A "BREEZE" IN THE BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIII, Issue 7975, 28 February 1906, Page 5

A "BREEZE" IN THE BOROUGH COUNCIL.

OR MORRIS' NOTICE OF

MOTION.

THil ENGINEER'S SALARY DISCUSSED.

Pursuant to his notice of motion, Or Morris, at the meeting of the BoroughCounoil, last evening, moved that the salary of the Borough Engineer be raised by £SO. lie felt that the Council would recognise that the present salary of the Engineer (£300) was totally inadequate. He had made euquires in other boroughs, and had found that, comparatively speaking, the Engineer was underpaid. The Engineer had done his duty,iJby,,vstrictly enforcing the bylaws, despite what had been said against his enforcing them,! and the Council must admit that the Engineer was a good man and it would be hard to find a better. In building fees alone the Engineer had collected from £96 to £IOO per annum, while before he was engaged only about £l3 had been collected. The Council should recognise the qualities or the Engineer, and vote him the small rise in salary asked for by the mover.

Shortly before tbs question oarae up, Or Ewington, having other important matters to attend to, had withdrawn, and, owing to the absence of Or Feist, there were then two vacant seats at the .table. The Mayor seconded the motion pro forma, and in doing So stated that he hoped that Or Morris did not forget the fact that when the Auckland Oity Council called applications for the position of Ohief Engineer a short time ago, they received over one hundred applications, and farther that when the present Borough Engineer was appointed there were fifteen other applicants who were all prepared to aooept the position at a salary of £250 per annum.

About this time there were several slight interjections and Ors Elliott and Eton rose to a point of order and both pointed out that it was unbecoming of the Council to treat such a matter so lightly and of the Mayor to allow such interjections. "I didn't say anything against the Engineer, Or Eton," said the Mayor, and a rather brisk passage-at-arms between the Mayor aud C'" Eton concerning the remarks the former had made, resulted in the latter leaving the Chamber. There were then only six Councillors left at the table. Tbe'disoussion bearing direotly on the motion then dropped, and, while several of the Councillors expressed regret at what had happened, and others remained silent, Cr Hoar remarked' that certain Councillors —supporters of the proposal that the Engineer should re-, oeive an increase in salary—were "cocktails." The Mayor asked that this expression should be retracted, as it was unparliamentary. This request was complied with, but Cr Hoar in withdrawing the epithet said that the same Councillors were "afraid to stick to their guns." The motion was then formally put to the meeting and lost on the voices.