“BIG SEVEN” WILL NOT RESIGN

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 542, 20 December 1928, Page 8

“BIG SEVEN” WILL NOT RESIGN

Splitting Straws at Newmarket COUNCILLORS IN HOSTILE MOOD Mayor Offers to Face Ratepayers

THE chamber of tlie Newmarket Borough Council, which has been distinguished in recent months by the personalities a id ill-feeling introduced into municipal discussions again formed a battleground for council hostilities last evening. Trouble arose frequently, unexpectedly and on the slisiitest provocation, the meeting eventually developing into a semi-humourous contest of progressive straw-splitting.

Trouble developed as soon as councillors took their seats, when the Mayor, Mr. S. Donaldson, wished to have recorded in the minutes a statement which Cr. Cooper made in reply to Cr. Watts concerning certain options secured by Cr. H. Gregory for the council. Cr. Cooper had said the council would confirm the options. Cr. Watts asked: “Whether right or ■wrong?” Cr. Cooper replied: “Yes.” After this had been fully debated, and councillors had repeated their opinions many times, Cr. Cooper said he had not understood the tenor of Cr. Watts's question. “Fancy him saying the council would approve a man doing wrong,” he explained in amazement. Eventually the minutes in discussion were referred back unconfirmed, other councillors finding little pointj which they wished to have recorded. WHO SPOKE THE TRUTH? The next brush in the evening's hostilities was when the Mayor was asked by Cr. Smerdon for information which he (the Mayor) had given to the Local Government Loans Board in respect to the £3,000 loan proposals, twice turned down by the board. This developed rapidly, when Cr. Gregory inferred that the Mayor was not telling all the truth about the property options. “I would tell the whole truth next time,” he advised the Mayor. The Mayor wasted no time. “I am not going to be spoken to like that by you,” he reminded Cr. Gregory. "And I tell you frankly and straight that I will stand no impudent statement about last night’s meeting of ratepayers. You may call a meeting if you wish.” Cr. Gregory: 1 intend to do, so. I will then give them the whole truth. The Mayor: Do you infer that I did sot speak the truth? Cr. Gregory: I say you told only half the truth. The Mayor: If you repeat that I will take steps to have you removed from the council chamber. “THE BIG SEVEN” A letter which was sent by a public meeting of Newmarket ratepayers, calling upon “The Big Seven” (meaning the seven councillors who are opposed to the Mayor on certain proposals) to resign, was not received but merely allowed to lie on the table. No questions were asked as to who comprised “The Big Seven,” but members argued heatedly for some time as to whether the resolution from the

public meeting bad been carried unanimously (as stated in the letter) or with several dissentients (as stated by the three daily newspapers). “There you are, gentlemen,” said the Mayor, Mr. S. Donaldson, who had called the public: meeting from which the resolution emanated. Cr. Smerdon put over the next broadside, and said the letter was rather a strange document to come from a meeting which the Mayor himself had convened. The Mayor seemed anxious to place his councillors at a disadvantage, he said. , If seven of the councillors were against the Mayor, why should not the Mayor resign or pull in with the majority, which had been trying to rule in council matters? SPORTING OFFER Cr. Cooper expressed a desire to place municipal affairs on a sporting plane. “Let’s make it a sporting offer,” he said. “Let’s all resign, and get a new Mayor and new council. We are prepared to resign if your fellows are prepared to do the same.” The Mayor was about to accept the challenge when it was revealed to him that Cr. Cooper wished unconditional resignation without submission to the ratepayers for re-election. “I offered to resign three months ago,” the Mayor recalled. “I will not resign now if we are not to submit ourselves to re-election. That is for the ratepayers.” That controversy was just disposed of when the council bqgan to argue hotly as to whether the Mayor had instigated the resolution. “We are not going to take any notice of your meeting,” Cr. Cooper said, “when a resolution comes along with your own words put into someone else’s mouth.” The Mayor: You are wrong and must withdraw that remark. Cr. Cooper: I will not withdraw. It came from your meeting. Cr. O’Meara: I think it is contemptible, and I am not going to take it. The Mayor: It was promoted by information given at the public meeting. Cr. Smerdon: You are inflaming the public against your own council. And so they went on. From 7.30 till 8.55 the members argued upon subjects of questionable relevancy, the discussion being punctuated by frequent calls for legal opinion. Cr. Smerdon summed up his view of the position when the council, was about to go into committee. “This is a queer council,” he said.