THE MAYORAL CONTEST.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 9568, 26 October 1892, Page 2

THE MAYORAL CONTEST.

MRH. S. FISH AT THB t MISSION HALL,

A meeting of ratepayers was held in the Mission Hall, Russell street, last evening, on the invitation of Mr H. S. Fish, Jan., one of the candidates for the mayoralty of the city of Dunediu for the ensuing year. The room was crowded before the hour for the commencement of the proceedings, and several ladies were present.

i • n ■' P" SIATHESON5 lATHESON occupied the chair, and briefly introduced the candidate, claiming for him a fair hearing, and remarking that Mr Fish had already served the citizens in the City Council three or four times as long as either of his opponents in the present contest « receivecl with applause, said that although he was not in favour of the female franchise he was always pleased to see ladies attending his meetings. It might be asked why he had chosen to speak in High Ward first in preference to any other place. His reasons for!doing that were two, and he would tell what they were. Firstly, ho desired to have a quiet and orderly meeting; and secondly, because he had always received from the people living in Hi*h Ward, and especially the hill part of it, so much support in times past. It was a feeling of gratitude on his part that induced him to make his first appearance in that hall in the campaign. He wished, first of all, to say one or two words of a preliminary character. Had it not been for his action a short time ago, eonWH I!^' S° IOD-f, as *»»-candidates wire confined to the councilors, would have appeared before the ratepayers at all, because shortly before he left Welhngton he received from Or Solomon one of the most extraordinary documents m the shape of a telegram that he ever received m his life. It was a cool stated ment hat the 11 councillors-that was, omitting hnnself-had signed a paper agreeing to be each nominated for the office of mayor, and that not one of them was to have any meetings, that not one of them was to have any circulars T?Tw« canvassf rs- and ao public meetings «riL jessed to give his adhesion to the scheme but he need not tell them that such-a proposition he could not fall in with, because it TZ e- en against the tenor =»id spirit of the wd Municipal Act, which, in providing that the citizens should elect their mayor clearly indicated that the man who desired%o S over the citizens should be prepared to meet w»T d fwW6r f^, lotions; put to him! Anything that would take away from the rateSofrT^ ap"Vllegeasthatwa S contrar y tothe spirit of the act, and was exceedingly improper No doubt the majority of the councillors who signed the document, which was a very silly one were induced to do-so by more designinfmsn' d.dates. I'or example, Cr Haynes, had been busily canvassing in the north end of the toVn for a month previous to his (the speaker's) W I ellm Sfco". and of course he would have had the benefit of that canvassing had the agreement he' referred to been signed. He was distinctly of opinion that anynfan who stool for the position of mayor should be prepared to submit himself to the ratepayers.-^Ke ° FKr S, al eryprOpei; Sayi"S. "On their own meats modest men are dumb." Now he did not know whether he was afflicted w^excSsS modesty but though he generally agreed with that maxim, he was certainly-of opinion That there were exceptions to this as to every rule, and that c early the present instance was exceptional since it was his duty to justify his candidature on the present occasion, 3 byendeaHS tO 6h4V S far as he could that he had done something to warrant him in asking for their votes. He might mention, therefore! that at was now 25 years and three months since ?b* I fT™^^ 0 lifeas a councillor for the South Ward of this city.; he had been first elected mayor in 1873, and was re-elected for the two succeeding years, and had actually served the c.t.zens as mayor or councillor for a fZ Jm 8 yearS) a len Sth of «me greater, he thought, than any other person in the colony had given to municipal politics, and certainly the longest period served by anyone in the Dunedm City Council; the nLrestto hTmself in this respect being his friend Cr Carroll Of course comparisons were always odious, but he thought himself justified in comparing that service with the service given by his opponents one of whom had been councillor or mayor fora year and 11 months, and the other (Cr Haynes) 10™nV U *h 7e Co"ncV° r 50mefi*e y^rs and 10 months Length of service, however, alone was not sufficient, it should be accompanied by acts resulting in paramount good to the citizens and therefore he should refer to some ?n,-^ e f thmgS^ich he had beea