MAYORAL ELECTION.

Ajrablic meeting was held last evening at the Gaiety Theatre, to hear the views of the two candidates for the mayo—.lty—_fesi— J. G. Buddesklau and O. B. Taylor. There was a large attendance, and the ohair was occupied by his Worship the Mayor. The Chairman explained , that he had convened the meeting in compliance with a requisition signed by ninety-four ratepayers. He would call upon Mr Taylor, who was nominated first, to address the meeting. Mr Taylor in ooming forward waa reoeived —i_i cheers. He said that never before was the colony so stirred to its deptha, or was! there so muoh political excitement as at pre*' sent, and Christchuroh had not escaped from the vortex. ' Exception had been taken to the coune adopted in holding the present meeting, but it must he remembered that the position of Mayor was the highest oivio office; in the hands of the ratepayers. It had been' urged that he was unfit for thia position because he was a foreigner. He would tell them: that hia great grandparents were part of the: small band who after the War of Independence in America remained loyal to the; British Grown. He considered that the: Mayor of auoh a city as Christchuroh Bhould be one whose social standing waa; auohjasfto demand the .respect of thej citizens and enable him to receive distin-j gu_led guests in a fitting manner. The' Mayor ahould also possess executive and administrative ability derived from experience; in mum—pal affairs. Another important con- : sideration: was the speoial interests of the different wards to be represented. It was not right to impose upon the residents of those wards a gentleman who was not aooeptable to them. While he did not argue that the Mayor ahould have anything to do' with the practical working of the official part; of the Corporation, he should have sufficient knowledge to enable him to exercise the' necessary oontrol over the staff. With> regard to the question of the water supply, that had already been decided. He would not be a party to incurring a burden of taxation upon the people of Christehurch. They were not at present in a position to indulge in] extravagance, and should not undertake anything which waa not within their means. The next question he would refer to was that of the market reserve. When the present re-; serve was utilised, even to the small extent to! whioh it had been, it was with the objeot of attracting there permanently: a class of traders and others who would! utilise the'reserve, and this he thought had! been done to a certain extent. Some time ago; certain persons were willing to lease the; reserve for the purpoae of ereoting buildings upon it aud deriving a revenue therefrom. Ir that oould be done by private individuals, and] they were willing to pay the city a fair prioe.j and terms were agreed Upon, it could not be said that the reserves could not be utilised, and if he were placed in office he would endeavor to the utmost of hia ability to derive the greatest possible benefit from these reserves. With regard to his personal claims upon the ratepayers, he had represented them already in the Council, and amongst other things which, if he chose, he could point out to them, he might mention that he waa a member of the sanitary committee who propounded a acheme for economising the system of scavenging the city, {which had been car-; ried into effeot with the most satisfactory results, in a sa_itar7 as well aa afinanoiai sense. Ho had nothing more to aay. They had heard hia views and knew Jus qualifications, and if they thought he waa a better man than hia opponent ho would aalr them to return him as their __yor. [Cheers.] Mr Buddenklau then came forward, and was well received. He said he had already, through the newspapers and by reronlar, taken stew to explain his views to the ratepayers. He had not anticipated that he would be called upon to make a speech, as he thought it had been understood-t_at meetings of this kind did..more harm than good. He was not a publio speaker, though he wished ho was able to entertain them for an hour or two, but he would only aay that in coming forward he waa not prompted by any motives of ambition, frot consented to stead on the earnest solieitetion oi many old friends ana some of his former colleagues in municipal matters. He felt that if bis services were of any value to the eitisens he would only b« glad to give them to the people who had in _iepast!»»ted_imsowe_. He could have occupied the position of Mayor, if he had chosen, ten years ago, but was prevented from doing so by busineaa engagement, although he was entitledt&thS position pf;Mayor by proeeaa of rotation. With regard to nu quaMcations for the' office, .he * onld refer them to his past munuapsl career* He had besn active in Mvooaktng the side -haiinslling of the sfarasts mjfteter* ansa to underground drain «fe, as he considered that the adoption of ti» latter first was like putting the cart before the horse. The reault of i_e labors of _mse_ sad otiwra in securing the side ehanneffing bad prevented the -te^mbeeo—inga/fever-aa, sand aad made it the hea-hieat and oleaneat «ty in New Zealand. He had been inatrumentel m obtaining the appointment ot Mr Harris asj

; «upe_io—iden!;of the fire brigade, which h_ : believed had been taken as a model by other cities. He believed the time would come.aj soon as the drainage scheme was completed, when a comprehensive water scheme would have to be under—ken. In the meantime, Providence had provided a splendid and ample supply for the requirements of the city. He did not quite agree with Mr Taylor with regard to the market. Every well regulated city should have a market.: Posterity might be expected to. do something in the matter, but it was time now that the oitizsns commenced themselves. The cattle market, in the haads of private indiriduais, had proved remunerative, -and if it had. been retained by the city it would now have been a valuable, property to them. ' He did not blame the tactics of bis opponents, as everything was fair in politics, oourtship, and war. It had been aaid that he could not speak English. Thia he considered rather hard, as hia' had been thirty years among English people, and had been married to an English wife for twenty years. [Laughter and cheers J Another squib which had been circulated against him was that hia opponent waa the better looking candidate. This he reluctantly admitted, and acknowledged that Mr Taylor was perhaps entitled to the votes of the ladies. [Laughter.] At any rate, if returned he would do hia best to serve their interests and those of the oity. [Cheers J In answer to Mr W. Wilson, the candidate said that he resigned his position as Councillor on a former occasion because a certain gentleman waa elected to the Council who, he considered, was not fit to occupy the position. [Cheers. J He knew nothing about the requisition to* oonveno this meeting. He would be in favor of a publio market, the retail business being confined to fruit, fish, &0., and only to a certain extent, otherwise the outside tradesmen would be interfered with.

Mr O. T. Ick moved a vote of thanks to the two candidates. The motion was seconded by Mr Jdhn B. King, and carried unanimously. A vote of thanks to the ohair terminated the proceedings.