The Daily Telegraph SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 1881.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 2988, 22 January 1881, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 1881.

The final battle over the appointment of borough engineer was fought out in the Municipal Council la«t night. The respective supporters of the two candidates have done their best, and it baa been a harder and a more bitter struggle than has been devoted to any question tbat has ever been brought before the Council. Tbe Councillors, as well as the public, must be heartily glad it is over. If in its result tbe best man has not got the appointment, the debates —if we may dignify tbe discussions by that namehave not been without tbeir good uses. They have brought each Councillor prominently before tbe ratepayers, and exhibited one and all in a stronger light than would, perhaps, have been the case under any other circumstances. It is the fault of the electors if they are now unable to form an opinion upon tbe qualifications Councillors possess for the administra tion of the affairs of the borough. We have seen one of the most important appointments under the Corporation made the subject of a struggle as bitter as though the candidates for the office were the indebted personal friends of Councillors. Except on one side of the Council the merits of the candidates have been of no consideration whatever. Confident in the support of the Mayor the minority deemed it unnecessary to advance anything more favorable to Mr Lamb than that being a local man he was " entitled " to the appoint _ent. We quite agree with

Cr. Monteith that the principle involved in this consideration is mischievous in the extreme. We are not going to say which of the two candidates is in our opinion the best engineer, for the reason that w. ",_iiiv _cthinu; "V>"t Mr Lamb. But we oo ku.w Air Marchant. The work he has left behind him at Wellington is the best testimony to his ability ; not to mention that successive Mayors, for a period of eleven years, have testified to the able manner in which be has carried out the public works of that city. Can the same be said of Mr Lamb ? It may be, for aught we know. But supposing tbat that gentleman was for a long period the city engineer of the town of Darlington, we should still incline to the opinion that colonial experience was ot more use to such an officer in tbe case of a place like Napier than all that could be gathered iv an old town in England. However, the question has now been settled, and there is au end of the matter. We trust Mr Lamb will do tor the borough what we are certain would have been accomplished by Mr Marchant.