ELECTIVE TRANSPORT BOARD

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 670, 23 May 1929, Page 1

ELECTIVE TRANSPORT BOARD

Mr. Morton Defers Resignation ATTEMPT TO FORCE ELECTION BELIEVING that the Transport Board should be an elective body Mr. F. S. Morton has deferred his resigna tibn until after May 31, thereby hoping to precipitate an election. lie had intended to resign his seat on the board as from the end of this month because of liis departure for South

Africa

Monday evening, May 27, however, the local bodies he represents —the Onehunga Borough Council, the Mount Koskill, One Tree Hill and Mount Wellington Road Boards, and the Ellerslie and Panmure Town Boards —will meet to consider whether they shall remove him from office and appoint another, so avoiding the necessity for an election. The Transport Board Act provides that any local authority may remove a member or members between the date of the municipal elections of May 1. 1929. and May 31, 1929. and appoint another or others. Thus Mr. Morton may not be given the option of resigning when it pleases him. If, however, the meeting of his appointers decides not to remove him. and he resigns after May 31, he will have made an -election necessary. This is precisely Mr. Morton’s intention. “Special circumstances which have arisen as a result of the municipal elections have induced a number of members of the local bodies in the No. 3 area to ask me to reconsider my decision with a view to bringing about an elective board,” the member stated. It was felt that, should he delay his resignation until after May 31, it would be reasonable then to ask the Government to amend the Transport Act. He was now convinced that it would be in the interests of all concerned for the Transport Board to be an elective board immediately. A NEW POSSIBILITY It has been pointed out that in the event of Mr. Morton refusing to resign

before May 31 there is a possibility that the local bodies which appointed him will have to be content with one representative on the board instead of two. It has been contended that the Act gives the local bodies power to remove any of its representatives and to replace them by others within the period from the tirst Wednesday of May, 1929, and May 31, 1929. It is further suggested that if the local bodies concerned failed to do this they will find there is no machinery whereby a vacancy can be filled by a poll. Following on this argument it is interpreted that the clause providing for the filling of an extraordinary vacancy does not come iuto operation until after the board has been elected by a vote of the ratepa:,/ s on the first Wednesday in sfay, 1931. MR. ALLUM’S POSITION The much-debated resignation of Mr. J. A. C. Allum, chairman of the board and a representative of the City Council, which was argued with vigour and some heat by the council a fortnight ago and deferred, will again come up for consideration at a special meeting of the council on Tuesday evening. A notice of motion by Mr. T. Bloodworth will also be considered at the special meeting. If carried, the motion would have the effect, of withdrawing all six of the council’s present representatives on the Aboard, thus requiring the council to elect representatives afresh. It is pointed out that these need not exclude all or any of the present nominees, who are Messrs. Allum, G. Baildon, A. Entrican. E. J. Phelan, G. Ashley and M. J. Coyle.