ELECTION OF MAYOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XII, Issue 4397, 16 December 1875, Page 2

ELECTION OF MAYOR.

Tiie election of Mayor by the ratepayers will take place this day, for the first time in Auckland. Polling will commence at Sa. m., and close at 4 p.m., at the Mechanics' Institute. There are only two candidates, and a close contest is expected. The supporters of Mr. Tonka are confident of success, and so are the friends of the present Mayor, Mr. F. L. Prime. We have not taken any side in this matter, as we do not consider that any principle is involved, but we may say that we think that unfair efforts have been made to prejudice Mr. Prime, by saying that he is the nominee of the City Councillors. Mr. Prime stands before the electors upon his own merits. Had a candidate been nominated by the Council as Mayor for the ensuing year, it would not have been Mr. Prime, but another of the Councillors. The names of the gentlemen who have proposed the re-election of the present Mayor are—Messrs. C. J. Stone, G. W. Owen, T. Macky, S. Cochrane and Son, and T. Boylan. Not one of these gentlemen is or ever has been a member of the City Council, so that tho Mayor cannot be said to be the nominee of that body. The law now gives to the ratepayers the right of electing any one to the office of Mayor, and probably the change is an improvement. The fact, however, that a man has been in the Council, or even in the Mayor's chair, ought not to operate as apositive disqualification, and the fact that another is an "outsider" ought not to be considered an allpowerful argument in his favour.