CITY COUNCIL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4870, 26 September 1877, Page 5

CITY COUNCIL.

The regular meeting of the City Council was held in the old Provincial Council Hall yesterday afternoon. Present—'His Worship the Mayor (in the chair), Messrs C. S. Reeves, T. Birch, Gore, Grant, Barr, Thomson, Webb, Davidson, Woodland, Walter, Fish, and Roberts.

The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed.

sir sperrey's compensation case.

The Mayor said : We have succeeded in settling the action brought by Mr Sperrey fpr £750. Mr Sperrey has received the amount.

Mr Reeves suggested that the opinions of .the lawyers should be read, or placed in the hands of the repre3entatiyes of the Press, to -show on what grounds the Council;' had settled the claim.

The Mayor thought it would be injudicious to have the opinions and correspondence between the Council and Mr Sperrey pub« lished.'.'..;

Mr Birch : The public has a .perfect right to...see. the correspondence. It was the money of the public. : Mc Grant thought it was inadvisable to publish the opinions of the counsel. He did not think the Council would be justified in publishing them. It was hot a public opinion that these gentlemen (the lawyers) were asked to give. .

Mr Woodland : The public pays for the opinions.. ■ ... .

; The Mayor: I would point out that if the documents were placed on the table, they would become public property. : Mr Birch moved.—"Thafc the correspondence between the Council and Mr Sperrey be placed on the table for the purpose of allowing the lawyers' opinions to be published for the benefit of the public." Mr Reeves seconded the motion! ;"." '

Mr Walter thought it would be very injudicious to have the legal, opinions placed oa the table...; The public had confidence in the Council to conduct the business of the City. By the advice of their own solicitors as well as others, and by the evidence of the Committee, it was clearly, proved that the Council had no case whatever, and that greater damages than those awarded would have been given against the Council.

Mr Birch: How do you know ?

Mr Walter had not the slightest hesitation in Baying that if the Council had gone to law Mr Sperrey. would have got greater damages. For his own part he had preferred to have the case go- to Court, but it was so clearly through the oversight of the contractor and through the oversight of the Corporation that the accident had taken place. He was sure that no reasonable ratepayers would question the conduct of the Council in this respect. Mr Birch : They do.

; Mr Walter : Then I am prepared to stand before the ratepayers and argue the point.

Mr Woodland supported the motion. He thought it right that the public" should know the whole affair. He had been taxed about the matter several times, and it was nothing but right that the public should know the ins and outs of the affair.

Mr Grant moved—:" That this question be deferred till the next regular meeting of the Couricil."

Mi Woodland : Why ? Mr Grant : Members are too sharp, and I cannot meet them altogether. Mr Fish: Yes, they are too sharp altogether. /

Mr Grant thought the solicitors should be consulted before their opinions were published.

Mr Fish : We paid for them. Mr Reeve 9 thought it would be very injudicious to keep things back in any shape or form. When the compensation was paid to Mr Sperrey it was understood that the correspondence and the opinions of the solicitors should be laid before the public. He'did not see that any harm could arise from the publications of the opinions. He agreed with Mr Walter, that if the case had been decided in the Supreme Court, Mr Sperrey would have got far greater damages —in fact, double the amount.

Mr Fish said that in giving Mr Sperrey compensation without going into a Court of law, the Council did an unusual thing, and in order to justify themselves in the eyes of the public, he thought it only right that the justification should be published. ; This could only be done by publishing the legal opinions.

The motion was then put and carried without dissent.

THE OLD CEMETERY RESERVE,

The Government wrote that they would net support the leasing of the Old Cemetery Reserve, they themselves "being likely to want it for general purposes." The Mayor : We have a Bill introduced by Mr Larnach, so that we can lease part of this reserve. The piece is quite useless for recreation purposes. It is so smalL Mr Reeves pointed out that the Reserve was of no value to the Corporation unless for leasing purposes. The matter was referred to the Mayor with power to act.