MUNICIPAL POLITICS.

Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 104, 30 October 1888, Page 2

MUNICIPAL POLITICS.

MR. tf. K. MAdflONAt/D'g ADD"REBB TO THE CITIZENS. In accordance with the promise made when Mr. T. Kennedy Macdonald retired from the contest for.ihq jla^oralty, that gentleman delivered an address r'p'oii geiierSl tijunicipai matters at a public meeting held in tfto' Exchange fate Athenseum) Hall last evening. The attendance was very large, the building being crowded. Mr. Robert Gardner was voted to the ohair on the motion of Mr. Macdonald, and in introducing the speaker of the evening said he was perfectly sure that his position as chairman would not be an onerous one. Mr. Macdonald came before the mSetihjf not as a candidate, but as an intelligent, interested private citizen, to speak on munioipal affairs. Still he was something more than a mere private citizen, for he had been presented with a very numerously-signed requisition asking him to offer himself for the Mayoral chair. In response to that requisition he placed himself in the hands of a committee. Time elapsed, and circumstances arose which necessitated very, very earnest deliberation as to what should be the candidate's course of action. Mr. Macdonald presented to that committee a certain phase whioh had suddenly cropped up, and he asked them ior their advice. One of those circumstances was the Coming forward of Mr. Du.thie as a candidate. The committee ttfok 49 hpnfa; to consider tlie. qri estion, and on again meeting they unanimously thought {he most prudent course was to .recommend Mr. Macdonald to withdraw. It was, however, felt that the public should have Borne satisfaction, and some members of the committee thought it wise that a pnblio meeting should be called. Mr. Macdonald readily consented to do so, though as ho was withdrawing from candidature there was no special reason why he should address a meeting. Mr. Macdonald now came forward perfeotly voluntarily, and he (the Chairman) was sure that the burgesses would aocord to him that lenienoy whioh he was entitled to receive, and that the meeting would prove an exceedingly interesting and gratifying one. (Applause,) Mr. Macdonald, who was received with applause, said the Chairman had been good enough to give some little details as to his reasons for retiring from the candidature. It was true, that no man had any right to expect from d retiring candidate any explanation of his reasons other thati those he had given to his committee, and which that committee had approved ot. Still he recognised that a public man ought, in courtesy, to give the public an explanation of the reasons whioh had inducod him to retire. Hence he was before the burgesses that evening to give them a few of his ideas respecting municipal matters, and which were shadowed forth in tho programme of his addross, and also to say something respecting the personal elements which had beon introduced into tho affair since his retirement. An old Athenian said in one of his celebrated orations, " We count him not merely idle, but useless, who takes no part in public affairs," That was a noble and patriotic sentiment, and was appreciated by his audience, but the let of a man in Wellington who sought to take part in public affairs was BT NO iIEANS A BED OF ROSES; He had no conception when retiring, from the contest that he would be subjectec to the amount of scurrility whioh had appeared in the public press. He had no objection to criticism to the fullest extent, but when that criticism appeared in the publio prints it should be. authenticated by the name of fh'e writer. (Hear, healr). He was well aware that the criticism largely emanated from those who dissented from his aotion in reference to the Reclaimed Land Loans Bill. It was rather disheartening to a man to find, when he had taken part in opposing what he thought was a great publio wrong, that there were people only too ready to take revenge upon him for discharging what he considered to be an important public duty. This was the position he had been in for the past few weeks, owing to the action of certain individuals interested in the leases. There were, he would admit, certain leaseholders who had not done anything of the kind and had given him their support, but the others had conducted themselves since his retirement in a manner which he had a right to complain of. It might be some satisfaction to the gentlemen who wrote those letters to the to know that he was WELL AWARE OF THE NAMES of the writers. He did not propose to state their names that night ; but the anonymity which they strove to bring about was utterly valueless, because they had mentioned the matter to their intimate friends, those intif mate friends had passed it on to their own intimate friends, and so it had become public property. It was not pleasant to be found out in writing a mean epistle, but he (Mr. Macdonald) had the satisfaction of telling them that he knew who they were. An advertisement which appeared very reoently in the columns of the Evening Post, headed "Mr. Maodonald's Candidature for the Mayoralty," was an important contribution to the literature of the contest. This preoious effusion, a column and a quarter long, consisted largely of the opinions of three solicitors respecting the olause of the Harbour Board Leases Act. It introduced those opinions by a long explanation addressed to " the gentle reader." Mr. Maodonald proceeded to read the preface of the advertisement in question, and the sentence stating that he (the speaker) was to be "the candidate of the rag-tag and bob-tail " was received with an interruption of laughter and dissent. Resuming his comment, Mr! Maodonald entered upon an enquiry as to tho meaning of the term. There was, he said, no one