THE LYTTELTON MAYORALTY.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1785, 10 November 1879, Page 3

THE LYTTELTON MAYORALTY.

A moderate attendance of ratepayers responded to the invitation of Mr Adam Chalmers to meet him intho Colonists’ Hall, Lyttelton, on Friday night. Mr Chalmers is a candidate for the Lyttelton Mayoralty, the election for which is fixed for the 26th inst. Ho is an old resident of the Port, and is a good authority in municipal questions, from experience as Mayor of the town for several terms, and as a councillor for many years. Up to the present Mr Chalmers is unopposed, and it is probable will be, unless Mr Allwright, the present Mayor, should come forward for re-election.

Shortly after eight o’clock, Mr Harvey Hawkins introduced Mr Chalmers to the meeting, saying as he did so, that he had been asked to take the chair. Mr Hawkins spoke of the interest Mr Chalmers had always taken in the Council business. He knew of no man who had taken a greater, and that was why a good number of the ’present Council had signed a requisition asking Mr Chalmers to come forward. He had no doubt that after the candidate had addressed them he would gladly answer any questions. Mr Chalmers said he wished to explain as to the time he had called the meeting, that next week would be taken up pretty much with holiday making and he wished to address them before the day of nomination, which ho did not know the date of but knew it must bo close at hand. There was an uncertainty also about him being unopposed, ’and by bearing him now they might better judge whether they should not put up an opponent. He had not been accustomed to get anything without working for it, so that an uneontested candidacy for the Mayoralty would be rather novel to him. With regard to his coming forward, he said he thought others in the Council had a better right to sit at the head of the table, but as he had been requested by the ratepayers, and a majority of the old members of the Council had joined in the request, thus showing they had confidence in him, that was why he was before them that night. He might say he was not a strong admirer of the elective Mayor system. He inclined rather to the old plan ef the Council choosing their own chairman. An elected Mayor might not command a majority of those over whom he presided, a position they had seen was not conducive to the interests of the town. He did not mean that the Council here had clashed in the manner spoken of, but they had only to look at the Christchurch Council some time ago for an example, and at present at Dunedin, where the Mayor had caused a tempest in a teapot, so to speak, by attempting to carry out his own views in defiance of the whole Council. If elected, he would try and represent the town in the Harbor Board. He believed the Board jwore doing their best for the town, but he had always considered that body lacked one member, was a member short —a representative of the owners of the shipping registered in the Port. Such was the practice elsewhere, and it should be here. It was not disputed that the large ship owners were represented, but of such men as Camerons and Wood, and the owners of what they might call the mosquito fleet generally, these were not represented. He might say he felt himself deficient, perhaps, to do them justice, but recognising his own deficiency they might think was the first step towards a remedy. The subject of watering the streets, a subordinate one to some others perhaps, was deserving of reference. It was his belief that from an economical point of view it would pay to keep them well watered. Systematic watering would preserve them. The Council had adopted a plan which he thought would be a great improvement on the hydrant method, as the latter, he believed, rather injured than preserved the streets. Of the drainage, a question would come up ere long which would require very careful consideration, namely, the disposal of the sewerage. He thought the public mind should be educated to resist any claim which the Harbor Board might consider they had some day in reference to the deposit of sewage in the bay. In reality the little additional refuse which the presence of the town on the hill sides caused was as nil considered with the wash-

ings from the hill sides themselves, and down the gullies to the harbor, and which had been periodically washed down long before a town existed. He thought a comparatively inexpensive method compared with what had been suggested for carrying the sewerage into the outer harbor could be adopted. The mains could be crossed by branches leading to the outer harbor. Ho was in favor also of equally distributing the work of the town among the tradesmen. He knew of no hard and fast rule. The plan at present in operation was perhaps one of distribution, b,ut not so fully as it ought to be. Tradesmen did not get an equal share all round. Should he be elected he would promise them that none of his uncles or aunts would get an undue share of the work that was to be done. Of course they knew that such matters were iu the hands of the whole Council, but a good deal had to be left in the hands of the Mayor, and he had opportunities

