THE MAYORAL ELECTION.

Evening Star, Issue 4164, 1 July 1876, Page 4

THE MAYORAL ELECTION.

To the Editor

SiR,-rSeeing by a letter in thj Stab of the 28th that Mr Walter is again going to contest the electioa as Mayor f>>r Dunedin against Mr Reeves, I should like to place before the citizens of Dunedin Jthe way in whi«h the Lord Mayor of London is elected. Thsre a*e twenty-four Aldermen of the City of London,, elected as Aldermen by the livery in the ward they represent. Each of these Aldermen must serve the . office of Sheriff of London and Middlesex befote he can be elected as Lord Mayor, and that for the last twenty-five years has been a rolling office (the senior Alderman being elected by the' Court of Aldermen) with one exception, viz., when Alderman Cubitt was elected Mayor for two conaecutive years. Another Alderman was by rotation eligible to the -office, ,bnt was rejected by the Court of Aldermen. He appealed to the whole of the livery of the « lty, but Alderman Cubitt waa elected a second time. Now Mr Walter Bays that the Mayor should be the firsc man in the City, and this everyone must admit that takes any interest in municipal affairs. As a reward for having served the City, they should receive this mark of distinction. Now if the Mayor is the first man in the City, he should preside at the Police Court, and as well as being the principal man in the City should be Chairman of the Magistrates, and consequently a magistrate, which Mr Walter, by the law of New Zealand, cannot be. Mr Walter will receive the best wishes of hiß fellow-citizens (whether Good Ttemplars or not) on his year of office being over, but he should, as a matter of juefcioe to his fellow-councillors who have worked ' with him, allow some one of the senior .councillors to be elected this year, and not seek the office again so long as there is a •oouncillor who has not been elected Mayor, and is capable of filling the office.—l am, •&c, \ Dunedin, June 30