THE MAYORAL ELECTION.

Evening Star, Issue 3559, 20 July 1874, Page 3

THE MAYORAL ELECTION.

T» the Editor. SlB, —Your correspondent “ Another Citi- ” endeavors in what I am constrained to think is a very weak manner tc reply to my letter appearing in’your issue of the 17th inst. He says that “Citizen” hardly conceals his identity by the nom de plume he has assumed. •Veil, sir, as tc this I am utterly careless whether your correspondent guesses rightly as to my identity or otherwise. I care not a jot. The cause of truth needs no concealment, and but for the fact that had I signed my own name many might hare miseontrusd my motives, I should have at once proclaimed myself. He says “ the gravamen of my charge against Mr Ham say is that his speech is full of gross egotism.” This I entirely deny; were it only that ray knowledge of the individual would have led me to pass it over in complete silence. The gravamen of my charge is that Mr Ramsay has been positively untruthful; that he has claimed credit for himself where none is due,

»nd indeed has sought for praise in completing matters which, if his views had been carried out, would have resulted in a direct loss to the citizens; that he has, in the most unblushing and unworthy manner made a bid for the working men’s support by reading Mr Larnach’s letter at his meeting on the occasion referred to in connection with the proposed Working Man’s Club; that he insulted the intelligence of the working men by supposing that the introduction of the subject at such a time would influence their Totes; that he insulted the wide-spread fraternity of Oddfellows, the Caledonian Society, and Volunteers by mentioning the of his being a member of their bodies. If he were such, the members of these fraternities would know it without his parading it, and the fact of his doing so makes the reason for it so obvious as to render such conduct worthy only of the utmost contempt. Does Mr Ramsay hold so small an opinion of the members of these societies as to think that their intelligence was not equal to the exposure of such a trick as this ? Mr Ramsay, sir, has played his trump card, and I ath convinced has lost the odd trick.

In making these remarks, 1 do net wish it for one moment to be thought that I seek to detract from the 1 iborality of Messrs Clark and Larnach in giving their handsome subscriptions to the fund. Whether a Working Man’s Club is a requirement here at present is another question ; but T am quits willing to believe that both gentlemen were actuated by the purest feelings of philanthropy in making their donations. I only question the good taste of Mr Larnach in allowing his zeal for his frhmei Mr Ramsay to outrun his discretion.

What Mr Ramsay thought was the shallowness of the working and trading classes, will only prove his own. Your correspondent further says that the citizens do not expect the gentlemen who seek their suf frages as candidates for the Mayoral chair to bo hampered with over much modesty. Ido not suppose the citizens expect them to he “ hampered ” with modesty, but I do think they ex pect them to have a little ol the article, and, in addition, to have some amount of political honesty and regard for truth,' of both of which qulifications in their political sense I am fain to think Mr Ramsay has shown himself utterly destitute. Your correspondent also apparently desires to drag the name of Mr Fish into this controversy. It is not my intention to protect that gentleman; doubtless he can, if need be, do so himself. He says, “I profess to review Mr Ramsay’s speech, and to do so fairly”—but does he ? I say Ido review it fairly; had I sought to de otherwise I might have pointed out to the citizens the many things Mr Ramsay

has done in his municipal position against their interests. I might have told them that he voted against the reduction of the rate from Is 6d io Is 3d in the pound ; that he voted fer plurality of votes; that he voted for the Mayor being elected by the Council instead of by the citizens; that he voted for the reduction of the working men’s wages ; that he voted for and mainly caused the enormous and unprofitable expenditure in York place, which will cost the City some LB,OOO, besides ruining the property of mimbers of ratepayers—and that merely to oblige a few of his particular friends; and also when the citizens in other parts of the City had not a footpath made in their respective neighborhoods. Also that he voted for the extension of a lease of one of the City reserves

from fourteen to twenty-one years, after it had been sold at auction for the former term, thus treating most unfairly those who had bid at auction under the belief that fourteen years was what the lease would be given for. There are grounds for believing that in this he was actuated by feelings of private friendship. He a l 8 ?> ®PP ose( i niost determinedly the drainage 11 T, e . and Wapds. I might have pointed all this out, but I forbore to do so because I dilj not wish unnecessarily to injure him in the ey6s Of the ratepayers, and was content to expose what I conceived to be his untruthfulness and want of common fairness to his brother councillors, who must have had some band in assisting in the many things for which Mr Ramsay claims credit. Whether Mr Walter or Mr Ramsay is elected I care not; but I must, in the most emphatic niamher protest against the peculiar means the latter • {entleman has adopted to gain his end am, &c,, t, .. T , _ Citizen. Dunedin, July 18.

