CITY STANDS ALOOF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19730, 1 September 1927, Page 12

CITY STANDS ALOOF.

CRITICISM EXPRESSED. REASONS FOR NON-ATTENDANCE " SHORT-SIGHTED ATTITUDE." The refusal of the Auckland City Council to help forward the plan for reorganise in*4 local government was mildly criticised ;*t the conference of local bodies last evening. Mr. K. H. Potter, Mayor of Mount Eden, who presjded, read a letter ad. dressed to him by the town clerk of Auckland, conveying the following resilution passed by the City Council at a special meeting, in reply to an invitation to the conference:—"That, while offering no opinion on ths merits of the proposals which will be considered, the council declines the invitation, owing, to the misrqiresetation and incorrect statements made and published in regard to the council's alleged refusal to call a meeting to consider this matter." Mr. T. Bloodworth, on behalf of the committee, said a deputation from the latter about six weeks ago asked the Mayor to put the proposals before the contemplated town-planning conference. Later the Mayor wrote to Mr. L. A. Eady, stating the City Council had instructed him not to do so. The letter made no offer to place the matter before another meeting, and the committee assumed the council had turned down the proposals. Consequently it approached the next highest municipal authority in Auckland, the Mayor of Mount Eden, and asked him to convene a conference. "The committee is sorry if it has trodden on anyone's corns," said Mr. Bloodworth. He thought the committee had not misrepresented the council's attitude, but rather that the reverse had taken place. The chairman read a letter from tho president of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, Mr. A. G. Lunn, expressing sympathy with the objects of the meeting. Mr. liiinn added that the action of the Mayor, on the advice of his council, in not calling a conference, had been short-sighted. At the close of the meeting Mr. M. G. McArthur, chairman of the Tamaki Road Board, asked whether any steps would be taken to communicate the decision of the conference to the City Council. Mr. Potter; The press is present and I have no doubt the meeting will be reported fully. The City Council will be well acquainted with what has been done. «