SERVICE AND PAYMENT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22261, 8 November 1935, Page 10

SERVICE AND PAYMENT

For the second time in succession the Auckland City Council will send to the Municipal Conference a remit urging that members should be paid allowances for their services. Mr. Rosser, who introduced the question, proposed first that there should bd compensation for wages lost while engaged on municipal business. This would have been a cumbersome arrangement, probably very difficult to administer. The alternative he accepted in its place has at least tho merit of simplicity. As to the principle involved, some may be inclined to ask whether there is any disposition at all nowadays to render public service without return ; but since members of the City Council see those elected to power boards, to the Transport Board and to the Milk Board receiving payment for work no more important and possibly less onerous than that which they themselves are doing, it is scarcely surprising that they should feel entitled to ask for equal remuneration. A very practical point was raised by Mr. Bloodworth when he questioned whether there was enough work for 21 paid members. If the council were prepared to deal with this point, and with the need for some reform of the hopelessly cumbersome method of election, the proposal for payment might commend itself more to the citizens. Of course the old question of the professional politician in local government cannot be overlooked in connection with the proposal for an honorarium, but the existence already of bodies where payment is made reduces its force as applied to the City Council. These are points referring solely to Mr. Rosser's motion and its place of origin. It must be considered by the Municipal Conference, however, as a proposal to be applied generally. Arguments that are pertinent to service in the Auckland City Council may not be so appropriate to small boroughs and their governing bodies. That factor may well influence the reception of Auckland's remit when it is called upon to run the gauntlet at a Dominion-wide conference.