THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1881, THE CITY COUNCIL MUDDLE.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2345, 8 October 1881, Page 3

THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1881, THE CITY COUNCIL MUDDLE.

We are glad to learn that an attempt will be made on Monday evening in the City Council to put an end to the present most unsatisfactory relations which exist between the Council and its chief executive officer. As the matter now stands the Town Clerk is naturally occupying a position from which a substantial majority of the representatives of the ratepayers have decided he shall be removed. Worse than that, as we have before pointed out, the employers of the Town Clerk have placed it in his power to administer a sound snubbing to them, and through them to the citizens. How delightedly this would be done it is hardly necessary to observe. It must be patent to everyone interested in the order and good government of the city that an end must be put to the present state of things. It is notorious that a change in the official administration of the Council has long been a crying necessity. Now, however, through the action taken no

steps can be proceeded witn wmen would lead to this very desirable end. The vacillation and irresoluteness displayed by the Council in this matter cannot but have a very demoralising influence on all the officers under their control. It seems to us, therefore, that though the opinion of the city solicitor on the matter is opposed to terminating the engagement of the Town Clerk by three months’ notice, this and this only is the proper course to pursue. What we cannot but characterise as a monstrous proposition has been put forward by a section of the members of the Council, and it is one which we feel sure will at once meet with the disapproval of the ratepayers. It has been mooted, as a method of settling the difficulty—so we understand —that a year’s notice should

be given to Mr. Haskins, and that instead of his remaining in office for that period, a year’s salary, or £4OO, be paid to him. Bad as the present position is, and utterly unbusinesslike and devoid of stability as has been the conduct of the Council, this proposal ont-Horod’s Herod. If the proposal be made in sober earnestness, it means simply this, that Mr. Haskins is to receive £4OO of the ratepayers’ money simply to retire from his office. In other words, he is to give up the Town Clerkship for a consideration.

We must confess to a feeling of the most intense astonishment at such a cool proposal, and we feel certain that were the Council to pass such a resolution, they would quickly find that their action was condemned almost entirely, and by two-thirds of the ratepayers. If the question be a legal one, and the Town Clerk has certain rights, lot the law decide them. The Council have been advised by a gentleman of the legal profession —whose opinions on this subject particularly are entitled to great weight—that three months’ notice would bo ample. Fortified by that advice their course is clear. Let the motion for three months’ notice, which in all probability will bo moved on Monday next, be carried, and the Gordian knot of this difficulty will bo at once cut. Wo have no wish to see the Council act harshly or unjustly towards any of its officers. But either the Council or the Town Clerk must be master of the position in this matter. If the Town Clerk, than the sooner he takes all the municipal power into his own bands the better. He has been

allowed a great deal more power than is consistent with his position in the past. Now, however, matters have come to a crisis, and it has to be decided who is to manage the affairs of the city. The Council have decided thus far that it is necessary, in the interests of the city, that a reorganisation of the mnnicipal staff should take place. While that resolution remains on the books of the Council, and is not rescinded, it is the bonnden duty of the Council to carry it out in its integrity. Like in the fatal charge of Balaklava, no doubt “ some one has blundered,” and the result has been pitiable in the extreme. But because the Council have made a muddle of the preliminary stops, that is no reason why they should be content to sit down calmly with their chief executive officer dictating to them whether and for how long a period he shall remain in their employ. Neither is it any justification for the monstrous proposal to pension off the Town Clerk with £4OO of the ratepapers’ money. We feel sure the good sense of the Council, albeit it has not been prominently displayed in this matter, will prevent such a proposal as this ever being made. Let the Council for once deal with the question before it in a practical and businesslike way. Three months’ notice is ample, and this should be given. If Mr. Haskins, on consultation with his legal advisers, should feel aggrieved, then let the law settle it. The Council will have done all in its power, and whether, in the event of a struggle, they gain or lose, they can claim that they have acted in the best interests of the ratepayers as a body.