MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1827, 13 August 1913, Page 8

MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS.

ELECTION OF MAYOR. NOT A POLICY MEASURE. The lion. A. L. HEKDMAN moved the second veatliiiß of the Municipal Corporations Amendment Bill. At the outset lie- said be hoped the Bill would not hs so controversial as the last one. Cries of dissent from the Opposition, and voices: "What about tho Mayors?" Mr. Hcrdman said tko Bill was not in

ai:v way a policy measure, and it contained a number of reeaninirmlntioiis of the Municipal Confcreiu'cs of past years. There were three important clausos of the Bill. Clause a was, perhaps, the most important in that it proposed to effect a change in the method of electing mayors of cities ami Iwrough,-;—to permit the council instead of the ratepayers to elect the mayor. 11 was found I hut in various otlie;' iocal bodies in New Zealand the practice of the members electing their clwirman worked very well, and in Australian cities the Lord .Mayors were elected by the aldermen. If might be interesting to members to know something of tho cost of mayoral elections in the last year, which was not council election year. In Wellington the cost was in Christchurch .fit", in Auckland .t-10, and in Dunedin, where there had been 110 election for some years, the estimated co-it was ..'JWi. It cost therefoie ..I'lliOU to elect the mayors in the four princii:<il cities, and to this must be added the cost far all the ether boroughs in the Dominion. This propo-al would 110 doubt be argued, and the Hons? could decide whether it wanted things to remain as they ,-w?re or not. Clause il difalt with the constitution of new boroughs, and made certain prcpmsals to devise a new scheme more workable and more equitable than was possible under the present law. The other cf the three important clauses simplified the mans by which boundaries of boroughs could bo altered. Other provisions of tha Bill he reviewed briefly. Suggested Amendments. !Mr. T. H. DAVEY (C'liriftchureli East) said the Minis-tor had said the Bill was not a policy measure, and irom that it was lair to assume that the Minister would accept any reasonable amendments. Mr. Herdman: Hear, hear. ill-. Davey said he was not in favour of the proposal that Mayors be elected by the council. He intended lo introduce an amendment which would do away with the cost of elections of Mayors by providing that Mayors should ba elected for two years. In his opinion, the fact that a 'Mayor was elected bv the ratepayers added "dignity and honour to the office. He further suggested that a year was scarcely long enough to psrmit a Mayor to familiarise himself -with tho duties of his office. He also drew the attention of the Minister to a defect iu the existing law— that there was 110 provision by which a scrutiny of the votes might bo made so as to check duplication and impersonation iu voting. To remedy this he had drawn an amendment to introduce into tho Bill a clause similar to that in force for Parliamentary elections, l.t was time, he contended," that something was dona to ensure clean voting at municipal elections. Today a man could vote at twenty booths, say ill Wellington, and there was absoluttfly no check upon him at all. Tried—And Found Wanting. Dr. A. K. NEWMAN (Wellington East) strongly objected to the eloction of the -Mayor "by the council. The system had been tried in the past—records of debates that took place in IS7G showed that there was at that time general dissatisfaction with tho system now proposed. The system in vogue of direct election by tho people had be*n in force for 37 years, and should be maintained. Tho proposal to revert to the old system was a remit from a body of councillors. He approved of tho proposai to elect a Mayor for two years, but hoped that the House would not take away from the people tho right to elect tiieii- Mayor. Dr. Newman strongly supported the' proposal to give 11111111«i|ialities power to run motor-buses. Another power which should be conferred upon municipalities was that of enforcing the removal of unsightly rubbish even | though its presence might not 1m prejudicial to health. In general he commended tho provisions of the Bill with tho exception of the clause relating to the election of Mayor. Mr. T. K. SIDEY (Dunedin South) emphasised the educational value -of ' the Mayoral contest, and contended that a Mayor, elected under the present system, -caino to the council with a mandate from tlio electors which wag very helpful in the conduct of city affairs. There wero occasions when it was desirable that citizens should have a wider choice iu selecting their Mayor. Ho objected to Mr. Dnvey's proposal that tho Mayor should bo elected tor two years. Mr. J. S. DICKSON (Parhell) supported the contention that the Mayor should be elected by the people. He objected to the provision allowing streets of a less width than GG feet in cities. The clauses extending the powers of municipalities in taking' in outside local bodies met with his approval. The debate was adjourned at 11.35 p.m., 011 the motion of Mr. A. M. Myers (Auckland East). THE FINANCIAL DEBATE. The PHI ME MINISTER, before the House rose, moved that Committee of Supply be the first order of tho day, at 7.30 p.lll. to-iWy. This means that the Financial Debate will start at that hour. The House rose at 11.36 p.lll.