SOME QUESTIONS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 12 October 1926, Page 9

SOME QUESTIONS.

FOR NEW ELECTRICAL MANAGER DISCUSSION IN THE COUNCIL. ' At last night’s meeting of the Timaru Borough Council, Councillor .1. R. Hart moved that the Town Clerk be Instructed to write to Mr E. F. Hollands for the following fuller information in confirmation of his application- for the position of general manager of the electricity department of the Timaru Borough Council:—

1. —Date of commencement of training as an electrical engineer in England—name of firm or firms under which he served, length of training in years, and dates of completion of same, also.date of leaving England for South Africa. 2. —Service with South African Government (7 years). (a) approximate date of appointment; (b) position held; (c) approximate date, and reason, of resignation; (d) copy of references. 3. Pretoria Portland Cement Co,, Transvaal, South Africa. (a) approximate date of appointment; (b) approximate date of resignation, and reason; (c) copy of references. 4. —Hubert Davies and Co., electrical and mechanical engineers, Pretoria, South Africa, (a) approximate date of appointment; (b) approximate'date of resignation to join South African Forces at outbreak of war, and copy of references; (c) length of service with South African Forces; (d).copy of discharge from South African Forces. 5. —Kyrioch’s, Ltd., explosive manufacturers, Umbogintwini, Natal, South Africa, (a) approximate date of appqintment; (b) approximate date of resignation; (c) copy of references. 6. —Approximate date of arrival in New Zealand. 7- : —Dominion. Cement Co., Portland. (a)--approximate date of appointment; (b) approximate date and reason of resignation; (c) copy of references. he in possession of a first class certificate-,enabling him to take charge of the Council’s steam-plant? Councillor Hart said it was desirable that Mr Holla-fids should give the Council the information, and if he did so, the Council would no doubt confirm his appointment. Statements, concerning the appointment were being made in the street, and he wanted to see the matter settled.

Councillor Kelly said it was only fair to Mr Hollands to give him an opportunity to verify the evidence which guided the Council in appointing him to the position of general manager. No doubt he would be able to do this, and if he could he had nothing to fear. Councillor Vinnell said it had been said that there was talk on the street About this matter. 1-Ie was not concerned with street gossip, and was sorry for the mentality of anyone W'ho might be. Was any councillor game to challenge the accuracy of Mr Holland’s credentials? He was not going to vote on hearsay. Councillor Benstead asked if he could see Mr Holland’s application, as he wished to point out what appeared to, be a discrepancy in it? . The Mayor said that Councillor Benstead could not see the application as the matter had been settled. Councillor Benstead said that if he could not deal with the matter at the Council table he would deal with it through thd" newspapers. The Mayor :“Well, you can do so through the newspapers.” Councillor Satterthwaite rose to a point of order on the ground that Mr Hollands had been appointed, and the Council had no right to re-open the matter. The Mayor said the matter was absolutely out of order. That was no time to ask such questions. Mr Hollands had been appointed, and the only question that could, reasonably be asked would be in respect of a date if one had inadvertently been omitted. Councillor Benstead: “Well, is it not a fair thing for me to ask that the application be read?” The Mayor: “No.” Councillor Benstead: “But Councillor Vinnell has issued a challenge and I. wish to reply to it. You refuse to show me the application?” ;: The Mayor: “You had no right to take the- application out of the office.” Councillor Benstead: “I don’t see ■that it mattered at all.” - The Mayor: “No such papers will go out of the office again in my time, and you should not have taken these.” Councillor Benstead said he merely wished to point out that the Council was buying a pig in a poke. Mr Hollands had given them a list of appointments without a date from beginning to end. The list ran from the time he was 17 years of age until he was 28. He said that he had got his electrical training at Tunbridge Wells, England: that he was born in 1886, and was now 40 years of age. He said that he had been on this job and that, covering a period of twelve or thirteen years, and according to the time when he said he had left England, judging from the scanty information supplied, he had apparently obtained his electrical training by the time he was 18 years ■ of age, and from this it would seem that he had been in training at a ‘time when the law said he should still be at school, if he had the usual five years’ training. He said that he had left England to get further experience in South Africa, and that he had left South Africa to join the service of tho New Zealand Government. In his statement he said that he had been employed by the Dominion Cement Company, but no dates were given. Councillor Benstead said he was not up against Mr

Hollands, and if his application was all in order he had nothing to fear, but it was essential In their own interests, and particularly in the interests of the ratepayers that they should know exactly what they were doing. If Mr Hollands came to Timaru he would have to control the steam plant in the power house, and Ins application did not say that he is the possessor of a steam certificate. If he did not possess such a certificate he would not be allowed in the power house when steam was up, nor would he be able to give any order to a subordinate there. Councillor Hunt asked whether Mi Hollands had a first class steam certificate? If not, it would be useless for the Council to engage him. If everything was in order Mr Hollands would no doubt be only too pleased to answer Councillor Hart’s questions. The request was quite a reasonable one.' He did not remember Mr Hollands stating that he vyas capable of taking charge of a steam plant.

The Mayor said that these points were being raised at the wrong time. A general manager did not require a steam certificate, and they did not want him to go into the power house to shovel coal. The Mayor said he doubted whether Mr Hollands was a licensed wireman, but a general manager did not require to be able to do that. A man could manage a flour mill without being a qualified miller. In any case he hoped to see the steam engines out of the power house within six months.' Councillor Vinnell said the Council must insist on the schedule of duties complied with, but that was all. He suggested that Mr Hollands opponents go back forty years and ask why he was born. (Laughter.) Councillor Kelly said that the committee set up to go through the applications for this job had had 27 applications to deal with, and they had not had time to consider them as carefully as they should have been considered. He suggested that in future similar committees should be given more time. Councillor Satterthwaite said that he was going to vote against the motion, as being unnecessary and out of order. Councillor Hay said he believed that Mr Hollands was a man of experience and that he would give them good service. Councillor Vinnell said he was pleased that he had been able to get one councillor to his feet. What Councillor Benstead should have done was to have said that he thought the Council had made a mistake, and that he would like a little more information. Councillor Benstead said he did not care twopence about gossip; all he wanted was to have the position cleared up. On a vote being taken Councillor Hart’s motion was lost by one vote, the voting being:—For—Councillors Hart, Benstead, Hawkey, Kelly, Arnold, and Hunt. Against—The Mayor, and Councillors Hay, McNab, Chittock, Satterthwaite, Vinnell, and Tutton. Councillor Benstead gave notice of motion for next meeting: “That the Mayor’s ruling be disagreed with in refusing to have Mr Hollands’ application read.” The Mayor said he had ruled as he had because the matter was done with.

Councillor Benstead: “But we were discussing it, and it is not within your power to refuse any document that may be called for.”