MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12649, 29 April 1903, Page 5

MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

POLLING TO-DAY. ' •' Unusual intorost is taken in the municipal "* elections in the city and several suburbs, n and tho polling to-day .is expected to be "' heavy. There aro contests in the city for ,r tho mayoralty, and also in Mornington, !• St. Kilda, North-East Valley, Port dialmers, and Mosgiel. In all the city waTds ;■ more than tho required number of oandi'a dates have been nominated, and there ara I. contests in most of tho suburban boroughs. s. j CR MAITLAND'S MEETING, ti ' Cr Maitland addressed tho electors in the '• Choral Hall last evening. The chair was '■ occupied by Mr Button. Mr Maitland re- '• plied at some length to the criticisms that !• have lately appeared in the press, and e .placed before the audience the state of t. the city's finances. He also reiterated that i. his platform was ono of sound finance, a re- '. duction in. the price of gas, tramway season I. tickets, awl'amalgamation of the boroughs. I. A unanimous vole of thanks and confidence r wis passed to the candidate on the motion Is of Mr Munro, seconded by Mr Gore. i, Tho committee met after the address at i- tho Central Rooms, and snide complete i- arrangements for to-day's battle. Both o meetings wore most •enthusiastic, and the . committeo aro confident of success. a THE LELTH WARD CANDIDATES. 0 ! -, Three of tho Leith Ward candidates adi- dressed tho electors last night in the Albany ii Streot Oddfellows' Hall. Mr Brinsley proe eided, and there was an excellent atten- :• dance, somo 150 or more ladies and gentleii mtn being present. The meeting at inter- :- vals was decidedly lively, and constant interii jections and interruptions drew from ono r of the candidates such gentle remonstrances r as: "Shut up, can't you?" "You hold 1 your tongue, or you'll be put out!" etc. b The candidates, on the whole, however, :l secured a good hearing,- and the audience - was more friendly than hostile, although a i number of them appeared to bo ready to 9 enjoy any slight disturbance that might .1 arise. Cr Lawronco took tho platform first, - and .was tho principal speaker. He took . somewhere about an hour to give his views i on the tramways, publio works, etc., and j devoted a good deal of time to replying to , his critics. Mr J. W. Butler followed, and s gave practically the samo address as ho \ delivered in tho Union Street School, and 9 the only new point made was in a statement 7 that, ho favoured the trams going through r the Gardens as the best and most \ practicable route. Mr J. Barnes was the [ last speaker, and admitted that although . a novico in tho insido working of cor- , poration affairs' he stood in -practically the I samo position as many of the present counj eillors on the date of their election, and ho , thought somo of them had remained in ; that unenlightened .state till tho present ; time. He undertook to faithfully disehargo '. tho duties of councillor if tho electors saw [ fit. to' Vest him with (lie honour of repro- , senting them. Votes of thanks and confidence wero passed to all tho candidates. '. At the close there were emphatio oalls- for ' Cr M'Donald (who was present), but a voto | of thanks was immediately proposed to the ( chair, and the meeting closed. ; NORTH-EAST VALLEY ELECTIONS. The* Botanical Gardens Hall was filled last | evening on the occasion of the combined . public meeting held by candidates for the t mayoralty of the borough and for seats on tho local council. Mr .T. W. Roberts pret sided. Tho two mayoral candidates and all the candidates for tho council except two '■• (Messrs J. Bogg and J. Wilson) occupied . scats on the platform. Tho mayoral candi- ' dates woro allowed 15 minutes to express their views and tho others 10 minutes. Cr Campbell, a mayoral candidate, in the ; courso of his remarks 'said he had been closely connected with tho North-East Valley Council for nearly 12 years. Since the beginning of that timo there had been great improvements in the borough's finanoial ' position. More buildings had gono up' in tho borough in tho past two years than in the provious I',—an indication of the money that had been expended. A water supply for tho Valley was very necessary, but he was not in favour of their going in for a reservoir of their own. It would bo better ' and oheaper to«get their supply from tho city. As to the tramway question, ho considered the City Council had got the bettor of the borough in cvory way in this. Ho strongly disfavoured the running of tho cars in tho Valley along one side of tho road. Ho had done his best to secure the placing of tho poles down the road centre. Cr Evans, the other mayoral candidate, said he did not agreo with Cr Campbell' about tho tram question, or that the City , Corporation had got it all their own way. They had met them in a very fair manner. The City Tramway Committee cared not at all whether the (rams ran in tho Valley or' not, and North-East Valiey councillors would have praotically ruined the borough . if they had tried in any way to block their, tram service. The dust nuisance on the main road needed particular attention. £63 had been wasted in buying a roadbrush. IE elected ho would advocate tho sale of this, and tho purohaso of a watercart. It would also bo his bounden duty to see that' there was no raising of rates. Cr Short confined himself to answering questions. He considered the borough was already sufficiently in debt, and was not in favour of further borrowing. Tho Greater Dunedin scheme had his approval. If elected . he would endeavour to servo the lost interests of the borough.. Mr H. Duncan (present Mayor), a candidate for, the council, emphasised tho need of a water supply for the Valley. Tho City Council were now so far on with the new wator scheme that he believed tho borough could, if they desired, be so supplied in 18 i months. The borough's total indebtedness of £15,280 ho considered a bagatelle. The borougli was going ahead, and a year or two would see thorn in a vory different position. • Cr Botting 'thanked the ratepayers for having elected him to the council on three provious occasions, and dealt briefly with tho question of the abolition of tho wards. If elected he would do his utmost to carry , out the wishes of the ratopayors. j Mr W. King thought that a little new blood in public bodies- was sometimes desirable. He considered North-East Valley a most important borough, and he could seo | that a very great deal could be done- in the way of inducing residents to come to the j district. The condition of tho main road ' in dry weather was a disgraoo. Too great economy he considered undesirable. Tho. Greater Dunedin proposal he thought would ultimately inevitably come to pass. Cr Macandrew said he was thoroughly op- J posed to the Greater Dunedin scheme. The' ratepayers should go into tho matter for themselves. They would find its result would bo a large increase of their burdens of taxation, with no corresponding advan- i (age derived. Mr Jonathan Rhodes, in putting forth his reasons for coming forward,' said ho had settled in the Valley 15 or 16 years ago. Ho had dovoted formerly a good deal of timo to school committee work, and boro an unblemished record in everything of a publio nature he had undertaken. Ho had now some leisure time, and, if elected, would do his best to make tho Valley one of (ho cleanest, most popular, and refined of tho suburbs. It was going to bo most popular as a residential suburb. A good argument in favour of the poles on one side of the road was' that one-third of the road would j be asphalted, and an excellent bicycle track thereby formed. _ ' . I Cr M'Gregor quoted his long service in the- council, and thought he would have ' shown a weakness had ho not now come forward to. seo if he retained the confidence of ratepayers, If elected he would do his duly in tho future as in the past. Tho great aim of the new council should bo to hurry on the tram service. He had been j opposed to the abolition of the wards, but I had been ruled by the majority. High j Ward, ho held, Ehould never havo been inI eluded in the borough. j Cr Green said it was about 28 years since ho first occupied a. position on tho council. Ho .had opposed the abolition of the wards. His whole heart and interest was centred in North-East Valley. Though thero was no such thing now as Bisrh Ward, they could rest hfioiired ho woidd, if elected, still do his host to build up tho borough in every way. There had been much ■ t*!k about a. Greater Dunedin. but it all. emanated, from the city itself. ' I Mr. J.. Manson said if returned ho would do his lovel best in tho interests of the borough. Ho had no axo to grind, but had lived in the _ Valley for the last 16 years, - which constituted- a valid claim for election, his record being well known to I them. I Mr J.' Kardslcy mi& they had already ' lioard sufficient talking, and' he wonW not , trouble them long. Tho tram sendee did i not meet his approval altogether. As for the water service, they had managed a long time, and could manage longer. If elected ho would- do. lis best to abate tho dust j nukancc on tho Main road. Cr Erittendpn, the last to speak, thought he could take credit for having done his utmost during tho past year to give careful attention to everything that came before ', the council. Ho had taken utj the question ,

