THE MAYORAL CAMPAIGN.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3172, 24 April 1909, Page 5

THE MAYORAL CAMPAIGN.

MR HUNTER AT THE TOWN HALL. The unpropitious weather was doubtless largely responsible for a rather small attendance at the Town Hall last evening, on the oecastou of the first address of the Mayoral' campaign', given by Mr' J. Hunter. The chair was taken by Mr C. E.Daniell, who introduced the candidate in a short speech. Mr Daniell 1 said that it was interesting to note that such interest £was beiiig shown in municipal matters that a contest for the Mayoralty was to be 1 held. Mr Hunter represented what was a minority party in the Council but by the newspaper reports,, apparently a very vigorous minority. Mr 1 Hunter had shown courage in his opinions, and he was now, on the invitation of the Press and the opposition a candidate for the position of Mayor. Mr Daniell asked that Mr Hunter be given a fair and impartial hearing. Mr Hunter was received with applause. He opened by thanking Cr Yarr for the privilege of being allowed to use the Town Hall, as the Hall had previously beengengaged [by Cr Yarr, and it was due to the courtesy of that gentleman that the speaker was allowed the use of. the Hall for the address. Mr Hunter prefaced his remarks on the- main questions at issue by stating that' the Mayor (Mr P. L. Hollings)> had. caused a statement to be published in the local Press purporting to be a resume of the year's work of the Council, and this report had shown a credit balance of £2,038. The speaker challenged this statement,, according to a return to the 31st March, 1909, signed by the . Town Clerk, the result was nothing like that shown in the statement published. This was one of the reasons why the speaker had challenged the report, and another reason was because it had been stated in the Press that the report had been presented to the Council, whereas, as a matter of fact, it had not. To show the speaker's bona fides in the matter, and to show that his questionings were not mere quibbles, he had ottered to submit the Mayor's report to any auditor in the town, and if that auditor could show that there was a credit balance disclosed of <£2,038 he (Mr Hunter) would ay the cost of the audit. Surely nothing could be fairer! What had been the'result of the speaker's criticism? He had simply been submitted to a

TIRADE OF ABUSE because he had dared to contradict this published erroneous statement. However, if the Mayor and Cr Yarr were going to "revel in the gutter" they were not going to drag the speaker down with them, and that night he did not intend to adopt the class of tactics adopted by the Mayor and Cr Yarr in their correspondence to the Press. He had been called an obstructionist, and Cr Yarr had declared that his (Mr Hunter's) contentions had neither beginning nor ending, but he hoped to prove to his hearers that Lr ifarr was wrong in that assertion. One thing he would say, and that was, that when persons set out to criticise others they should tirst assure themselves of their own competency and qualifications. For example, he himself would not presume for a moment to express an opinion on Cr Yarr, simply because he knew nothing about that gentleman, and it was only in fairness to be expected that Cr Yarr should not utter such remarks, SLANDEROUS REMARKS, about the speaker, as he had given expression,, when he knew nothing about the speaker. Mr Hunter said he had been subjected to nothing but vituperation arid vilification because he had shown enough spirit to differ from the methods adopted by the •Mayor and the majority in the Council- He repeated that he refused to be dragged into the gutter by the Mayor and Cr Yarr, and furthermore he strongly objected to these gentlemen imputing gross and improper motives to him in so differing. (Hear! Hear!) "It would be an easy thing for me to go to the Council and be a dumb dog," said Mr Hunter, "but if the Mayor"lias got no respect for the 700 odd ratepayers who returned him, I have for the 900 odd who'sent me to represent them on the Council."

about finance. The speaker said he had been told he knew nothing about finance, but he believed that when he finished that evening his audience, and perhaps the Mayor, would acknowledge that, after all, he knew a little more about finance than he was generally credited with. At the very first Council meeting at which he sat there were two certain accounts submitted for passing, one for £25 and another for £5 ss. Perhaps his hearers would not credit it, but there was actually no record on the Council books to show that these two amounts were authorised to be spent. As a matter of solemn fact one had actually been refused authorisation by the Council. (A voice: What are the items?) Mr Hunter replied that one was for a sum agreed to be paid to Mr Laing-Meason in connection with the last improvements at the 1 eadworks of the water supply. Mr

