FIRE BOARD CHAIRMANSHIP.
EX-CHAIRMAN RETIRES FROAI THE ACEETING.
AIR. CRAY’S OUTSPOKEN CRITICISAI.
At yesterday’s first annual meeting of the Foxton Fire Board, the Chairman (Air John Chrystall, Alayor), said the first business wns flic election of a chairman.
Air Cray moved, and Air Bryant seconded, the nomination of Air Hornblow. There being no other nominations, Air Hornblow was declared elected with applause.
The Alayor (lien hurriedly left the meeting. Air Cray asked permssion to make a. statement. He said when lie had first been appointed a member of the Board be had made it quite clear that he was uo longer an insurance representative, hut a member of the Foxton Fire Board, whose object was to work for the saving of life and property in the Foxton Fire district, and to administer the affairs of the Board to that end to the best of his ability. He regretted the sudden departure of the late chairman from the meeting, as he desired to address himself more pnrtienlarly to the remarks made by that gentleman at the local Borough Council meeting in connection with fire insurance i mp.rrVs. Ho referred to a statement appearing in the Press report •>f a Council meeting when matters were under discussion in connection with the fire-hell, in which the Alayor and Or. Smith figured. The Mayor’s remarks about “greasing the/at pig” were not only undignified but were vulgar, and had the ex-Chairman been present be would have said they were' impertinent. He desired to say that the Fire Board did not want anything for nothing from the Borough Council. The administration of the Board and its constitutional powers should not be prejudiced, and in order to enlighten the public of Foxton, he had seriously considered calling a meeting of ratepayers and explaining matters to them. So far as' Foxton and insurance companies were concerned, this town had bchefitted by insurance companies to a greater extent than any other town of its size in the Dominion. The insurance companies had had to meet serious losses in Foxton, and Foxton was indebted to the companies. Apart from this aspect the insuranc companies had to pay 47 per cent, of the maintenance and upkeep of the Fire Board in its operations to save life and property in Foxton. The insurance companies did not advocate a policy of extravagance in Fire Board administration, but desired efficiency to protect life and property, and his object as a member of the Board was solely to serve the best interests of tlie district financially and otherwise.
Mr Smith endorsed the remarks of the previous S7>eaker, and said there should be no ill-feeling because of a difference of opinion. The object of the Board members was to do tbe best in the interests of Foxton and district.
The Chairman said he regretted the ex-chairman’s sudden departure from the meeting. There were times when he disagreed with the chairman but he believed he (Mr Chrystall) acted conscientiously. He agreed with Mr Cray that the position of Chairman should be rotary. New chairmen brought forth new ideas and inspired fresh interest in matters of ■administration. As Chairman of the Board he would discharge bis duties solely in the interests of the Board. Tbe business of the Board was then proceeded with.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MH19230621.2.16
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2596, 21 June 1923, Page 3
Word count
Tapeke kupu
545FIRE BOARD CHAIRMANSHIP. Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2596, 21 June 1923, Page 3
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Manawatu Herald. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.