The Borough Council.

Manawatu Herald, 7 January 1893, Page 2

The Borough Council.

Wb regret that at the last meeting of th--i Porongh « ouncil the proposal fco adjourn the c'iscassion re the purchase of a piece of land for a roacl from the Mayor, was not agreed to. The rasult nrghfc have been the ■iftrae, but if so, it Would huve been ijjreed to after every member had had a chance cf speaking to th" motion. We should have expected that ihe officers of the ouucil would have look_d upan the proposal as special business requiring a notice of motion, for hardly a Councillor ex- j pected the matter would have cropped | up wht>n it did, and one Councillor, who had expressed previously his dissent to any such action being taken, was absent. It would certainiy have been better had the adjournment been agreed to, and we can see som? very serious difficulties ahead which may exemplify " th« more haste the less speed." There was another instance of too much hurry being shown, at the same meeting, in passing a resolution offhand that Tuesday be the official half- holiday. The resolution i is not worth the paper it is written on, and one glance at The Factory Act would have shown it. Members •)f local b >dies too frequently ignore the text of che laws they are supposed to give effect to he* Act declares i.hat the local authority may make an alteration in the day fixed by the Act, if it is done by " special order.'" A special order requires a resolution to be passed at a special meeting, and confirmed at a subsequent special meeting to be held a month afterwards, and during the period between che two meetings the resolution must b^ publish -d. If the Council intend caking any step? about a change in Mie weekly half-holiday thiy must commence afresh.