CITY COUNCILLORS FORFEIT SEATS

Chronicle (Levin), 21 June 1946, Page 3

CITY COUNCILLORS FORFEIT SEATS

-Press Association

UNPRECEDENTED ACTION

By Telegraph-

WANGANUI, June 20. Tliree members of tlie U anganui City Council have been disqualilied at the direction of the Auditor-General from hoiding olhce, an actiou believed to be without precedent in New Zealand as affecting tliree members of a local body at one timo. Tho disqualiiications have been made under 'the Local Authorities (Members' Contracts) Act, 1934, and will bd of interest in niany parts of the Dominiou, for it appears that the operation of tlie Act, altliough intended for a laudablc piirpose, may have the effect of disqualifying as councillors anyone wlio is a shareholder iu a firni of less than 20 shareholders, the produets of whicli are purcliased, oven through an intermediate trausactioa, by the council. Couucillors E. W. ALcrewelher and Ai. G. Bignell, who wero disqualilied at a meeting of the council last week, are shareholders in a lirm whicli supplied i spare purts to enable the council \s i inotor veliicles to contiuue running. j The goods were supplied through an- ■ other lirm. | "The eircumstances under whicli the i inotor aecessories were supplied were l'ully cxplained to this olhce," the j Auditor-General cxplained in a lettei i to the council, "and this oflice, tliough i it must liold them disqualilied, does not j suggcst that they used the office of t eouneillor to secure contracts with the I council whicli would not otherwise have j been entered into. " | When Messrs. Merewether and Big- • nell were disqualilied other councillors j were of opinion that any one of them, i who happened to be a shareholder m la eonipany of less than 20 shareholders, I rouiti quite eiusily lind himselt' in a sinii1 lar position without being in tlie least i aware of what was happeuing. Possible Position j It was argued that if a eouneillor was • a shareholder in sucli a lirm, and the ; lirm supplied goods to a greater amount | than permitted by the Act to another j person, and that person sold them, | without the knowledge of the lirm, to ! tlie council, the eouneillor automatiealI ly would forfeit his seat. it is be- ! lieved that §oods could pass through | tliree or four hands, aud the lirm selling I them originally would not have any ■ idea as to whorn they were intended to j be sold. : Councillor C. W. Smith, following on 'the disqualilieation • of Alessrs. Bignell j aiul Merewether, who themselves had i raised (he issue with the Auditor- ! General, also souglit his adviee in reI gard to liquor supplied to entertaiu j returning serviccuieu at civie luuclieons I arranged from time to time iu coui juxiction with the Patriotic Committee, the R.B.A., and other local bodies. It was ruled by the auditor that as Mr. Smitli was a shareholder in a lirm whicli liad supplied some £(1U wortli of liquor for these funetions, notwitllstanding' that. the-.rGo vernrutf-nt made a ! grant to eover goods for sucli occasions, i he was not eligible to liold office as a | eouneillor. : Mr. fchnith said that the supplv of liquor from his lirm had been in aecord1 anee with a scheme whereby orders i were distributed among all thc wholei sale lirms in Wanganui. 4t had started ! beforo he "became a eouneillor, and .he was not aware that it was eontrary to law when he took office as a councilI lor, aiul gave it uo thought whatever [ until thc issue was raised with the [Auditor-General in the two other cases. Mr. Smitli himself had thereupon taken the matter up with the auditor himself. j During normal times, he pointed out, his lirm would not be trading witli the council at all. Extracts Prom Act Section 3 of the Local Authorities (Members ' Contracts) Act, 1934, says: "No person shall be capable of being elected or appointed to be or of being a uiember of any local authority if he is eoncemed or interested (otherwise tjian as a inember of an iucorporated eonipany in whicli there are more thau 20 members and of whicli lie is not tlie general manager) iu any conlruet made by the local authority if the payment made or to be made by or on behalf of tlie local authority in respect of any sucli eoutract or contracts exceeds £10 in the ease of any contract, or £25 altogether in any liuancial year, except in speeial "cases to be previouslv approved by the audit office on tlie I application of the local authority. Ini anv sucli speeial case the audit offine may authorise the payment and rcceipt of sucli amount as it thinks fit, not exceeding in tho aggrcgate £50 in any linancial year. "Every person wliose office is vacant pursuant to the last preceding sub-section shall thereby be disqualilied from beiag elected or appointed as a member of the local authority ti 11 tlie ncxt general or ordinarv clection or ap poiutment, as ihe case may be, of members tliereof. " With tliree Gitizens members of the council disqualilied, the control of the council virtually passes from Citizens to Labour, iu that Ihe Mayor, the Hon. W. J. Itodgers, M.L.C., a- Labour mayor. will have a casting votc, aud it will bc a council so constituted which will decidc how the three extraordinary vacancies are to be tilled, whether there is to be an clection, or whether the vacancies will be fllled from Ihe ilist.of defeated carididates at the last municipal election, ' the highest of whom is a former deputy mayor, Mr. J. J. Scott, and the nexl two are Citizens.