The Oamaru Mail. THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 1911.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10752, 27 April 1911, Page 3

The Oamaru Mail. THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 1911.

The return of the Milligan ticket yesterday is, primarily, an evidence or superior organisation and unceasing solicitude bv its chief, who has quite the American faculty for carrying his point. But his success was also due to weaknesses on the other side. Messrs Livingstone, Williams, M'Cullough, and Dovey had a personal following which would, in any case, have carried them into office, and so had Mr Milligan and his associates for the town: Messrs Brown, Sutherland, and Lane. It was the personal equation that told more than any considerations fof the harbor, about which so much has been said and written that the mind of the ordinary voter was a whirl of dredges, spoil, and cubic yards, through which Mr Blair Mason and the Board's Chairman and Engineer flitted with lurid effect. Then there was the unpopularity of the other side, not on. personal,- but public grounds. Mr Rose was the head of the party opposed to the Board as it was constituted and he seemed fated to be in opposition. There was less hope than ever for the Reform party after Sir Rose's references to the new dredge project, which appeared to reflect on the intelligence of the great majority who voted in its favor, though, of course, no such discourtesy was intended. Nor had Mr Rose any constructive record to his credit such as Mr Milligan's loan negotiations. As for Mr Paterson, he is young and will not long feel the reverse which he has suffered because hewas a unit of the opposition to a Board which has so much to its credit, and whose recent unwisdom will, it is hoped, prove to he only a passing incident But, if wise counsel had been acted upon, and there had not heen a slavish adherence to a ticket, Mr Paterson as the author of a dredging plan which is to render possible the adaptation ot the Oamaru harbor to modern requirements, would have been accepted with gratitude. However, the Board and the community have the advantage ot Mr Paterson's gratuitous recommendations and may be able to dispense with the services of the man who so generouslv made them. Like Mr Blair Maso'n, Mr Paterson will, we dare say, help the Board with his advice whenever it is required, as he has proved that he has only one object in view—the practical solution of a harbor difficulty which has arrested the progress ot Oamaru and proved a drain the pockets of the country as well as town ratepayers. If Mr Pferson never again sits at the Board's table, the scheme which he lias propounded and which has the sanction of the chief harbor engineer of New Zealand, will be carried into effect. The men who now constitute the Board have sought oifice, not to help Mr Milligan, but to make the Oamaru harbor what is necessary, if they and their fellow ratepayers are not to be sadly handicapped by railage of produce to other ports. No one need have any fear that those whose names appear at the top of yesterday s poll will permit any prolonged exhaustion of the Board's meagre resources in experimentation, which wastes precious time and opportunity as weU as money! There will now be no opposition to divert its attention and prevent the adoption of such timely measures as the Board may desire to adopt. I Instead of being necessitated to keep an i eye on Mr Rose, they will be able to I watch Mr Milligan.

There was not a long list- of candidates from which to choose The Mayor and Oamaru's mayor. Council. This is not extraordinary. The position of Chief Magistrate and factotum for even such a town as Oamaru is always exacting; but Mr Milhgan has set a pace which would keep his successor going at top speed. It is therefore fortunate that Dr M'Adam, notwithstanding that his profession keeps him busy night and day, has stepped to the front to fill the place of the outgoing Mayor. That Tie has sufficiently recovered from KTs recent indisposition to enable him to undertake the responsibilities of an office which will largely trench upon his mental as well as physical forces is a matter for sincere congratulation. As a Councillor the Mayorelect served a most practical apprenticeship, for his office of treasurer of the town's funds brought mm into the closest touch with the municipality s affairs, and more than this he is imbued, with high ideals as to the duties of those who undertake to manage the affairs of the town. His.association with tree-planting-for its beautification has won him much public, approval, and it is fortunate that, where there is such a disinclination to devote time and energies 'to public matters without any hope of reward of any kind —and we are sure "that there is none in Dr M'Adam's case —a citizen who. seems to he so well equipped for the position should accept : it. As for the ratepayers' choice of ibose who are to serve under Dr M'Adam's presidencey there is reason to I believe that they will bo as-alert in the I public interest as any municipal combi- [ nation tliat has preceded them.