THE MAYORAL ELECTION

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5661, 22 May 1879, Page 2

THE MAYORAL ELECTION

MR. HUNTER, AT THE ATHEN-HUM. Mr. George Hunter addressed a large meeting of ratepayers of Lambtoa Ward in the Athenaeum last night. Mr, Moeller was called to the chair, aud iutimated that it gave him great pleasure to occupy the position. He was sure that all present would agree with him that Mr. Hunter ought to be elected as Mayor. (Hear, hear.)

Mr. Hunter said that he was at a considerable loss as to what he should say. He had addresssed the ratepayers on Tuesday night at Newtown, aud he could only go over the same ground agaiu. He was sorry, however, that the newspapers had taken no cognisance of his last remark at that meeting, which was to the effect that he had thanked the meeting for the very patient hearing accorded him. He had in his time addressed a great mauy meetings of ratepayers, but he could not remember on any occasion being listened to with so much attention. To-morrow night (Thursday) Mr. Hunter said he would have fresh ground to go over, as ho would be able to deal with the remarks made by Mr. Hutchison. The candidate then expressed a hope that the election would bo carried out without the introduction of anything like personalities, that everything would be fair, square, and legitimate. Mr. Hunter then referred to an article in the Chronicle concerning him, which ho read as follows :—“ Is it only a lapse of memory, or a falsehood ?” The article then referred to a copy of an order paper, having reference to the Thorndon reclamation, which he had brought before the City Council fourteen months ago. Mr. Hunter said bis object iu bringing forward that motion was that he considered it necessary steps should be taken to have a Bill prepared to accomplish the object he had iu view. The ratepayers would remember that a considerable sale was to have been made of the Thorndon reclamation to the City Council. An absolute agreement had been made. The scheme, however, fell through, as the Government refused to confirm the arrangements entered into. They were aware that some portion of the reclamation had been sold, and that shortly there would be another sale. Mr. Hunter then briefly referred to the principal topics concerning municipal affairs, which were reported fully in yesterday’s issue. At the conclusion of his speech Mr. Hunter was loudly cheered. The following questions were then asked: — Is it necessary iu adopting Mr. Clark’s scheme, that the plant be imported ? Mr. Hunter ; Mr. Clark was only asked to prepare a scheme; there was no mention made about the importation of the plant. Mr. Clark was not interested in the matter. He was simply a consulting engineer. In regard to some of the plant required, the ratepayers must bear in mind that they had no moulds or drawings here. Mr. Edwards asked would Mr. Hunter, if elected, support the manufacture of the plant aud material required for draining the city if such plant could be made in the city or colony. Mr. Hunter : Corlainly, ho would support it, if the plant could bo made on reasonable terms. He did not see why the drain pipes could not be made in Wellington, the same as they are iu other parts of the colony. (Hear, hear.) It was the pumping gear that" ho thought could not be obtained here. Mr. Quick said he was greatly interested iu the forthcoming election. The ratepayers must bear in mind that the Council would have the expenditure of large sums of money, and it was their duty as ratepayers to elect a gentleman at the head of municipal affairs who could properly supervise the expenditure of so much money. They should elect an honorable and upright man—a man of integrity, who was above suspicion ; a man willing and able to assist the ratepayers ; aud all these qualifications Mr. Quick said were vested in Mr. Hunter. He (the candidate) had been a public man for mauy years, and had done great service to the colony, and Wellington in particular. Ha did not think Mr. Hunter’s name could be associated with what was known as the “ring.” He (Mr. Hunter) had both the time and ability to help them. Ho had performed great services for them as representative in Parliament, and would do his utmost as Mayor and chief magistrate of the city. Mr. Quick then proposed,—That Mr. Hunter is a fit and proper person to be elected as Mayor of Wellington. Mr. Richardson seconded the resolution, which was carried unanimously. Mr. Hunter proposed a vote of thanks to the chairman, and this having been accorded, the meeting dispersed. MR. HUTCHISON AT TORY-STREET. Mr. Hutchison met the electors at the Princess Theatre, Tory-street, last night. The body of the place was full, and the meeting was orderly throughout. Mr. Buck having been voted to the chair, briefly introduced the candidate. Mr. Hutchison on rising was received with applause. They were, he said, once more to the breach. He had not expected a contest so soon, and seeing that an election had become necessary he thought there should not have been a contest at all. Not many months ago they had a hard-fought battle, aud it was impossible not to admit that they were very near winning it. It seemed to him that if the party who succeeded on that occasion had the least desire to see a large proportion of the people represented at the City Council Board it would have done a gracious thing and have said ; “ We have had our mau in for some time, and we will now let your man in for the remainder of the year of office.” The fact was, that party were determined to keep any friend of the working man out of the office of Mayor. He (Mr. Hutchison) indignantly denied that any attempt was made by his party to set class against class ; but they who prevented representatives of a particular-kind from appearing at the City Council table—they were those who had set class against class. They had declared for war, and war they would have. His (the speaker’s) side had proposed to carry on the contest on equal terms; to have no cabs, np canvassing, but to let the ratepayers go quietly to the poll and record their votes. But this did not suit their opponents; they had got lots of money to spend,* and they were determined to spend it and have iu their man if they possibly could. Mr. Hutchison was not going to say one woxd against Mr. Hunter personally. Mr. Hunter was an estimable citizen, and was undoubtedly a fit person to come forward and claim the honor of being elected Mayor. No one ever insinuated that Mr. Hunter was presumptuous in coming forward. But it seemed to him (the speaker) that this was the first time in his remembrance that it had been set forth that wealth—money—was to be laid down as the test of qualification for any high office in this country; ‘ and yet this was the statement put forward by several and by Mr. Hunter’s own newspaper. It was, however, he repeated, the first time that he had heard the doctrine laid down that wealth was to form the passport to popular suffrage. He dared say Mr. Hunter was a very wealthy man, though it was bard to say who was wealthy just now. However, let them assume he was wealthy. The idea of bis wealth being a qualification was to the speaker’s mind much like the idea of Dickens’ Tom, who saw the commercial travellers through the window — “ They eats and they drinks, and they never works, and when they do work, it is the boots who works for them.” That seemed to be the idea qf these people—-to have a Mayor who would occupy the chair in a dignified manner, Now, that was not his idea at all. Up thought they required a Mayor who would do a great deal of hard work. He (Mr. Hutchison) wai not a rich man, hut he was a perfectly independent one, and he claimed to be just as honest as Mr. Hunter, or ten thousand

