CAMBRIDGE BOROUGH.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2208, 2 September 1886, Page 2

CAMBRIDGE BOROUGH.

Thkuk appears to bo a hitch in tho arrangements for bringing the Borough of Cambridge under its new constitution, as, owing to a week's delay in publishing the Gazetto notice, there has not boon sufficient time .since tho receipt by tho local authorities of tho Government Gazette proclaiming the town a borough, to give due notice of tbo election of councillors, which should take place on the .second Wednesday in September, the Bth inst. Mr J. P. Thomson, returning officer, being anxious that everything should be done formally and lpgally, telegraphed on Saturday as follows :— " G. S. Cooper, Esq., Under-Sccretary, Wellington. Have notifipd election of nine councillors for loth September. Should Mayqr bo then elected or should one of the councillors act as mayor until annual election of mayors in November." To this the following reply was received :— " Too late to elect borough councillors this year. Town Board must hold office till September, ISS7, but mayor can be elected in November. (Signed) G. S. Coopkr, Under-Secretary." Mr Thomson next wired :—": — " Present Town Board goes out of office loth September. How can we elect new Town Board when we are now a borough ? Will present board require to hold office until September, 1887." To this no answer haa yet been received. Meanwhile the position is somewhat peculiar. The Town Board, elected for throe years, goes out of office on tho l.">th of this month, and it may be presumed that it will be as illegal for them to remain in office after that date as it will be for a borough council, however irregularly appointed, so far as due notification of the date of the election, &c, is concerned, to take its place. Mr Cooper says the Town Board mv.it hold office till September, 1887, but a mayor can be elected in November. Edifying spectacle ! The Town Board, presided over by a chairman, to be the governing body, while the «olittry mayor, sans councillors, sans authority, sans municipal robM, silver cradles, or any of the little trifles which make the lot of a, mayor a happy one, is debarred from exorcising any of the authority attached to his office s-ave that of sitting on the bench as a J.P. ex officio, which, as he is doubtless a J.P. already, would be a barren consolation. An Oider-in-Council by the Governor, extending the time for the election, will probably put the matter right, and Cambridge will enter upon its new and exalted career with everything done in proper order.

[by telkokaph— own coukkspondrnt.l Cammiiixik, Wednesday. Re the borough elections, Mr Wells has gone thoroughly into the subject, and in positive that when the town district becomes a borough there is no fir«t election, but the town commissioners become the borough councillors, holding office until the date of the first annual election, September 15. As it is now im possible to hold an election on the 15th of thts month, the present commissioners will hold office as per the Under-Secretary's letter until the 15th September, 1887, selecting from among their number at their first meeting an act-ing-Mayor who will hold office until the annual mayoral election in November.