THE NEW WEIR.

Colonist, Volume LII, Issue 12770, 16 April 1910, Page 2

THE NEW WEIR.

INCIDENT AT AN ELECTION MEETING. CITY ENGINEER AGGRIEVED. L In thereport of the City Engineer to the City Council last 'night, tha iollowing paragraph occurred: — _ "I would desire to point out that it nas been remarked to me by several ratepayers that this structure (the nigh hycl weir) has been reported to them as defective. I would point out that should any such remark have been bruited abroad it is entirely without any respectful regard for the salir.nt principles of truth, and can only made by those possessing small regard for enlightened intelligence." Cr Neale called attention to this statement, and said tho City Engineer should expEain what he meant. The Mayor said it would come before the Committee. Cr Neale: Oh, let us have it' before the Council. Cr Turner: I think this should come before the Council. It might be the Mayor s last meeting, (Laughter.) He was not afraid of that— Cr Grace : There's no fear of that. Cr Turner continued that Mr Pettit had condemned the weir. He thought Mr Pettit voted for it. The City Engineer said he might bo out of order in referring to statements appearing m newspapers, but some remarks concerning the new weir were reported to have been made at Mr n n meet^ D e° n the previous night. Cr Grace said the Council could net discuss a newspaper report. The City Engineer said he wonld make a statement. Some time a"-o, in the dry weather, it became his duty to exclude the public from the waterworks. .Cr Neale : Did ' you exclude Cit y Councillors also? The City Engineer: Yes. Cr -Neale: Was that not exceeding your duty? The City Engineer: No. Councillors are only considered as such when tho Council is sitting. Cr Field : At other times j - ou regard them as ordinary citizens? — Yes. The City Engineer proceeded to refer to the statement made at tie previous night's meeting concerning con^ tract versus day labour. The candidate had challenged -a ' gentleman 5n tho room to show any defect in the large dam which might not have happened if the dam had been constructed by day labour, and another gentleman had said, "Apply it to the little dam." To that the first interjectof rejoined that tho little dam would hold water at any rate, and the retort was "Not very much." The City Engineer contended that the construction to be put upon the remarks was that the new weir was as defective as the big dam, and that was a reflection upon him. It would be common gossip from tho North Cape to the Bluff, and would injure him professionally. A man's professional reputation should not be taken away like that. Cr Nea'le said that Gr Grace and he were the individuals referred to. The City Engineer had absolutely mistaken the trend of the remarks made at the meeting. He would say without hesitation, that, no gentleman at the meeting put tho City Engineer's construction upon what was said. It was' simpJy said in fun, and Cr Grace enjoyed a joke as much as anyone. The question before the meeting- was day labour versus the contract system. ..■The Mayor said outside subjects should not be discussed in tho Council Chamber. It lowered the Council to talk municipal politics. Cr Neale said there was no suggestion against the City Engineer, and nothing was said that could bear that construction. Cr Turner said he would liko to know if Cr Pettit did not vote for tho new weir. He was proud to say ho did. The Mayor: There was no dissent. Cr Pettit was at the. meeting of the Council when the matter was decided, and he did not dissent from it. They did not want municipal politics referred to there. Cr Neale : There should have been no reference to it in the City Engineer's report. ' Cr Turner: The City Engineer was quite justified in referring to it. The Mayor: He was not justified. The City Engineer : My sole object was to protect myself. I cannot write to the papers.Cr Turner pressed his request that Cr Pettit's vote on the weir question should be revealed. He was quite sure Cr Pettit voted for- it. The Town Clerk then turned up the minutes, and found that Cr Pettit voted against tho construction of the weir. . The announcement was greeted with laughter, and the incident closed.