MR CONOLLY'S CANDIDATURE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 99, 24 April 1909, Page 5

MR CONOLLY'S CANDIDATURE.

' . a GooD'REc^TiqN;':; :■■■;. There was a large; attendance of ratepayers at the .'Drill Shed last slight, when Mr John Conolly delivered an address ia support of his candidature. Mr Macey presided, .mid bespoke a good hearing for the candidate, , HIS POSITION.

Mr Conolly said at the outset he •■would be very brief because he had boon out of the Borough Council for several years. During the past ten or twelve years, whenever the Mayoral election camo round, he had been asked to .allow himself to be nominated as a candidate for the position, but had declined the honour owing to his business demanding'the whole of his time and attention, and it had been quite impossible for him to continue on the Council or to aspire -to ,the position of Mayor.1 He had recently taken into partnership Mr Burden, who had been his managing clerk for; the past, ten years," who would relieve; him of a f>roat many of the duties of the office, in order that he (the candidate) might devote the major portion of his fcime to the Borough of Blenheim if elected to 'the; position of Mayor. He did not pretend to know much about the municipal establishment at present, as ho had for so long been out of touoh with it. -He was, however willing to learn^ and if elected he would ask some Councillor to take tWe position of Deputy Mayor, in order that he might be assisted until he became acquainted with the present state of affairs of the Borough. EVERY MAN'S RIGHT. , It had been asked, by one or two people -why he wished to oppose Mr McCallum. Mr Conolly said he had nothing against the Mayor, whom he believed had done his. duty to the town, but he might have done more. Every person had a right to stand for Mayor if he found that he had the qualifications necessary for the position, and also if he had time to attend to his municipal duties he had a perfect right to give the public the benefit of his knowledge in the ■way of assisting in local politics. The last occasion upon which he stood as a Councillor he was badly beaten by Honest John Brown, the cause of his defeat being'the Town Hall site question. Mr Qonolly said he was opposed to the present site. Mr Brown, /who opposed him, wa& an favour 'of the present Town Hall si be at that time, :■<ss.- was now one of his most supporters, and Mr Carr land the whole of the ;Mans©;:Bpa^.:p^ple would support him on/his aspiration/to the position of Mayor.. (Applause,) THE MAYOR APP,ROACHED. He desired: to say' a) •word;;or two with regard' to the meeting being I held in the Drill Shedu In the first place he could not get .tlie Town Hall, as it was engaged*' fright up until next Tuesday' night,-.-r the Garrison Band having!' it • fofr Tuesday night for the purpose of holding a concert, and they all knew that the. Catholic Bazaar 'would; occupy it until Monday night. The election would take place on Wednesday; < and It would' have been quite impossible for him to have <held a meeting. He approached Mr McCallum, and asked him to meet him. eitheir ,in St. Patrick's Hall pr the Orange JHall, when they could place their views before the, ratepayers/ as it; 'was an impossibility for him to get the Town Hall for the; purpose of ■ iaddressing the burgesses. He would not say behind a man's back what hie would not say before his face. Mr McCallum said he had no desire to acM-ress the burgesses. Mr -Cojriplly said he had •promised previously through' the press to deliver an address-, and'he "meant to keep ■ faith' with the, 1, burgesses in that respect. Had he itsked for the use of St. Patrick's 'Hall,\ hei probably would have'offerideH the Orangemen, and if He had ;gone to the Orange Hall he would have offended the Catholics, and hfe'-had no t:'desire to ■do either. Taking that fact' into consideration, he asked Mr ;McCal-. lum to meet him in either hall, when they both could addrfess the ratepayers, and no one gain' any undue advantage over the question of the hall used; theyl would' be in the same I boat. I Mr McCallum' absolutely re-

fused to comply with his request, and when the difficulty of" the position was put to him, his reply was "That?s where I score; you cannot hold your meeting unless I assist you." Mr Conolly asked Mr Me-, •Callum not to answer hastily, but1 that he would give him until the day following before he would ask him for his' answer. , /' j Mr McCallum offered to take thel chair at the meeting if necessary, : "but what the candidate wanted .was for Mr McCallum to meet him on the public platform and address the ratepayers. In order to fulfil his promise to the electors,, he approached Mr Rose, 'bandmaster of -the Garrison I Band, on Thursday, and asked if it) I were possible to :get the Drill HI ■ I for the purpose of his meeting. Mr Rose pointed out that the band was practising for its forthcoming concert on Friday night, %ut that* if aj room conveniently situated could be

