The Taranaki Herald. (DAILY EVENING.) THURSDAY, MAY 1, 1913. MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 144084, 1 May 1913, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. (DAILY EVENING.) THURSDAY, MAY 1, 1913. MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

The elections on Wednesday were fought with a keenness which denoted a reawakening; of interest in municipal matters in Hew Plymouth that is quite refreshing. The retiring Mayor, Mr. G. W. Browne, scored a decisive victory over Mr. Medley, who last year made a much bolder bid. The reasons are not far. to seek. Mr. Browne has proved himself a hard worker with only one object in view, the advancement of the town. > His administration has not been above criticism, but every burgess is willing to-give him credit for honestly doing his very best for the town and for not sparing himself in the effort. He successfully piloted the movement to bring about the merging of the suburban areas into the borough and the carrying of the loan proposals for tramways and street improvements, and there was a strong feeling that having succeeded so far he was entitled to carry out the tramway scheme, the details of which he is tolerably familiar with. After Mr. Medley’s close run for the position lust year it was thought by his supporters that he would be tlie choice of the burgesses on this occasion. But in the interval he has not given evidence of any particular interest in municipal matters and the definite announcement of his candidature was not made as soon as it might have been. Then he made a fatal mistake in expressing himself in sympathy with the system of rating on unimproved values, a system which would be altogether out of place in the present stage of the town’s development. To suggest a departure from the already very decisively approved plan of tramway construction was also ill-advised and probably cost him many votes. He took his defeat, however, in excellent part and certainly lost no friends through the contest. The council receives a healthy infusion of now blood and is decidedly stronger than the last, as it needed to be in view of the highly important work to he carried out during the next two years. While heartily congratulating Mr. Browne and the new council ripen yesterday’s expression of confidence in them by the burgesses, we hope that they will take the first opportunity to thoroughly overhaul the system (or lack of system) upon which borough works have hitherto been carried out. The tramway construction will need to be placed under the control of a thoroughly efficient engineer, and the council should pot be afraid to offer a good salary for sucb a man. Until the permanent way is laid the completion of the roadway along the main thoroughfare cannot be,

undertaken. In the meantime, however, so soon as the loan money is available, the work of making a thorough good job of the other streets, working from the centre outwards and completing each street before leaving it, should be put in hand, instead of the patchwork system of the past. The new council is strong enough, we believe, to resist pressure to depart from a definite well-laid-out scheme in order to make a short piece of footpath here, metal an isolated length of street there, or lay a few chains of concrete kerbing somewhere else. The. Mayor should remember, too, that most of the councillors are busy men who wish the business carried on systematically and' with as little waste of time as possible. He and the council have the oportunity of doing most valuable work for the borough during the ensuing year, and by the results they will he judged.