AN EXTRAORDINARY IMPASSE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2182, 28 September 1920, Page 2

AN EXTRAORDINARY IMPASSE.

FEATHER STON BOBOUG PLIGHT. ’

Pea (herston Borough. Council on Wednesday afternoon reached an impasse which will prove a record for the Dominion (says the WaiVa- '*• rapa Standard). Some time ago, it will be remembered, one of the Councillors resigned office. He stood for election again, fought a contest, and was successful. Under ordinary circumstances he would have been sworn in and would have taken his seat at the meeting of the Council on Wednesday night. But the remaining eight councillors, who had agreed to resign if he wore returned, did so on Wednesday afternoon, and the Town Clerk (the Mayor being absent in the Old Country) was left without a Council. Councillor Kendall is elected, but not sworn in, eight new councillors can be elected but they will he in the same position, because (hey also cannot he sworn in. The nine councillors will require to wait until the Mayor returns, when he and the Town Clerk can perform the necessary preliminary to any business whatever being done by the Council. Wages cannot be paid, nor any accounts, because the Bank account cannot be operated upon by the Town Clerk alone, and no fresh act or work can bo undertaken till Mr Card returns, under a heavy penally to councillors who are not sworn in. There is no provision in the Act authorising or ordering councillors who vacate their seats and create an extraordinary vacancy to retain office till their successors till their places, indeed, there is no necessity for this, as their successors can and will be appointed, though"** their appointment will not be consummated till they are sworn in. Truly it is a very nice tangle, but there it is, and Mr Card's arrival in Featherslon can alone unravel it. Thus patience is a virtue which perforce will require to be cultivated sp far as borough a flairs arc concerned in Featherslon for some little I ime.