The Timaru Herald TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1926. ABOUT AN APPOINTMENT.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 12 October 1926, Page 8

The Timaru Herald TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1926. ABOUT AN APPOINTMENT.

Since the Borough Council decided in July to reorganise the electricity department by giving l the whole stall' notice to quit and then reappointing them alt except the engineer, the people have ceased to marvel at anything the Mayor and his co-partno-s in the little scheme might do. “The intention of the committee,” .‘aid thei Mayor, “is that all should he dismissed for the purpose of reorganisation, and that all should be re-engaged it they were the best applicants offering 1 .” We said at tho time that “only a child unacquainted with the known attitude of the Mayor towards the borough electrical engineer would he deceived by such sophistry.” The retiring borough electrical engineer has not been reappointed, hut the Council has made an appointment which neither the Mayor nor any of .his party seems very anxious to discuss At last, night’s meeting of the Council, a resolution was submitted proposing to instruct the Town Clerk to request the newly-appointed electrical engineer to furnish the Council with documentary proof of his qualifications and the authenticity of the _ particulars supplied regarding liis .training and experience as an electrical engineer. iStrangely enough, by seven votes to six tho Council rejected the resolution, l’resuraably the opponents of the resolution claimed that the now electrical engineer, having- been appointed should not he questioned further. What proof Ims. been submitted for the: information of the- citizens to justify the Mayor and his supporters m appointing Mr Hollands in preieience to Mr Wilson.-’ None wlmtover! The resolution submitted for the consideration of the Council last night was designed, it is clear, to make good this grave omission. But the Council, following the lead of the Mayor and Councillor Vinnell, strenuously opposed any such request being- made to the successful applicant. It; is just as well llmt the Council should realise that the. great majority ot the citizens are becoming a little impatient of the tactics being adopted by the Mayor and his followers on the Council. If a. minority of the Council is to he denied the information it seeks —and it is surely the right of even a minority to know tho truth—the citizens are not likely to tolerate attempts to deny them the fullest information regarding the appointment of a highly-placed municipal officer who is to receive a salary of £7OO a year. In July the Mayor gave an undertaking that the retiring borough electrical engineer would he re-appointed if he were the best of the applicants offering. Tho Council and the citizens accepted this assurance. ' Now, however, that an outsider has been appointed, the citizens have a clear right, which no Mayor and no Council has authority to deny, to the fullest particulars regarding the _ applicant whose training, qualifications, and experience have been accepted by a majority of the Council as being superior to those of the engineer who had just been discharged. Notwithstanding the decision of tho Council, the citizens who have to foot the bill will not be satisfied to permit the present, unsatisfactory state of affairs to exist. Indeed, the people have a right to demand that tho Mayor and the Councillors who supported the appointment of Mr Hollands, shall produce proof that tho newly appointed electrical engineer has qualifications superior to those possessed by the retiring engineer: indeed, it .should be pointed out to the successful applicant that lie can best 1 , safeguard his own interests by furnishing fuller details 1 of his training- and career, and thus obviate being placed in a false position ■ by the strange decision of the Council last night, which by its rejection of the motipn, denied the citizens substantial proof (which in the interest of all parties should be gladly given), that the Mayor and his co-partners, in sifpporting the appointment of Air Hollands, honpurod the promise made in July tlm-fc the best, applicant would" receive the appointment. , Since the Council has taken a. strange line of action. Mr Hollands himself should seize the opportunity to furnish the fullest particulars and justify his appointment in defiance of tile wishes of the great majority of responsible citizens.