A THREE-FOURTHS MAJORITY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22032, 12 February 1935, Page 13

A THREE-FOURTHS MAJORITY

Sir—l was interested in your report of the last meeting of the Auckland Milk Council. The by-laws apparently provide that to suspend the standing orders of the council a three-fourths majority is necessary. Now, in this particular'case, nine members voted; the minimum number necessary to constitute a majority of three-fourths is therefore seven. No amount of sophistry can alter this. Air. Goldstine s reading that five is not a three-fourths majority of nine may appear ingenious, but wherein lies the real ingenuity it he is wrong—which ho certainly is? \Vitn seven voting for a motion and two against the majority is seven and the minority is two. I know that the term "majority" is frequently used in a loose manner to indicate the excess or the majority over the minority, and this use of the word has been generally accepted. This does not, however, alter the fact that a provision in a by-law or. say, in articles of association of a company, or, say. the rules of a club for a three-fourths majority on any issue means three-fourths of the total and nothing else. With Mr. Hutchison s wide experience in the conduct of company meetings I should have thought that he would not have allowed this point to slip past him. Perhaps he allowed his usual sense of extreme fairness to decide the issue before bringing into plav his very alert mind. In any case, where were the council clerk and the other experienced business men on the council? Someone surely should have seen the fallacy of tho objection raised - Majority.