To the Editor. . r ‘'Citizen’s” letter in your issue of the 17th inst,, I desire to state my opinion is that Mr Ramsay has satisfactorily proved that the Mayor’s Court was financially a Ipssj as pur 'net redeipts’for tvVo years'were less than the amount received for nine months. Ti fees and fines from the K. M. Court, we are getting now at the rate of LIOU per annum from the R. M. Conrt, and the net total atheunt received for the two years ending uecember, 1872, from the Mayor’s Court, was at the rate of L 56 per annum. The projected appointment of another Magistrate to assist the Resident Magistrate in the discharge of his duties is no argument against the abolitioif of the Mayor’s Court, and only goes to prove that there is an increase of crime in our midst, for which the Corporation of the City of Dunedin is not in the slightest degree directly or indireetly responsible. One of the

arguments of Mr Ramsay was to the effect that a magistrate shenld be responsible to the Government alone for the faithful discharge of his magisterial duties. The Mayor of Dunedin, as a magistrate; is not! Another of his arguments was that justice in indictable offences or heavy crime, as a matter of fact, was better administered by properly qualified magistrates than by those whe have no legal knowledge, experience, or training whatever; and thirdly, that duo attention to duties of the office of Mayor of Dunedin of far mere importance to the interests''of the citizens than attention to the Mayor’s Court, notwithstanding the status, dignity, and prestige which it is alleged the Mayor’s Court gives to the office of Mayor.

THE SETTLEMENT 07 THE GAS QUESTION. It is quit# correct Mr Ramsay claims for Jiitneolf and Mr Livingston the credit of indue-

mg Mr Hankey’s attorney to sign the present contract; and had it not been for the opposition offered by those gentleman, that contract would not have been signed, and the City Coi - poration put to the expense of erecting opposition works, which, at the rates now current, would have resulted in a heavy loss to the City.

THE REDUCTION OP THE RATE OP INTEREST. a malicious falsehood to state that when the Bank account was changed Mr Ramsay fought inch by inch the cause of Mr Larnach m the matter, as it is well known that when the acting-manager of the Bank, Mr Cundle, would not reduce the rate of interest from ten to eight percent., Mr Ramsay supported the ehango from the Bank of Otago to the Union Bank, as the minute-beek of the Council will show. It is, however, true that he was instrn mental in gettingtherato of interest reduced from Bto 4 per cent. It is another malicious falsehood that the letters he received fro;r. Mr Larnack on the subject were only submitted to the Council after the question was settled ; they were ferwarded by him to the Finance Committee of the Council immediately on receipt, and were, I am informed, considered hy that committee who reported to the Council before the question was settled. The records of the Council and the repert of the * Otago Daily Times’ will satisfactorily prove this.

THE HARBOR BOARD. It is a well-known fact that Mr Ramsay attended the first meeting held in Messrs Briscoe and Co.’s office on this question before the then Mayor, Mr H. S. Fish, jr., had anything to do with it, and frem the amount of work done by the Harbor Improvement Sub-committee, of which he was a member, and the satisfactory result of _ their labors, he was as a candidate entitled to have referred to this matter as a proof of the interest taken by him in all public affaire.

VOLUNTEERS AND SOCIETIES. _Mr Ramsay was quite correct in referring to his connection with the Oddfellows, Volunteers, and Caledonian Society, which is only another proof of the interest taken by him in public affairs ; whereas Mr Waiter’s public connection outside the City Council is limited to the Licensed Victuallers’ Association. Your correspondent’s base insinuations with reference to the bonafides of the Mechanics and Working Men’s Club, and Mr Ramsay’s motion in bringing it forward, are so transparent as to be unworthy of notice.—l am, &c., _ South Ward Elector. Dunedin, July 18.