ELECTION OF MAYOR FOR THE CITY OF CHRISTCHURCH.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XLII, Issue 4321, 17 December 1874, Page 2

ELECTION OF MAYOR FOR THE CITY OF CHRISTCHURCH.

The annual meeting for the election of the Mayor ,of. the City of Christchurch for the ensuing year took place yesterday at noon * the City Council. Chambers, Present— The Maybr, Councillors Farr, Jones, Hobbs a “d Ick; the City Solicitor’ (Dr Foster), the Provincial Auditor (Mr J Ollivier),. and several;.leading citizens were also present. M 7; The MAtob, who wdris his robes, collar, and of office, said .that this being' the third Wednesday in December they had met far the purpose of electing the' Mayor for the ensuing year, but before dding so he would call upon the Town Oletit. to read the minutw of the last meeting, and to lay upon the table the annual abstract of the ecdount of the receipts and expenditure. The minutes were then read and confirmed and the abstract laid upbn the table. - * Councillor Hobbs -moved—“ That tbs accounts be signed by the Mayor, andthai the Town Clerk publish an abstract thereof as required by the Act.” ■; Councillor EAPHAKLseconded the motion, which was agreed to. Councillor Hobbs said that before proceedmg to the next business he begged to move—- “ That the thanks of the Council be given to the Mayor (Mr M. B. Hart) for tbe manner m which he had conducted the duties df his office daring the past year, and that the same be recorded on the minutes.” He (Councillor Hobbs) trusted that the motion would be carried unanimously. Councillor Raphael, in seconding the motion, expressed his admiration of the manner in which the Mayor had discharged the duties of his office. No man could have done more than the Mayor, in. fact the untiring energy and zeal he had displayed were admired by all. , Take for instance the great zeal and energy which the Mayor had shown with reference to the important question of drainage, and the time and trouble be bad-ex-pended in looking after every part of the city; there was no single place.no particular part which had received the Mayor’s exclusive attention, bn the contrary, he was always ready to look after the interests of the whole. He (Councillor Raphael) had very great pleasure in seconding the motion, which he hoped would be carried unanimously. The motion was agreed to unanimously.. The Matob : The next business is to proceed to the election’of Mayor for the ensuing year.

Councillor Jones said that, unfortunately, Councillor Bishop, who was his senior in the Council, and who, he hoped, would have pro* posed the Mayor, was absent, and the duty therefore devolved upon him (Councillor Jones). He, however, was elected on the same day as the gentleman he was about'to propose, and he had great pleasure, therefore, in nominating Councillor Hobbs as Mayor for the ensuing -year; Notwithstanding' Mr Hobbs’ youth* ho waa a maa who had had several years experience in that Council, and he (Councillor Jones) hoped and believed that Councillor Hobbs would fulfil the duties of the office of Mayor to the satisfaction of the Council and the ratepayers at large. He was happy to see bo great an interest exhibited in this election, and although he was aware that a difference of opinion upon it existed both inside and outside the Council, yet he hoped that the Mayor would always be elected from the body of the Council, because, if that were done, men of experience and position would come forward as candidates for seats in the 1 Council. It would be a great incentive for such gentlemen to acquire the knowledge 1 'and experience necessary to fit them for filling the office of Mayor. He (Councillor Jones) did pot get up to speak respecting the present Mayor or he could have said a great deal in that.gentleman’s praise, but he. now asked them to elect unanimously Councillor ■ Frederick '>obbß to the office of Mayor of the city of Christchurch for the ensuing year. He -wished, however, the Council to hear in mind that it would be impossible for any gentleman satisfactorily to fill the pffioe of Mayor without receiving the support of his .fellow CounoiUore, and that any factions man might upset the'harmony of the whole. He bed great pleaeurem proposing Councillor Hobbs as Mavor. Councillor Raphael said he had just been informed that, as the youngest member of the Council, itwas his doty to second the nomination, and he had great pleasure ; in doing so. His (Councillor Raphael's) experience of the gentleman proposed was hut of short duration, but from the ability which Councillor Hobbs had shewn as chairman ef the Finance committee his (Councillor Raphael) Was satisfied that he was competent to aiacharge the duties of the office of Mayor. As totheretnarks of Councillor Jones respecting any motions man being able to upSet the harmony of the Council, it was tone, there might be differences of opinion in committee, bat when the matter came before tbs ; Council it was generally arranged satisfactorily, and although ho (Councillor Raphael) might from his desire to do something which he believed to be right perhaps bring a matter forward in a manner which was not exactly In accordance with established rule, still he trusted that be should always yield to the experience oc others. The Council was a very good training school for the office of Mayor, and the enormous amount of business gone through, as well as the interchange of ideas, was well calculated to fit a young member to undergo the buffs and rebuffs he, would have -to go through when chosen to thepOstqf Mayor. He believed that many years ago the gentleman now proposed as Mayor drew attention to the necessity of an efficient soheme o drainage being adopted for the city, anq wmc ended in the present scheme being carried into effect; and that being the case, he (Connoillor Raphael) had no doubt , that Councillor Hobbs would efficiently discharge the dun of the office of Mayor. With reference to another remark made by Councillor Jones, that he (Councillor Raphael) eonld say * , that he should be happy to support tne Mayor in maintaining the dignity ot office. . , . Councillor Gapbs : Councillor Jejl 68 * said that he is aware that there is a difier« B . of opinion on the election of Mayor, o and out of the Council. All I can say is, • I am not aware of any such difference Jones : Do yon expect a reply from me ? Councillor Gapes : Of course. The motion was agreed to unammously. The Matoe : I must ask the newly-eltc Mayor to accept from me the deeds,. co u po n » and debentures belonging to are contained in this box, key and the Town Clerk another; h h* a Lt of them, whicb. I Mayor to compare with the documen then give me a raceiptfor them. ? Councillor Fabe : Wdlthat take long ■ The Town Glebe : Mf-an-hour. f 0 Councillor Fabe : I think if you • Councillor Fabb: Ask the Doctor. Da Fostbb: Perfectly “g® l * mon Ben se Councillor Fabe : Of course,common se would t«U that. . ror » much The Matos said that ho was very

