BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1677, 18 December 1873, Page 2

BOROUGH COUNCIL.

The annual meeting of the Borough Council waa held in the Town Hall at noon yesterday, for the purpose of receiving the annual statement of accounts, and electing the Mayor for tha ensuing year.

All the Councillors were present except Mr Glenn. Mr Moore was called to the chair. The Town Clerk laid on the table printed copies of the annual statement of accounts of the Corporation. The Chairman said that by the Act it was imperative that the statement should lie on the table for fourteen days, and that it should be advertised, after which it could be finally adopted. Mr Acheson moved — " That the annual statement of accounts be received, and finally settled on Friday, the 2nd January, and that it be published in the Grey River Argus newspaper." Mr Ddpre seconded the motion, which was carried. ELECTION OJP MAYOR. The Chairman said the next business was the election of Mayor for the ensuing twelve months. . Mr Hamilton asked what the usual procedure was on such occasions ? Supposing three candidate were proposed 1 The Chairman thought the proper course would be to take the show of hands, let the lowest drop out, and take the vote between the remaining two. Mr Acheson moved the re-election of Mr Gleun to the office of Mayor. He did so because that gentleman had, only six weeks ago, been returned by the Council unanimously as Mayor, and during that time he had done nothing to cause the Oounoillora to. altp.r their opinion of him. If they did not return him now they would simply be stultifying their previous actions.

Mr Duprjg seconded the motion. Mr Reid proposed Mr Hamilton as Mayor. It was true that Mr Hamilton was the junior member of the Council, but hitherto they had not, on the occasion of these elections, adhered to seniority ; and, in fact, the senior member of the Council had refused to stand for the office. The gentleman he proposed carried not only the respect of the members of the Council, but also of the whole of the residents in town. He did not set Mr Hamilton up in opposition to Mr Glenn, and on this point he would notice the remarks of. Mr Acheaon. At the time Mr Masters retired Mr Smith and himself waited upon Mr Glenn and asked him to stand ; he refused. It appeared that other members of the Council waited on him afterwards with the same object, and on the following day he told them he would accept the office until the end of the year, but that he would not take it for the ensuing year. Mr Smith seconded the nomination. Mr Acheson explained that he had reason to believe that if Mr Glenn had been present he would have stood for the chair, and, if elected, would have discharged the duties of the office. ; Mr Kerr said he was one of the Councillors who waited on Mr Glenn to ask him to stand for the civic chair, and it was perfectly understood then both by the deputation and by Mr Glenn, that it was only for the remainder of the term, and that he would not stand for the office for the ensuing year. It was one of the provisions made by Mr' Glenn that he should' not be called upon to take the office for the next 12 months that he consented to fill the vacancy. Under these circumstances he thought it would not be right to press the office of Mayor, upon Mr Glenn. He would, therefore, nominate for the. office, Mr W. S. Smith, who would make a first-class Mayor in every capacity. He was an active business men, and had plenty of time at his disposal, and he was sure Mr Smith would give every attention to the duties- of the office. Mr Hamilton seconded the nomination. He said that several Councillors had expressed opinions that it was almost impertinent for members who had lately taken their seats to aspire to the office of Mayor, but he did not agree with them. They ought to elect the best man they could find, and he did not think there was -a man better able to conduct the business of the Council than Mr Smith. The Chairman wished to offer a few remarks concerning Mr- Glenn. He was one of a deputation that asked him to come forward as Mayor. He refused at first because he Was going to Melbourne, but oh being, pressed he agreed to defer his visit and accept the office till the end of the term. Before going to Melbourne, Mr Glenn was asked if he aspired to the office of Mayer, and he replied that if reelected he would discharge the duties of the office. Mr Glenn was«an old Councillor, and he had held the office of Mayor, and had never done anything to disgrace it. Should he not be again returned he (Mr Moore) would look upon it as an insult . to the Middle Ward and to the gentlemen who h"ad in the first instance returned ' him. (" No, no.") Hitherto it had .been a precedent in that Council that the gentlemen who were elected to the office of Mayor before the

annual term, were always re-elected. [Mr Reid. — A bad precedent.] It might be, but he was of opinion that Mr Glenn was fully entitled to receive the honor of reelection at their hands. The voting was then taken as follows : — For Mr Glenn, 4— Messrs Moore, Ooates, Dwpre, and Acheson. For Mr Hamilton, 2— Messrs Smith j and Reid. For Mr Smith, 3— Messrs Kerr, Reid, and Hamilton. According to the ruling of the Chairman, the name of Mr Hamilton being lowest on the poll was struck out, and a vote was taken between Messrs Smith and Glenn, when the show of hands was equal. For Mr Smith, 4— Messrs Kerr, | Smith, Hamilton, and Reid. For Mr Glenn, 4— -Messrs Moore, Acheson, > Dupre, and Coates. The voting being equal, the result had to be decided "by lot," as provided by; the Municipal Corporations Act. The names of the two candidates were enclosed in envelopes, put in a box, shaken up, and the 6rst drawn out by the Chairman contained the name of Mr Smith. The Chaikm:an congratulated Mr Smith on his election to the office of Mayor, and introduced him to the chair. The MiTOR thanked the Council for the honor conferred upon him. Until that morning he had no intention of standing for the office, as he did not anticipate he would receive so much support. Since he had . been in the Council he had not got on as smoothly as he could have wished with some of his brother Councillors, but now that he was in that position, he would do everything he could not only to promote the welfare of Greymouth, but also the harmony of the Council. The annual meeting was adjourned until the 2nd January. An ordinary meeting of the Borough Council was then held, for the purpose of opening tenders for the construction of Mount and Chapel streets, and for drains in Murray and Alexander streets, a3 follows : — MOUNT STREET. Scott and Irvine ... £194 15 0 Thos.DunnandCo. 225 0 0 These amounts were considerably over the estimate, but the Town Surveyor explained that in consequence of the railway coming through that street the work had been materially increased by the levels having to be raised six feet. But it was not yet positively fixed which route the railway would take. It was resolved to accept no tender in the meantime. CHAPEL STREET. W.Harrison and Co. £200 6 10 T.Dunn and Co ... 177 0 0 Scott and Irvine... 104 13 0 Henry Eadie ... 98 9 0 Thos. Wright ... 145 18 0 The tender of Henry Eadie was accepted.; ALEXANDER AND MURRAY STREET DRAINS. H. Roberts ... £12 0 0 J. Birch ... ... 16 0 0 P. Fennell ... 23 10 0 The tender of H. Roberts was accepted. The Council then adjourned.