MAYORAL ELECTIONS.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2391, 1 December 1881, Page 3

MAYORAL ELECTIONS.

CHRISTCHURCH.

The official declaration of the result of the polling for the election of Mayor of the city took place to day at noon at the City Council offices. Punctually at 12 o’clock the Returning Officer came forward and declared that the votes recorded were as follows : Ruddeuklau ... ... ... 594 Taylsr ... ... ... ... 565 Majority for Buddenklau ... 29 He therefore declared John George Buddenklau duly elected Mayor for the ensuing year. [Loud cheers.] Mr Buddenklau then came forward and said :—Mr Returning Officer and fellow citizens, —I wish it was in my power to find suitable language to thank you in adequate terms for the great honor and confidence you have conferred upon me in electing me to the high office of Mayor of this important city. I feel you have put me under a great obligation to you, which, believe me, I shall endeavor to respect and fulfil. It inspires a successful candidate at all times with more confidence if returned by a large majority. Although the ballot box does not give me that satisfaction, still I feel that I have a considerable majority of my fellow citizens who wish me success during my year of office. [Cheers.] During the contest many citizens and old friends have expressed to me their regret at not being able to give me their support owing to their having signed Mr Taylor’s requisition before I entered the field. I respect their sense of honor, and I equally respect the opinions of those who voted against me. [Cheers.] I hope now that the contest is over that they will throw away personal fellings on one side and wish me success. I can assure you I do not bear any ill feeling against anyone, and I think all of you will admit that though the contest has been a sharp one it has been fought fairly and in a becoming manner. [Hear, hear.] Gentlemen, I thank you very much for the honor you have done me. I hope my year of office will be a pleasant one, and at any rate that it will be attended with success to the city. [Cheers.] I must not forget to thank the ladies, whom, however, I was very much afraid of. [Laughter, and cries of “No.”] I think that, knowing my fears, they must have felt sympathy for me, and come forward to my assistance. [Laughter and cheers.] Mr Taylor, who was received with cheers, said that, though defeated, he had the satisfaction of knowing that this election had been more harmoniously and respectably conducted than any that bad previously taken place in Christchurch. [Hear, hear.) That being so, although defeated, he was proud that ho had been engaged in such a contest. He was not going, as he had heard others do before, to promise to come forward again, as he did not relieve in a man undertaking to do what he might not be able to perform in the future. However, they had an opportunity during this election of becoming acquainted with him, and he could only assure them that as a citizen of Christchurch he should, under all circumstances, deem it bis duty to do all he could to further tho interests of the city.

