DEFIES THE MAYOR

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 973, 16 May 1930, Page 10

DEFIES THE MAYOR

CR. LUNDON TRIES PATIENCE OF COLLEAGUES HIS SUSPENSION HINTED Few City Council meetings now pass without defiance of the Mayor, Mr. G. Baildon, by Cr. J. R. Lundon. Last evening the councillor refused on several occasions to sit down when so ordered, and strained the patience of the Deputy-Mayor, Cr. A. J. Entrican, to breaking point. “I am going to make a very strong protest against the way Cr. Lundon is treating our Mayor,” declared Cr. Entrican, with great indignation. “It is time the council took steps to prevent the indignities being placed upon the first gentleman of the city. Cr. Lundon: Point of order. The Mayor: Will you sit down! Cr. Lundon (angrily): I have risen to a point of order. I will not sit. Finally Cr. Lundon had his way. He said his point was that he had made no reference to Air. Baildon. but had merely mentioned that the “future Mayor of Auckland” (presumably tilting at Mr. M. P. Burton) had been corrected.

HINT OF DRASTIC ACTION Asked after the meeting what he had had in mind the Deputy-Mayor said he had intended to move the suspension of Cr. Lundon. It appears that this can be done in terms of the Municipal Corporations Act. but onlv for the remainder of the meeting at which a breach has been committed. Not infrequently when Cr. Lundon is ordered to sit down he asks the Mayor in a motherly manner whether he said “Please.”

Standing orders are definite that when the Mayor rises any member speaking or offering to speak is to sit down. Any councillor refusing to obey is to be held guilty of contempt. At the conclusion of the meeting one member suggested that the council should resign in a body and go to the ratepayers with the plea that obstructionist tactics be eliminated. Another remarked that it was a waste of time attending meetings: a third, that the council should have walked out in a body as a protest.