The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1879.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 317, 17 November 1879, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1879.

Had Mr D. McGregor been willing to come forward again for the office of Mayor of Masterton, it is very probable he would have been returned unopposed. There are several good allround men in the Borough Council, but the special fitness of Mr McGregor for the post he has occupied during the past twelve months is so generally acknowledged that it is quite unnecessary to assert it. The qualities Mr McGregor lias displayed during his term of office have been rather of a useful than of a brilliant character. The financial position of the Council has been of such a nature that no work of any magnitude could be effected during his regime, and consequently his mayoralty is not marked by any particular red letter day. A prudent, careful administration, a close attention to all public duties, and a diligent attempt to put the affairs of the Borough in good order, have been the specialities of Mr McGregor's year of power, The various meetings of the Council have been admirably conducted,—a good deal of business having usually been despatched in a short space of time, and this in the face of a tendency to overtalking which prevails in the Masterton Borough Council, and in most other bodies of a similar character. Mr McGregor deserves the thanks of the Council, and of the burgesses, for the commendable manner in which he has applied himself to his varied duties. He has brought the Council into good working order, and we only hope his successor will be able to maintain its efficiency. .Really able chairmen are very scarce in a country district like Wairarapa, With the exception of Mr W, Booth, the late Chairman of County West, we have not observed any public man in the district dispatch business at a public meeting as systematically and as rapidly as Mr McGregor has been wont to get through it while sitting at the head of the Borough Council table. It is as refreshing to attend any well conducted meeting as it is distressing to take part in one where time and speech are uncontrolled. How to conduct public business is an art which has been but little studied hitherto in the Wairarapa, and it is just because Mr McGregor is a master of it that he will be missed from the post he is now about to relinguish. His leisure time, -however, is likely to be devated to county matters, and in these he will be able to render to the district as valuable services in the future as he has conferred upon it in the past, He is a representative man of whom Masterton has not only reason to be proud, but in whom it will always be able to place implicit confidence.