MUNICIPAL APPOINTMENTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22808, 18 February 1936, Page 15

MUNICIPAL APPOINTMENTS

PRESS COMMENT RESENTED DISCUSSION BY COUNCILLORS ALLEGATIONS OF MISREPRESENTATION Scathing comment on statements published by the Otago Daily Times with respect to a circular, on the subject of municipal appointments, sent to councillors'by a trade union, was made at last night's meeting of the City Council. The question was raised when Cr Munrp asked if the chairman of the Water Committee (Cr Begg) was going to comment on the adverse criticism which had been raised regarding the

appointments to two positions advertised by the Water Department—that of caretaker at Deep Creek and water inspector. It seemed, he said, that a disgruntled applicant had been to the newspaper and, possibly unwittingly, it had " fallen for the story." Were these two men, he' asked, recommended by the engineer? Cr Batchelor: Are we going to get an opportunity to discuss the letter •which councillors have received? Cr Silverstone: Yes, It will come up tinder the Finance Committee. Cr Begg, replying to Cr Munro's question, said the water inspector headed the list submitted by the,city engineer, a Bub-committee and the Water Committee. . For the position at Deep Creek six names were submitted and placed in order of merit. Procter was second on the list. Crs Allen and Mitchell: Third. Cr Begg: At all events he was in the list sent in by the committee. Both men were recommended by the city engineer. Proceeding, Cr Begg said that they had been charged by the press with jobbery. The appointments were made at a full council meeting, and every member 61 j the council sitting there that night recorded his vote. So far as his attitude, as head of the department, was concerned, he knew nothing of any caseof jobbery. Could any councillor sitting " there insinuate that it was a case of ; jobbery? He took it that the Daily Times had been somewhat hasty. It had "not only swallowed the bait "but collared the sinker, line and whole outfit." If the Daily Times had used its usual discretion it would have submitted the complaint to the officers concerned or to members of the council or committee, who would have put the matter different light, Or,Begg again reiterafed that the names of the applicants were gone through by- the engineer and submitted to the sub-committee, consisting of CrSilverstone and himself, •i- They reduced.the names further and sub- . mitted them to the Water Committee, and; then they went on to the council. V' Was-there any jobbery about that? He | went on toJ say that he presumed that every,, councillor had had a copy of a * circular— ' * '

Cr Aliens No. X',Cr Begg: I would like at the present ■; time not to refer to it, but I will content 'I myself by-expressing not. only my disappointment but my displeasure with 'the Otago Daily Times in rushing into the position without first consulting some of the officers concerned, who could quite easily have stated the correct position. The Mayor: I think you have been very moderate; iCr Allen said he had no brief for the newspaper, but he did hot desire that i an-inpbrre'ct impression should be given. Ail that the ; Daily Times did was to quote from a letter from the Plumbers' Union. It-was they who had made the ' allegation of jobbery., , The Mayor.: That may be, but it was common courtesy to refer the matter to the council. "' Cr SHyerstone at a later stage said ; that the Otago Daily Times did not ' merely repeat and quote the outrageous statements made by a certain union, it endorsed them. Quoting the newspaper s remarks about a.public man some years ago, the speaker described the published statement as a " terminological inexactitude." The paper deliberately took for granted the statements in the circular without referring them to the town clerk Moreover, the paper agreed with the principle of " spoils to the victor, all things being equal," but it did not say

anything about who should be the judge of that equality. He would just like to warn the newspaper concerned to be very careful in future about misrepresentations of this kind and about casting slurs out of sheer political spite. It had cast a slur on the council's officers, a most unwarrantable and unjustifiable slur. He wanted to give the whole thing a deliberate denial, and to say that in every case the appointees were selected by the heads of the departments. Only one appointee was a member of the Labour Party. And, moreover, the work of the appointees to date had proved the wisdom of the selections made.

Cr Shepherd said Cr Silver stone had spent six or seven minutes dilating on newspaper methods, but he had said nothing about what he thought of the action of a certain organisation for issuing a circular letter to councillors on the subject—a letter which apparently fell into the hands of the newspaper. It would he interesting to know what Cr Silverstone thought of that. Cr M'Millan said he did not think they should get "worked up" over the Otago Daily Times. Cr W. W. Batchelor said he had not read what was in the newspaper and contented himself with a tirade against the writer of the letter, which ended only when the Mayor asked if there were any further discussion.

In reply to Cr Shepherd, Cr Sjlverstone said what he thought of the originator of the affair would be told in the right quarter, and it would be taken notice of.