Hunters. Ho hurled back with the contempt they merited those base insinuations about poverty and all that sort of thin". He had never in his life sold one single right of any community or individual he represented, for a single moment. Mr. Hunter stated that he had been returned for every office he had stood for, —he had been a member of many bodies. Now he (the speaker) asked what had Mr. Hunter done for the city of Wellington. What was the fact as regarded the city of Wellington at that moment ? Why, that there was no town in the colony so left out in the cold as Wellington has been. They were becoming a very byword. They had had no end of deputations, and so forth, but they never got anything done. He maintained if those who had held office as a trust in this city had done as they ought to have done, they would have had the railway to the West Coast being carried on at that moment, giving employment to thousands. Then as to the railway station, why there was not a trace of it. The City Councillors and the Mayor ought to have pressed the railway on the attention of the Government and insisted on its being carried on, Referring to the management of municipal administration, Mr. Hutchison quoted from the report of Mr, Hunter’s speech as follows:—“Mr. Hunter then dealt with Mr. Hutchison’s statement that a thorough change was needed in the present mode of municipal management, and said there could bo no change unless it was in the direction of putting in one man to manage municipal business irrespective of the wishes of the Council.” Well, Mr. Hunter of course had some meaning in that, but he (the speaker) in his ignorance did not know what he meant ! What he had said was, that the City Council management needed a thorough reform and change. He criticised the remarks which Mr. Hunter had made on the twelve immaculate Councillors, saying that they were no doubt sufficient to leaven the whole city. Speaking of the “ ring,” ho had never said that the City Councillors were a ring ; he spoke of a whole party, and he said still that this party had made a ring round about itself, and were determined that no one should get within that charmed circle. What he wanted to say about the Councillors was this, that the management of Corporation affairs should he very much changed. In the first place, he submittal that the expense of the management of Corporation affairs is outrageously high. (Applause.) During the time that he had the honor of having a seat at the City Council the departmental expenses of the Town Clerk’s office was never £IOOO. That included an inspector of nuisances and a valuer. They would find now (speaking approximately! that, including the inspector of nuisances, and the valuer and a collector and clerical assistance, that the expenditure was much nearer £2OOO than £IOOO. The amount expended in the City Surveyor’s office during his (Mr. Hutchison’s) tenure of office never exceeded £1000; but he knew that now it was upwards of £2OOO. They used to have an assistant, sometimes two ; but now—(ho was speaking from report)—there were five, and sometimes six, in the Surveyor's office. The point was this : that within the last two years the expenditure of the departments of the City Council had doubled, and there was no more work done than two years ago. (Cheers.) Ho submitted that that was an expenditure that ought not to go on. That was one thing he meant by a change in the management of the City Council. Ho found that not very long ago the Council granted a sum of £2500 to certain gentlemen who had purchased laud from Mr. Hunter—with a view, it was said, to allow of Mr. Clark’s drainage scheme being carried through this very Island Bay property to the sea. Now, the Citj Council had just as much right to pay £2500 of the ratepayers' money to these laud speculators as they had to pay it to people in the Manawatu district ; and they were paying it on the plea that it was for drainage purposes, when the drainage scheme was not settled, and on the further plea that when they paid this money they had taken away all objection to the sewage going there. , These pleas were untenable, because the drainage might never go through this land at all, and the payment did not do away with the claims. The money was simply thrown away. He found that the City Council had, a little while ago, paid £270 to Mr. Clark. He had walked over the Wainuiomata and seen some watershed ; perhaps that was what the money was paid for; but no one had vouchsafed any explanation of what it really was paid for. He found besides that while the city and the owners of the Te Aro foreshore had been quite unable to come together and decide what money should be paid as compensation, the Gas Company had been permitted to reclaim a portion just behind