procured for the practice, he (Mr Conolly) could have the Drill Hall. He secured one of Mr Parker's sample rooms for the band at the small cost of five shillings, and thus | overcame the difficulty placed in his ; way hj' Mr McCallum's refusing to hold a joint meeting with him. \ A RUMOUR. A rumour had been circulated .to the effect that one of his reasons for con-

testing the Mayoralty was because 'Mr McCallum bad held the position of Mayor for two years. Another rumour j was that he should h& elected out of i (respect for his late father, Judge j Conolly. With regatrd ,to the first' ■statement, he did not think; it was | necessary focr a main to hold office ctnly for the term of two years, and if they were satisfied that Mr McCalluni could conduct the business of the Borough for twelve months better than he could, they were duty bound /to vote for him. If Mr McCallum was the choice of the ratepayers, Mr Coinolly said he would not complain, a<nd he could take a beating with aaiy man, amd he would not be hurt. Im support of his contention that it was not necessary that the Mayor should only hold office for a specified term, Mr Conolly referred to the Mayoralty of

Napier, stating that the late Mr Swam was .such a good man that ho held the position for 14 years. Concerining the statement regarding his late father, Mir Comolly said he had nd desire to get into office on the shoulders of anyone, particularly those of his late parent. If the- burgesses decided that a change in the position of Mayor was desirable he asked them to vote for him. They had probably been told that if he was elected he would suptport a proposal to borrow £30,000 for lighting and goodness Jcnewwhat not.

He informed them that he was not going to do anything of the sort. Ble<n>heim had missed a. golden opportunity in days of prosperity, when, money was cheap, in not furthering a progressive scheme of public works, but the pres-

ent time was inopportune, as money was tight, and he would not entertain any thought of a loan duiricng the ensuing twelve months. They weire aiot going to be like New Plymouth, where a loan of £275,000 was raised at 4J per cent, for a water and drainage scheme. He would promise to devote his time to th© affair® of the

borough if elected, and to get. into touch with all matters appertaining to his office. ' RETIRING COUNCILLORS. Referring to Councillors who were not seeking re-election, Mr Conolly said he was exceedingly sorry that Messrs Griffiths, Brown, and Macey, all of whom had done good work, for the borough, were not seeking .reelection. CANDIDATES FOR COUNCIL. Of the 17 candidates standing for ■the Council, he could not say which ,he favored, as it would be an infringement of the ballotr-paper. He trusted, however, that the best men. available would be chosen for him to work with if elected. OUT OF TOUCH. Mr Conolly said he had seen a lot of public life, having been chairman of the Hospital Bo air d for a number of years, and had also ©at on. other bodies for years. He wats just now out of touch with the various works of the borough generally, but he would say that a. lot of tinkering that did not pay had been don© with the ratepayers' money. ' A STONE CRUSHER. He thought the Council should go im for a stone crusher, which, would enable them to put metal ortii the roads and streets that would last, in preference to the rubbish that was put on at present, which with a, little traffic was ground into dust, and in. w6i weather made the roads mudholes. He inistanced Market Street South and High Street in this connection.. A stone crusher would enable ■them to get cheaper and better.roads than they had at present. ; THE GASWORKS. He recognised that during the past ,two years these had been made to pay. owing a good deal to Councillor Birch, who was among the Councillors he would vote for, as lie had done excellent work. •■- ---ENTERTAINING QUALIFICATIONS. With regard to the office of Ma.ytor during jubilee year, Mrj Conolly said he considered his qualifications for, tjhe purpose of entertaining the Governor when he arrived here were as goodbas those possessed] by Mr McCallum:. -He would riot say they were better, adid he could be relied upon to uphold the dignity of the Borough and the- district as a. whole. • ■ IN FAIRNESS TO MR McCALLUJM. Mr Conolly said he could say a great deal more, but in fairness, to Mr, MoCallum, whom he believed was aaot present, he would refrain. He would j much rather have preferred that Mr } McCallum had been, present, and ; had also addressed them. He invited questions from. ,any of the burgesses i present, and would endeavour to tlh© i best of his ability to 'answer tihejtn- | He would also like aaiy of tie caaididates present to express their views on municipal matters.., x; r , ■;■, ' ■'■•:•'■ ('■'; '■* ■ QUESTIONS. ' ; >;■ Mr Miller asked if the Council had not a stone crusher at the present ; time? r • \ | Mr Conolly replied'that the Council had'a crusher, but it was not safe to work it, as immediately the istomes were put into the crusher .and it started to work they commenced! .to fly about, and the men were in grave danger of being injured. . • ' ! Mr Ching asked; if the Council.procured a crusher,, where would it get ■ the metal to crush? They could;not ■ get: sufficient metal from the Taylor Pass. .' ■ ■ , -.: Mr Conolly .said thea-e was ample metal in the Opawa River. Continuing, Mr'Conolly said he'desired iti to be particularly understood, if elected, he was not going to be autocratic, but if a. councillor. attemptedl to speak more'thaav «nee on any matter befoire the Council, .providing,, x>f coua-'se, tliey were not in coimmittee, he would •ijeil him to sit dowin,. , ■ ';

