THE MAYORALTY.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2626, 18 July 1871, Page 3

THE MAYORALTY.

To the Editoj;. Sir,- On Piiday ne.\t the citizens of Dunedin will he called upon to elect their magistrate for the ensuing year. The candidates are, Mr. Councillor Thoueman, who has served the City well and faithfully for cwo years as one of the representatives for Bell Ward; Mr. Thomas Birch, who has already occupied the civic chair for two years and some mouths, and Mr. Henry Smith Fish junior, (with a grand flourish at the end) the present upholder of the dignity of the City. The demand of Mr. Henry Smith Fish, junior, for re-election at the hands of the citizens, rests on a very flimsy basis. At the hustings, on the day of nomination, he went so far as to assert “that if the ratepayers lid not elect Mr. Thoncman to the office chat he had the \iebt claim to the chair.”

Let us foi a few moments go back to the “wretched p-ist.” At the nomination for Mayor, on the 17th July, 18(19, amongst many boastful claims pv.t forward ly Mr Henry Smith Fish, jun., in opposing Mr Birch, was this—“He, however, contended that the office f Mayor should be a rolling one, and should not be confined to one gentleman for more than one year.” Again, on the 27th June ult., Mr Kish says—“ Two years ago 1 stated my conviction that the office should be held for only one year, providing there was a Councilor of sufficient experience, ami otherwise eligible, willing and do;-irons of tilling his place. ... If

no eligible Councillor were standing, I should then feel at liberty to act as I thought fit, and would in all probability ask the citizens o again elect me.” It has also been elicited that both before and since Mr Birch had announced himself as a candidate, that Mr Kish has stated to Mr Thoueman that he would not come forward on the present occa4ou to contest the election. Where are we to seek for commercial morality? What is political honesty? There are in Dunedin those who say that the former is a delusion, the latter a snare. They point to the banker and merchant, who, as such, have acted as neither would dare to do iu his individual capacity, hut who, shielded by the “interests of the Corporation,” the “Chamber of Commerce,” the “custom of trails,” or some other commercial or banking bogie, have qualified theun elves for the penitentiary, if one existed, for the punishment of immorality. They point to the Provincial Council, and say, We must pot look for political honesty ■her-',-. This honorable member wooed the garlick voice of the multitude by declaring that no member of the Ministry should receive for hi s services more than LloO per annum ; that honorable member has swallowed so many of his pledges, that the elicut is visible iu his rubicund visage, and you expect every moment to see him burst like the bull-frog. This honorable member has “ considerably modified my opinion upon this point,” urged thereto by the “non-official” bundle of carrots held before Lis nose. That batch of honorableright honorable—members, hiving reduced the wretched pay of charwomen aud office cleaners sixpence per day on the score of economy, have voted themselves Faugh! let them stink in their own infamy. There should be some limit to this ; there should he a distinct line of demarcation drawn between irresponsibility and individuality ; the front of brass should not always triuiprili flvpr xpevit. The casuists say that speech was given to mail to conceal his thoughts ; but they do not say that the r.ongue of man was given him solely for the purpose of lying with impudence. I am, &c., C. W. Dunedin, July 17.