MAYORAL ELECTION.

Evening Star, Issue 3236, 4 July 1873, Page 2

MAYORAL ELECTION.

MR BARNES’S MEETING.

Mr Barnes, one of the candidates fpr the Mayoralty, met the ratepayers last night fn the Oddfellows’ Hall. The meeting was very well attended. Mr Dogsctt was vefad to th§ chair. The candidate said that he appeared before them in connection with this election earlier than he had intended to hare done. He did so at the instigation of many ef his friends, who insisted that he must have a meeting that night. He regretted the notice given of the meeting had been so short, otherwise be felt confident the attendance would have been very much larger. He was not a stranger to them. He landed some fifteen years ago, when what was now the City of Dunedin was nothing more than a wild bush, and they could boast of nothing more than a jetty some forty feet long. One of the other candidates, Mr Mercer, had stated in his advertised address to the rate* payers, that he was one of the pioneers of the country. lie (Mr Mercer) might be a pioneer of the country; but he (Mr Barnes) could lay claim to be one of the pioneers of the town. Mr Mercer had been for seven or eight years a resident at the Molyneux, and it was only within the last three years that he had given any of his time to the public benefit. The extent to which he (Mr Barnes) was a pioneer of the place migbt be gathered from the fact that when he first arrived there were only three horses and carts within a radius of nine or tea miles around Dunedin. He was the first man who carried goods to Tokomairiro from Dunedio. In those days there was no road, nothing but wild flax and dense bash to penetrate. Under these circumstances, he thought he had a right to claim that he bad been a pioneer for both the town and the country.—(Applause.) He went into another speculation about that time. He was the first person who ran a bus—a four* horse bus—for the carriage of passengers. He bought the bus from Ur .Reynolds. At first people laughed at him, and said it would never do. But still he carried it on, taking goods and passengers to Tokomairiro. He stated these facts to show them that he had not been an idle man while he had been in Dunedin.—(Hear, bear, and applause.) He would tell them another thing about himself. He was *bne of the first contractors in Dunedin ; and there was only one jetty* in the place, with the construction of which he had not had something to do. They would not have had the Rattray street jetty made of the material with which it was constructed but for him. It would have been made of wood, and it would have cost the Government L 2,000 more than it did, besides not being one-hall the width it is. About ten years Ago he felt a little ambitious to get into the Town Board. He was returned a member of that Board by a large majority against Mr Webb for the South Ward. At that'time they tfefa elected for a peri6d*of 'three' years, jind 4 1 ?4 ll g time h§ fulfilled ihe duties of the office quite satisfactorily. He was then elected represent tative of the Ward in which they then met, and suQceeded in discharging the duties equally well He was afterwards appointed Inspector, and in that capacity he was above all the Councillors and the. Mayor too.— (Laughter.) The public got more work done for its money than was got for the same amount of money at the present time.—(Applause.) He next contested the Bell Ward with Mr G. Duncan, and “over-ruled” Mr Duncan by two votes to one and thirty-three over. That showed that the ratepayers had confidence in him. He was next elected representative of the Leith Ward against Mr John Hyde Harris, by a very large majority. That was one of the greatest victories any Councillor could possibly achieve; Mr Harris having been at one time Superintendent of the Province and afterwards Mayor of the City. After haying served in that capacity for a period of two years, Be was proud to hear that the ratepayers were completely satisfied with what h§ had dqoe—(applause) —and accordingly they again elected him their representative. When representative of the Leith Ward a watch and chain, valued at LSO, was presented to him. These facta showed that he had done his duty, and succeeded in satisfying the ratepayers. If they should return him as Mayor* he would not only do as he had hitherto done in the Council, but he would be glad at all times to receive communications from the ratepayers who had complaints to make. It would be a pleasure to him to attend to their wants, and he would do all that lay in his power to have them remedied. Again, if returned Mayor there was one matter be would give special attention to. Before the meeting at which it was intended to be discussed, three days’ notice of any work asked for. had to be given to the Mayor. He (Mr Barnes) would make it his business between the time of receiving the notice and the day for discussing it, to go round the fawn and satisfy fiiqaself by personal observation that what was wanted vyos really required. He possessed this one great'advantage over 'fag other tyyo gentlemen who weye standing fay the Mayorship. Of gourae tfiey Lad mugfi right to stand as he had, aud if they had some advantage over him m one way. he had double the advantage over them in another way. His advantages were these. There was not a drain or channel in the whole town which he had not either inspected or surveyed. He had seen all the work that had been dong for the ratepayers, and he had conducted" a great deal of that He was only a working man the samp 44 most of those who yore present He..Vog the first man in the place who took the work? ing man’s part. In the early days an attempt was made to pull the wages of the working man down to 5s per day. He called all the working men together. He believed that was the first meeting of working men that was ever convened. It took place in. the old Immigration Barracks. The meeting had this effect: the men turned out, aud the Government were compelled to raise the rate of to 7s per day.—(Applause.) He had always taken his side with that of the working man, and he would always continue to do bo.—(Continued applause ) He const-

