THE MAYORALTY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 235, 13 March 1915, Page 4

THE MAYORALTY.

DEPUTATION TO MR. J. E. WILSON. *

MAYOR ACCEPTS EE-NOMINATION.

A large and influential deputation waited upon tho Mayor (Mr. J. E. Wilson) at the Town Hall yesterday morning and requested that he allow to be nominated for the Mayoralty *t the forthcoming election. There iim present: Messrs A.' H. Johnstone, C JI Burgess A. E. Svkes, J. T. ManW, E*. P. Webster, E. N. L. Okey, A. McHarfy, w n \r E 'if ariU!r ' A - Bewley, J: * Griffiths, W. N. Ewing, D. Berry, W. Bewley, D. Robertson, W. Porrv L. C, Sladden, J. B. Roy, R. C. Hushes K* Webster, S. Teed, H. Stocker, W. Brooking, C.-E. Baker, L. A. Nolan, F. P. CorKul, Ab. Goldwater, C. H. Drew, W P ' JMcoll, Charteris, Daviea, J. Clarke 'and others. "

Mr. Ewing, who headed the deputation. S f"lf ,tJ r| e y Ilad ' la( I tfle experience of Mr. W ikon's work as Mayor durinjf the past term, and the abilit&lie had shown had convinced them that tKe burgesses made no mistake when they elected him to that position, Tltf* now asked that he allow himself to be nom- * mated for another term. Many important works were now taking place 'in connection with the borough, and it was of the utmost importance that there should be a careful watch on the finances and they felt that in Mr. Wilson they had the right man in the right place. The Mayor, in reply, said he klfferatified indeed to receive such a largfe and representative deputation as tffs to ask him to again contest the Mayoral election. The past- year, he continued, had been a particularly busy one for the Council. He had done what he could for tho advancement of the town, and was grateful to the members to the • Council for the very material help that he had received from them, and particularly Councillor Collis, tho deputyMayor, for the manner in which he carried on the work during the time he (the speaker) was indisposed and unable to I attend to any of the duties of his office.

With regard to this deputation, he would i like to say that the presence of several members of the Council was particularly gratifying to him, for it showed that the men who had worked with him for the past term, and who were, therefore, able to judge of the capacity of the Mayor, felt justified in supporting the request that he .should come forward » again. It naturally took some time for anyone entering i»to the position of Mayor, even though lie might have been on the Council previously, to get thoroughly conversant with all the works of the borough, and this was the reason the financial statement he had felt it hia duty to bring before the Council and the ratepayers during the past month had been so long delayed. It was some months, even after he resumed business again and took part hi the work of the Council before he felt able to really i»o to any depth into the business matters ► of the borough. He had in the past ' year adopted the practice of setting aside one hour each day during which time burgesses could see him at the • Mayor's office on any matters connected with the borough, but he pointed out 1 that that hour did not by any means i represent the amount of work that the I Mayor did for the borough during +htt I day. They would be astounded if they knew the amount of time that the Mayor and councillors had put into the business of the borough during, the twelve months. It was not necessary that the Mayor should devote the whole of his time to the borough. Personally he preferred to leave the details of the *' business to those officers who had been i

appointed to tlie respective departments | by the Council, for tlicir knowledge in i this connection must neceessarily be of jnuch greater value thfjn of any mayor, ! no matter who he might, be. He did not think that the practice he Kacl adopted, though it had been contrary to wh*t had taken place for some time, had causi. Ed the borough any loss in any way.\ Continuing, the Mayor said there wer« many questions which had to be considered and upon which he had not even now quite made up his mind as to which * was the proper thing to do. There was the question, for instance, of contract r against day labor. In connection with the forthcoming election of Mayor and councillors he hoped that the burgesses would keep it well before them that th« borough was a big business. They would have assets in the town within the next twelve months when the tramways

would be finished representing, altogether a borrowed capital of close upon three hundred thousand pounds, and it

was well that they that such undertakings as the electric'' light ' ■ department, the tramways, abattoirs, etc., must be- run on commercial lines. Therefore in returning their Mayor and ■* councillors they should look to it that they got men returned who would be> able to exercise a wise supervision over their affairs and do the best that could be done. He felt that the Council dur-

ing the past year had done very good work and believed that his platform in the coming election would be one that would meet with the approval of the

majority of members of the Council who intended to accept nomination again. He felt that it would be to the town's

advantage to .re-elect to tlie Council

those members of the present Council who would be seeking re-election. In

conclusion, he thanked the deputation, and said he would be pleased indeed Sn acceding to their request. Mr. Ewing, on behalf of the deputation, thanked the Mayor for agreeing to their request, and also took advan-

tage of tha opportunity of expressing the appreciation of the townspeople generally on the manner in which Mrs.

Wilson had carried out her part of the contract. He expressed the hope that she would be able during the coming year to occupy the same position. The Mayor thanked Mr. Ewing for those expressions and said Mrs, Wilson would appreciate them very much indeed. The position of Mayoress was one which had entailed a very great deal of work, Mrs. Wilson, with other ladies j of the town, having found a great deal of their time taken up in connection I with the various patriotic movementjp. ' If ho was re-elected he could assure . - them that Mrs. Wilson would do what she could to keep the flag flying.

COUNCILLOR JOHNSTONE ASKED TO RECONSIDER HIS DECISION.

Before the deputation dispersed, Mr. Ewing took advantage of the opportun- 't ity of asking Councillor A. H. Johnstone, who, it was understood,-did not intend seeking re-cleetion, to reconsider his decision. He said he thought it would be a mistake and a great loss to the town if Mr. Johnstone could not see his way to accept nomination. They could not afford to lose the services of such a good man on the Council. He >vas sorry to see that several other councillors were retiring, particularly at a time like this, and hoped that some of them, at any rate, would accept nomination. Councillor Johnstone, in reply, said he had not definitely decided not to seek re-election, and promised that he would further consider the matter before finally deciding as tp what action ho would take, j