shall have to consider -very seriously my attitude toward the council," Mr. Eady added. Mr. A. J. Stallworthy seconded, remarking that the activities of the council were languishing through lack of publicity. "The committee has not hidden its head ostrich-like in the sand, but it has had the courage to come face up with an unpopular recommendation," said Mr. J. A. C. Allum. The opinion of the council had not changed, but the financial aspect had to be considered. The expenses would not stop with the officer's salary of £SOO, but there would be the other publicity costs of printing, etc. Mr. E. J. Phelan said that if the committee considered the time was inopportune to make the appointment, it should have recommended postponement, not the rescission of a resolution passed by the council. 1 " Keeping the Costs Down." Mr. A. J. Entrican said the recommendation was from the chairmen of all the committees, who were seized with the I importance of keeping down the costs of administration. It had been said the ■ council had lost the goodwill of the ! public through the lack of publicity, but he agreed with Messrs. Allum and J. B. Paterson that the best way to gain the goodwill of the ratepayers was to keep the costs down. The present Mayor was not given to making public pronouncements as freely as did Sir James Gunson, but he doubted whether with his publicity work, Sir James had gained the goodwill of all the public. The Mayor, Mr. G. Baildon, said the, question had been very fully discussed by the committee, and its decision reached not with the intention of striking at the council. The amendment was defeated, and the recommendation of the committee was adopted.