“SIT DOWN—”
BROTHER COUNCILLORS AND MAYOR MR. E. MORTON RETAINS SEAT The question of Councillor E. Morton’s status on the Onehunga Council has been referred to the Municipal Corporations’ solicitor, who is of the opinion that Councillor Morton, although not a ratepayer, should retain his seat. This legal opinion was received at the meeting of the Onehunga Borough Council last evening, and stated that although Councillor E. Morton was not a ratepayer, his name was on the roll, which constituted him an elector, and an elector is competent to be, and remain, a councillor. Further, he can retain Iris seat if no steps are taken to amend the roll. On the foregoing being read, Councillor E. Mdrton asked the Mayor: •What attitude do you propose to take up new?” The Mayor: I don’t take up any attitude. Are you a ratepayer and a residential ? Cr. E. Morton denied the Mayor’s right to put that question, when his brother, Cr. F. S. Morton, broke in: “You, as Mayor, allowed an innuendo to go forward and be published in the Press that Cr. E. Morton was not legally entitled to retain his seat on this council ” The Mayor: Excuse me, that is not correct. I will not allow you to insult the chair in this way. Sit down. Cr. F. S. Morton: You have admitted that you were one of those behind this. The Mayor: That is quite wrong. Cr. F. S. Morton: It was your place to have protected a member of this council. It is a crying shame, and one of the meanest things a chief magistrate of the borough “If you are going to use that language I will not tolerate it,” interrupted the Mayor. “I am here to uphold the dignity of the chair, and I order you to sit down. Cr. E. Morton then took up the running by demanding an apology from the Mayor. “I ask you,” he said, “to declare my seat vacant. It would be a manly way of clearing the question up.” The Mayor: Are you a ratepayer of the borough? Councillor E. Morton: I am the plaintiff and you are the defendant in this case. You know where to go to get the information you require. A wrong has been done me, and I want it righted.
The episode was ended by the council formally receiving the solicitor’s letter.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/SUNAK19280606.2.173
Bibliographic details
Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 373, 6 June 1928, Page 18
Word Count
397“SIT DOWN—” Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 373, 6 June 1928, Page 18
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