to distribute them or otherwise, as he felt inclined. The speaker then referred to the active part ho had taken in organising the Volunteer Eire Brigade ; how plain, practical men had taken hold of it, and how it was at present a success by its own energy. He followed by adverting to the work to be undertaken in the future in forming new streets, and spoke of the reserve behind St. David’s street, to be divided into building sections and sold off at the expiration of the present lease, and went at length into street matters in that connection. Of the Lyttelton Colonists’ Society, he said a portion of the public were not aware that the Corporation owned a share in the society in a manner. They were aware application had been made for assistance, and he thought the subject was one upon which a few words might be said. Hitherto the society, in o»der to get the Government grant, had carrit don a free reading room. The room was well provided with newspapers, &0., but the free readers seemed to have got the best of the bargain, and two-thirds of the subscribers had withdrawn in consequence. He thought there wore two ways out of the difficulty for the society —one was to hand over the whole institution to the Corporation for the benefit of the people, to whom it would then belong, and the other plan was for the society to narrow its operations so as to bring its affairs within its means. Once he had recommended that the institution be taken over by the town altogether, but the matter on coming before the Council for discussion, they didn’t feel they had a right to do so without an expression from the people. Ho was in favor of subsidizing it, not as it stood now, however, but if made over in trust for the town gone-

rally. He thought the people should take an opportunity of expressing their feeling in the matter. He had no fault to find with the

management, whom he thought were oppressed with its past history. Were they to lay down the management and take it up afresh they might carry it on well enough. He thought the charitable aid matters wanted looking into. For years past he had endeavored to make himself acquainted with the conduct of charities at home and elsewhere. Speaking of the management of charities in Lyttelton, he said it was satisfactory to note that the expense had been reduced one-third. He did not take the credit to himself; the credit of that economy being due to Mr Allwright and Captain Wood. What he wanted was power to wholly manage the charitable aid matters not merely to bo restricted to spending the Government money. Government subsidies were precarious boons. Upon each change of Government they were held out as a bait to the local bodies upon whom some duty was thrust, and then the subsidy withdrawn, the duty being left. He feared the result of such was local rating. In controlling charitable aid he thought one or two members should bo cheson by the people, persons qualified and fitted to deal with dispensing charities. The Council might and perhaps should be represented, but as a rule Councillors were elected for their fitness to deal more with managing public works than charities. And tbe latter required carefully looking after, an instance of which he gave, stating that he knew of the case of a family drawing aid in Christchurch who came over to Lyttelton, having heard that the living was better and more of it. It was true we were a charitable people. He doubted if as much charity was distributed privately and otherwise in any town in tbe colony of an equal size as in Lyttelton. The point was whether to a certain extent it was not money power wasted. People’s hearts were soon reached by being told that the poor fellow was very ill, had been out of employment, and so on, but when soon after they saw the poor fellow drunk and disagreeable it kind of hardened them, a little hardening in the training of an administrator of charitable aid he thought not bad. There were a good many perhaps who lived upon aids who should be left to the law of the survival of the fittest. If he had the money to disburse they might rely upon him not being too soft-hearted with such, though _ho acknowledged to having a difficulty in saying “No ”to people’s faces. He didn’t wish to say much about temperance matters and publichouses. One thing he would point out, that in the change that took place whereby the local bodies came in for the licenses collected in the boroughs, the temperance element had encountered a difficulty which they perhaps didn’t see at the time. The action of the Borough Councils in the matter of temperance, he thought, had been hampered by the change, it being with them one of revenue. All were agreed there were too many publichouses, the poor publican himself included. The publicans did not desire any more licensed houses, it was the brewers and the liquor defiers. It was long since he had advocated the Licensing Bench being restricted to number in this matter. He had agitated memorialising the Bench, and some people had said he had no right to, but he believed anybody had a right to memorialise anybody else. His opinion was that licensed houses should be restricted to the requirements of the town. In concluding, he would say that in case of the Mayoralty being a walk over or otherwise, he should like to know his enemies. They should tell him they were opposed to him, what they had against him, and what they wished him to do. Not necessarily tell him at the meeting, but in the street, anywhere they might meet. In that respect he thought there was a disadvantage in the ballot to the candidate. He wasn’t opposed to the ballot system, but whenever he voted for a man he made a practice of doing so openly —had always made known his vote. The candidate always had a desire to know whence his support came and the direction it pointed. He himself did, at all events, and, though the opinion of those who supported him was, in municipal matters, not in accord with his own, he should, while not altering his opinion, carry out the will of the majority. Of one thing he felt certain, that if elected, he would ever work in harmony with the members of the Council. He thanked them for a patient hearing, and said he was ready to answer questions. None being asked, a vote of thanks was passed to the chairman, and the meeting dispersed.