THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1880.

Mails for the Aastralian Colonies, per Ringarooma, close at the Bluff on Friday aext, at 11.30 a.m. Ordinary messages for transmission will be received at the Hokiiika Telegraph Office*, up till 10 a.m. and urgent messages up till 11 a.ri. The County Council met at noon yesterday far the purpose of electing a County Chairman i all the members being present. After some preliminary discussion it was resolved to reduce the number of candidates (9) W fdrir aid then to two. The first ballot resulted as follows ■.—Dale, 7; M'Goldrick, 6; Seddon, Sj Jack, 5; Lang, 3$ Hitter, 3; Saddle, 3; M'Whirter,2; Grimmohd, 2. The f oar first namtd were then ballotted for with the following result: — Seddon/ 6; Jack, 5; Dale, 4; M'Goldrick; 3. The final decision was obtained by open- voting, and resulted as follows : — Seddoa, 5 ; Messrs Seddon, M'Whirter, Grimmond, Sandle; and Lang. Jack, 4 : Mewrs M'Goldrick, Dale, Hirter, and Jack. Mr Seddon waß declared elected and briefly responded to the honor. . Local, shareholders of the National In" surance Company can. obtain their warrants for dividends on application to the agent, Mr W. Duncan, Tancred street. < The Mayoral electiotf yesterday created an unmßuai amount of excitement, probably beciuft there were an unusual nvmber of candidates— namely, four. From aa early

hour in the forenoon cabb and traps travelled round the town kbd its outskirts bearing the leg&id, 'fVdie foi? Learmtmth/' ''Vote for vTailj" or « yote loir Peake." The champion of the Schobl Committee majority, Mr Hudson, did not proceed to the expense of hiring any vehicle, and his position on the poll, third, justified him in declining to invest in horse flesh. The various candidates were very -active. Mr Parker succeeded in damaging his patron, Mr Hudson, to a con* siderable extent, in which praiseworthy object he was greatly assisted by a German gentleman wilh a shufE box; The other candidates did their lerel best, and Mr Tait was especially very active. Mr Peake was last on the poll, a position in which we did not expect to see him. In Any case the fight is ; over, and matters municipal will be calm for a time: The poll closed at 6 p.m., and shortly before seven the doors of the Town Hall were opened, when the following numbers were announced by the .-Returning Officer: — F. A. Learmonth 129 J;Tait 110 S: Hudson ... 89 - J. Peake 71 ( Mr Wade returned thaaks on behalf of Mr Learmonth, and the other candidates also addressed the meeting. The result of the election is most gratifying in one reßpeet, inasmuch as it proves that the Hudson cum Parker cum Linstrom clique of obstructives are, practically speaking, nowhere in a fair fight. We draw attention to an announcement in another column that Miss Stephenson will appear on Friday evening at tke Duke of Edinburgh Theatre in " Bast Lynne." We will content ourselves with quoting the following remarks from the Lyttelton Times on Misa Stephenson's rendering of the character of Lady. Isabel in Christchurch. Our contemporary says:— "This artist's rendering of the piece ie really admirable. Her powers of expressing emotion, originally ! doubtless very great, have been matured by long practice and cloae study; and in &role admitting of, and requiring, the realising of as intense an amount of feeling as probably i any to be found in the repertoire of the most I accomplished tragedienne, Miss Clara Stephen* i son can challenge comparison with any of her contemporaries on the colonial stage. She was well supported last night, and evidently felt that she could throw her whole energy into her part without allowing herself to be distracted by doubts of her company. The consequence waß a highly finished performance, which deservedly won the approbation of a sympathetic audience. The compliment of a recall was several times accorded to her, and a similar honor was more than once given to the other leading artists." : On reference to our advertising columns will be seen the abridged prospectus of the Caswell Sound Marble, Portland Cement, Mining Company, Limited, the share list of which closes on the 15th prox,