THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 1905. THE MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13268, 27 April 1905, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 1905. THE MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

The polling in the various wards of the city yesterday on the occasion of the municipal elections unfortunately did not show that tho electors manifested that degree of'interest in'the event which they might- reasonably liavo been expected to display. It is, indeed, a discreditable' circumstance that in the principal residential wards of tho urban, as distinguished from tho suburban, portion of the municipality 'tip number of voters should not have .equalled onehalf of the total number of qualified electors. In Leitli Ward, as a matter of fact, less than one-third of the citizens who . were entitled to vote can liavo exercised their privilege, and in Bell Ward tlic proportion of voters to qualified electors must have been even smaller. The South DUnediii and Caversham Wards compared more than favourably in this respect frith the wards comprised withifi the. former boundaries of the city. South Dunedin; where there was a spirited competition, produced nearly as many voters as the populous Leith Ward; and in Cavershtm, even although there was not much more thfin theseliiblaiice of ti contest, the polling was much heavier than in Bell Witrd. ' It is disappointing to have to record that the elections, taken all round, afforded convincing proof 1 that the public lias not only 1 not been aroused from the state of indifference into which it. had lapsed concerning municipal, politics!, blit actually .that it Is more apathetic uoir than I it' lias been for some, years. With the results of the polling, however, the j citizens have, upon the wholdj considerI able reason to be A fair infusion of m\<J blood is benig provided; of Ivhich the introduction .- is not to be . Councillor Law'reuce, who

returns to his place as a representative for Leith Ward, filling the position at the the poll which he occupied two years ago, .lias two new colleagues/ Mr Small; has already by the he has done as a member .of the Drainage Hoard proved his capacity, and, the return of Dr Riley supplies the Council with a professional olemcnt that should be welcome, the more so as Dr Gordon Macdonald did not secure re-election for South Ward. It was only to bo expected tuafc Bell Ward would return its three former representatives: the offort that was made t;o procure the rejection of Councillor 'Scott was foredoomed to failure .in the absence of a'stronger candidate than the third member of the Ratepayers 1 Association "ticket." In South Ward, also, the attempt to oust Councillor Crust was unsuccessful, as.it deserved to be, for, though he speaks' but rarely at the meetings, tliero are few of tho old councillors who did more useful service than tho chairman of the Works Committee. Councillor Gore retains his seat, and Mr Arkle'f who lias sufficient • leisure to'enable him to give all the necessary attention to tho affairs of the Council, is the remaining choice of the South Ward electors. For Caversham the election of Councillors.Wilson, Kuthevfoi'd, and Cole was practically assured from the first, but the South i Dunedin result will probably excite some surpriso. Messrs Wardrop and Smith would both have proved valuable members of the Council, but the electors have preferred to repose their, confidence ill Councillors 'Fiddis, Harrison, ami Shacklock, and we are not so bold as to question the soundness of their judgment. Generally speaking, the City Council seems to us to be about as well chosen as it could have been from tho material that was offered tho electors for their selection. The contests for the mayoralty of the suburban boroughs turned in most cases upon tho personal merits of the candidates. Mr Henderson's defeat of Mr Simon by an overwhelming majority in Mornington probably indicates tho existence of a feeling on the part of tho electors that tho mayoralty should be a "rolling" office; and 111 lloslyn—where the electors have rather unaccountably rejected two of their oldest and most- experienced councillors—the promotion of Mr Washer from the position of deputy-mayor to that of mayor may almost be regarded as a natural step. In West Harbour Mr Larnach has the satisfaction of having been chosen as mayor of a borough which formerly ho served as town -clerk, and ill the North-East Valloy Mr Duncan lias been elected, but by a somewhat narrow majority over Mr iting.