A SEVERE REBUKE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1191, 28 July 1911, Page 5

A SEVERE REBUKE.

IHU nun. in BY THE CITY COUNCIL. ~ I SYMPATHY WITH ACTING-MAYOR A STRONG RESOLUTION. Members of the City Council joined last evening in making a strong and uhited protest against tho behaviour of the Minister for Public Works (the Hon. R. M'Kenzie) when he /was waited upon, last Tuesday, by a deputation representing the conference convened by the Wellington City Council to consider the draft tramway regulations recently issued by the Government. Councillor Frost introduced the subject, remnrking that since the council had last met it hod had ari insult cast upon it by a Minister of the Crown. He moved:— "That the members of the Wellington City Council consider that the action of the Minister for Public Works (the Hon. R. M'Kenzie) in refusing to allow the Acting-Mayor of Wellington (as chairman of the deputation .of delegates representing the various centres of New Zealand) to speak on tho proposed tramway regulations, and his threat, as a Minister' of the Crown, to eject him from the room, was an unwarrantable and unjustifiable insult to tho deputation and .also to the citizens of Wellingon. Further, that a cop,y of .the foregoing be sent to the Acting-Prime Minister." A Sorry Spectacle. Speaking to the motion Councillor Frost hoped that it would be considered apart from politics. He was sure that every member would feel that the episode at the deputation was discreditable to the Minister and to the whole of tho Dominion. It had been a sorry speotacle to see a Minister ot" the Crown display so much venom and malice. The Minister had entirely forgotten his senses at that particular moment, and had neglected tne rules of_ common decency. Seconding the motion, Councillor Stirrtclitfe said he had heard with deen indignation of the treatment to which the chief representative of the citizens of Wellington had been subjected. Whatever opinion might exist as to the action of Councillor Smith, the speaker felt great doubt as to whether tne Minister had been right in endeavouring in the first place to treat tho regulations as confidential. In any case they all felt quite sure that the Acting-Mayor had considered that ho was serving the interests of Wellington and of the whole Dominion 111 acting as he had done. He had certainly done nothing 'to justify the >u.sult put upon him by the Minister for Public Works. Deputation in the Wrong.

.Councillor Trevor said that, iii connection with this matter, there was only one good feature, aud ihnfc was the utterance of Councillor Fletcher. The action of the Tramways Committee had in itself been reprehensible. He contended that its members--should have walked out ot the Minister's room. A councillor: "lou said 'the committee ; you mean 'the deputation'?" Councillor Trevor: "Yes, the deputaIt was only right, he concluded, tuat this resolution should bo passed.' Goiincillor Fuller thought the council should express sympathy with the ActingMayor, and leave it to the..public of \\ ellington to dq the censuring! He suggested an an amendment— "That the council deprecate 1 the action of the Minister .for Publio \Vorks in grossly insulting the Act-ing-Mayor, and records its sympathy with him (the Acting-Mayor)." t'ontinuing, Councillor Fuller remarked that delegates from other cities had taken a different course than the ActingMayor. They had treated the regula- ' irons as confidential. _ Councillor; ShirtcliJfe interpolated that toe substance of the regulations had been published before the Acting-Mayor made them public. "His Blood Had Boiled." Councillor Fuller, continuing, stated that his blood had boiled when he beard u j *at happened at the deputation. It h«w taken him some tinie to get over it. At the same timo ho doubted whether the council should lay itself open to another snub from ths Government. The proposed amendment was not seconded. Councillor M'Kenzie regretted that an Old • colonist. had lived to be affronted as the Acting-Mayor had been by a Minister of the Crown. I n that chamber the speaker had listened to many praises, by delegates from'other cities, of the manner m which, the Wellington Council had taken up the question of the regulars? 3 ; , e v ' sitors . however, had signally failed to maintain this attitude ' when they attended the deputation. Councillor Cohen pointed out that the regulations had been issued accompanied by a notification that they were gazettable on July 31. The insult by the Minister liad been most uncalled for. Councillor Fletcher said he was thoroughly 111 accord with the motion. It made 110 difference to the speaker whether the Acting-Mayo'r had been right or wrong. The Minister for Public Works had lost the opportunity of his life. He should have heard .the Acting-Mayor and the others, and then rebuked tho disclosure of a confidential dooument, if lie so desired. What tho Minister did, .the councillor continued, was to refuse, in a brutal manner, to • receive Councillor fcmitli as Acting-Mayor of the city. Insult to tho Citizens. Councillor Cameron said that tho insult to the Acting-Mayor had been extremely a>! d 't w as an insult to the citizens ot Wellington and to citizens of other parts of the country, whom Councillor bmith represented on the occasion of the deputation. The manner in which the Minister had acted could not bo too hardly spoken of. Tho action of the Minister was most brutal. As to his statement that the Wellington tramways were the worst managed on earth, Councillor Cameron characterised it as inspired by ignorance, accentuated bv bumptiousness and a .certain degree of pig-headed-noss. "Brutally Assailed." Councillor Atkinson objected that the resolution, as it stood, neither expressed sympathy with the Acting-Mayor, nor commence 111 his honour and integrity. The personal character of Councillor . $-%,9 no . °* y*e most respectable men m Wellington, had been brutally availed, and the motion should be amended by the addition of tho words-.— That the council begs to assure the Acting-Mayor that tho insolence of the Minister has not in any way shaken the coniulcnco of the council and of the citizens of Wellington in the honour, integrity, and capacity of the Acting-Mayor. ~ " lf .„ I bfj l . .'heen there," concluded Councillor Atkinson, "I think I should have taken something, whatever was handy, and afterwards have left tho room, voluntarily or otherwise." The motion was amended as suggested Councillor Godber considered that the deputation would have best sustained its own dignity by leaving the room when its chairman (Councillor Smith) was insulted. Councillor , Fitzgerald entered an emphatic protest against "the brutalisin" and tyrannical behaviour on tho nart nf tho Minister for Public Works." if such gross behaviour were a Mo wed to pass it would cast a rellection 011 tho intei'ligcnce of the citizens of Wellington. Rut for the action of a Christclmrcli delegate Councillor Fitzgerald added, tho deputation would have left tho room, and that was what it should have done. Councillor Barber deprecated the action of the Acting-Mayor in disclosing the contents of a document marked confidential, but stated that 110 would support tho resolution. 'Tho resolution was carried unanimously, upon the voices, councillors applauding. "Political Crawling." Councillor Barber's rofercnco to a "confidential report" arotued Councillor Hindm«'sh,' who asked the Mayor to rule Councillor Barber out of order, saying that tho latter was talking politics. The Acting-Mayor said that he was "one of the culprits," and was allowing the

council as much latitude as he could. Hp could justify himself, but he did not .intend to. He did not rule Councillor Barber out of order. Councillor Barber proceeded again, and, after a while, mentioned, the "confidential report" again. Mr. Hindmarsh: "It is only political crawling. It is a disgrace to the council." Tho Acting-Mavor made some remark which sounded like, "That is hardly fair." Councillor, Hindmarsh: "Well, I will speak plainly. He had an opportunity to drop it., and now he is prostrating himself again." ' Councillor Godber "I think you should ask Councillor Hindmarsh to withdraw." The Acting-Mayor asked Councillor Hindmarsh ii' he intended to withdraw. Councillor Hindmarsh: "No; certainly not! I think it is a mean, contemptible bit of cowardliness to take advantage of you when you have expressed yourself. I say that no words that I can use are too strong to criticise liis action."