dercd tKc worklfig f&ftA tllfl 1)0116 Mid BltiOW of the rich man.—(Laughter.) Without the working man the rich man, and the tradesman, too, could not live.—(Continued laughter.) He was proud to say that he (Mr Barnes) had now acquired what would enable him to do without working. He could now lie in bed as long as he liked - (laughter)—he could eat as be liked.—(Continued laughter.) But it bad been said Barnes was no scholar. Now, the fact was that the other men before them were very little better as scholars than himself. —(Hear, hear.) He had done about sixty or seventy thousand pounds’ worth of work for Dunedin, and he never paid a clerk to do any of his calculations, having done all his writing himself, with the exception of some little difficulties that arose upon points of law. They need not allow that difficulty to weigh wi'.h them. On the contrary, they should just say to themselves —lf Barnes gets elected he will get through his work as Mayor just as well as he got through it when he was Councillor. There were gentlemen supporting his candidature : gentlemen who were J P.’s —(laughter)—as well as the working men. If these gentlemen thought that he was unfitted to discharge the duties of the office from not being a scholar, they would never think of supporting him for that office. What were all the duties of the Mayor’s Court? A few drunken men, the more’s the pity, and a boy, or child, or cabman, got in for some breach of the bye-laws, and had to pay a five shilling fine, or go for twenty-four hours to prison.—(Laughter.) If he could not do all that he could do nothing, and would never expect to get through the world at all.—(A ppl ause.) Despite these drawbacks, it was an acknowledged fact that he was possessed of good sound judgment. If he had not been a man of sound understanding, he never could have risen so high as he had done. He called himself an independent manat present—(applause)--and if elected he would devote all his time to the duties of the office. No ratepayer would ever make a complaint about City improvements to which he would not give his beat adviceandattention. The meetings of Council he had attended since August were sixtyeight ; the meetings of Works Committee he had attended during tbe sal U e period V ere sixty-three; Deserves Committee jnpptings, thirty-one} and meetings of Lighting Committee, fifteen. He had tabled forty-ninp notices of motion, while one of the pther candidates, Councillor Thoneman, had only given three.—(Laughter and applause.) Councillor Thoneman had only attended nine meetings during the year, and twentythree meetings of Committee. Since August, 1871, the number of meetings attended by him (Councillor Thoneman) was forty-nine. These figures would let them see the difference between one candidate and the other in attendance npon his duties. _ There was an important notice of motion given by himself to which he would allude. It concerned th ; s Ward aswell as the whole of the City. He referred to the system of drainage proposed by him. He was sorry that motion was not carried, as that Ward would have received double the amount of advantage of any of the other three Wards. Unless that system was soon carried out, the City would be so far in debt, that there would be no chance of getting the work done, unless by imposing fresh taxation. If this work was not soon carried into effect, he apprehended that some hot summer an epidemic disease would be the result. He also claimed to have been the means of getting the City rates reduced to Is 3d in the £. He would have moved for its reduction to a Is } but upon looking into the provisions ©f the Municipal Corporations Act, he found that if the rate was brought down to Is, the Council would have the power of enforcing plurality of votes, and the election of Mayor by the Council. In view of that fact, he contented himself with getting the rate reduced to Is 3d. The present was a most opportune time for the reduction of these rates. If they could not be reduced just now, they could never bo reduced. They had L 5,000 more at their disposal than ever they had had since he went into that Council. He was very proud of that reduction, and he did not care how soon it was brought down to Is. He had also been the means of getting the country reserves leased, as also a lot of other holes and corners, which all contributed towards an increase of the revenue, and assisted them in getting their improvements done. Two months ago be gave notice «f motion that a sum of L 2,000 should be expended upon each of the Wards in gravelling the footpaths. That work had been ordered, and the contracts let about a month ago. He had also moved in Council with the view of getting the toll-bars removed a distance of three miles outside the town. Another thing he would like to see abolished was the dog-tax. He thought it was a very hard thing that persons who kept a little bit of a dogshould be called upon to pay 10s for it. He thought 2s fid quite enough. He thought the laws passed by tile' Council Were too stringent, and required amendment."' The JMfaybt fisted in making these laws, and he thought it was very far yropg that he should be entrusted with enforcing them An infringement of these byelaws was felt by him to be an infringement of his dignity, consequently he insisted upon acting up to the very letter of the law. Their administration would be safer in the hands of the J.P. There were plenty of J.P.’s in the place who would be quite willing to take their full share of the work, instead of allowing Mr Fish to occupy the Bench of the Mayor’s Court every day. At last meeting of Council a motion was tabled to compel every coal carter to carry scales and weights. He opposed that motion, because he considered it would inflict an injustice and a hardship upon the carters. He thought the laws were strict enough without making them any more stringent. A few unimportant questions were put and answered by the candidate,-after which Mr UphsoN njoypd’ Mr Tracers seconded, a rote of confidence, whiph wap carried with acclamation.