THOSE AFTERNOON MEETINGS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9094, 21 May 1908, Page 4

THOSE AFTERNOON MEETINGS.

When the Masterton Borough Council at the late MayOral installation decided in favour of holding the committee meetings in the afternoon instead of the evening, we expressed the opinion that the alteration would prove a mistake, and that the sooner the usual practice of meeting in the evening was adopted tho better it would be for the working of the Council. That the hour fixed is unsuitable was evidenced by the fact that the very first committee meeting, which was to have been held last Tuesday afternoon, was postponed. The Mayor and two Councillors were unable to be present, and those who did attend decided to adjourn until to-day. This is the first trial of the afternoon sittings, and it has not proved very satisfactorj. They have been tried in other places, but not with pronounced success. Most of our Councillors are business men, and it is hardly fair to expect them to attend afternoon Council meetings when private business probably needs all their attentiun. It is enough for a Councillor to d«vote the bulk of his spare time to Municipal affairs, but why make him give up the hours of his owr, business time for meetings of the Council. The result will be that the afteinoon meetings will prove a decided failure, and in the interests of the ratepayers they should be discontinued. The evening is the proper time for committee meetings when Councillors have ample leisure' to properly discuss the affairs of the Borough.