DISAGREEMENT.
•COUNTY CLERK AND CHAIRMAN. f .. TROUBLE AT INGLEWOOD >- , <?ouncil give clerk notice. . The cliAax was reached at yesterday’s meeting of the Inglewood County Council in the fued which lias existed for some time between the chairman (Mr A. Corkill) and the clerk (Mr. F. A. Lloyd, 1, and after a painful discussion the council decided to give Mr Lloyd three months’ notice as from yesterday. The matter arose when an application from Mr. Lloyd for an increase of salary was before the meeting. Mr. Lloyd stated that he was receiving only £2s*o a year, which was practically on a par with what the workmen were receiving, and that other, similar councils in Taranaki, were paying their clerks almost double that amount. When the letter was read, the chairman stated that he would leave the matter for the meeting to decide what was to be done. As far as he was concerned he had written out his resignation's chairman, and it would be placed before them that day. He had decided that matters could not continue as they were going, as it was impossible for him to get on with the clerk. At this stage the council went into committee, and on resuming no report was made.
The matter cropped up again at the conclusion of the other business before the meeting, and when the clerk’s application was read there was a long silence, until Or. Hunter moved that the clerk’s salary be raised to £3OO a year. This motion was seconded by Gr. Simpson. A CHOICE. Cr. Hair said that he had nothing against Mr. Lloyd, who was a very capable man at his work, but unfortunately it seemed to be a choice between the clerk aijd the chairman, and he was afraid they would have to let the clerk go, because they could not afford to lose their chairman. He had hoped to see some improvement brought about, but apparently‘the clerk and the.ehairman could not settle their differences. Cr. Cameron agreed with Cr. Hair that they had nothing against Mr. Lloyd. In' fact he would like to see the clerk revive £460 a year, on account of the special training needed for county work. But. if the chairman could not work with the clerk, he thought tjie, Merk mujt go, because the chairman yfijs of prore value to the county thnii even WlO clerk. Cr r Stiihrt; said/there was no doubt the blerk; required a better salary, but as they had to 'decide between the chairman and tflfe clerk, he could not turn the chairman down, although he was very sorry for the clerk, who was a capable man at his work. Mr. Lloyd reminded the councillors that when the commission was set up to decide whether the county, should be formed, one of the questions discussed was whether the new county would be in a position to pay an .office staff. He did not think their attitude was fair in considering a personal difference like that before them. As far as his work was concerned he did not think any of the councillors had anything against him, but there had been an utter disregard of the law r of libel, and the council might yet find itself in difficulties. On the advice of certain persons he had consulted a solicitor, and was of the opinion that the councillors did not realise they were treading on serious and dangerous grounds. He was not going to hand in his resignation, but would take other steps. He had had to suffer great insults, and during the past four months had to work under great difficulties, while the chairman ignored him, through no fault of his (Mr. Lloyd’s). The council would yet find itself placed in a very difficult and serious position. For the sake of personal friendship they were sacrificing his livelihood, and depriving*him of getting another position. He would ask them to deal with the matter on its merits and give him pure British justice. They had admitted that he was worth more than the amount mentioned in the motion before the meeting, yet for the sake of personal prejudices, they were willing to sacrifice his honor, his livelihood, and that of his Cr. Hair asked if the position could continue any longer, and Mr. Lloyd replied that he had been perfectly willing to bury the hatchet.
CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT. The chairman said the quarrel started when he asked the clerk for a key of the office in order to see the books and correspondence when he wanted to. He had done his best- to get on with the clerk, but regretted that the position was as bad as ever, and things could not continue as they were going. He did not bear any animosity to Mr. Lloyd outside of county matters, hut because they could not get on together he had decided to resign his position as chairman. Crs. Hair and Cameron asked if the chairman was quite determined to resign. The chairman: I have it written out, and will read it later. Cr. Hair said he. could not understand why the’’chairman and clerk could not get along together. He thought that a jolly good row often cleared the air for a better understanding, and he saw no reason why they should not make it up and let things go along smoothly. Mr. Lloyd appeared to be a very capable man his work, and it was a great pity such trouble should continue. Mr. Lloyd mentioned that he had offered to bury the hatchet, but the chairman refused to make things up. Cr. Simpson expressed regret that the chairman had taken things so mueb to heart, and apparently decided not to make things up with the clerk. As regards the commencement of the trouble, he thought the clerk was justified, up to a certain extent, in demanding a proper understanding before he gave' the chairman free entry to the office, but in any case there was no need to carry the matter too far. Cr. Hunter said that as the chairman had written out his resignation it looked as though they would lose both the clerk and the chairman. Cr Sullivan proposed as an amendment to test the feeling of the meeting, that the clerk's salary be raised to £460 a year. He thought that was only a reasonable amount to pay the clerk. The motion lapsed for went of a seconder. THE COUNCIL’S DECISION. Cr. Stuart said that as either the chairman or the clerk would have to he would move that the clerk be
given three months’ notice from that date. This was ■seconded by Cr. Jones. The amendment was carried by four votes to two. The clerk asked for a division, Crs. Hair, Jones, Cameron and Stuart voting for the amendment, and Crs. Hunter and Simpson against. The chairman did not vote, as he explained that he was an interested party. On the vote being taken Mr. Lloyd excitedly protested against Ins treatment. He said he was surprised at their attitude, because he had evpected to get British Justice. They could now expect the attack from him. 'lwey were losing their clerk, and he would see that they also lost their chairman. He then put down his books and left the room. The resignation of the chairman was not read, and the council then discussed the question of obtaining another clerk.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19210112.2.52
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Taranaki Daily News, 12 January 1921, Page 5
Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,235DISAGREEMENT. Taranaki Daily News, 12 January 1921, Page 5
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Taranaki Daily News. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.