THE NEW RATE COLLECTOR.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9110, 22 May 1895, Page 6

THE NEW RATE COLLECTOR.

A correspondent writes to us, stating in effect that tiie new rate collector was selected by the Council out of the four recommended by the Committee by drawing the names by chance out of a hat, without enquiring into the merits or past career of the candidates. " Iα order," he says, •• that there should not be any jealousy, they determined to select their man by chance from the hat. The four ntvtnes inscribed on paper were folded and put in a hat; the first three drawn were eligible for a further draw, and the fourth stood out. Three names were now put in the hat, and the third remaining stood out; two now remained, and the lucky one remaining became the incoming collector," Our correspondent is under a misapprehension. The names were not put in a hat and drawn out by chance. After the report of the Departmental Committee had been adopted, what was known of the four persons recommended was stated, though their testimonials were not read. The Council then proceeded to elect a candidate by ballot. There were three ballots taken, each ballot reducing the numbsr of candidates by one. The name or names were written by the Councillors on slips of paper, which were collected by the Town Clerk and handed to the scrutineers, who called out the votes. In the first ballot each Councillor wrote three names or less, in the second two names or less, and in the third one name. The candidate with the least number of votes in each ballot was rejected. By this method the successful candidate received a majority of votes. This is a very different process from the selection by lot described by our correspondent.