ECHOES FROM UPPER HUTT

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7067, 3 March 1910, Page 1

ECHOES FROM UPPER HUTT

TOWN BOARD AMENITIES BLUFF, PIN-PRICKS, AND STREET CORNER GOSSIP. MEMBERS SPEAK THEIR MINDS. The ordinary business having been disposed "of at last night's meeting of the Upper Hutt Town Board, Commissioner Martin moved— That owing to dissatisfaction with ratepayers and members of the board the services of the clerk be dispensed with as from March 316 t. The chairman said before such a resolution could be dealt with, notioe of motion would have to be given in writing. Commissioner Martin: Where do you take your orders from, Mr Chairman? The chairman; From the standing orders. Commissioner Martin: I have never seen any standing orders. , _ Commissioner Wilkie said no notice of motion was required. The Chairman: You havo had my rul ing. ' Commissioner Martin, speaking with some warmth, again challenged the chairman's ruling. He pointed out that When the board dispensed with the services of its ranger no notice of motion ivas asked for. The chairman: This is quite a different matter. There must be notice, but we'll dispense with the writing if you like. ■' ' >■ ... .Commissioner Martin: I don't like it, I might t-e.ll you. »v liy have we never had a copy of the standing orders? The chairman: That's your own fault; the board has never ordered that they should be printed. If the clerk had had them' printed you'd have wanted to know the reason why. Commissioner Martin:-Well, it appears bo me,'Mr Chairman, to be a game' of, bluff. Mr Harrison refused to put my motion at the last meeting, and you refuse to put it to-night. I- move that copies of tho standing orders be printed and supplied bo - members. . . The clerk suggested that a cheaper way would he to purchase copies from the Hunterville Town Board, as the standing orders of the two boards were identical. Commissioner Martin: I move that they be supplied to members anyhow and in the cheapest way. The motion was seconded and adopted. Commissioner Martin then asked whether, in view of Saturday's poll, any ratepayers' rolls had been printed. Tire chairman, said that matter was outside the board's jurisdiction. The board was not taking the 1 poll. r „ Gowrnussiouer iiaruu twarmly) > "Whose business is it thlon.? What are" we here for? ' , ; . . - - RATEPAYER JOINS IN. A ratepayer who hod bean evincing a very keen interest- in the proceedings, and had bean several times threatened with ejection for persistent interruptions, here interjected—"lt's all very well for you. What about us who you want to sit on?" (The remark was evidently addressed to the chairman.) Commissioner Craig, who had hitherto been, silent, here appeared to remember that he had come with his gun loaded. Without any explanatory .words he reverted Tight back to the earlier topic, "We never had to put in a notice of motion when we dismissed Mr —," he said, "and 'I don't see why we should do to in this case." The chairman: That's my ruling, Ml Craig,, and I'll abide by it. Commissioner Mai-tin advanced to the, charge once more. "But I don't take it, Mr Chairman," he said. "It doesn't go down with me. I'll come on again I" Commission Harrison here interposed. "Might I be in order, Mr Chairman," he said, "if I ask "Commissioner Martin to stalte the motives of his resolution and his reason for wishing to get shut of Mr MoOurdy?" , Commissioner Martin: "That's- what you want to get from me, Mr Harrison, but I am not going to give it." Commissioner Harrison then spoke his mind. Tt was a bad thins:, he declared, that personal feeling, should actuate members in the discharge of their duties. "I think," lie'said, "Commissioner Martin's leg has been pulled on several occasions." • He recalled a recent incident in which it had? been sought to saddle the clerk with blame; Commissioner Martin's" motion, he was convinced, would have been tabled then had the charge been sustained. Instead, it was shown thaiLMr McCurdy had had. nothing to do with the matter. _He did not know whether Commissioner . Martin;,was particularly susceptible to street rumours, but, as he had said. before, there was no doubt a lot of the board's business done in the streets. At the last meeting he (the speaker) was chairman -on sufferance. The audience they had on that occasion—first behind the office and then about the door—was pretty conclusive proof of his assertion that tho business , was done in the streets. It was a pity they could not have a bigger meeting place, so that Commissioner Martin oould advertise himself a little more. " I don't think he's advertised enough—not as-much as he'd like to be." The board should not be made a conveyance for petty spite and - personal feeling, but they had had to listen to-a. lot of this of, late—this sticking of pins in the clerk. Could any man . work properly uudor , such conditions ? ' Yet their work was properly done, and they were there to see that it was properly done. - STREET CORNER GOSSIP. Commissioner Martin asked whether tho previous speaker had nevei indulged in street corner gossip. Commissioner Harrison: No; I've too much sense and too little time. Commissioner Martin: And has the clerk never etuck pins in anybody? Commissioner Harrison: Xnat has nothing at all to do with it. In this ease you're the culprit. Commissioner Martin retorted that he was good enough for the previous speaker either inside or outside. Here the chairman apparently judged that things had gone far enough. He declared the meeting closed ana memhere withdrew, to be eagerly buttonholed on the footpath, where a small crowd or townspeople had gathered. Coihrniesioner Martin had meanwhile tabled his notice of motion—in writing.