obliged for the vote of thanks which they had just unanimously passed to him. for he was not one of those case hardened iodividuda who was insensible to kindness. He was not going to cry at leasing the chair, became tears were already dropping {Tom the clouds in honour of that auspicious event. (Laughter.) He had to thank every member of the Council for the courtesy and kindness invariably shown to him, and he also oh the part of Mm Hart, desired to thank them for similar courtesy and kindness displayed towards her. There was one very important branch of the community he desired particularly to thank, he meant the newspapers. (Laughter.) He must thank them for the very marked attention and courtesy they hod shown him during his year of office. (Laughter.) He hoped that the same attention and courtesy would be shown 1 by the newspapers to his successor in order that he might have the same chance as himself of being brought before the public. (Renewed laughter). The rubbing down which he bad got was like the polishing a diamond got, and which caused it to shine with greater brilliancy. It had done him no harm, and would be the means of letting the public know that his light was not hid under a bushel. He had yery great pleasure in handing to hie successor his chain of office. It did not at . present (xmtam many links, but he tngsted that his* successor would odd another link to it, that it would be an honour to him, and that he would honour the links.

Tho retiring Mayor then left the chair, and ‘Councillor Hobbs* having been invested with the chain, was conducted to the chair by hisproposer and seconder. The Mayob said that be found, from, the City Solicitor* that hia first duty would be to. appoint,Fife Inspectors for, the ensuing year. He begged* therefore, to appoint Mr W, Harris as Chief Eire Inspector, and Mr , F. A. Bishop tts Eire Inspector for the city of 'Ohristchurob; -

The Mayob said:, Mr ex-Mayor and gentleretumyoumy most sincere thanks for the great honour yon have this day conferred on me by electing me as your Mayor. The position of Mayoror Chief Magistrate of the city of Christchurch—one of the leading cities of New Zealand—is an honourable position which might be coveted by any member <rf this community, no matter what his standing in the social scale might be. It will be my earnest endeavour to fulfil aU the duties ■appertaining to the office to the best of my ability as my predecessors have done. Whether 1 shall be successful or not depends on the cooperation of my feUow-CounciUors. To be a S»d Mayor, it is necessary to have a good ooncil, for it depends on the solid moral support the chairman receives whether the business of the Council will be properly conducted or otherwise. I will ask my bwstherCouncillore to give me all the support they can, and I will promise on my part to preside impartially,, and to do my best to treat members of the Council and the ratepayers generally with all the respect and courtesy due to them. In fact, I think the Mayer cannot do better than use as his motto the quotation recently used by Mr Moorhouse in Welling, ton, namely, “Steal courtesy from Heaven, and dress himself in all humility.” I am afraid my year of office will not he marked by any large amount of progress generally/because the surplus from next year’s income is to a great extent already allocated for drainage purposes. However, I shall have great satisfaction in seeing a large amount of progress mode with the drainage works, which in itself will be perhaps the, greatest benefit the oity can possibly obtain. 1 hope the Provincial Council will pass a liberal vote for municipalities at their next sitting, in whioh case I can promise that the money will be Judiciously spent. I regret that all the members of the 'Council could not be present to-day. I miss Councillor Calvert, whom 1 look, on Bf ]the father of the Council. 1 trust his trip to Melbourne will be beneficial to his health. His kindly, inoffensive manner has created an amount of affection for him almost filial on my part, and I am proud to know that I had bn support in my election this day. ’I again beg to thank the Council for the great'honour they have conferred upon me. On the motion of Councillor Hast, the Council adjourned to Monday next, at the usual hour.

At the conclusion of the business those present accepted an invitation to do hanour to the occasion in the usual manner.