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Reform Committee
Little is known about Philip Webster's Reform Committee. It seems to have consisted of him as Chairman and half a dozen other businessmen and to have existed in 1884-5. What it apparently aspired to 'reform' was the Town Council, and specifically its financial arrangements. Two matters are mentioned in its one reported meeting, 3 January 1884 (which the local newspaper called 'Mr Webster's Meeting'): the need for independent assessment of the value of Councillors' properties for the purpose of setting the rates of local government taxes; and the cost of the Fremantle Town Hall, then in planning.
The Herald (Fremantle) Saturday 5 January 1884, p. 3.
Mr. Philip Webster's meeting was held on Thursday evening last, 3rd inst., pursuant to arrangement, at the Oddfellows' Hall, Fremantle. Prominence had been given to the proposed meeting by advertisement and poster, the bellman's services were called into requisition, and as there were indicatsions of a storm there were many portonians present ready to be tossed upon the wave of indignation that threatened to tide in and swamp the Fremantle Corporation. The elements, however, were not boisterous, the Fates were propitious, and there was calm and quiet; the surrounding atmosphere although charged with electric clouds was but occasionally relieved by one or two flashes of light which emanated from the Jupiter of the night, who held in his hand the thunderbolt of Jove in the form of the written address of the chairman. Mr. Webster was supported on the platform by the promoters ot the movement, Messrs. E. H. Higham, M.L.C., J. J. Harwood, Fordham and Leach; Mr. Horton Bateman acting as secretary.
The Chairman opened the proceedings by wishing each and all a happy new year on this the first occasion of their meeting together in 1884. The meeting being an important one he thought it would be more acceptable if his speech were written, his clerk therefore suceeded to read an address in which Mr. Webster said he was not quite convalescent, a long and protracted illness having almost annihilated him. The present Municipal Act was a cumbersome piece of machinery, requiring a practical engineer to comprehend it, whilst the leading lawyers of the country were mystified in their attempts to unravel its meaning. Why should this be? The want of an experienced hand at the helm, he believed, was the cause of most of their present dissatisfaction. He would urge upon the members for for Fremantle to put forth their endeavours in the Legislative Council to sweep from the Statute Book such an ugly piece of work. The one great grievance they labored under was disproportionate rating; another was members of the Council becoming their own and other ratepayers valuators. Could any thing be more absurd ? Could any scheme be more unsatisfactory ? He had obtained high legal opinion upon questions that seriously affeted. them as ratepayers, A councillor could not fairly value his own estate; practical, intelligent men, independent of the Council should be their valuators. If not, abuses, disparities, and injustice would creep in, not out of malice, but as a natural sequence of the duty being wrong shouldered. The Mayor and Councillors were their chosen representatives and elected friends, their own selves in fact, condensed into a small compass. He blamed the rotten system they writhed under and would prove how extremely hard and disproportionate had been the levy for the year 1884. (The clerk then read extracts from the rate book shewing the disproportionate assessments made, those of the councillors being lower than anyother ratepayers, He afterwards read Mr. Burt's legal opinion, which was published in our supplement.) If he, Mr. Webster could obtain justice for only one of them, or one of his humble tenants he would be amply rewarded for his toil. He thought the objects of the meeting would be met by the resolutions it was proposed to submit. "There never was a wrong but that law and equity could put right." It was to be hoped the Legislature would soon be employed in framing a Municipal Act so simple that every ratepayer might understand it clearly without the aid of counsel to interpret its clauses. If they found that their present Mayor and Council as a "matter of fact" could not see their way to dispose of the widespread dissatisfaction that now existed, he would recommend that a Committee or "syndicate" be formed to meet the Corporation on amicable terms to test the question on its merits before the Supreme Court. Mr. Webster then said he would be glad to hear anyone present speak on the object of the meeting.
Mr. E. Higham said that in the main he concurred with what he had heard from the chairman. As one who had been in Municipal office he could not help sympathising with the difficulties the Council had to contend against, but he believed the ratepayers would be quite prepared to help the Council out of their difficulty by sanctioning the employment and payment by them of a competent valuator. There had been errors in his own term of office and there were still greater mistakes now; their duty was to bring legitimate pressure to bear on the Council, and he would regret their being disinclined to meet the ratepayers in the spirit they wished to approach the Council. Mr. Higham then read the resolution. He thought the difficulty would be reached by the appointment, outside the Council, of some one as valuator, although he did not think any councillor would wilfully under rate his own property.
Mr. Harwood seconded the resolution; in his opinion it was an illegal act on the part of the Council to make up the rate book themselves; it should have been done by some one outside the conncil, but he would wish the Mayor and councl to understand that they did not wish to meet them in a spirit of opposition; they only asked a rectification of the mistakes that had been made in the assessments and they wished to work with the Council as their representatives. The resolution, which appears in our supplement, to the effect that a deputation be formed to wait upon the Mayor with a view to a re-arrangement of the basis of valuation and the satisfactory adjustment of the appeals at present lodged with the Mayor, was carried nem con.
Mr. Higham then proposed, and Mr. Duffield seconded, that the committee consist of Messrs Webster. J. J. Harwood, Flindell, Fordham, Leach and the mover. The following names were also added– Messrs. W, S, Pearse and H.Smith. Mr. Harwood proposed a vote of thanks to the chairman who deserved them for the trouble he had taken in sifting their grievance, which few independent persons would have the spirit to do. Mr. Flindell seconded, and the proceedings were brought to a close.
References and Links
The Herald(Fremantle) Saturday 5 January 1884, p. 3. (in Trove)
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 28 February, 2024 and hosted at freotopia.org/organisations/reformctee.html (it was last updated on 28 February, 2024), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.