THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 1878.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2891, 22 May 1878, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 1878.

The Mayor of the Thames, on an evening last week, chose to appeal to the birgesses on a matter between himself and the local Ercss. He was pleased to say that he wished,t> set himself right regarding the " extraordinary attacks of the newspaper press." The course was rather unprecedented. It is not usual or common, in any place where two newspapers exist, to sr3 the two in accord in condemning a public man like the Mayor; but such was the fact. The Mayor, so far as t c know, did not seek to vindicate himself through the Press, but he clled a meeting of burgesses to hear what he had to say on the question in dispute, which, we may say, was really the important one of submitting Borough work 3to tender. The Ma^or cp.nnot deny that we advocated this measure, even before he was Mayor, so tbab the particular piece of work on which we joined issue with hira was no new thing; All we contended for was free trade: that all supplies* should be by tender. The Mayor called his meeting, and it was a large one— many besides burgesses being present; and we may remark that there were present some very blatant individuals who are not burgesses and who were loudest in the Mayor's interest; and there were also present some burgesses who would not have scrupled, and who did attempt to " howl down " all those who did not bappen to be of their narrow-minded way of thinking. For the former we have the utmost contempt. They would shout loud hosacnas one day and " crucify him" the next. As regards the latter class — the burgesses who would not give fair play—we can only say that their political education is as defective as their sense of justice is dull. They follow in the walre o2 their leader as hounds follow the scent; and their instincts, like the hounds', urge them to devour all who may happen to tread upon the tail of their political prejudices.

Thus much of generalities. We now come to the Mayor and his way of replying to the " extraordinary" attacks of the Tress. We promised on Thursday last that we should recur to this subject, iii-d we do bo now for the last tim?, unle* a

somefurther "extraordinary" phf.seshould develop UaeJf. We feel it is due to curselves and tlio 'dignify of the Press to do so. We gave the Mayor full scops of publicity in reporting his vindicatory, aid we may almost say vindictive reply, and wo claim the right of criticism. We might have ignored his meetingaltopelher, and refrained from publishing pny report. Or we might have turned the whole thing into ridicule (the crowded meeting was only brought together on the prospect?' of " some fun ") an^, shown what a mistake t'le Mayor bird made in caUing a H>eetiT»3 of burgesses to express sympathy with bi»n on a matter when, on calm consideration, they must bo in accord with his opponents—the Press. The principle involved was tendering for Borough supplies. Hitherto scarcely anything has been tendered for but printing and adverasin^. This we did not object to, further than urging upon Councillors the advisability of procuring all supplies by tender, a system which, the present Mayor never, so far as we can learn from reports, advoeuted. But when it came to a question of printing the Burgess Roll—(he only piec9 of work, be it understood, in the year that it was wotta the trouble of maslei* printers to tender for—the Mayor, as a councillor advised the Town Clerk to obtain tenders from Auckland. Tlis wps done—not by advertisement, but privately ; and the lowest was accepted: the other tenders from Auckland weie never made public. Is it wonderful that the local newspaper proprietors protested against this , iyle of doing business P Considering that we h?d advocated a general system of doing work by tender for the Borough months, before the present Mayor was elected, would any sane individual accuse us of partiality because we protested against the Mayor's advice regarding the printing of tiie Br-gess Roll ? Put it to any local contractor, and what would be his answer. Henta the "extraordinary" attacks on tbe Mayor. Now for his reply. Incidentally it was stated in this paper .that the Mayor had charged two guineas a day as well as his salary for attendance at the Hamilton Conference. The Mayor now says that he did not " charge " anything: the sum was voted to him. The Council certainly agree 1 'o pay the expenses of the Mayor and another Councillor, but we cannot find any record of a specific sum having been " voted," unt!l ai account had had been rendered. The Mayor, we presume, was away six days, for which he receive i remuneration at the rale of one pound per day. Now he sa^s he gives his whole tirm to the bus!'ess of the Borough, and does not do it ~oc the sake of the salar/. The Mayor lvcoived one pound pc? day for six days—C-iat is, the ordinary week of sk woHr:;r<i days. For that period he received in add-on the sum of three pounds for "devc g his whole time to public business." We woul d ask who did the work of the Borough while he was away, and for which, during six days he received nine pounds,; his " salary " not having been stopped during his absence ? The Mayor ia " replying " to this item of the " extraordinary" attacks, made an unhappy diversion. He said he bad beea accused of charging 11 £6 for travelling expenses without spending it," ar 1 that " the wiofcer " (presumably the person mak:.B^ the charge} "must have rien a very 'cil'e-iainded individual to|know what was his expenditure, not knowing what h:s habits wave." In this the Mayor laid himself open to attack. With what his habits wer3 or are we have no concern. He may be in the habit of indulging in luxuries which the Borough could neve? imagine to be included under tbe head'of "actual expenses ;'' but as the Mayor distinctly slated he never charged more then thpee, and the Conference lasted but a few hours, we were fairly wprrant:d in assuming that he had charged two pounds or guineas (the difference ' s trifling) a day, and are now justified in believing that the difference between " actual expenses " and the price paid by burgesses was duo to " habits " peculiar to the Mayor, as nine pounds fix." one weok's work i 3 not a bad remuneration.

