MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1340, 4 August 1877, Page 15

MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

DUNEDEST. The election of two Councillors each for South, High, and Bell Wards, and of two City Auditors, took place on the Ist, Notwithstanding the fact that the "roll has this year been materially reduced, in consequence of the.provisions of the Bating Act, yet there was quite as much bustle and excitement as on former occasions. This was no doubt clue to the fact that there were several new men in the field who were using strenuous exertions to gain civic honours. In. South War<l especially the contest was a, very keen one, there being only 19 ratepayers in that portion of the city who did not vote. Messrs Edmond and Gore constituted what was termed the " Ticket," and no pains appeared to be spared to prevent the return of Mr Fish, who, to tiae the tocm of one of his supporters, was "paddleing his own canoe." The contest for ,High Ward resulted in the return of two new men, namely, Messrs Webb and Barr, and in the rejection of Mr B. Tsaac, who has represented the Ward for, we believe, about three years. As adding insult to what, no doubt, he deemed injury, we must say that the "crowd did not give him & very flattering reception when he essayed to address them

after the declaration of the result of the poll. They would scarcely listen to him, and what was worse, some ill-mannered larrakina, whose proper place would be a police cell, pelted him with packages of flour. Mr Fish also came in for a share of these favours, but he assured the electors that it would take more than flour to shut his mouth. Mr W. P. Street, who has lately resigned the position of Chief Clerk of the Magistrate's Court, was among those who stood for auditors, and the result was that he oceupiad the honourable position of heading the poll by a majority ot 200, Mr Sydney James, who has bsen repeatedly elected, being returned as his colleague. Shortly after six o'clock, the "Alayor (Sir R. H. Leary) appeared on the Terrace in Water street, and announced the state of the poll to be as follows : — BELL WABD. Woodland 275 Davidson .. .. .. .. .. 175 H»y .. .. — 172 Messrs Woodland and Davidson were declared elected. HIGH WAKD. Barr 284 Webb 253 Isaac 224 Messrsßarr and Webb were declared elected. SOUTH WAED. Fish 168 Gore 144 Edmond 126 The Returning Officer declared Messrs Fish and Gore elected ATODITOBS. Leith. South. High. BelL Total. Street .. 149 171 227 l? 6 — 733 Jemes ..73 123 192 142 — 5<50 Calender ..69 95 171 147 — 472 Evans ..49 t9 95 101 — 314 Ball .. 68 65 102 70 — 295 Messrs Street and James were declared duly elected. Mr Fish said : I am extremely glad that I appear before you in the position which I occupy, namely, that of bsing at the head of the poll for South Ward. I did not think from the first that the citizens of South Ward would do otherwise than return me. Of course, I was not sure whether I would be at the head of the poll or second, but that I would get one or other of these positions I felt to be a moral certainty. For, gentlemen, I felt sure I had not done anything daring the last ten years of my life, as your representative, which would warrant you in rejecting your old servant in favour of new ones. Gentlemen, I have had to contend in this election, a? I have had to do in others, with a great amount of personal opposition. I have had to contend against John Siubald's influence. — (Uproar, and cries of "Time.") I am sorry, gentleman, for the position which that poor old man occupied to-day. I can assure you, gentlemen, that I feel for him, in consequence of the throes which will go through his corpulent body to - night — (laughter) — when he learns the result of the poll. I hope that he will take the bitter lesson to heart that he should never insult the intelligence and common sense of the ratepayers of this Ward by attempting to dictate to them what men they should return. Gentlemen, lam always prepared to stand upon my own merits, but I rtiinlr that in this election I have been unfairly handicapped. A card has been raised against me by