ELECTING MAYORS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 860, 5 July 1910, Page 8

ELECTING MAYORS.

COUNCIL OR PUBLIC? INNOVATION DISAPPROVED. A projH>sal which was frequently made during the recent mayoral election campaigns in different parts of the Dominion was tho subject of an interesting debate at the Municipal Conference yesterday. Mr. J. V. Aldridge (Taihape) moved:— That with a view to more economical and efficient administration of boroughs, the Municipal Corporations Act, I'JOS, be amended, providing that tho Mayor be elected by the council from among.-t the members thereof. Mr. ,T. Wilson (Dunedin) seconded the motion. Mr. J. J. Dovine (Wellington) said the Wellington City Council had approved a remit to the same effect. Now Zealand and Australia were the only two parts of tho British Umpire which had the American method of electing Mayors. Tho reasons for which this system obtained in America did not apply in New Zealand, where tho functions of the Mayor wero closely defined by statute. If the Mayor were.elected by the council men of greater calibre would seek entrance to the council. Mr. J. V. Brown, M.P. (Napier), opposed the motion as being undemocratic. He thought no man who had not served on a municipal council in some part of tho Dominion should be eligible for any mayoralty. Mr. G. Carson (Wanganui) said the present system was satisfactory. A Christchurch Experience. Mr. C. Allison said he had not tho slightest hesitation in saying that if tho Mayor had had to be elected by the council, he would never have been Mayor of Christchurch. (Laughter.) It was said at the time when he was first elected Mayor that he got in by a ituke, but ho was the first Mayor of Christchurch who had been elected three years in succession. He opposed the motion. Tho present system ensured that the Mayor should bo well known to tlie citizens. The proposed change would not savo expense because the election of Mayor would cause a vacancy on the council. ill". T. Cole, Mayor of Dunedin, opposed tho motion. He said tho proposed bcliemo would lead to the formation of cliques. How it Might Work. Mr. A. 11. Hindmai'sh (Wellington), in opposing tho motion, gave his view of how the propose! would work out in this city. The lcind of man who stood for the Wellington City Council was the typical well-known citizen, who was fairly successful in business. ' In offering himself for election such a man did not give any indication of his opinions, but he was probably a regular churchgoer and played golf. (Laughter.) Perhaps ho advertised largely m one or uvt/ of the papers, and was a good sport. He might top the poll, but that did not mean that he would make a good Mayor, yet when the''council came to chooso its Mayor he would very likely be elected. A man who was elected by the people, on the other hand, must have some good qualities. Mr. Page, Mayor of Kketahuua, opposed the motion. A Mayor had large powers beyond those of a chairman, lie was an ex-officio member for many other bodies, and should therefore be elected by the people. ( Mr. C. I. Dasent, Mayor of ICtrori, in opposing the motion, said the chango would bo disastrous to the smaller boroughs, which had six to nine councillors. . The motion was lost on the voices. A Taihape remit—"That the Mayor's term of oilico 1m three years"—lapsed for want of a seconder. A remit from Palmerston North and other places, in favour of a two-year term for Mayors, wis dc-i'eated by 30 votes to 2i.