AN APOLOGY

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 32305, 27 August 1943, Page 6

AN APOLOGY

COUNTY TAKES IT BACK EXAGGERATION ADMITTED TRAFFIC INSPECTOR’S PROTEST “ That this council expresses regret that exaggerated remarks had been made, that the written explanation be accepted and that there is no reflection on the inspector’s work or the methods in which he carries it out,” was the substance of a resolution passed after a lively discussion at the August meeting of the Piako County Council. The discussion arose when a letter was read from Inspector Sharp, of Morrinsville, objecting strongly to the reported statement of a councillor at last month’s meeting that there were numerous complaints that he could not be found half the time when he

was supposed to be available for interviewing applicants for drivers’ licences in Morrinsville between the hours at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Fridays. The inspector held that such a position was contrary to fact and that he had been absent from Morrinsville only on isolated occasions when he had to be in Hamilton to attend to Court work. He had always endeavoured to meet applicants in every way. The inspector added that arrangements had been made to hear his Court cases on the first Friday of each month in future. The chairman, Mr D. Johnson, said that a specific case had been -brought

before the council in which a young man had approached the inspector for a licence. The speaker had 'been told by the inspector that he had questioned the young man on the rules of the road, and as the youth appeared to be in ignorance of them he was advised by the inspector to come back later after he had made himself conversant with them. Mr W. A. Rushton said there were other cases, one in which a woman had telephoned from Waitoe and made an appointment only to be told when she arrived in Morrinsville that the inspector could not deal with her application on the day. In regard to the youth mentioned,. he was the speaker’s son, and had been told to come back on Tuesday. “We haven’t the time to be running around like that,” Mr Rushton added. District Opinion Quoted

Mr F E. Harris said that throughout the Walton district he had heard it said that the inspector was never to be found in Morrinsville on Fridays. The speaker could not see anything wrong with the Waikato Times report.

Mr W. C. Kennedy said the inspector should be advised that the council saw no reason .for an apology and that the council further advise him that it was pleased to see that he would 'be present in the future. The county clerk, Mr F. I. Clarke, said he had* had no trouble with the inspector, who had never missed a Thursday in Te Aroha. Circumstances sometimes held him up, but in those instances he advised the council and arrangements were made accordingly.

Mr Rushton said he had always worked amicably with the inspector. Had the council known the position as pointed out in the letter it would have been all right. The resolution that the council accept the explanation of the inspector and point out that there was no intention to cast a slur on his work in any way, met with general approval after Mr Harris had agreed that his remarks that the inspector was not there half the time might have been exaggerated.