“I SHALL NOT GO”

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12606, 17 November 1926, Page 7

“I SHALL NOT GO”

MAYOR SAYS CIVIC LEAGUE DESIRES TO DISCREDIT HIM “AT ALMOST ANY COST” ELECTORS’ DECISION IS THE ONLY ONE HE WILL ACCEPT Accusing the Civic League of cherishing a desire to discredit him, and of “grave discourtesy,” Mr Norwood says he will go to the polls in April, despite the league’s choice of another candidate.

“When the Civic League proposes to thrust me out I shall assuredly not go, but if the electors of Wellington decide that 1 must give place to another then I shall accept that judgment with very good grace,” said the .Mayor (Air C. J. B, Norwood) yesterday, when answering the latest statements published by the Civic League. “But if lam defeated next Aprii as the result of a triangular contest the Civic League may not have reason to be as happy aver the occasion as their present comments would imply.” This significant utterance of Mr Norwood was prefaced by the remark that while he did not wish to enter a seemingly endless controversy upon the subject of the Mayoral election, he could not allow the Civic League’s statement to remain unrefuted. “It appears to me," lie went on, “that tiie Civig Loague, in its desire to endeavour to discredit me at almost any cost, wishes to mislead the pnbiio ipto the idea that I had been treated with all the courtesy that is due to the office I hold, and that I, on my part, had failed to return that courtesy. Is there any dignity about the offioe of Mayor of this city ? To my mind, yes, and to my mind, therefore, the Mayor in office is entitled to more courtesy than I have been accorded. A DENIAL “111 the course of his statement, the secretary pf.the Civic League says: 'Before, l Mb jNorlvopd went to Sydney about three months ago, he was first waited upon by the league’s officers, under instruction, and asked if he desired to seek another term of office. He replied that he could not then say, but would go into the matter and would be in a position to answer after he returned. . . .’ “I do not wish tp be discourteous, but I make the emphatic statement that I had no conversation whatever about my trip to Sydney with Mr McLaren or with any other member pf the Civip League. . “It i* a fact . that -Mr .McLaren waited upon me some time late in June last ‘under instruction,’ and asked me my intentions as to seeking a further term of office. I must fraukly admit that I felt some resentment that I should be questioned by an officer of the Civio League ‘under instruction,’ ten months prior to the .date of the, municipal elections, and I merely dismissed the matter by stating that I would consider the matter in due course, but fixed no time .by .which my,.decision . would beouiade,

DIGNITY OF OFFICE “Surely those people of Wellington who do regard the office of Mayor as a dignified position will not think it proper that an officer of the Civic League can demand when lie or his league think fit—in this case ten months before the election date—a statement of the Mayor’s intentions. That the league looks upon the office as possessing little dignity has been clearly indicated by its conduct right through the term of this council. Did the league send its officer to its own nominee for the Mayoral chair, or did the league treat him to a more dignified and befitting method of com'municating the league’s wishes? “When the president of the league and the officer in question waited upon me, twq or three days prior to the announcement of their selection of Councillor Troup, I still considered that their inquiries were premature, but on this occasion the league certainly paid the office of Mayor the compliment of sending its president along. He, said that the league wished to know my position in the matter, and in reply I said that I would go into the matter, •but first it was only fair that I should consult some of my friends. ‘‘GRAVE DISCOURTESY” “They left the room without giving any indication that they were about to make a selection. As they immediately proceeded with their selection, I cannot regard it as anything else than a grave discourtesy to the Mayoral office and to myself in particular thqt my name should he put in with other' names for discussion —and rejection, not by the people of Wellington, hut by the members of the Civic League present at that meeting. “I can come to no conclusion hut that my name was so included that the public might be led to the opii> ion that after careful judgment I was found wanting. DIFFICULT CONDITIONS “At the end of my term of office I shall have given two-years of public service, and during that term, I leek the city’s immense organisation has been placed on a footing which leaves the way clear for clean and economic management. That is not roy work; X have had a share in it, but is the work of the Wellington City Council, battling along under difficult conditions. Still, having had a share in this, I feel that I must go to a higher court than the Civic League for decision as to whether I am a fit person to occupy this chair for another terrt.