Honourable Acting Crown Attorney : They suggested leaving it to the person.
I do not think it is practical. It would be better to leave it as it stands. Suppose
a matter comes up to the Chairman for circulation. Mr. B. a member cannot say
to him : do not circulate this matter to me, for he has not seen it yet. When he
sees it, it has been circulated already.
 Honourable E. A. C. Hughes : My suggestion is to wipe out the whole proviso.
We all know what the position is. If there are seven members and you get four in
favour you need not worry with the others.
 Honourable O. D. Brisbane : I agree with the Crown Attorney that the word
" interest only be cut out.
 Honourable E. A. C. Hughes: Subsection (2) says "The quorum of the
Central Authority..................shall be four." If you only get four members in favour
you have your decision.
 President : We have two suggestions.
 Honourable E. A. C. Hughes : I suggested both; I beg to withdraw the first
one and suggest that the proviso be deleted.
 Honourable Acting Crown Attorney: I suggest that we delete the word
"interest."
 Honourable E. A. C. Hughes : By the next subsection the Chairman can
decide who is going to vote or not going to vote, and he does not have to assign
any reason why he has not sent a paper to any member.
 Superintendent of Works : The reason Mr. Hughes has just given is the
reason why the Water Rates Committee struck out those words and substituted
" any member who has notified the Chairman "; they felt that the Chairman
would be armed with very arbitrary powers and too much would depend on the
person sitting in the Chair.
 Honourable Acting Crown Attorney : I did not like it at all.
 President : In that case we come back to either the deletion of the proviso or
to the man notifying the Chairman.
 Honourable Acting Crown Attorney : Or we do not have any voting on
papers at all.
 Honourable Member for Kingstown : We do not want to set up a dictator
Chairman.
 Honourable W. A. Hadley : It is necessary to vote by circulation.
 President : Either we delete the proviso or we accept the recommendations
of the Water Rates Committee.
 Honourable Acting Crown Attorney : I prefer the deletion of the proviso to
the recommendations of the Water Rates Committee, for if the Chairman does
not send the paper to a. member, the member cannot advise him of interest.
 Superintendent of Works : I am really just passing on the views of the
Water Rates Committee that deliberated very carefully on the Trinidad Ordinance,
and I think the Committee unanimously voted that the amendment read as
follows : any member who has notified the Chairman of illness, absence from
the Colony or other cause making him incapacitated."
 Honourable E. A. C. Hughes : Do you think it practical?