Cromwell Argus AND NORTHERN GOLD-FIELD GAZETTE. CROMWELL: TUESDAY, JULY 25.

Cromwell Argus, Volume 2, Issue 89, 25 July 1871, Page 4

Cromwell Argus AND NORTHERN GOLD-FIELD GAZETTE. CROMWELL: TUESDAY, JULY 25.

The two candidates for the possession of the Cromwell Municipal Chair had an exciting and evenly-contested struggle for the post of honour. The result of the voting, as declared by the Returning Officer, gave Mr Taylor si majority of three votes over the number recorded in favour of Mr Smith am. Consequently to Mr Taylor is entrusted the control and direction of matters municipal for the coming year. Out of the eighty-eight votes held in the municipality, seventy-one were polled on the day of election. The zeal and activity displayed on behalf of the persons in nomination for the Mayoralty by their various partisans during the course of the election clearly demonstrate that the ratepayers are fully alive to the importance of the duties pertaining to the office. Such a condition of the public mind evidences the existence of a healthy constitution, and is of the most satisfactory kind for the general community. When people are lethargic or apathetic in connection with political matters, abuses of authority are of common occurrence ; mistakes are allowed to creep in and slip by uncorrected or recklessly slurred over; confusion and neglect become dominant and obtrusive, till order and utility are eventually subverted, and disaster and disgrace are irretrievably inflicted on the powers that be and the mass that suffer. Our new Mayor, Mr Taylor, will not, hovvever, have any such evils to contend with, lie succeeds to the Mayoralty under the most auspicious of circumstances. He tinds the accounts of the Corporation clear and unembarrassed, its credit firm and recognisable, various town impi'ovements set on foot or completed, and the entire machinery of the Town Council in first-rate going order. It is fortunate indeed for him that Mr Smitham has done so much, during his term of office, to smooth the way for the advent of his successor. Looking to the future, too, in connection with the prospects of the municipality, Mr TayLOK has excellent reason to congratulate himself on his accession to power. The selection of Cromwell as the assize town of an extensive goldtiekls district gives to the municipality a prestige and a status which entitle it to rank amongst the foremost of the Corporations of the Province. To be the leading citizen of such a place is in itself no small honour; but it is one which necessitates on the part of the person selected the constant exercise of the qualities of rectitude, diligence, and ability. These qualities distinguished the late Mayor, Mr I S.mitham, throughout the period of his administration ; and we trust that the rea- : sonable hope of the citizens in expecting i his successor to be sufficiently endowed with such valuable requirements will be fully realised. Thus we shall see Cromj well maintaining the high position partly , njade for it by Mr S.mitiiaji in the list of j notable provincial towns ; and Mr Taylor, I on the expiration of his tenure of office will be enabled to look with complacency md on the increased progrcn-

sion and prosperity of the-town and district, conscious that the trust placed in his hands has not been impaired, but enhanced and developed for the common benefit.