The Kumara Times. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1877.

Kumara Times, Issue 288, 6 September 1877, Page 2

The Kumara Times. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1877.

In the list of nominations for Borough Councillors, which was published yesterday, Mr Peter Dungan's name does not appear. We siucerely regret that this should he the case, and we believe it to be the general opinion of the burgess of Kumaia that that gentleman's absence from the Council will be to the detriment of the municipality. The | fact that so many voted for bim as Mayor, aud subsequently as Councillor, is sufficient to show that his merits as a public man have been appreciated by not a few, who looked to him for a display in the future of those qualifications which in the past had won for him admiration and respect. He may certainly urge, as a reason for retiring into private life, that when he was a candidate for the mayoralty the .burgesses preferred another to him, and j that when be asked their suffrages for | the less exalted honour of town counj cillor they placed him in a by no means prominent position on the poll. But as to the first event Mr Dungan had evidently contemplated the possibility of a defeat; for he had, so to speak, " hedged" on it Unlike Mr Seddon, whose motto appears to be "Aut Caesar aut nullus," Mr Dungan had secured his nomination as a councillor. With regard to the low position which he occupied in the later election, his great political experience must have familiarised him with the often unaccountable vagaries of the popular mind as shown in the ballot box. Where electors have to vote for a number of candidates it is frequently the case that | the name which appears at the head of the poll is not that of the person who has most friends and is most respected, but of one who has fewest enemies and of whom least is known. This would easily account for Mr Dungan finding himself in a position far below what we believe his past services and his probable future usefulness warranted him to expect. It is of course impossible to say what motives induced him to resign the trust conferred upon him, almost as soon as he had accepted it. He has not taken the public into his confidence in the matter. No doubt he had convinced himself of the propriety of the action which he ! was about to take before he took it and he may say that he was the best judge of what his course of conduct should be. It is often said that lookers on see more of a game than the actual players do, so in this case Mr Dungan's friends may think themselves better judges of the situation than himself, and may he pardoned for expressing a' doubt as to the advisability of his thus retiring from the public arena, within a few hours of his re-entering i* - . A man who has just been elected to a responsible and honourable position can | hardly be said to be entirely at liberty

to follow the dictates of his ovrn will I unrestricted by consideration for his friends and supporters. Those friends and supporters had, some of them at least, put themselves to much inconvenience, and possibly had incurred some odium by supporting him in his candidature. The obligation between candidate and partizan is not solely on one side. It is a reciprocal obligation. Whilst the theory is that a candidate is supposed to come forward in compliance with the request of his friends—and we do no more than justice to Mr Dungan when we say that we believe in hia case the theory was something more than mere theory, that in fact he would not have contested the election but for urgent solicitation—yet as soon as he has consented to their request he has become a patty to a bargain wherein they, on the one hand, covenant to secure his return as far as they can, and he on the other hand covenants, in the event of their succeeding, to do his best to further their interests in the body, a seat in which he has been elected to by their efforts. We do not think that Mr Dungan can complain that his friends were not true to their words. He will, we believe, admit that they worked earnestly and loyally for him, and though they failed in obtaining for him all they wished, they were so far successful as to secure him a seat in the Borough Council. The object which his friends had in view when they placed him there was that he should act as a check upon the more exciteable temperament of his late rival. Other candidates had come forwaid and had been elected for the purpose of assisting him, and they as well as the burgesses who had voted for him had a right to be consulted by him before he took a final step as that of resigning his seat was. If he felt certain that his friends would sanction his taking the coruse he was about to adopt, why did he not at least pay them the compliment of affording them an opportunity for giving him their sanction? If the object he had in view was one of which he believed his friends would disapprove, bo much the more reason., was there why he should not act precipitately. If his intention was to embarrass the Mayor, we are sorry to be compelled to take exception to his policy. To embarrass the Mayor at the first meeting of the Council was to embarrass the Council at a time when it most needed assistance from those whose experience would enable them to give help, and was to delay, to the extent of the embarrassment, the many improvements to Kumara, to effect which the Council has been brought into existence. That his resigning ha 3 embarrassed the Mayor we cannot for one moment believe; unfortunately for Mr Dungan's friends they and they alone are the persons whom he has embarrassed, and we must say we do not think they deserved to be thrown over , by him in the manner in which they | certainly have been.