THE CITY COUNCIL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19768, 16 February 1927, Page 6

THE CITY COUNCIL

Sir, —In reply to your correspondent, I‘ ‘ Progress, ’’ i n your issue of yesterday:' i The committee system of the City Council is not an innovation, having been the system ever since the Borough was treated. The position to-day is, that owing to the system of conduct of business by the present Mayor, the present Council have lost fall interest in the management of the city. I hold the view that it is impossible for the business of this city tp be conducted by meetings of 15 to 20 minutes’ duration. The trouble is entirely due to the dietori&l manner in which His Worship conducts the affairs of the city. It would Appear as if in the Mayor’s eyes the Council’s simply an appendage that has to be put up with because the law says so. In plain words, they are a superfluity. This position and is greatly to ba regretted, as Tho present Council contains several able and excellent men. who have had long experience in publie body work. Several are men of far greater experience than the Mayor himi self. Under the present system, these men are lost to the city. The city today is managed by the departmental ►cads, who have not been slow to recognise the position. No elector questions the Mayor’s activity or his energy. But we want something more than this. We want the city controlled by the Council and not by one man, or by the departmental heads. The Council arc a directorate in control of one of, if not the biggest businesses operating between Aucklfand and Wellington. Owing to the present system of management, the present Council have utterly failed .. to stop the waste of public money. They have failed to lay their finger on the cause of the general mismanagement of this city. We are to-day one of the most highly-rated cities in the Dominion and one of, if not the worst managed. It is now imperative that we, fir tly, have a Mayor who will take his Council into his confidence in a democratic, not autocratic manner. Secondly, we want a Council that will take hold of the several departments of the city that are responsible for the waste that is going on to-day and that will evolve a progressive, yet careful policy. The existing rate has reached a sum beyond the ability of the ratepayer to pay and, in consequence, we have the end of the financial year at hand with many thousands of pounds outstanding, and an army of city officials in the capacity of collectors issuing summonses to all and sundry. This position will not be tolerated longer. The irony of the thing is that, after striking the huge levy, the permanent streets provided in the estimates have not been carried out. There only remains one thing to do—cletc a new Mayor and a new Council. CLEAN SWEEP February 15, 1927.