The Feilding Star. SATURDAY AUGUST 16, 1884. The Borough Council

Feilding Star, Volume VI, Issue 27, 16 August 1884, Page 2

The Feilding Star. SATURDAY AUGUST 16, 1884. The Borough Council

At the meeting of the Borough Council on Thursday evening last the Mayor intimated that as the elections to replace the three retiring Councillors would take place early next month, it would be necessary to call the Councillors together at an earlier date than usual. It was therefore arranged that the next meeting of the Council bo held on Thursday, September 4th. The three Councillors who retire are Messrs Higgin, Butherfokd, and J. C. Thompson, all of whom are eligible for re-electiou. Humours are already afloat as to the burgesses who will probably seek to fill their places in the Council, and from the names which have reached us a good selection can be made, but until they are actually before the public we will make no further mention of them. As during the next year a moiety of the loan, amounting to £ 2,000, has to be spent, besides the regular revenue of the Borough, the burgesses will be wise to select only the best men, either in the persons of those who have already served them, or in those of the new men who are likely to solicit their suffrages. We are aware that several good citizens, of known probity and ability, have in the past held back from taking a part in municipal matters from a natural modesty which dreads the notoriety as well as the inconvenience of a public contest for municipal honors. While we admire a graceful diffidence, yet we utterly condemn that want of public spirit in a man who will not stand the brunt of a contested election when he knows and feels that he would be of use to his fellow citizens should he be put by them in any public position. There are certain responsibilities, in connection especially with Borough affairs, which no ratepayer has a right to shirk, and which he ought cheerfully to share with his fellows. The privilege and honor of a seat at the table of the Borough Council ought to be aspired to by every ratepayer who has his own interests and those of the Borough at heart. We would like to see a great deal more eagerness for the position displayed among us than has obtained since it was first a novelty, and as such struggled for. There are, however, evidences of a change for the better now visible, so we trust that we will see a goodly array of candidates on the day of nominations.