CR. BROOKING'S RESIGNATION

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81876, 29 October 1906, Page 2

CR. BROOKING'S RESIGNATION

(To the Editor.) Sir,—] n your issue oi Saturday you reported an interview wiln Mr lirooking, in vvincii lie assigned a « tue cau» of hw resigning lus office of borough councillor, thai lie bad been subjected to abuse m the jjurough Council. lo all those who were present at the nnut.ng of the Council, held last Alondaj, ii is obvious that !Vir ljnuking reiers to certain unreported statements made by myself at that meeting. As lie would lead the public to infer thai L have, in the discussion of a matter of public importance, descended front fair criticism and comment to mere calumny and abuse, I ask your permission to repeal what 1 said at the meeting, and to leave ii to the public to jutige whether the inference winch Mr 'Brooking seeks lo draw is true or false.

The matter under discussion was lt the proposed adoption of the report c mending that a loan Proposal be sublU mined to the ratepayers for the pur;S chase of Mr Brouking's properly as a c site for a Library and Town Hall. I '" said that Mr Brooking was rcsponu sible for the fact of the report being s pießented, and that for various reau sons he should have been the last '• of the Carnegie committee rucom'J member of the Council to act as he a had done. i poinied out his inconJ sistent speaking and voting at the 11 preceding meeting of the Council; !' that he spoko in favour of an amend- -' ment thai the site adjoining the present Town Hall should be chosen for the library, alleging as a reason that e the ratepayers would never consent 1 to a loan for the purchase of a library siie; that he allowed the amendment . to be earned without a division, and , that, when the amendment was put : to the Council as a substantive mo- , lion, it: was lost by his vote recorded , against it. 1 pointed out that, by ,- 'his action m the matter, Mr Brook- ; ing was jeopardising the important , loan proposals put forward by the . Electric Lighting : which he was chairman, r ~;.. , fcrrcd w the fact tMt Mr ■ being a member of the Council, wa \ an insuperable objection to the nro- . posed purchase of his property, in further reference tQ the , )t0 P*ed loan for electric light pur P o , s«, l desire no« to say that the Council, on the recummmemlation of the Electric Lighting Committee, of which Mr Brooking was chairman, has spent moneys out of overdraft I and incurred liabilities greatly in >

excess nt the loans previously raised and thai the effect of the poll for the fresh loan being lost will be to render the Council unable to meet its engagements and to carry on its ordinary work. Any action of a councillor which would contribute to such a disastrous result was surely a matter of fair comment and not one to be lightly overlooked. In the discharge of my duties as a councillor 1 considered it necessary to refer lo these matters, and I jtm'confident (hat my action will meet with Ihe approval of the ratepayers. So long as 1 have tnc honour to bu a councillor, 1 am not prepared to sit like a dumb dog when matters come up [or decision of which 1 disapprove. There is another point in connection with this matter to which I will refer. Ai the meeiing of the Council last Monday, Mr Brooking said thai lie had [mi a price on his properly greatly in excess of ib-value, knowing full well that the Council would never take lire properly at that price. When he made' that statement the councillors opposed it! the purchase had already spoken. and ihose councillors who had not

spoken were too anxious in get Mr lirooking's property at any price to make any comment upon tlui slataini'iu. Mr liiooking, however, has placed himself upon tin- horns of This dilemma, thai he either intcn'ded to accept the price he asked in the event of thi' proposal being ultimately earned, or else he intended to lei ilio Council «i. through the farce of submilrng a loan proposal lo the ralepayers which he would never consent lo himself because it involved an unconscientious bargain.—l am. etc.. DAVID lIWTCHEN. New Plymouth. October 2S, ie,oG.