MAYORAL ELECTION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2486, 27 April 1909, Page 6

MAYORAL ELECTION.

[To The Editor.] Sir, —Brushing' aside all personal feeling or bias, and guaging liis qualifications from past actions, by the logic of reason and experience, it -at once becomes certain that the -present occupier of the civil chair is absolutely unsuitable for the position. From the date of his advent into the Borough Council up to the present time lie lias opposed every proposal either directly or insidiously that did not have tho brand of his authorship, -and by constant and untimely and irrelevant remarks and deliberate intrusion baulked the calm and deliberate discussion of questions of vast importance to the Borough His foibles and eccentricities are, to the ordinary reasoncr, past understanding. A whole year has been lost in barren, unprofitable, and fractious discussion. If some local magician could dissolve int-o essence-tlio lines . . “O, would seme power the giftie gie us “'To see ourselves as others see us.” and hypodermically infect 'His Worship i might, in time, develop an organism that would destroy the- microbe of extravagant ego which now unhappily claims- him as his victim. The extraordinary mind possessed by His W orship lifts him up into the ciouds and keeps him there": The projects evolved by him are impracticable, crude, his figures and deductions unreliable. When Mr. IT. Hay was proposed as engineer for water supply lie caused infinite delav in twing to foist Mr. Reynolds on to”the Council. Then for the outer harbor he put Mr. Marchaht against Mr. Reynolds. In everything he touches in local government his vagaries become supreme. He cannot- descend to practical every- day details and work such as seeing drains cleaned out before the winter sets in, or the holes filled in on side streets. His delight is to stand in the limelight- and patrol the unsuitable steam roller in tho places where people do most congregate. Unfortunately because an essential piece of work was omitted before putting on the metal on Gladstone Road the whole will have to he torn up next summer. All the machinery bought by the Mayor is quite unsuitable for the work required. Gladstone Road is leit in a filthy state where germ-spreading flies congregate in tens oi ! millions. The Thornycroft-Stewart steam van with water tank, to which a revolving brush sweeper can be attached with a \\ hittome’s machine for picking up the sweepings should be bought- as soou as tho finances permit-. If the Patutahi tramway is constructed with plenty of wood metal available at- a cheap rate, then up-to-date machinery could he> procuredl to do most of the work including tarring, and the roads maintained out ot ordinary revenue, the machinery being purchased out of loan. I supported the present Mayor at Ins last election, but on public grounds 1 am strenuously against him this election. He has been weighed in the balance and found wanting. I vote Mr. Miller because he has tact and will not attempt to baulk the resolves of'the Council. I will vote Mr-. Miller because he lias travelled pretty well the world over, has consequently enlarged his mind, and has a respect lor the opinions of others. I will vote Mr. Miller because lie has seen and observed the latest and bestmethods adopted by the municipal authorities in the groat cities or the world and has not been, t-oo old to learn his lessons. —I am, etc. •CITY RATEPAYER.”