CITY COUNCIL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12425, 7 August 1902, Page 6

CITY COUNCIL.

The fortnightly meeting of the City Council, held last evening, was attended by the Mayor (Mr •!. A. Park), Crs Carroll, Scott, Gore, Lawrence, Muir, Tapper, M'Donald, Christie, Jlraithwaite, Mnitland, Hally, and (.'rust. • The Mayor s&id it afforded him very groat pleasure tu see their old colleague (Ci- (lore) back in his seat again, and he trusted that liis progress towards recovered liealth would continue, and thut ho would bo able to attend the meetings o[ tho council regularly. —CV CJore thanked (lie council for their reception of him, He was as ploased to be present as tho council was to see him, and he trusted he would be able to regularly attend the council meetings. '

COBRESPQ.NDKN'CK. Mos;rs GeorgC and''J. A. Cook wrote renewing an application on behalf of Mr F. W. Lyders for the crection of a workshop in Loith street.—Referred to tho Works Committee to report. The Secretary of the Workers' Political Committee wrote forwarding a resolution carried at lust meeting of the council to the clFcfct th;\t they protested against the action of tho council in allowing the control of , tll( ? construction of tho city trams to drift into the hands of contractors, who were importing rolling stock and material which could be made in the colony better and chaaper than the imported articles.— Referred to the Tramways Committee. / Mr Johil Laffey wrote applying for pel mission to put in a fire service* in tho Gridiron Hotel, Princes street.—Referred to the Water Committed to act.

THE ENGINEER'S WITIIDIUW.V HErOIIT. Or .M'Donald, immediately after the City Engineer's peport had been dealt with, rose and asked , for information about a report of the engineer sent through the town clerk to the Mayor. He had been told since it was mentioned at last council meeting that it was a withdrawn report. • The Mayor said he "could not allow any discussion on the subject. By their standing orders they must take the routine work. tr-rapper: Are ymi right in that? .The- Mayor' replied that fie was. Tho rebefore the council wss the city engineer s report on modifications. i r< a rp l ,or t wns mentioned by Cr M Donald at last meeting. The Mayor replied that there was no such report mentioned in his minute book. t?^' 1 ' " le engineer withdraw The/Mayor: I cannot say. ' Cr rapper said of course no one had a right to withdraw or withhold a report sent in by one of the council's officers. The Mayor replied that if an officer was asked for It report it camc before the council in the regular way, and the council must conrader it.

Ci luppcr asked if an officer had sent in a report without being asked to do so? •l ! le sa suc h a report came in it should come before him officially. (r Tapper said he asked the question in order that they should make 110 mistake.: I.lie Mayor: 1 havo 110 report entered in my letter book, or in any niitiiitc book, for this evening—officially. Or M Donald said his reason for asking if there was a report wax that if there was not one he intended to table a motion. He was so disgusted at the way the works were bung earned out.

nm" 5 'V, ayol '' ' in answer, said that if Or ' Donald found Unit there was a report that had not come, before the council he must move for an inquiry, or that the report be produced. He 'could not open- a discussion in the. middle of the routine business It was irregular, and would lead to confusion. Or M'Doriald could put in a motion regarding what ho would like to do. J.hat wouul be the simpler plan. Or M Donald: I intend to have it out some way. J lie liayor: V. ell, 1 must conform to the standing orders.

suxniiY RErbRTs. i-he 1 eparts ■of tb© Geneva!, Works, Reserves, lias, and Finance. Committees were adopted with but- little,discussion. THE TRAMWAYS COIQnTTEK'S REPORT. Or fscott, in moving, tho adoption of the tramways Committee's report, said that It tenders had been received for the George tnm m S °' ran S in e ,rom 16s (o Ihe committee recommend the acceptance of Mr Perry's tender, which was the lowest, and were satisfied lie would car it 11 out in a thorough manner. This sum was very littio in excess of the estimate, r ' "° h nSI filven th ® «ty engineer at from £2/00 to £3000. •

Or Christie moved that the clause in the report agreeing to the Koslyn Tram Company extending its lino to within 33ft of lriuces street he refetrred back to tho committee for reconsideration. Ho had already pointed out- tlia.t there was practically no camber on the road there, and the p-eseht was a. very opportune time to have this remedied. If it were not done it would causo the council a lot' of trouble by-and-bye,

Or llaitland seconded the motion, siid said lie would lib prepared to allow the company to come right down to Princes street. Tuere was absolutely no danger, and this was the most natural place for the car to stop. If the company wa3 not granted tins concession, he understood it was' their intention to stop the ears at the Shamrock Hotel.

Cr, Carroll: Hear, hear; that,is where they ought to stop. Cr'Maitlaud: It i s easy to see that Cr Oairoil does not live in Koslyii. or reouiro to use the ears.