I Laing-Meason's costs were to ba, ' pursuant to the Council's resolution, £l5O, but an account came in for £175, and the only explanai tion was one vouchsafed l by Cr Pauling, who said that r Mr LaingMeason had been asked tcsupervise, on commission, a work at the intake costing £3OO. Yet the Council had never authorised this nor had the Council given any sanction to the £5 5s expenditure previously mentioned, where, on the contrary,, leave to incur this liability was expressly refused. Mr Hunter did not go into details, but said that the person who had committed this unauthorised expenditura had, when the account was referred to him, said, "Ask the Mayor about it," meaning thenar Coradine. l v or questioning the passing of such accounts he had been

CALLED AN OBSTRUCTIONIST. But it was useful to the ratepayers to remember at this stage that he had then moved in the Council, and the motion was adopted,- that in future all authorisations be signed by the Town Clerk. Who had opposed this? Cr Yarr! The Mayor himself even had supported the idea, but not so Cr Yarr, who in effect had said that the slipshod haphazard method of authorisation then in vogue was good enough for him. A pertinent query, too, was, if the speaker was an obstructionist, why did the Mayor support him then? Then again, on the same night, it was reported that the Works Committee had decided to conduct a new method of work in a' certain street. Committee resolutions, declared Mr Hunter, were not, in law, worth the paper they were written on until ratified by the Council, and he therefore protested against the procedure. But the Council sheltered itself by stating that*the Works Committee had recommended the alteration. The speaker again came forward with a suggestion, which was adopted by the Council, and that was that all new business should first come before the Council. The Mayor again supported this—yet the speaker was an obstructionist. (Laughter). Passing on, Mr Hunter said he had been described as a grumbler because he had objected to increases which he himself had voted for. He asked if it was reasonable that a new Councillor could be experted to have a grip of the multifarious matters conmonth or so after he was elected a Councillor. One little matter needed special attention in this connection. The speaker had opposed very emphatically the contingency estimate of £I,OOO included in the estimates for the year. It was somewhat unfortunate* perhaps for those concerned that there were such things as records of the Council meetings, as it would be shown on reference to these that the Mayor and Cr Yarr had supported this contingency estimate, not only in Council after a Select Committee had exprestly recommended to the Works Committee to strike it out! When the final vote was taken on the point it was found that with the exception of the Mayor and Cr Yarr, the Council was unanimous in striking off this very heavy estimate. And for advocating this economy all he got was vituperation of a most malicious kind.

ANOTHER IMPORTANT [REFORM instituted by the speaker was in the manner of presenting accounts to the Council. Re claimed credit for having first suggested and getting the Council to authorise the present system of presenting the fortnightly statement of expenditure, which showed the Council from meeting to[meeting how they stood in regard to their estimates and their expenditure to date. Cr Yarr,again opposed this. "He did not want to know how the Council stood as it went along," said Mr Hunter. "It suited him to learn such a highly important tact at the end of the year." The speaker recognised at once that the Council wanted a proper like system. (A voice: A business system). "Yes," replied the candidate "and one upon which we could work efficiently." It was with every assurance he made the statements he was then committng himself to, as he found that he had opposed to him A LAWYER AND A BUDDING LAWYER.