successful in initiating and in carrying out. It was in no spint of egotism he did this, but simply be* cause he felt it necessary to them and due to himself to refer to these matters. He had commenced the agitation which had resulted Why £ y cor Poration acquiring the gasworks. When the gas company existed a very inferior quality of gas was supplied at 22s 6d per 1000 ft ■ that the price was reduced to 12s 6d in 1876, and in ijot m? Bihv? reductioHS had been made until n■„ * i rPP c was reduced to 7s 6d for.lighting and 63 3d for general purposes. The citizens had also reaped out of the sale of gas a sum considerably over L 30.000, a large proportion of which (L 13.000) had gone in aid of municipal revenue, large sums had been expended m repairs, and a sinking fund had been created, winch in the course of a few years would wipe out the loan raised for the purchase, and leave the gasworks entirely free for thefuture benefit of citizens. Having fought the gas monopoly he undertook to fiVht the gigantic monopoly in the shape of the Water feupply Company, and at last succeeded in rtnT S rt COU\ 01., Of the waterworks, which* though they had cost an enormous sum had been of immense advantage. The corporation now gave a copious supply of water, and made a considerable amount of pront out or its sale. The total profits to date Irom the acquisition of the supply by the city amounted to the enormous sum of L 66 164 lft lid, of wh,ch over L 49.110 had been expended m extensions, and there was at the present time accrued profit amounting to no less than a L"f sl, Us p 4d- ?e felt sure they would not accuse him of egotism when he referred with feelings of pride to his association with these two great undertakings, which he had himself initiated, and, with the help of an intelligent body O f councillors, succeeded in securing that in'lßßlll^ W l hich hB claim«d "edit that, m 1881, he had prevented the increase of he special rate by 3d in the £ after that had been recommended by the Finance Committee and provisionally adopted by the council. That majority of their votes on the day of election - httovv" 8! 0 li ß f uV hehad not y^t finished the history of what he might call his career of usefulness to the citizens. As a member of Parliament, he had been fortunate in securing fiunrfv i°^fln 8 a consf, vatiou area for the wate? supply 15,460 acres of land and also some small reserves wifchm the city which would yield a revenue of at least LISO per annum. Then, in consequence of his representations to the Railway Commissioners, the corporation had secured a saving of L7O per annum on the cost of haulage ; and another thing that he could refer to with considerable pride and satisfaction was tnat he had successfully piloted the Ocean Beach Domain Bill through both Houses of Parliament.—(Applause.) These were the chief things which he thought he might claim some credit for ; and if it were true, as no doubt it was, as his enemies'alleged, that during his long municipal career he had committed some errors ot judgment, and might be blameable for some faults, what he said was that whatever there might be to his debit on that score there was a sum in hard work and real solid substantial results to his favour, which left him iarg.iy in credit in his account with the people of Dunediu.—(Applause.) In saying this, he did not claim to have done one hn'porth more than his duty, but ho did claim to ho.ye acted in accordance with a conscientious desire to do the best ho could in the interests of those with whom he had cast his life, amongst whom his children had been born aud many of them buried. The candidate then dealt in detail with the municipal finances, pointing out that the municipal revenue was someL3ooo per year less than the expenditure, aud that this was made good by the transfer of a sum standing to the credit of the gas account He also mentioned that by the falling in of loans m 10 years relief from payment of interest would be obtained to the extent of L*563 ncr bTrw4 uU T ye hs byLUB-1: audiu 13 y*»» by L 5285. In the meantime, however, the only means of preventing the increase of rates was by transferring a sum annually from the to say that now for the first time the pol?t£d n uuiS^' 1 b°e'liUtrT°, duCPdiu "ouneclFouK municipal matters. It was common in AmennHH 1 f^ 0 T""^ 1 electit)»« tests of political feeling, but he thought he ri»htlv interpreted the feelings of the. cifens here when he said that the last things they desired i.Si,, ,t ?? "8I "tald in'tauci the cr[ini ajhtira. A c.iudidate should be iurtupd i sgtsz rstf Ttfit-s agamst him, their coinmou enemy. He was ple:.«ed to oceuuy th.t ~0 , iti0.,, »«,i £ if •>. <i»S them W mm theit umo of lit wrong