The Mayor in his vindication made out that an " accusation " hrd been lodged against him for the printers' charges re the Annual Stat3ment of the Borough. In this he showed a want of discretion. He no doubt thought he would make a point, but he only displayed disingenuousness, for whatever may be thought of the right'ousne.3s or otherwise of the Press' " extraordinary " attacks, no one can say that the publication of the annual balance sheet had aay thing to do with it, and we can only presume that Lhat was a sort of "bower" or even a "joker" card put into his hand by the burgess who was described by a contemporary os the Mayor's " henchman of a saturnine countenance." It was a bad card to play, and recoiled on the Mayor; bat the meting being compored of persons possessing no interest in the Bo^ouga, and individuals who were burgesse3 but did not care to take an active part in the proceedings, the Major's political folloTTug had their own way, and cairied a voltfc ..ui Irs tyvor, and in the same bre.,tli affirmed v:<s pii.inple we had contended form tie "extraordinary" allacks we hrd made on the Mayor. ' ,-,- - - One word and we have dor . .The Mayor had before charged us v'th deliberate lying. He reiterated it at the meeting: we hurl br.ck the acci":>lion iv his teeth, as he mf de it more offensively at the public meeting. He said he "-ad been accused of "meances", rapacil/j and ungentlercao like conduct." He prt the accusations in expressive terms of his own choosing. He did not refute one of the cbaiges at lis own nreting, but begged t^e question throughout, and adopted an ad captandum style of address io a mired audience "or an hour- or to, during which there were cries for individuals aad papers, which were very naturally not responded to, as the meeting was the Mayor's— nd such a rneeling ! For ourselves we can only say that we consider the Mayor has received every consideration at our hands, which he has repaid by a course of action we do not care to characterise by i(s proper n?me 5 so thai in future, es a public mau we shall Lt him severely alone.

No. 2 Haueakis form the advance guard on the route march to Taravu on jtMday next, and doubtless this crack and loyal corps will muster with their usual strength in honor of Her Majesty's Birthday. The company fall in at 9 a.m., not 5 as erroneously printed in the morning paper. •

In conccquence of a pressure on our space our report of the Baptist soiree last night aad c:W itams are crowded oat, but will appear i:i wi/ next v

Mb J. Tyehman lectured at the Academy of Music last night on " Tbe, World's Sixteen Crucified Saviours." There was not a largo attendance, a fact which was commented on by the lecturer in his opening remarks. Mr Tyerman belongs to the modern school of freethinkers, and his discourse was characteristic of the school. He is an earnest, fluent speaker, and It's lecture was listened to with nnrked attention. He will lecture at the Pane place, to-night on SpiritualiLin, tbe full text of the title being given in our advertising columns. . ._

We learn that the Chairman of (he Harbor Board (Mr W. Da vies) received a telegram today strt.ng that Sir John Coode may be expecied tc arrive by the Hinemoa about four o'clock this/after noon. '

Colonel Haultain and Mr E. W. PucTtey accompanied the County Chairman for a drive over the County road as far as Warehoe this morning, and the former expressed his surprise at the amount of work accomplished by t!ie County in so short a time^and in the face of a " native difficulty."

We ai"3 inform', d by Mr Barlow that owing to the popularity of his all-comers saooiing matches, he has consented, to offer for competition the second time this week p, box of cigars as first prize and a bundle o'c SwisS cigars as a consolation second pri/se, to be sjiot for to-morrow, evening, to provide llie winners with weeds for the Queen's Birthday. TLe match fired test night resulted in Seamaa Parslow and Mr Gentles each making a score of 25 points out of a possible 30, so the tie will be shot off to-night for possession of the coveted cigars.