Evening Post FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 1910. THE MAYORAL CAMPAIGN.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 82, 8 April 1910, Page 6

Evening Post FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 1910. THE MAYORAL CAMPAIGN.

More civic information (in detail), but very little more ci\ic illumination, is a short description of Mr. Wilford's speech lnst night, by comparison with tho address of Mr. Crawford. In opening three days nfter his rival Mr. Wilford had a strategic advantage. lie had a chance to profit by the first -speaker's mistakes of omission and com- • mission, but the reports do not disclose that h« took any valuable advantage of the opportunity. Lik» Mr. Crawford, Mr. Wilford demonstrated that he had still much left to say to th« electors to .••how them how prospective performance could nicely squnre with present promine. Both rather fa\our improvements of (i renter Wellington, from various ; viewpoints, aesthetic and utilitarian, but neither is eager to increase the rates. 'I hoy nppcnr to iniii&ine t lint tho ic\fHlie will ho cliHtic rnoujjli to sirrtili ■my lpii;;ih. iiud that thcie n> no limit to "jnwgre»» with eiononir."' Vague ..fityMiflliUllfißl »ugh.ig bsh.£ityUd§i«£,

have uttered may delude a few, but we are sure that the thinking sections oi /the public hare little patience for dis- • cursiveness, and await a better discourse from each contestant. Each has naturally sought to soothe all the inhabitants of Greater Wellington with things to be done "at call," but neither seems. *o hnve properly reckoned tho cost. Possibly, now that Dr. Newman has presented the result of his Mayoral stocktaking, each of the two citizens who are aiming to take his place will strike a more convincing note in his haraugues. Mr. Wiifonl made some interesting references to wnter- supply and drainage, deferred payments for domestic electric lighting installations, tho rents from city properties, and the tramways. His most important utterance of tho evening concerned the tramways, but it lacked definiteness. He expressed a belief that practically a wholesale reconsideration and rearrangement of tramway fares would soon bo required, and ho said merely enough under this and other heads of the huge tramwuy enterprise to excite the public's curiosity for a more oxtansivo instalment of the candidate's researches and opinions. Those citizens who desire to decide between the candidates purely on the merits revealed in their speeches and answers to questions would like from each of them a fuceinct estimate of ihe city's present position, and an intelligible account of such commitments as a fulfilment of their pledgee would involve. How would the new order of their aspiration fit in with tho old ?. What period do they assign, approximately, to the ventures which they propound? And the financing ? They have a few blanks to fill. We hope to see the candidates well plied with questions calculated to thoroughly sound the depth of their municipal professions. T 'dentally, Mr. Wilford announced last night that if elected to tho Mayoralty htr would resign his position as Chairman of Committees in the House of Representatives, The two positions could not, of course, bo satisfactorily filled simultaneously by one man. Mr. Wilfoid's decision is wise.