their works, and that he thought was entirely repugnant to the interests of the city. Mr. Hunter was a large shareholder in the Gis Company. This arrangement was made with the Gas Company, and with no other company. He thought affairs required some change and looking into. When he was in the Council there were very great complaints about the overdraft. It was a large one, it amounted when he was in the Council to £20,000. The party who were opposed to them said it was a very serious one. He found that the overdraft now was £31,000. He did not say that that was wrong ; no, not if the money was spent in useful public works. It was clearly illegal, but the ratepayers did not say it was a wrong thing to get money to keep the people employed, while the money was spent properly. What he objected to was that an overdraft of £20,000 should be considered so very wrong, and the other one be passed without a single word of remark. He might mention among things which required changing just one other example. Very recently a water rate was struck—a rate of 5 per cent, was laid on. A. demand, he observed, was made by some of the Councillors to reduce it to 4 per cent. He (Mr. Hutchison! was quite satisfied that 4 per cent, was amply sufficient for all purposes. It was a very mistaken idea to make the water one iota dearer than would pay the expenses—interest on loan, cost of works, &c. It was simply doing an injustice to the people who took the water to charge more. He was not sure that it was legal; and fie thought it was a shortsighted policy under any circunastances. There was one other point, A return was recently laid before the < launch in connection with expenditure on drainage, and in that return it was set forth that £20,629 had been expended out of the drainage loan, and that £19,000 of that sum had been spent by Mr. O’Neill at his (Mr. Hutchison’s) dictation. That, at any rate, was the statement of Mr. Hunter. People who make returns should have good memories, otherwise they might fall. The drainage loan was £50,000 ; but a report of the Finance Committee of the Council, dated 25th July last (when Messrs. Hutchison and O’Neill had disappeared from the scene), had been presented, and he found by that there was an unexpended balance on the drainage loan of £46,257 on that date, so that there was only £3713 spent,—not £20,000. That was the Finance Committee’s report ; and in it nothing was said about the £2500 paid to the Island Bay speculators, and £4364 for interest. As to the expenditure on drains during his term of office, ho was quite prepared to stand by these works. It was true drains had been laid down in bye streets, but ho supposed the people in those streets had lives vybjch ought to be preserved. He spoke qf Councillor Diver’s notice of motion regarding contractors, and poohpoohed the idea, but believed it was another endeavor on the part o.f the ring to crush the small contractors. As to the To Avo reclamation, Mr. Hunter ought pot to boast of the attention he had paid to the Te Aro Reclamation Bill, seeing that he and the Mayor and the City Solicitor could not in their combined wisdom find out that this was a private Bill. He believed that a solution of the present difficulty was clear and easy. The foreshore owners, as a rule, were conciliatory, and were easy to deal with. Mr. Hunter said he had not done much to push his claim, but it must be remembered he had a very good spokesmaninMr.Pearce,therefore he did not lose anything by his boasted reticence. He wished to say that he thought the term on which the reclamation should be undertaken was that the work should be paid for by the sale of part of the reclaimed land. He would not for a single moment consent that there should be any rate levied in respect of the work of reclamation. Let it be paid for out of the proceeds of the land. As to the proposal to establish a Harbor Board, ho did not think there ought to be such a body. He held the view put forth by eminent thinkers at Home, that there should be but one governing body connected with the city, thereby ensuring that good men would bo brought forward, because if there were large works to be done men of ability would come forward. But it seemed the General Assembly and the Government were strongly in favor Of the Harbor Board, a*d therefore it was vain for the City Council to stru"<de against the inevitable ; but still s(j wa3°°of the utmost _ importance that there sheuld be someone in the Corporation prepared to see that the interests qf the city were conserved in the negotiations to be earned on. There was the wharf. 1 hat was the property of the citizens as a whole, and not the property of a few merchants, who seemed to

