The Globe. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1876.

Globe, Volume VII, Issue 783, 23 December 1876, Page 2

The Globe. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1876.

The municipal wheel of fortune has had another turn, landing Mr Gapes safely upon the pinnacle of the highest civic honors. The candidates were but two ; hence, perhaps, the unusual heat of the contest. What the bone of contention was between the followers of Messrs Gapes and Ick, is not at all clear. Neither gentleman appears to have held views on public matters different from his opponent; in fact, it does not seem that the public have troubled themselves much to ascertain

what their opinions were on the leading topics of the day. The question of spending some £13,000, to be levied by extraordinary rating, is hanging just now in the minds’ balance of the councillors, and it was referred to a special committee the ether day to report upon. Here was a capital chance for those most concerned to cross-examine candidates on the vexed subject. Drainage, too, might have been casually touched up. But no; what agitated men’s thoughts during this parody on a parochial election, were matters of detail of a personal nature, such as will crop up at those popular exhibitions. It was the difference betwixt tweedledum and tweedledee. The Ickites would have it that their man had greater claims than his antagonist to the Mayoral robe; having once had a narrow escape of grasping it. They praised loudly the magnanimity of their man, which, they thought, should no longer go unrewarded. The G-apesites would not see it at any price. This magnanimity they called fudge, and their candidate in reply would grandiloquently utter the remarkable words of the ancient chief: “ Civis Eomanus sum,” which, for the time being, always succeeded in demolishing the dismayed Ickites. So far as we can judge, had not these petty and flimsy attempts at personalities been introduced into the contest, little or no interest would have been felt by the greatest bulk of the people. Then there was a wide-spread feeling that, after the successful term of office of Mr Hobbs, in whom public confidence had certainly been reposed more fully than in any other Mayor, the two candidates who entered the lists could not in any way command from the ratepayers, the exclamation of “ How happy could we be with “ either, were t’other charmer away.” Of course, it was generally understood that those two gentlemen meant well, from, perhaps, every possible point of view. But the remark was often made that the way was indeed pitiful in which each clamoured for his right of ascending the Mayoral throne on this, that, or another ground. Both wished keenly to grasp the so-called reward for past tenure of office; they stood not before the community as indifferent to the result, though determined to do all they could for the greatest number if brought to the top of the poll. To sum it up, the feeling intensified itself in due course of time to the extent of making the G-apesites do their utmost against their opponents out of sheer desire to keep him out; and vice versa. There was nothing during the election of which Christchurch citizens need be proud. However, the deed is done, and we have no doubt but that, as far as sincerity and honesty of purpose are concerned, our new Mayor will not be found wanting. The cares of office will not sit lightly upon his shoulders; as times are now, the responsibilities entrusted to the Chief Magistrate of the City are indeed of no trifling nature, and they are such as to monopolise fully the whole of his leisure. Mr. Hobbs found it to his cost, and we are very glad to perceive that the public are taking steps to present him with a substantial token of their recognition of the able, zealous, and successful manner in which he has looked after the public interests. Whether on the Drainage Board, on the Board of Health, or in the City Council, his services have proved valuable, and, we are glad to think, have been fully appreciated. Go, Mr. Gapes, and do likewise. Had Mr. Hobbs consented to stand for re-election, both the Ickites and Gapesites would have been swept off the surface of the civic platform by the whirlwind of public opinion, and Mr. Hobbs would have been triumphantly re-elected. But we have no doubt that the ratepayers will find no cause to regret for the accession of Mr. Gapes to his new hardearned honors. And we trust that in due time we may have the pleasure of witnessing the addition of Mr. Gapes’ golden link, crest, and motto, to the Mayoral chain, now a tradition of the city, with which a late Mayor so liberally endowed our municipal future.