A DEVONPORT BREEZE.

Observer, Volume XVI, Issue 947, 20 February 1897, Page 2

A DEVONPORT BREEZE.

The Diplomatic Oliver and the Aspir

ing James

There is a lively hubbub going on amongst the people of Devonport just now concerning the question of the representation of the borough on the Harbour Board. It is usual for each suburban borough to elect its Mayor as itß Harbour Board member. Mr J. C. Macky is the new Mayor i but he chose to waive his claim to the seat in favour of Mr Malcolm Niccol, who has special knowledge and aptitude for the duties of the position, and who has been a-first-clasß representative of the transmarine suburb in the past. One would naturally conclude that as a matter of courtesy, Mr Macky's grateful concession to Mr Niccol would have been unanimously concurred in by the Council. But it wasn't. The majority of the Council were with the Mayor in his opinion that Mr Niccol should retain his seat on the Harbour Board. The minority took the opposite view. There is always a minority in all movements at Devonport, and the chief tactician and manoeuvrer of the minority is generally Oliver Mays. So it was in this case. Oliver bobbed up serenely in the same old place with his friend Jame Dunning, whom he intended to appoint to the vacant seat in the Board, and when Oliver says he means to do a thing, it is time for the opposition party to look out, even if it is in the majority. If Oliver Mays and his friend James Dunning had gone to the Council meeting and submitted the question to a vote, they would have been hopelessly out of it. They knew that. And bo they hied themselves outside, leaving the Council without a quorum, and peeped through the keyhole and spied through the window, with much glee at the discomfiture of the councillors. It was not a very worthy or dignified proceeding, but it was a part of the clever tactics that were to secure the diplomatic ; triumph of Oliver Mays and place his friond James Dunning in the vacant seat at the Harbour Board. Consequently, Devonport lost its right of appointing a delegate" to the Harbour Board, and the power of making the appointment rested with the Government Immediately, a deputation, consisting of the wily Oliver Mays and his friend James

Donning, and Dutton, the recently defeated candidate for the mayoralty, and Bob

Mackay , who lives at the Lake, and probably never owned an inch of ground in the borough in his life, interviewed the Honor.able Thomas Thompson and urged the appointment of 'our esteemed friend 'James Dunning to the coveted position. It was thewishoftb«ratepayers,i;hey said, that James should sit on the Harbour Board. But they mentioned nary a word about the Council meeting that was left without a quorum and the gleeful experiences of the diplomatists at the key-hole and window.

But the Hon. the Minister was too old a bird to be canght by such chaff. He advised the deputation that the Jbeat coarse would be for the ratepayers to settle the matter amongst themselves. Whereupon, the ratepayers took the hint, and held a crowded meeting on Monday night, at which they keel-hauled Oliver and his friend James Dunning, and resolved, by a thnmping majority, to ask the Government to appoint Mr Malcolm Niccol. It was not a kindly way of rewarding the diplomacy of Mr Oliver Mays, or the ambitious aspirations of Mr James Dunning. But the ratepayers of Devonport don't go much on sentiment when they are roused. Moreover, Mr Niccol has been a live representative of the borough for many years past. Mr Dunning emerged- from political obscurity three months ago, and hasn't won his spurs yet.