of ward abolition, and wm certain under the present eysiom they would got capable-'re-' presentation. A question no other candidate had touched on was that of a library.

It had como before the outgoing council. He favoured tho council's taking over the borough library, and did not think they . should fall in with the oity's free library 11 . projeot. They had'better subsidise and keep s> up thoir own library, and keep their young 19 people in the borough. _ If elected they ir could depend on his putting forward every 1 exertion in the interests of tlie_ ratepayers. 1- A number of questions having then been Is put to the mayoral candidates, the meeting i- terminated with a. vote of thanks 'to 4ho a chairman.' All <tho candidates were well received and had an attentive hearing. ■MORNINGTON. 6 Mr E. S. Mantz, who is a. candidate for s the renresontation' of First Ward in the i- Morniiigtoii Borough Council, addressed tho ,t ratepayers in tho Presbyterian Church Hall d last evening. There was a fair attendance, if and 'the chair was occupied by Mr Litolff. i Mr Mantz, who spoke for a.bout -an hour, >• during which time he was listened to very n attentively, explained the reasons for hia >• candidature, and outlined tho position he e would tako up, if elected, with regard to ii the most important matters *hat would come before tho council. Ho also criticised the t, borrowing policy of the present council) 0 whioh, ho claimed, was making no provision '' for meeting the loans when they fell due. 6 i Mr Mantz was accorded a hearty' vote of thanks at the conclusion of his speech. . i