THE INSTITUTE. Mr John Majiley asked Mr Coinolly, if elected, would he support a. motion making it compulsory to keep, the Institute open each day and night. Mr Coinolly said he saw no objection to the .proposal, providing it could be don© without any undue expenditure of money. H© had always favored making the institution, free. The reading Groom was free at the present ■time, but he thought those, who could not afford to subscribe to tho librairy should be enabled to get books free,. Those who paid their subscriptions oould go and take away whatever books they required1. LATE COUNCILLORS. Mr Dodsoai asked that some of the candidates be called upon to 'address the meeting. He would prefer to hear the views of somei of the late Councillors. YOUNG CANDIDATES.

Mr Ching said he did not go to the meeting wrth the 'intention, or making a speech. He, had repa*eseanted tine ratepayers 'on 'the Council too-, a lengthy period1, and they, knew ibis view®. He thought that some of trie young candidates should avail themselves of the invitation given* by Mr Conolly, and should show their i-eason for desiring to 'represent tlhe burgesses on, the Council. ',

A STEAM ROLLER. Mr Healy asked Mr Ching if ihe would be m favoa- of purchasing a I steam (roller for the town:, in, preferj mice to employing four men to pull a j lawtu roller over any • part of the .. boirough that was being asphalted. He thought it would be money well spent. : A Voice: What commission will you I get out of it? i Mr Ching Said he was: certainly in i favor of buying a steam roller, if the I ratepayers would find the money with which to purchase it. He conisidei'ed '. a steam roller would cost- nearly £1000. v ■ ~ • MR WIFFEN. Mr Wiffen addressed the meeting at length, stating that the roads required constructing in <a proper waj, | particularly instancing the coaiditiom : of MaxAvell Road. He further stated that some people thought that be- . cause a man aspired to a position on the Council he had some axe to grind. He 'assured them he had no< 'axe to : gi-ind, and also that, if elected, no one would grind his axe at the expense of the ratepayers. He was not in favor of raiding a loan at the preseint time, but thought that the remainder of the last loa,iL could be more? judiciously is}_>ent, and he trusted he would be given an oppoait-uinaty. •; Mr Wiffen ; also said the Council should do some-

thing towards beautifying Seymour Square. He thought Blenheim should have a.n up-to-date water and draii:vrr<y but the time was inoppor-'ti.i.i-3 ivr .)aiding a lean for that ivai"-

pose. He would, however, support a proposal to introduce <such a scheme o-ii assisting in doing tbati

THE BOROUGH ASSETS

Mr Penny also addressed the meeting, pointing out the many valuable ■assets the town bad in the form of its public institutions, particularly the gasworks and the Tow,n Hall.

VOTES OF THA.NKS

Votes of thanks were accorded Mr Conolly and the candidates for their addresses, oai the motion- of Ma* Brown, seconded by Mr Aberhart.

Mr Comolly, in. responding, said he desired to thank laill those who had taken pa-rt in the meeting, and also Mr Rose, bandmaster of the •Garrison! Band, for enabling him to have the uk© of the hall that night. The meeting terminated with a vote of thanks to Mr Macey for presiding. ' '