CITY COUNCIL IN TANGLE OVER APPOINTMENTS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18011, 23 November 1926, Page 11

CITY COUNCIL IN TANGLE OVER APPOINTMENTS.

REPRESENTATION ON DOMAINS BOARD COMES UP FOR DISCUSSION. The City Council appears to have involved itself 'in a tangle with regard to the appointment of its representatives on the Christchurch Domains Board. On August 16 last the council appointed representatives to act on the board as from September 1; but, in the opinion of. the city solicitor, these appointments are ineffective and the city’s nominees on the board are those persons who were appointed in April, 1919. The city solicitor’s opinion, in which the facts leading up to the present trouble are set forth, is as follows: — “ The Christchurch Domains Amendment Act, 1913, constitutes a board of eleven members, of whom six are appointed by the City Council, the others by his Excellency the GovernorGeneral. and by certain other local authorities. By section 5 of that Act the various appointments are to be made in every fifth year, the first of such appointments to be made (and it was made) in the month of April, 1914. The Act is silent as to the failure to reappoint, but provides that the’ members hold office until their successors are appointed. The ‘Washing-Up’ Act of 1925, section 51. after reciting the 1913 Act.’ and after reciting that no appointment was made as it should have been made in April, 1924, and that the holding office in 1924 have continued to act as members of the boatal, enacts that those persons shall be deemed to have been duly appointed as from April. 1924, to hold office until August 31, 1926. On August 16 the council passed a resolution purporting to make appointments to take effect as from September l, 1926. On September 11, 1926, the * Washing-Up ’ Act of 1926 was passed, which amended the clause of last year by substituting for the words ‘ until the 31st day of August, 1926,’ the ‘ until the appointment of their successors, ’ and by adding a new clause Not later than the Ist November, 1926. the appointment of members of the board shall be made as if for one of the quinquennial appointments provided for in section 5 (of the 1913 Act),.but every person so appointed shall .... hold office only until .... the month of April. 1929.’

“ The Act of 1925, while it certainly confirmed the actions of thos£ members who had 4 outstayed their leave,’ conferred _ no power on the city to make any ‘betweentimes ’ appointment. This, no doubt, escaped the draughtsman of the 1925 Act; the necessary power was given, but not until the 1926 Act, which had not yet come into force, so that at the time when the appointment was purported to have been made there was no power in the city to make it; such a power only existed between September 11, 1926 (the date when the 1926 Act came into force) and November 1 (the date limited by that Act), and no such power now exists. “ The position therefore appears to be that the appointment of August 16 wa* i ineffective, and that as their successors have not been appointed, the city's nominees on the board are those persons who were appointed in April, 1919. I express no view as to the position of the other members of the board, as I do not know anything about their appointments.” The Mayor said that the sum and

council’s appointments to the Domains Board were invalid. N Councillor C, P. Agar: I warned you about it. Councillor E. H. Andrews: It’s easy to say “It told you so” afterwards." Councillor Agar; I warned the council twice. Councillor Andrews said he would like to have the opinion of the Municipal Association’s solicitor regarding the matter. Pie moved that the Minister of Lands be asked to take the necessary steps to validate the appointments made by the council on August 16. Councillor F. R. Cooke seconded the motion. Councillor A. W. Beaven expressed the opinion that the council should (appoint persons who were not members of the council to the* Domains Board. Councillor Andrews’s motion was carried by 9 votes to 7. The voting was as follows:—Ayes: Councillors Andrews, Leadley, Aschman, Ford, Cooke, Butterfield, Carr, M’Combs, and the Mayor. Noes: Councillors Agar, M’Kellar, Anderson, Beaven, Carey, Du Feu and Sim.