» T bj;Fef"siDS be led by factions such as had combined against him, and he was sure that their response would be as vigorous and as satisfactory to him as he could possibly wish it to be. What were the forces to be brought against him ? He might say he was proud to think he was of such LpoKe Tnd so Dig that it was acknowledged it would take a whole conglomeration of atoms to cru«h him (Laughter and applause.; It was a proud Lttr ft- be in: ,he could uot wish it to be Mp= t }l S WI S the Shiest testimony of his KJve office that his friends could possibly give him, and when it came from his WhTw^H h F 6 WeSSed *em.-(Lau g hter A\ hat were the forces againsthim ?-(A Voicf • Pickles," _ aD d laughter.) No * ?«*; on this occasion would be reserved for his opponents.. First they had the National Liberal^ Association; secondly, the extreme Good Templar faction; third, the women^ franchise advocates; and fourthly, whaT h» might term the extreme religious faction or section of the. community, NaffiS liberal Association was- lame and pretentious rgreat in imagination and exceediurfv weak in belongings. It occasionally was Mvamsedinto life and assumed, arrogantly, afhV » to J^ » ««> ™me of the people of ior lie bad said that no maa had a rieht to cal.^himself respectable if h e voted for ft H. S. Fish. The most farcical thing i n the contest was the action taken by the extreme section of the Good Templars, and n _ sense or logic could justify them in supporting his opponent as against himself. Neither of ?Mr mFTs ah\ a teet f °, talle 1 r ■ W. fc >* was said that he (Mr Fish) was the champion of the publicans, and, being a powerful man, should be crushed It was not true that he was the champiS ofnewf r I?terests: but it was true that t™ a .tampion of fair play, and-that he would not support any movement to wipe out of existence that which he believed to be a certfn ri«h* r bronj*t **> illtence with certain restrictions by act of Parliament He was however, in favour of restricting the traffic o?anZrr S4 a? d WaS Pleased success ot all eftorts that were made to check the curse of over-dnnkmg. Why, he asked, should these T^ S rmt° lyalliance toor^him ? The thing was utterly unjustifiable, and he believed that would be the opinion expressed 5L. aJ? te? ms?^ °f the v°ters °» t^e Ist December. The -woman's franchise question had n 0 connection whatever with municipal matters, and to the extension of the franchise to women he had all along been an open Tn! avowed opponent He.would ask theTiends of woman's franchise to remember the party that had prevented the women getting votes after the bill had been carrie/ through the House and the Council, was the party thl great Liberal Association claimed to belong to He asked those who differed with him on'this matter to respect an open and fair foe rather than to throw their weight into the scale with their secret enemies. Lastly, there was the extreme religious faction-the sects represented by the Rev. Mr Ready and the Si* <?• wl ace-; The gentlemen ™™* and their adherents, he was told, were canvassing against him, and when they found the female franchise would not do they went in for religion, and when religion would not do they went m for the female franchise. These gentlemen, if they were not disgracing, were at any rate doing no credit to "their cloth by the tactics they adopted. He was not going to tell them that he himself was a religious lan 1£ t^f he "understood religion,-for he thought it hardly-possible for a man to be a politician and be so, "but he claimed to look with .reverence upon religion, and to be a decent and^respectful observer of religion. His wife attended service in the church, and his children attended the Sunday school as regularly as any children, and therefore, so far as~~ outward observance of religion was concerned, he claimed to be at religious as any of the men referred to; and he •claimed to be more religious than they, because he had the religion of the heart, which taught him to do unto others as he would have them do to him. He felt it contemptible to have to speak hke this, but it was forced upon him He had endeavoured to tell his story fairly, and those who had known him longest could say that he had told it with absolute truth, and upon what he^had done in the past and what he would be able to do in the future he claimed their votes. He asked them respectfully to vote for him if they thought' he couJd be of more service to them than either of the other gentlemen, and if that did n6t satisfy them he would ask them to vote for him on the score of old inend^ip, long knowledge, and faithful services.—(Applause.) Several questions having been nut and answered,

Mr P M'Gjeegor moved and Mi- Dowses ■• seconded—"That in the opinion. of this meeting of ratepayers Mr H. S. Fish is the most fit and proper person to be elected mayor for the ensumg year." The motion was carried amidsfc applause The Chairman declared the motioa carried almost unanimously, only Fonie eight or 10 hands beiDg held up against it. - Mr Fish returned thanks, and the usual compliment to tie chair concluded the proceedings.