that liberal good old man, that fine old gentleman. Bat he has found that the result is that I am returned by a majority which, to say the least of it, is respectable. Gentlemen, in returning thanks to you to-night, I desire distinctly to return special thanks to my supporters, who have been kind enough to plump for me. I feel assured, and know it from the result of the poll books, that had it not been for the large number of ratepayers who plumped for me, I should have been left out in the cold. — (A Voice : Serve you right). No doubt there are among you some who will say, " serve you right," but I am glad to know that after ten years I have still got the confidence of a large majority of the ratepayers. — (Applause). Tnose of you, gentlemen, who live m South Ward., are aware that a ticket had been raised against me, and not only that, but placards of a tcosi. abominable and disgraceful description have been placed in various parts of South Ward to-day. These placard*, gentle ncen, were of such a kind that they could not be printed, and they had to be written. They have been written by the emissaries of John Sibbald. But in to-morrow's papers I intend to offer a reward of L2O to anyone who will give such information as will lead to the conviction of those who made these disgraceful libels.— (Cries of "make itLSO," and "make it L 100.") lam proud to see that my candidature for South Ward has evoked such an amount of interest among the ratepayers, as out of a voting power of 309, 290 went to the poll, thu3 leaving only 19 men in South Ward who did not vote to-day. Out of that number the large number of 168 voted for me. Gentlemen, I am exceedingly obliged to the electors of South Ward. It will be an incentive to me to do in the future what I have done in the past for the electors of the city of Dunedin. Mr Gore : I have to thank you sincerely for having elected me as your representative for South Ward. When my term of office will have expired, I trust that I will be able to rende^r you such pn account of my stewardship as will meet with your approbation, and be creditable to myself. No exertion on my part will be wanting to merit yonr confidence again. Gentlemen, I thank you for having elected me. Mr Edmond : Gentlemen, I may say that I am like Prince Edward. "My kingdom is not of this world." This is the second time which I have contested this Southward election, and have been defeated. It takes a clever man to defeat a wily tactician, such as has been returned today. I have to tb&nk those 126 ratepayers who voted for me. A sight at the ballot-box shows that there were six plumpers for myself, 14 for Mr Gore, and 90 for Mr Fish. That shows you the state of the polL Mr Bake : I have to thank you for placing me at the head of the poll for High Ward I to-day. In going about, the Ward, I nave noticed several thugs which wanted doing in the way of street formation, and I shall be glad to give my best attention to these things in return for the confidence placed in me. I have to thank my supporters and the circle of friends who voted for me, and will endeavour to repay tneir confidence by my deeds in the future. Mr Webb : I feel greatly indebted to those who worked so hard for me as to place me in the position of a returned candidate. I was brought forward by no party, and had no Committee of citizens to represent me. 1 come before you as an individual ratepayer, who had been long known to you, and you have paid me the compliment of electing me. I will endeavour to repay that confider.ce by doing my be3t for you as a member for High Ward. Mr Isaac, who was received with marks of disap^obation, said: Mr Returning Officer and gentlemen, I always thought thirt amongst Englishmen fair play was given, but from the action of this crowd, I must say that it is a "mob." Whea I stand here you groan me and hoot me. That is net fairplay, because, though I have not been elected, you cannot give any cause why I should be a defeated candidate, fcr I am conscious that I served the city truly. There are but few of you who dp not know that I worked hard for yon, and %& not work for my own interest. I