better able to explain its meaning than the gentleman who wrote that introduction. He need not state who the gentleman was, because they were all very well aware already. (Cries of "No, we're not;" " We don't know anything about it," and "I don't know, but I'd like to hear it.") He was a gentleman who was put into publio offioe in the municipality of Wellington by the votes of the working men. (Hear, hear.) He was put into the Council by thoso votes, and was elected Mayor on three occasions, and returned to a position in the House of Representatives, and plaoed in the Ministry of the country by these same votes. (Applause.) And under the cloak of anonymity, that gentleman called the men who elevated him from the ranks to the position of a leader and ruler of the people, "the rag-tag and bob-tail." (Laughter). If by tho " rag-tag and bob-tail " was meant the men who earned their living from day to-day by the labour of their hands and the sweat of their brow, he (Mr. Macdonald) was proud to own himself the representative of those people. He would be_ the last man in the city to set class against olass, for no one recognised more fully than he that the prosperity of any community, and especially of a democratic community like this, depended upon all classes working hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder. But he also recognised that those who formed the committee to secure his eleotion belonged to the great rank and file of the people— (oheers) — and he was bound to give them all the preference of the publicity of the legal opinions, and not to merely return thanks to the socalled influential. THE WHOLE OBJECT OP THESE ATTACKS in the newspapers and of the conversation which had taken place in the city, so far as he understood it, was to give an entirely false impression as to the cause of his withdrawal. The citizens had had plaoed before them three opinions given by solicitors in the city. They would remember that in order that the matter should have the f nllest pnblioity he had advertised the whole story of his explanation to his committee in everyone of the oity papers. The foots were that on the morning of his committee meeting he heard that there was a doubt as to whether the Mayor could sit as a representative of the city on the Harbonr Board if he was also a lessee under the Board. He at onoe went to work to ascertain whether that was really the fact, and he obtained two legal opinions— one from the office of his own solicitor, Mr. Trayers, and the other from Mr. Skerrett— whioh were very complete, and stated in the most distinct terms that the Mayor could not under such circumstances sit upon the Harbour Board. There were individuals at the back of the advertisement, and there was also somebody else, of whom he would speak direotly. These worthy people interviewed certain other solicitors, and obtained the opinions which were contained in the advertisement. Since their publication he had taken the opportunity of consulting several other solicitors on the subject, and he was now as far forward as ever. (Laughter.) WHAT LEGAL OPINIONS ABE WORTH. One very eminent barrister in Wellington was of opinion that the other lawyers were correct in stating that the Mayor could not sit in the Harbour Board, but he entirely disagreed with the reasons which they laid down as law! Yet another solicitor had said that there was not a lawyer's opinion in Wellington that was worth a straw in reference to that particular olause. (Laughter.) He believed that that man was a true prophet — (laughter)— because he went on to state that different opinions being obtained from several lawyers on the same question, the parties interested began to fight about it, which suited the lawyers' book all to pieces. (Laughter.) Where would they be if differences of opinion did not exist? The result was that the parties went to a Judge of tho Supreme Court to find out what was the meaning of the Aot, and who was right and who wrong. The Judge, after sitting upon it like an old hen upon a clutch— (laughter) — made up his mind after a couple of weeks, and gave his decision, and whether that deoision was right or wrong, it became a precedent for all time. Now, he was told as a matter of fact that the clause of the Act was so obscure that the question could only be set right by a Judge of the Supreme Court or an amendment of the Act, which could be effected at the next session of Parliament. It was not for him or his hearers, being laymen, to say one word as to what the Acts of Parliament meant. All they could do was to take in humility and grace what was presented to them by the Judges. He was exceedingly Borry that the question had arisen, but no honourable man could have done for hiß oommittee more than he did in presenting to them, at the earliest possible moment, the opinions he had received from his solicitors, and taking their advioe on the question. He received these opinions in the afternoon, and the committee was called together ior the same night. But there were OTHER EIiUUNTS IN THX AFFAIR. When he received the requisition asking him to contest the Mayoralty he reflected as to the other possible oandidatet, and thought it quite possible that the contest would work itself down to their friend, Mr. Samuel Brown. Now the leasehold question, which he (Mr. Macdonald) had taken up and carried through, seemed to be the only principle at stake whioh would justify a contest. It would be remembered that the then members of the City Council held very strong views with reference to the Leaseholds Bill. They hod mode up their minds to thrust it down the ratepayers' throats, whether they liked it or not, and it was only the fact of the Eession expiring so soon that prevented them from introducing it again. He wanted to see

