THE SECRETARYSHIP

Waikato Independent, Volume XXII, Issue 2546, 16 May 1922, Page 4

THE SECRETARYSHIP

POWER BOARD APPOINTMENT I SUBSEQUENT CORRESPONDENCE^ Further correspondence has passed between the Public Works Department and the Cambridge Electric Power Board since the publication of the previous letters with regard to the secretarial appointment recently made by i the Board. The subsequent communications are here reprinted at the request of the Board. Public Works Dept., Wellington, 18/4/22. The Secretary, Cambridge Electric Power Board. I forward herewith copy of a letter which has been received from Mr Walter Stopford of Cambridge. You will notice from Section 38 of the Electric - Power Boards Act, 1918, that the Board has power to appoint any persons to be clerk, treasurer, etc., to the Board. From previous correspondencgj| it would appear that the Town Clerflf had been appointed secretary of the Board in this case, but it appears from Mr Stopford's letter that such is not the case. There does not appear to be power to appoint a Borough Council as Clerk or Treasurer of an Electric Power Board. I should be glad of your further remarks hereon at your earliest convenience. G. C. GODFREY, Assistant Under-Secretary. —•' ' J' (Copy), '; 4 Box 55, Cambridge, " 6/4/22. The Minister of Public Works, Wellington. I am in receipt of yours of the Ist April P.W. 26/921. I regret the.answer made to your enquiries is neither truth nor a fact. Four days after the ap--. pointment was made I requested to see | the minutes of the Power Board meeting. They were not written up, but the notes purporting to be the minutes were shown me and it distinctly said that the Cambridge Borough Council had been made Secretary and Treasurer. A director of the Power Board also informed me that the Board had not appointed the late secretary (Town Clerk), but had appointed the Borough Council to the position. To substantiate my remarks I enclose you a lea<Jing article of the Cambridge Independeat on the subject. The Electric Power Board Act, 1920, says: "A fit and proper person." Can a Borough Council bo termed as such, being a local body tgm Have a Power Board the right to deH liberately misconstrue what is obviously wrong and, having done so, shpuld not they upset their decision and reappoint? I may add that I am an applicant, one amongst 24. It is not because I did not receive the appointment, but purely from the dangerously.* illegal precedent which they are establishing, and thereby taking upon themselves power which is denied His Majesty the King. I would again request your ruling in this matter. WALTER ,STOPFORD.-

Power Board Office, Cambridge, 3/5/22.The Assistant Under-Secretary, Public Works Dept., Wellington.

I beg to acknowledge your letter of the 18th April, enclosing copy letter from Mr Walter Stopford. Mr Stopford's memory of the rough minute of the meeting held on March 10 is at fault. The exact text is as follows:

Mr Harbutt, Mr Roche—That the' appointment of secretary be placed with the Borough Council, £2OO, duties of R. 0., and, if rate is collected, £52 per annum 1922-23.—Carried.

The official minute adopted by the Board on April 10, 1922, and previously circulated to each member is as follows: t

Mr Harbutt, Mr Roche—(l) the appointment of secretary and treasurer of the Board be held by the Town Clerk in.the terms of the arrangement made with His Worship the Mayor on behalf of the Cambridge Borough Council, such appointment to include the duties of returning officer to the Board; that the remuneration to be paid by the Board to the Council be two hundred pounds (£200) with a proviso that, if a rate isfto be collected on behalf of the Board, an additional sum of fifty-two pounds (52) shall be payable by the Board. Carried. (2) —That the foregoing arrangement shall be held to be operative for the year commencing April 1, 1922, and terminating March 31, 1923. —Carried. The intention of the Board is clearly reflected in the official minute and ia relation thereto I would refer you to, tho correspondence already sent you. I am enclosing a copy of the full minutes.* of the Board for March 10, 1922. The( official minutes embody the full text and intention of the resolutions, whereas the rough minutes embody abridged text for translation and mission to the confirmation of tho Board. JAMES W. COCKS, SecTetarv.