Loud laughter followed this sally. Mr Hunter gave the Town Clerk credit for still further amplifying the speaker's suggestion regarding what the fortnightly statement should show. It had been suggested —with an obvious motive—that the speaker was opposed to the present Town Clerk and Borough Engineer. Nothing was more contrary to fact. What he had done was to protest most emphatically and most justifiably against the suspension of a standing order of |the Council —a most extraordinary and very urgent procedure only—in order to allow of an appointment being made in one night which the Council were in duty bound to make only on mature deliberation. He blamed the Mayor for the whole business, and asked his audience if it was not only rational and just that he should opoose such a course of action. Events proved that without the standing or- \ ders being supsended the position was filled 2 weeks ahead of the necessary time, which completely vindicated the speaker's attitude. Mr Hunter said h2 had opposed the [union of

I the two positions of Town" Clerk and Borough Engineeer when this course was proposed on the grounds that experience had shown sucf» to be a> failure. Even as matters' vers comparisons were not favourable t» the experiment. He quoted figures to show that there was an increase ire office expenses (excluding salaries) I alone of £6 19s Id a week for the first six months ot the past year, as against the first six months of 1907> while in the Engineer's accounts the figures on the ordinary maintenance account for the same period were £24 10s per week ira 11907 (under Mr Dobson) and £47 5s perjweek last year. On the sanita-f tion'account an increase was likewise! shown. He had

PROTESTED TIME AFTER TIME! against this excessive expenditure® on ordinary maintenance, especially when it was really out of loan money., Wften he had submitted uis figures on this point to the Borougn Council, Cr Morris sagely remarked that "Cr Hunter had no doubt gone to a lot of trouble to prepare nis figures, uufc they were all bosh!" (Laughter.) The auditor's figures—for such they were—all bosh! (Renawei laughter). Mr Hunter complained very strongly on constitutional groundsjabout the Mayor allowing tL suspension of n standing order in order to hasten the appointment of the'present Town Clerk, the sole object being in so doing to allow the majority in the Counciljto

RIDE ROUGH-SHOD OVER THE MINORITY.

It was more than British blood coull stand to put up with such especially when there wa9 not a title of foundation for the supposition of the Mayor that the speaker would oppose the appointment. If any illfeeling had been existent in the Council during the past year it was caused by the doings of the Mayor himself. Out of £IO,OOO spent r a the general and ordinary maintenance account, the Council bad not con§ trolled £4oo—the Mayor had simpiy prevented the Council from controlling it. The speaKer instanced hewenough building permits had been printed to last the Borough for fifty years—a point which caused considerable amusement. When the majority in the Council had seen how their figures were being exposed, they de§ cided that their safest course was to discredit him, and it got that way in the end that had he moved a motion which would save the ratepayers £I,OOO a year it would have been defeated, if only because he moved it.

STREET LIGHTING

Mr Hunter marie a strong point s and one which was keenly relished by the audience, over the fact thft while the Gas Manager had shown the Council in a special report that the Borough street lighting was costing the Gas Department £7OO a year, the Mayor told the Council that it had been decided to charge the Council £303 for this lighting,' and had point blank refused to give the information showing how he had arrived at this basis of payment. It was nothing but a disgrace that Councillors should be denied information on such a vitally important matter. If the Gas Committee could be so taken down for £4OO the Council could well afford to reduce the price of gas. (Hear! Hear!) He trenchantly criticised the Mayor* also, for instructing the Town Cleric to refuse him a statement of the loan expenditure for the year, saying that the Mayor was evidently suffering from "swelled head,"

AN APPEAL FOR SUPPORT. Cr Hunter said that he hoped to secure the confidence of the electors on Thursday next, and promised that if he were returned J there would be none of the "star chamber" moth-* ods of the past year, and that the business of the Council would be fully, fairly, and impartially placed before the members, and good feeling prevail between the Mayor and his Council, at least. Heljclaimed that he could reduce the water rate by two-thirds, withhout crippling the finances in any way, and on the quea tior. of the dual position of Town Clerk and Borough Engineer, said that he would not interfere with the present system without a fair trial, and for very good reason. He thanked his audience*heartily for their patient and sympathetic hearing* Mr Hunter, who received an excellent hearing, appreciation being frequently expressed in the usual way, resumed his . seat amid pro~ longed applause. MrDaniell proposed a hearty vote of thanks to the candidate, this being seconded and carried with acclamation. A vote of thanks to the chair concluded the meeting.