THE HOSPITAL BOARD ELECTION.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXII, Issue 61, 14 March 1910, Page 4

THE HOSPITAL BOARD ELECTION.

Pastor Ries, who is one of the can- \ ; - didatcs for the borough seats on the * Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, 1 took advantage of the presence of a large gathering of the public who had assembled on Saturday night for the purpose of witnessing the Minimax fire extinguishing demonstration, to address to them a. few words

on the question, which the electors wail be called upon to decide on Wednesday next. He prefaced his remarks by complimenting Mr Matthews upon the expeditious manner in which he had extinguished the flames, and referred to the advisa-

bility of the borough purchasing' several of the machines, which could be used by the brigade in the incipient stages of a. fire.

Coming then to the subject for the discussion of whicli he had called

them together, he proceeded to say that lie was afraid if they had come

expecting to hear an eloquent and carefully prepared address they would be disappointed. He was only going to have a friendly chat with them, and he first desired to- explain why he was a candidate at the election. A great many things had been said about him on this score, but he took it to be his <luty to come forward and offer the people the benefit of the experience which he had gained during long years of service on the Charitable Aid Board of the province, and when he staid it was his duty to offer his services to the people, he dkl not that to imply that there was ITO 7)ire so well quali- ; fied as he for the position. Far from it. But the fact was that there were four candidates for two seats, and the people had to make their choice. He had nothing to say concerning the other candidates, and if the people thought them- better men than he let them put them in. At the same time he asked them to judge the men on their merits and not allow the question of religion or party to interfere with their judgment. Speaking' of himself, lie would ask what wrong had lie done during the years he had represented them on the Charitable Aid Board. His reply was, None ; on the contrary lie could show tihem letters of appreciation which he had received during the time he had represented the Woodville County and Borough, the Dannevirke Borough and County, and the Weber County, all of which tendered him special thanks for his services in the administration of charitable aid in this part of the district, and he made special reference to his action in connection with the Johnston family, in connection with whom he had saved the board a great deal of expense. He then proceeded' to explain the magnitude of the isssue now before the electors and the meed' for their it their closest attention, by quoting statistics to show that in the old charitable aid district there bad been ia population of about 43,000, while the "valuation of the district was computed at £21,000,000. The district had now been divided, and the valuation of the Hawke's Bay portion was about £11,000,000 and of Waipawa about £10,000,000, on which the .rate for charitable aid ; atone would be about £2OOO per year. * They could' thus see that they were being called" upon to deal with no small miatter; in fact the subject was so large that the men who were'to administer it must necessarily be men of knowledge and experience. He again advised the electors to go to the poll to put the best man in. A voice : "Who do you think is the best mail, Pastor?" "Why, myself for one, of course!" replied the Pastor amidst laughter. Continuing, the Pastor said he was proud of Dannevirke, and every one who came into it was surprised to find what ' a progressive place it was. What he wanted to see was that it preserved that reputation, and in order to do so it was necessary to elect to the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board men with a certain amount of . backbone, because there might yet come a tug-of-war between the northern and southern ends of the district, and if we do not have men capable of looking aifter our own then no one else would look after it for us. His reason in calling them them together was to endeavor to instil a little life into the election, in which he was afraid the people would take too little interest. Tliey all knew the poll would be held on Wednesday. A polling booth had' been fixed at t-lie Borough Council Chamber, and one- at Mr Abbott's sho-p, and he hoped another one would be fixed at the Public Library, and he asked them to remember that every one who was an elector in the borough was entitled to vote. Pastor Ries then invited anyone who desired to do so to ask questions, and Mr Newett immediately wanted to know if the candidate was going to "turn it on," whereupon the Pastor requested Mr Matthews to apply one of his Minim-ax fire extinguishers to relieve the questioner's • insatiable thirst! As the Pastor was evidently in a fighting mood no one else seemed to

want to cross swords with him, and so after thanking liis hearers for their attendance, the Pastor declared the meeting at an end.