CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 501, 7 May 1909, Page 4

CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEES.

' Tili CYty Cduncillbr who regretted, as a note" the motion ih.wnichY at the first meeting of tho Council on Wednesday; CbutibiLtbß .CARiiiOHAEB pro : p'b'se'd tkat no membßr tyf tfte.Cbuiicil w.hb is. d member .of a limited tiabiiiiy company should sit On any of-the committees, took a wrong.view, of the iibsitibh. There' is iib doitblthai CbuNihitoß Garmichael was actuated only by the, test motives in making his proposal; and it, was not iinprofitable tfiat'the. matter shbiil'd bo discuss'edY fetich aTgeMal prbtiibUmH as was sought in the motion migkt possibly serv'e some good "ends; but; on the. other haiid, it would KaVa the undesirable result of excluding from iH'e committees the very men .BeSt fitted to handle the qiiestibhs with which' thei committees have to deal. JRigidiy applied, the principle pi Ootrn'oiixdß 'CARMi&Hifc's motion, "f-'duid not stop at'.toe'prohibition asked fbf in ! the motion: In its'full and ibgicai extension it w'bdld require the exclusion lirom the Council of every nidii likely to have' the Corporation as. a client, and the Corporation's business is ,so various that this would mean the elositig of the Couticira doors to a large part of the business community; it hardly heeds .saying that that would fee a.vSry. undesirable thing; inasmuch as it wbiild almost giidrantee an inefficient admihis : tfatibh of tlie city's affair's. When a principle,, apparently sotltid abd admilv able,, produces bad results when pushed Ibgical limit: it id customary to say tHaiJjfc jlfinciplb must not bd overdone. .That; However, , is wrbiig. The proper conclusion to be drawn is that the principle is lot Quite sound: And iii the. present case' the principle is hot sbtiii'd; If a,Councillor is bent ofi making a fie'rSbhal p'rbfit, out of his position at trie city's, expense, he will contrive to do \i ev6h ttißiigti ho' is debarred from membership of,thb Cbr'pofatidii Cbrfr mittees. Trie, public must trust the honesty of the City Council it elects, and must rely on the Council as a whole to check the designs of any; individual Councillor : shbuld ho be dishonest fcndugh tb betray" the. trust reposed in him.' One of tlie CbuhGillbrs 'declared thiit his expefi : ciicb had. been that the committees always debepied the lowest tenders for GbjrrJbratibh contracts;, mtt it may be pfjlntfipi, fcilifc we recently had a- base in which the lowest tender was rejb'ctbd in .favour of a .higher one. ■ .So'.far. ho sdtisfactbry. explanation has been given fbr this; Trie'feisbhs {joint in cbntiebtioh with, tlib ap'poifttnient- bf the committees' on We'dhe'sday. that,..appears ,tb require some explanation: The committees wefe appointed, without discussion, bis thb hibtibfi bf Councillor Ltikk. Many people must have wbhdertd how tlio selection of .the cbmnlitteßs was made; and, especially, how CoraciLLOß Liixe fe'afne ib, appear in the fble of sßifaetking like ii municipal difcfa'tor. So doubt the list of committees was didwri lifj after some . kind .'-.of consultation amongst members, although nothing was said to .indicate that such' a course had been'.followed.-' We arc bound to say that it is a very irregular proceeding for nieh i i who have not'taken their seats as ObuhJ ciliora to wrongo what they shall do

when 'they meet for the "first time. The Finance 'Committee' is to cotisi'st, It apof, thei chairmen of the standing 'committees. This, wo, believe, is an innovation, arid it is difficult'to see why this 'mo's't important ;'6f all the committees should not bb appointed directly. There 'is little .'probability that any new member "of the 'Council will iio- f.ioctei to the .chairmanship of a committee, so that the Finance. Committee, ~ will' consist entirely of old members of v the Council. Amongst the Sew 'Councillors there, are Wen who /froiild be Useful 'members of the Finance 'Committee, .in which, even as a general rule, it is a good thing to have some, quite new blood every year. CbpNc'iLLcm Lota's action appears to us to have.been unwise', and not in the best interests of the city. The app6intme'nt of committees is an important matter; ■ aid the selection should li'aVc been ba'rried.bu't with care and deliberation. As it was, the whole thing Was rushed through apparently Without any regard for thii new Co'iihcillbrs, arid without 'any time ,for consideration. \Ve ■ i'fe surprised that no protest was made at the time.. •■■•''