THE WAVERLEY CRISIS. - A New Mayor Elected. Everything Promising Well. - The Australian Star (Sydney, NSW : 1887 - 1909) - 6 Mar 1901 (original) (raw)

Everything Promising Well.

The Waverley municipal- crisis will soon,

have reached the stage when it will be

talked of as a nine days wonder. Last

night matters were advanced a degree fur

ther towards the desired end by a special

meeting of the municipal council, the business

of which was to elect a successor to Mayor

avails tor the remainder of his term of office,

and replace ex-Aldermen Macleod, Watkins,

anil Wynne, who, with the ex-Mayor, had

resigned, and left the finance committee with

only one member. The council chamber at

Waverley is a comfortably-sized room for

ordinary meetings, but it was all too small

to contain those who wished to be present at

lust night's proceedings. That those of the

Public who attended were supporters of the

action of "the reform party" was evident,

by,: their unchecked interjections and' ap

plause during the proceedings, and no dis

sentient action was recognised. Mr. Jessep,

M.L.A., occupied a scat on the left of the

There were present:— Aldermen W. H.

Simpson, Tipper, Terry, Keys, W. Carter,

Blunt, and O. 1-Iarley. Alderman Simpson

was voted to the chair, and the minutes of

the previous meeting. having been confirmed

the council clerk announced having received

the resignations of the Mayor (Alderman

Evans) and Aldermen Macleod, Watkins, and

Wynne. It would, be their duty to elect a

Mayor for the remainder of the term, and

the Mayor's duty to expedite the election of

aldermen to fill the vacancies In the ordi

. Alderman -Blunt proposed Alderman Walter

Carter as Mayor, and in doing so said that

lie had been defeated on the last occasion,

but he felt certain that if elected Alderman

Carter would do justice to all, which he

regretted he could not say of the gentleman

The chairman thought It was not necessary

Alderman Terry, im seconding, said they

could not but rejoice at the suicides that had

taken place. (Laughter). He believed that

Alderman Carter would prove the most suit

able man they could find for. 'the position.

There were no other, nominations, and on

(he chairman declaring Alderman Carter elec

ted there was aniilause from the members.

and also from the public gathered ill the hall.

The Mayor-elect having been installed In, the

chair, returned his thanks to the aldermen.

He recognised that this was the most critical

position they had known in he affairs of the

borough. The action of the retiring alder

men had had the effect of damaging the finan

cial Interests of the borough in the eyes of

Marrickvllle people, as well as of Sydney, and

the' rest of ithe State. It was necessary that

they should stand well in the eyes of the fi

nanciers, but the actions of the aldermanic

suicides wore, not going to affect the council

permanently. Though these men had not left

them in. a creditable fashion, the borough was

in a healthy position, and could not suffer

permanently. The press and some of the re

tiring aldermen had: acknowledged that the

borough was financially sound, and they need

not fear they would hear of any unfair ac

tions, or cooked b'aiance-sheets from him.

(Hear, hear.) This had been the principle on

which he had conducted his own private af

fairs, and lie was not going back on his life's

principles In conducting their business. The

late Mayor hud, in December, been appointed,

at his own request, to carry out .this loan

matter, but the council had .heard nothing of

his actions till last Friday. He had failed In

10. weeks to carry the loan business through,

and left them only three weeks to do it— which

was hardly fair. He (the Mayor) had been

informed that five weeks . ago the loan could

have been raised at 4 per cent., but the late

Mayor said he could get it done at 3(4 per

cent., and let the chance slip. On equally

good authority he had been: informed that two

weeks ago the same gentleman had an offer

of the £50,000 at 4 per cent., and it only re

quired the consent of the council to get it put

through then, but, for some unknown reason,

the council never was asked for its consent.

He again thanked the aldermen for electing

The Mayor then moved — "That Aldermen

Simpson, Blunt, Cummins, Tipper. Keys, Ter

ry, and Harley, be "appointed members of

the finance committee for the remainder of

the current municipal year, in lieu of Alder

men Evans, Macleod, Watkins, and Wynne,

On ithe suggestion of Alderman Simpson the

motion was altered so that the whole council

should form the finahee committee, and this,

being accepted by the mover, was carried

without further discussion.

Alderman Simpson moved the confirma

tion of the appointment of Messrs. C. H.

Lloyd and T. H. Dickson as borough valuers

for the current year, seconded by Alderman

This concluded the business for which the

special meeting had been called, and the

Mayor, in announcing the fact, assured the

ratepayers present that no time would be lost

in filling the extraordinary vacancies. He

also added that from >the arrangements being

made they had no reason to fear that the

municipality would suffer financially by the

action of the retiring aldermen.