davoted myself heart and soul to the work of the Corporation and to the interests of the city. It is well known that I have been on a number of Committees since I have been your servant, and I have served you well, and for three years — and what is the result ? You have rejected me, and prefer two gentlemen entirely un known to you. I hope these gentlemen will serve you in good faith, and better than I have done. At the same time, lam of opinion that if they serve you as well, they will do their duty, because I am conscious that I have done my duty as your representative. In the election which I have now contested, I have been defeated only by 34 votes. I may tell you that numbers of people have come into my shop and said, " laaac, you are not taking much interest in your election ; you are attending to your business." I replied, " I have a right to do so ; I have served the electors ; and if they do not vote for me after three years of service, I have no right to go round and ask them to vote for me." I have trusted to the intelligence of the ratepayers, and I do not consider this election a defeat, for I have had two good men against me. I have had Mr Barr, who is City Engineer— —[At this stage of Mr Isaac's speech he was made the target of several packages of flour, and wa* thereby prevented from continuing his speech for some minutes.) It is said that he is to be a check upon Mr Mirams, our Engineer ; but whether that is wise or not I am not going to indicate to the ratepayers, but I have my own opinion on the subject. One canvasser whom I refused to employ at 103 a day was afterwards engaged by Mr "Webb, and he was employed upon the hill, saying that I was the worst man in the lot— (More flour.) I thank those gentlemen who voted for me. — (The flour still continued t» come, and Mr Isaac retired uearly as white as a miller.) Mr Woodland was received with loud applause. He said : I have to return my sincere thanks for the position in which the electors have placed me on this occasion — that is at the top of the poll for Bell Ward. I believe I have a hundred of a majority. That shows you that when you have a good servant who has done his duty you know how to serve him. In three mouths' time another election for Mayor will take place, aud I trust the feeling will exist Ihroughont the city as well as Bell Ward that I have been a good and faithful servant, and that you will show it by returning me as Mayor of this city. Mr Davidson— (A Voice : What about the base line?) I shall endeavour to give the greatest attention to city matters that I possibly can. You all know me for the last 19 years. That is all lam going to say. Mr Hat : I have to return my sincere thanks to the 172 electors who voted for me to-day. There are two Mr Davidsons in Dunedin — one a jolly good fellow. Everybody likes Mr Davidson of the Foundry, and many thought that it was he who was standing. — (A Voice : Rot.) That was one reason why I was de f eated, and another wa3 the exceedingly great popularity of Mr Woodland in his district, and the fear cf his friends that he would not be placed at the head of the polL Consequently, they plumped for him. I again thank the 172 ratepayers who voted for me, and I may say this, that I never know what it is to be defeated, and if I have lost one battle, that is no reason why I should not try another. Mr Street : Mr Returning Officer and fellow-citizens — I have to thank you sincerely foi the high position in which you have placed me, that, is, by returning me at the head of the polL I thank the 733 gentlemen who voted for me to day. I can assure you that when I was proposed as one of the auditors, I did not expect that I should have the honour of being returned at the head of the poll. — (A Voice : You deserve it,old man.) I need scarcely tell you that I feel it a great honour, and I assure you that I will honestly md conscientoualy firform the duties appertaining to the office, am sure that at the end of the term you will have no reason to regret having returned me. Mr James : 1 have had to return thanks for the honour of being elected so many times that I scarcely know what to say. But I must say this, that I feel grateful to my fellow citizens for having elected m 9, and for having had their good wishes so long. Mr Woodland then proposed a vote of thanks to the Mayor, and in doing so, said that he (Mr Woodland) had been grossly insulted the last time he had left the terrace by John Sibbald, and he appealed to his supporters not to allow it to take place on that occasion. Mr Fish seconded the motion, and the proceedings then ended. PORT CHALMERS. The election of Councillors for High and Middle Wards and Auditors for the Town took place on the Ist at Port Chalmers. Polling was very quietly conducted during the day, and at 5 o'clock the result was declared by Mr A. M'Kinnon, Returning Officer, as follows :—: — % HIGH WARD. Law 36 ' Nicoll 32 M'Gregor 32 Haddock 3 Majority for Mr Law, 4. MIDDLE WABD. M'Kinlay 47 Gordon .. 14 Majority for Mr M'Kiolay, 33. I AUDITORS. Stevens 130 Leek 102 Thomson OS Fail 50 Messrs Stevens and Leek were returned. The Returning Officer then declared Mr Law elected as Councillor for High Ward, Mr M'Kinlay for Middle Ward, and Messrs Stevens and Leek as Auditors. The candidates briefly addressed the meeting, and the proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks to the Returning Officer. ST. KILDA. The election of two Auditors for the municipality of St. Kilda took place on the Ist, but very little interest was shown during the day. One of the tormer Auditors, Mr Eagar, during the early part of the day retired in favour of Mr Galbraitb. The Town Clerk announced the result to be as follows : — John Galbraith, of Mo.»selburgh . . . . 25 Henry Arndd, of St Hilda.. .. „14 John Henderson, of St. Kilda .. ..11 William Eagar, of Musaelburch .. .. 5 Messrs Galbraith and Arnold were declared duly elected. MILTON. The electors of Milton displayed great interest in the election of Councillors for East and "Vv'est Wards, and of Auditors, ou the Ist. The following was the state of the poll : — COUNCILLORS. Eastward D.Reid ..30 Moses ..22 Westward E. Stewart .. 45 J. Golding 19 AUDITORS. H. Marryatt 103 J. L*no .. 93 G. Capsticlt 07 Mr W. J. Dyee, who presided as Returning Officer, declared Reid and Stewart Councillors, i and H. Marryatt and J. Lane Auditors. I The candidates briefly thanked their supI porters, when the meeting closed.

BALCLUTHA. A considerable amount of excitement was manifested on the Ist at Balclutha, in the election of three Councillors to represent the various wardj. Mr M'Neill, the Mayor, acted as Returning Officer, and there were about 75 ratepayers present, when he read out the results of tne polling, as follows :—: — South Ward. East Ward. North Ward. M'Donald.. 52 Canning .. Id Hogg .. 47 Stewart .. 3G Paterson.. 16 Baiu .. 23 Majority .. 16 Majority .. 4 Majority .. 24 The Returning Officer declared Messrs M'Donald, Canning, and Hogg duly elected, and after the successful and defeated candidates had returned thanks to their supporters, the crowd dispersed.