whether the present Mayor had the courage to faoe the ratepayers on the question, and if so it seemed to him thai; he (the speaker) was bound to oppose him and fight the matter ant; There was also the other consideration tliat io' feH that the taxation of the city was growing to be tiriltertabje, while no attempt was being mode to stop If. Well, he consented to stand, and a few days after* he had announced his intention to do bo anfcrtbef and very important candidate presented himself, who tras a very intimate friend of his,p%n^ 2t wdd ft far? ingenious move to bring Mr;. t)ttih\b otit, beoafise that gentleman was a man" in' $ .large way of business, had a large following and" inffirencev was Chairman of the Harbour Boafd, ana was likely to prove a very important and very good candidate. He (Mr. Macdonald) and Mr. Duthie hod a great many friends in common, and there was every prospect of their being split into two oamps. When a ctotest took plaoe between friends there was very often,- Unconsciously to either of them, an amotifit of bitterness imported into it which wa'3 exceedingly disagreeable to both sides and tended to their estrangement. He felt this position very deeply. Mr. Duthie did not approve of his policy, and felt that he was bound to oppose his candidature on public grounds alone. If the bitterness which had been imported into the matter since his withdrawal — by anonymous letters, general pastiness, and false impressions — was any index of what would have taken place bad the contest gone on, thoy would all have been bitter enemies before the contest was over. In addition to all this he discovered that an offer he had made to the Government to' undertake THE PROFERT 1 11! 1 TA# VALUATION of the city was going to'be used as afi'Angine against him. Men of position, who' were largely interested in tbe lease question, took it npon themselves to represent to the Government that it was improper that the Property Tax Vainer should also be Mayor of the city. That a man could carry on his business in the ordinary way did not strike them, but there was the fact that they used considerable influence in order to enable the Government to arrive at the deoision to tell him that his candidature was an impossibility. He held a very strong opinion as to conduct of that sort. S q Government, in his opinion, had any right to interfere with the rights of a citizen in the exercise of his political or municipal privileges. (Applause.) However, he put bofore his committee the fact that the proposed candidature meant an exceedingly painful Bovoranoe of friendship, the loss of a considerable amount of business, and also the expense of a very hard-fought fight. For the reasons he had stated, he felt that the question was one for his committoo to decide. In addition to these reasons camd the legal opinion, which was clearly an element in the fight against him, and the oommittee said to him that ho should retire, as the citizens did not demand from their Mayor that he should suffer the loss of many hundreds of pounds in contesting the seat, seeing that there was a fatal point at stake. He did not think it was right that any candidate should be made to oonteat an eleotion under those ciroumstanoes. He did not think it should be necessary for a man that the community had picked npon to hold oommittee meetings in every quarter of the city, personally canvass every voter, and go to a doal of expense when the office was not one conferring great dignity upon the oooupant. Suoh a polioy was calculated to bring the office into the hands of the wealthy. There were many men in the oity who were willing to take the position, and who would fill it worthily, but if candidates were obliged to conform to the conditions he had stated, the ntimber of people who would contoßt tho offioe would be limited, and the burgesses wonld be practically disfranchised.. He thought the time should oome when the man who' was selected should not be put to the expense 6f a! contest, but should feel that he had the practical support of the ratepayers in accepting the position. Let him just say one word more ABOUT THAT ADVERTISEMENT before he left it for ever. The advertisement mode a oharge against the publio press of the city. Now he would tell the story of the advertisement ; it was told by the press itself in its own columns. The advertisement was handed in to the New Zealand Times — so the Times itself said— with a request that it should be published as an item of news. The proprietor very properly said, "You mußt authenticate the statements made therein by the namoof a ratepayer; we oannot take up the position that legal

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