think that they were the only parties interested in the matter. Further than that he would only say this, that he did not like the proposals put forward by the Chamber of Commerce. They were, altogether too onesided to meet with the approbation of the citizens. As to drainage,—now Mr. Hunter was out and out in favor of Clark’s scheme, while he (Mr. Hutchison) took the side of Mr. Clirnie. But as Mr. Climie was going to reply to Mr. Hunter’s speech of the other evening, be would not interfere. He denied he had been guilty of any shillyshallying when Mayor, and said although Mr. Climie thought progress slow, it was only reasonable care and prudence which had been observed. He traced the history of the drainage question till Mr. Clark’s advent, and said while it might have been right enough to got his advice it was never contemplated he would prepare a scheme. However, he came, he saw, he conquered, he went to the Club and probably met the members of the Chamber of Commerce. He denied that it had ever bean arranged by the City Council that Mr. Clark should give a scheme, but it might have been arranged by Mr. Hunter and three or four gentlemen at the Club. He then went on to complain that Mr. Clark’s scheme embraced the importation of drain pipes and other material from England when as good and better could be obtained in Wellington. That proposal in itself was a monstrosity which might to condemn the scheme. As to the £IOO,OOO loan, whoever became Mayor he would have little to do with that, because everything had already been done. The arrangements so far as they were made public seemed reasonable enough, but there were many details in connection with a loan withoutaknowledgeof which it was impossible toexpress a definite opinion. For instance, it might have been as well that there should have been competition amongst the banks. However, wo were apparently tied to the Bank of New Zealand. But he thought there was no reason why the expenditure of that money should not be dealt with on Monday morning, and money distributed to put the unemployed of the city to work, and to relieve the present depression in trade. There was no necessity to wait for the arrival of the money from England. The bank would be willing enough to advance money at ouee if asked to do so. In regard to the water supply question, he could only say he disapproved of any further loan for the purpose of increasing the water supply. He objected to borrowing to bring water from Wainui.mata at present, because he was satis-, fied that without that they could get an abundant water supply for several years to come. We had already borrowed £200,000, and were about to borrow another £IOO,OOO, so that the debt of the city would be £300,000. He did not say the city would be unable to bear that debt, but he thought it was quite enough, and therefore should not advocate the borrowing of a single half-penny further. The hundred thousand already authorised to be borrowed, if judiciously expended, would give work for some considerable time to all who wanted it—to every man who would do a fair day’s work for a fair day’s wage—and would make things more comfortable for the city, more especially if worked in connection with the drainage scheme. They must at once decide that Climie’s drainage scheme should be adopted, and should at once be carried out. It appeared from the Finance Committee’s report previously quoted that there was a sum of upwards of £40,000 of the drainage loan still unexpended, and that, taken together and spent along with the street-making loan, would provide abundant labor for the working men. In conclusion, he wished to say this, that although the term for which a Mayor would be elected to office on this occasion would only be about five or six months, still, as they would have gathered from the questions he had brought before them, there were momentous issues at stake for the citizens of Wellington—the ordinary ratepayers, who never came in for the little tit-bits which were dropping about but who simply had to pay their rates and move on. There were two candidates, and the result of the election depended entirely upon the people. If they thought him (Mr. Hutchison) the best man, they would be pleased to vote for him without waiting for touting and unnecessary expense, because it was as much to their interest to return him as it was to his to get in. If they thought otherwise, then they would return the other candidate. Thanking them for the patient hearing accorded him, he left the matter in their hands. (Loud applause.) No questions were asked, and

Mr. Cuook moved a vote of confidence in Mr. Hutchison. Mr. Hunter’s mode of getting out of their difficulties by borrowing more money the speaker characterised as only getting deeper into the mire. He instanced the case of men being unemployed in Christchurch while Mr. Clark was being telegraphed to to send out drain pipes, as a specimen of the way in which matters were muddled in this colony. He would tell them who were the ring—the merchants, the commission class. (Laughter.) Of course Mr. Hutchison was objected to; so was everyone who spoke the truth. The present depression of trade was as much the fault of the working class as of any. other ; they had allowed themselves to be led away. Mr. Crook was exceedingly humorous at times, making the meeting laugh heartily. Mr. McAedlb briefly seconded the resolution. An intelligent smart man was required to look after their affairs, and such they would have in Mr. Hutchison. The resolution was agreed to without dissent. A vote of thanks having been accorded to the Chairman, the meeting broke up.