BOROUGH MANAGEMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 November 1919, Page 2

BOROUGH MANAGEMENT.

(To the Editor.) Sir,—l see by the report of the last meeting of tho New .Plymouth Borough Council that it proposes appointing a general manager to manage the Borough affairs for three years .it an average salarr if over £l6 per week. The councillors seem to congratulate themselves on being the first, municipality to introduce such a grand Innovation, If appointing a general manager is such a wonderful Idea, I think mysej# it Is a funny thing'that some of tho largo centres such as Wellington would n"t before now have seen some of the advantages tha! would be gained by such an appointmenmt, and that it was left, to a poor little fifth or sixth-rate town like New Plymouth to lead tile way. In weighing the Blatter carefully over, the Council will find that everything in the garden will not be so lovely. In the first place, members will have to sink their individuality, meet to hear the report read, pass accounts, mark time, and go home; and the affairs of the borough nill bo carried on through the brains of one man, instead of as at present, by the wholo Council, In tho next place, there is a danger that the business of the manager, and that of :he engineer may clash, as it is quite possible that the engineer' will not consent to take orders from the manager, as the business of an engineer is not understood by an accountant. In the next place, why give an accountant £l6 per week while the rank aiirt file have to be content with so much less? Everywhere at tho present time the cause of so much unrest is not so much on. account of (he cost of living, but by the lr,g disparity between one man's remuneraMon and that of another. If tho manager is worth £lO per week, then surely the ordinary man is worth £6 a week. You may say we must pay for brains, which is so; but we must pay a,'so .for muscle. Although I am not advocating a riso in wage's for anyono, as every rise in wages means a corresponding rise in the cost of living, yet I think that so long as such inequality remains there will suro to bo unrest. A case in point can be seen by tho railway* tor as soon as tho wages of the first division were bumped up tho second il'vision became dissatisfied, and lh!s, in mv cpillion, was quito right too. I am' pleased to see that the Borough Council has not settled this matter hasilv, but has given time ;o weigh over tiio pros and cons of the proposal.—l am, etc., WORKER. >.ovember 3, 1010.