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Oamaru Mail, Volume III, Issue 712, 22 July 1878, Page 5 (Supplement)

ta been written relative to the of each of the candidates who tea put forward to till the office of of Oamaru, but mtich more has lid that has not been printed. JTor iairable that it should be : for at such as the present tongues are io nm away with people's reasons. vcr may be urged for or against adidates, the ikxidi-rnhnn. is to a man who ia capable of tilling '- > r -"-oral position. Irrelevant ,:-.:■ '.i I :i> t be allowed to weigh

•• . ;■••■ •;< ■■-"' in making their i •:•'■■" not what may have v i. .- a > 's political peculiarl- ..•'. <<■ Je a politician is one '<■• i Mayor is another. :: taking our eyes from Mr. $ and fixing them on 3lr. E, should we ask ourselves any .asticm than this—How did Mr. f. serve vis when we throe years •■estiid him with Mayoral responds! It seems pretty plain to ua liter all, the choice will mainly :;ron the proceedings of the past in, anil more particularly upon iiith refer to that muo the irks scheme. The bare fact of anecteil with such an undertaking ihalo of glory around 5, man, and ::ld take care, in fixing our estiihe value of a public man, that it Wo that dazzles lis. Wo would ;bvb seen in Mr. IStewailp's adiiiu ratepayers on the nomination snmtial evidence of what he had ;uru than of what he was going Vapid utterances will not lie scale when actual good is at the other end. More. !are not so sure as we should like :;it Mr. Stkw"aiii>'s career is of a character. We wish not to he stood. No one can lay the sin :ss to Mr. Stevv.uui's charge, inactivity and importunity were f nualitications necessary in a ■■'''t: would take up tilts refrain from

>.\un, and some of his warm sup nul say, lot liim for over ivmai: ayoral chair. What we mean is

Have a strong suspicion tliat the

ration in connection wirli the rta is marked by errors that •)'now be blotted out by several : -i of pounds. We say several. «'o are not, aware of the exact tiiat has been unnecessarily exner do we consider it. any dis--1 acknowledge this, seeing that ,>raiid Councillors appear to live an: blissful state of ignorance, if judge from what took place at Nation. Why all this secrecy in 'ii with a great, public work ■ Our ( i' of public men is that when filone a good service they hasten :: luiuwn, in order that both they public may join in cvngratula<iit we are asked to appreciate it such a term can !>■_• properly "■•> loss of time and money. >• it amounts to, so far as awar •. We will not say not 'he wiser since we "Kw.\r;i'"s replies to ques:iMinnar;.on, and read that "- .'„ter in reply to Mr. UisLor : should it be necessary to resort Mul an operation in order to 1 meagre information that was the nomination f and the fuller, ; the less unsatisfactory, par■■jtitained in Mr. Stkwaud's

letter. The ratepayers had a right to know the whole truth, and Mr. Stewakh should have cone to the nomination prepared to tell it. It was no valid excuse to intimate that it was incumbent upon him to observe silence on certain points. There was not a man present at the nomination

but is as much interested in maintaining necessary secrecy as Mr. Stewai:i>. So far as the local Press is concerned, the present Mayor commands the columns of one paper, and the other is not likely to publish what should not go beyond the ratepayers. Now that we have Mr. Stewaiu/s letter before ns. we must say that his explanation is far from satisfactory. Five months' delay in receiving the

proceeds of a loan of LOO,OOO cannot be viewed as anything but a catastrophe from whatever cause the delay has arisen. The delay may have been unavoidable ; but that it was so has not been made at ill clear. To our mind, if it was necessary that LoOOO should be expended in interest before the loan was placed to the ;redit of the Municipal Council in Jamaru, it would have been better not to lave had anything to do with it. This is lot the only evil that lias grown out of he delay. For some iime the works were dmost at a standstill for want of funds, uiid the stall' of workmen was reduced by he contractors ; but no corresponding reiuction was made in the stall" of servants imployed by the Council. We fondly toped that the rumors of apparent misnanagement were exaggerated : and we iow regret that Mr. Steward's letter lias iot borne out that hope. We have a ,xeat deal to thank Mr. .Steward for, but t is not because he has been successful in lis conduct of the Waterworks scheme. >ut because he has been assiduous in the ixecutiou of the other duties pertaining u his office. Is this all the ratepayers ■etpiire I If so, it is their duty to reject Mr. SottTEK, and prolong Mr. Steward's urm of office yet another year. Let the ■atepayers beware or being mislead by tatements which have been cunningly levised by the parties who are now op>ose«i to each other, one of which is that Mr. SorrrEß, if elected, would not push ihead the scheme. It is not likely chat Mr. StwrtTEß has changed his mind as to the desirableness ot a water supply for Oaniaru since he took part in the initiation of the Waterworks scheme ; and even if he has, it would be impossible

for him or any other man to attempt anything else than get to tin; water into Oamaru at the earliest possible date. The sooner the better.