Cr Braithwaite thought the council had no right to dictate'tp the company as to how frequently the. curs should be run. Ho thought it would be a disaster for the car to stop at the Shamrock Hotel, and lie could not understand why (lie committee would not let them come to Prince's street, Cr Carroll said that as to the crown on « 'rf 1 ' itself had taken it off. 110 could not help expressing .the opinion that there seemed to be a great deal of feeling in the council in favour of tho Tramway company at the present time. It was only by a small majority that tho company were ever allowed to come down Rattray street at all. But if this was to be agreed on, the council must insist on a quicker sen-ice and more cars. He thought the firi'fc consideration was due to the ratepayers before they considered the directors and shareholders of tho-Roslyn Tramway Company. Cr Tapper thought that- the suggestion to stop at the Shamrock Hotel was all " bluff." It would not be a wise move on their part from their own point of view. The 33ft from the building line was no. great distauce. Tho council should certainly insist on better oars. ■

Cr Scott, in reply, said that he could not vote for going nearer to Princes street- than tho 33ft mentioned. In regard to tha riw 111 the street, he had spoken to the city engineer, who stated that when tho road was asphalted there was no earthly reason why the crown should be raised any higher than it was now. Councillors would see that tho rrcommendation' of the report asked for a quicker service. The amendment was then put and carried, and tho report adopted. The council then went into committee. • "BREACH OP MIVILHGK"? Cr Mnitlrind moved to the effect "That the council take into consideration the publication of a> withdrawn report of the city engineer, and dccide, whether a breach ri[ privilege has -to bo recorded against any member of tho council." There was, he said, grave reason , why this motion should be considered, as tho honour'of tho council was at stake directly and indirectly—directly bccatiso it was a question whether the report could have been received from anybodv but a councillor, and indirectly because 0 leading article I'ad been written condemnatory of the Mayor. He had no objection to the evening paper taking tho Mayor to task so lone as thi> criticism was based 011 a. proper and true foundation, but ho took very grave objection to their passing such very grave comments 011 the Mayor as was done on tlie ?,4th. July on altogether wrong premises. The report was handed in after 12 o'clock on the clay the council met, and was afterwards withdrawn .by the" engineer. The report itself was' in defence of the administration of'the cnginoer's department. the work of which had been criticised on the 9th July, and was not- only withdrawn from the. town clerk but from the councillors who had received a copy of it. There were only five or six copies of tho report issued to councillors, and he'understood that, nejthcr the Mayor nor the engineer had authorised tho publication of it. //c °w . of cou|lc i"°rs hnd done so, lm (Or i'laitland) asked him to sland up and admit it. He would read them the standing order having reference to the matter. No. *3 said "That any evidence taken by. or any documents presented to any committee

which is not reported to the council must not by any member of tho council." Tho penalty was contained in No. 11l as follows: "Any councillor adjudged by the coimcil, ioT aiiy of the causes specified in theso standing orders, guilty of contempt, ° r, u °^ cnce or misfeasanco, or wilful or aeg-ligent act of commission or omijsion, .shall on motion, with or without 11.0 tide, be censured by the Mayor, and such censure shall be recorded in the minutos; or lie shall be fined, at tho discretion of the council, in a, penalty not exceeding £5, to be recoverable summarily." Or M'Donald seconded tho motion. J mov «' as an amendment that tho words "be recorded against any member of the council" bo deleted, lie agreed that a breach of privilego had been committed, but lie ~K ' i' '""k ■'l w » s right to assume that it had been done by a member of this council. This should be a matter for inquiry by a special committee. Ho would have objected to the report being published by any person seeing that it had been withdrawn.

Cr Carroll: Was it withdrawn? Cr Braithwaite: I understand so. Onoe a report is handed to tho town cleric it should become the property of tho council Cr: Carroll : Hear, hear. Or Braithwaite: No officer has a right to withdraw a report. That is a position that perhaps has not dawned on some of us.— (Dissent). The, amendment was not seconded, and accordingly lapsed. • Cr Mnir said he had been greatly amused at the motion on the order paper. It began anywhere, and ended somewJiore in the same neiglibourhoad. One of the first essentials before havi'.ig hare soup was to catch the hare. The standing orders quoted had iio bearing on the. case. Cr Muir then proceeded with a dissertation on the methods of newspapers in acquiring information, till a point of order by Cr Hally brought him back to the motion. Cr Muir then contended that if the dofiimc.it had been withdrawn, and was no longer in possession of the oouncil, then the council had no jurisdiction over it. Tho whole thing was absurd and ridiculous. Ho denied having supplied any .of the information, but would have done so had he been approached I><- anyone conncctwl with any paper other than the one lie was engaged on. As to the information, it was right it should go to the public. Cr Carroll was astonished to see such a notice of motion cii the order paper. The initial mistake was in allowing the document to be withdrawn: The engineer had a perfect right to reply, and why he should withdraw that reply he (Cr Carroll) could •not conceive. He had never received a copy of the report, but he would not have regarded it a-s wrong to give it to the press. Cr Scott stated that the engineer came to his office and withdrew the copy left there. He (Cr Scott) never read it through. Crs Tapper, M'Donald, Lawrence, Hally. and Crust denied in turn having furnished the report to'-the-press. The Mayor stated that it was a fixed rule that letters coming in after 12 ou council (ky wore ' not entered up for that meeting. Tho report referred to was brought to him, with sundry other letters, aa he had alreadv slated, bv tho town clerk at 3.30 or 3.45 in the afternoon, and lie (tho Mayor) said it would have to stand over with the rest. He heard next morning that the report had. boon withdrawn. lio had neither directly nqr indirectly influenced anyone in the direction of having the report withdrawn. Cr Braithwaite: Why was the document allowed to be withdrawn?

The Mayor: I cannot say. Cr Maitland, in reply.. taid that Cr Muir's mirth was very ill-time;l, and that the question should have been taken seriously by flvery member. Cr 'Muir had made a sorry exhibition of himself. Exception was taken to the words, and Cr Maitland withdrew' them. Continuing, lie stfid he thought his object in tabling tho motion had been gained by the discussion of it. and, with the permission of the council, he would withdraw the same. ' The motion was then withdrawn, and tho council rose at 12.50 a.m.