ELECTION OF CITY COUNCILLOR.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 161, 29 June 1876, Page 2

ELECTION OF CITY COUNCILLOR.

At noon, to-day, his Worship the Mayor announced the result of yesterday's polling bb follows : — J. A. Harley 185 R Pollock 160 J. Graham 60 H. J. L. Augarde 33 He therefore declared Mr. Harley to be duly elect.* d. Mr. Harlet begged to return his sincere thanks for the honor conferred upon him. He wbb* very pleased at bring placed in sui:h a position, and was glad to find that the ratepayers were willing to encourage the sons of old seHlers when they came forward and offered their services in a public capacity. Too much, he considered, was thought of foreign capital and foreign abiltty , sometimes to the. neglect of material that lay at our own doors. He might not prove an ornament to the Council, but he should always endeavor to do hiß duty ; and when anything whs brought forward that he did not consider deserving of bis support he certainly should oppose it, no matter whom he might offend. He -wished to thank the other candidates for the friendly and courteous manner in which they h\d treated him, his committee for the manner in which they had worked for him, aud the ratepayers for their votes. Mr Pollock thanked those who had given him their support, which was all the more gratifying that it waß voluntary and unsolicited. Mr 'Graham also desired io thank those who had voted for him for their voluntary support. He had not asked for a vote for two reasons. The first was, that the position of City Councillor was actually one of honor, but he could not look upon it as such if he only obtained it by begging and praying for votes; the second was that bis business fully occupied his time, and he had not even come forward voluntarily, as he had grave doubts of being able to do his duty as a Councillor, but he bad fully made up his mind that if one or the other suffered it should he his business temporarily, and if he found that more of hii time was required than he could afford to give, that he should resign at the first general e'ection. He concluded by saying that he valued the sixty unsolicited votrs he had received more than he should ten times the number if he had asked for them. Mr Augarde could not refer to the. noble six hundred as the number ol his supporters, but he desired to thank the noble thirtythree who had voted for him. At first he had not felt inclined to come forward, again, having already, been beaten twice, but he had been an old rower on the Thames and did not mind a bit pulling io a stern chase, nnd, moreover, he did not like to see these elections a walk over. It looked too much like apa'hy, lethargy, inertness— anything, in fact, but progress— therefore he had determined to come forward and make a fight for it. He thought it probable that Mr Harley would make a better Councillor than he should, as be hud a much larger stake in the place, hia own (Mr Augarde's) stake being of a purely domestic character. The compliment was, perhaps, not paid to Joe Harley so much as to his father, who was highly respected in the place It was a great thing to have a father before you, and he felt that he was at some disadvantage in standing alone. Still, he thought Mr Harley would make a very useful Councilor. He was a young man of a tolerably good education, and hid done well as Clerk of the Court, where he had gained experience that probably would be useful to him in the Council. He wished to re-er before sitting down to the urgent necessity that existed for widening the Port road and making a footpath. At present they could not walk down that road without running the chance of being knocked by Crewdßons 'Bus into the road, where a cab would probably send yon back again over the rails into the eea. They should not wait for the Government to commence the riilway, but should do the work at once. ' The roads, too, were becoming concave in every direction, and if. sufficient money had been saved to pay . off the overeraft, it had certainly been at the expense of the- es'ate, which . h_d greatly deteriorated. He could go on speiking for a. month, but they probably . wanted" their dinners, and be would therefore conclude by once again thanking the noble thirty-three. A vote of thanks to the Returning Officer closed the proceedings.