[Cheers.] He was sorry to be obliged to refer to a matter to which his attention had been called that morning, and which he believed had been the only cause of unpleasantness during the contest. He alluded to a publication which was issued the evening before the election, and which be thought it hardly necessary to say he had nothing whatever to do with. [Hear, hear.] He would believe that the person who was responsible for it thought he was doing him (Mr Taylor) a great deal of good, but he was sorry to say that he had done him a great deal of harm. [A Voice—“Bo he did.”] But he was sufficiently wellknown by all classes in this city to feel that nothing of that kind would be attributed to him personally. [Hear, hear.] He thanked those who worked actively in the endeavor to secure his return to the high and important office to which he had aspired, and he could assure them that in his defeat he felt more for those who had worked for him than ho did for himself ; for be had the satisfaction of knowing that he was relieved of a year’s hard toil and great responsibility. When he consented to stand, after turning the matter over in his mind, he . came to the conclusion that if elected he would have to endure a year’s hard toil and a great amount of responsibility. Ur Buddenklau, as he told the citizens, was a man of leisure, having retired from business, he would find that he had a pretty hard year’s work before him. He (Mr Taylor) wished him every possible success —[Cheers] —and he hoped Christchurch would advance under his reign. He trusted the citizens would show their appreciation of Mrlßuddenklau’s past efforts, and do all they could to help him in furthering the interests of their city. He thanked most sincerely those who had endeavored to secure his return, and forgave those who had tried to keep him out. [Loud cheers.] A vote of thanks was then passed to the returning officer, and the proceedings terminated. LYTTELTON. At Lyttelton, where Mr Horry Allwright and Mr S. R. Webb were the candidates, a good deal of interest was taken by their respective supporters. Carriages flying Mr Webb’s flags, and used for the convenience of hie supporters, added something by way of importance to the occasion as they passed along the streets of the town. A good deal of quiet persuasive eloquence was used by the admirers of the candidates during the day, and as the time for the declaration of the poll came closer, the energies of the active supporters correspondingly increased. There was nothing approaching a disturbance, however, and excepting to the initiated careful observer the day might easily have been spent without exciting a suspicion that anything out of the common daily routine of business was going on. At 7.30 p.m. Mr Gibson, the returning officer, announced the poll as follows : Allwright ... ... ... 177 Webb 168 Majority for Mr Allwright ... 9 KAIAPOI. The polling for the Mayoral election on Wednesday was very keenly fought out, the several parties exerting their energies to bring op as many to the poll as possible for their side out of the small number of 141 on the roll—in fact only about half the number of the ratepayers appeared on the burgess list. At 6.20 p.m., Mr O. B. Dudley, Beturning Officer, declared the result of the polling to have been : Smith 68 Moore ... ... 47

Majority for Smith ... 21 He, therefore, declared Mr Caleb Smith duly elected as Mayor for the ensuing year. Mr Smith, in thanking the burgesses, said he could truly say it was the proudest day of his life to win this election. He had been returned in contests before, but to be thus elected Mayor of the rising borongh of Kaiapoi was indeed most flattering, [Cheers.] The election was all the more gratifying seeing the efforts that had been made by the opposing party, assisted by a professional election tout, who boasted that he had never been beaten [laughter] but would have to change his tactics before they would stand the test of another election. He thanked them all, and intended to drop all personal feeling with that hour, apd hoped to meet them all as friends. Zn his speech last evening he had said some things which might not bo carried out, but which he trusted might be put in hand during the term of his •fiioe. [Cheers.]

Mr Moore thanked those who had worked and voted for him. Although beaten, he could say he had not cadged for votes, not having asked them to vote for him. This was the first time in an election he had been defeated, nevertheless he was still willing to give his services for the public and to try again. [Cheers.] [PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAMS, ] WANGANUI, November 30. _ The election for the Mayoralty was vigorously contested to-day, the candidates being Mr Gilbert Carson and Mr Henry Nathan. The poll resulted as follows—Carson, 162 ; Nathan, 114 WELLINGTON, November 30. The mayoral election took place to-day. Messrs Fisher, Young, and Hutchison were the candidates, and the poll resulted as follows : —Fisher, 446; Young, 389; Hutchison, 382. HOKITIKA, November 30. The mayoral election took place to-day. There were two candidates, Messrs W. L. Fowler and J. Cross, the former being elected. WESTPORT, November 30. Mr Haseldean was elected Mayor to-day, beating his opponent by twenty-four votes. GBEYMOUTH, November 30, At the mayoral election Mr Bankley defeated Mr Nanoarrow, the former polling 114, and Nancarrow 104. O AMARU, November 30. Mr Thos. Proctor was to-day elec'cd Mayor of Oamaru by a majority of 36. His opponents were Mr S. Gibbs (the former Mayor) and W. J. Smith. DUNEDIN, November 30. Mr Gore was elected Mayor, boating Mr Ross, the present Mayor, by 139 votes. A good deal of interest was taken in the election. BLUFF, November 30. At the election of Mayor to-day Mr Joseph Ward was elected, beating Mr W. Searle by thirty-five votes. AKAROA, December 1. The following is the result of yesterday’s election :—Thomas Adams, 40; William Meeob, 33.