Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-11-10 00:00:00

TOWN COUNCIL.

The Town Council met at twelve o'clock yesterday, in
the Town Hill, for the election of Mayor, the nomination
of committees, and other baiiness. The chair WAS occu-
pied by the Mayor, Francis Shand, Esq.
ELECTION OF MAYOR.

Th 3 CUAIRSUN said— Gentlemen, I believe the first duty
you have to perform to day is to elect a successor to the
office which I have now the henour to hold.
Mr. Cnettbes TURNER said-LI rise, Mr. Mayor, for the
purpose of proposing a gentleman to succeed you in the
high and important position you hare filled during the
last year with so much dignity and credit. My task, sir,
is compsratively an easy one, because the gentleman I
have to propose enjoys, I am qei`e sure, the universal
regerd and esteem of all members of the Council, and of
the inhabitants of the town generally. Mr. James Holme
has raised himself to distinc ion among us by the industry
and the ability with which he has mewed his own private
affairs, but prticalerly sir, by the readiness with which
he has at all times placed his eminent and valuable
services a' the disposal of the Council and the
community generally, whenever his services could
be of any use. (Applause.) It is indeed,
quite unnecessary for me to dilate upon the character and
the public services of a gentleman with whose name, I
believe very few of the iehabiosn-s of this large community
ars not a-qeainted. (ricer hear) Bit. sir, at the same
time, I feet that it would be unpardonable in M 3, as chair-
man of the Dock Committee. were I v. pass over in silence
the eminent services which Mr. H,lnae has rendered in
that committee, of which he has been, for a 1 ,ng period,
one of the most veluelo'e sad useful in. mbete. (Hear, hear.)
If any other ge,tlemen is to be prspesed for the position
of Mayor, and if the el, cti on is to dap tnd up on the services
which have been rendered to the town, I am gni:e stills
that Mr. Helms has nothing to fear, if his services a-e put
in comparieoe with the services of any other gentleman is
Council, wh:ever he may happen to be. (Hear, hear )
Sir, I have great pleasure. with these few remarks, in pro-
posing that Mr. J. Holme be Elected Mayor for the succeed-
municipal y ear. I believe that he sill fill the ale° with
tity, with ability, and with impartiality, and that at the
ter .oinetien of the important duties which, if elected, he will -
have to fulfil, he will reeiglthe office, feeling that he enjoys
,the regard, the goodwill, and the esteem of this great com-
munity in thelslsne high degree as yourself, (Applause.)
Mr. Ablermau PARKE% said he pe. famed a very grati-
fying and pleasing duty to himself in see mding the
nomination of Mr. James 11)'me. Every gentleman who
had attended the Council mu-tie struck with the strathte
forward manner in which Mr. Hulme had psr'ormed his
duties His services were known to all, and the manner
in which the Chairman of the Dock C .mmittee had
eulogised his services in that great and mighty trust, must
convey to the Cou ,c:1 at large Mr. Holme's compc,teace to
fill the station for which he was now proposed. With these
simple remarks, he row begged leave to second the
motion,

Mr. ROritgaT3ON GLIDSTOWE : Mr. Mayor, I sincerely
hope that on no future occasion any charge will be brought
against the Corporation of inattention to thei: duties. I
ask those who sit like myself regularly in this room,
whether this is not a most delightful sight presented
to the view ? (Hear, hear, and I,ugh'er.) Almost
every member of the Council in his place—and
for what ? For what,? Is it to' discharge the
thrice of the committee that they have come here ? No:
they make their appearance to carry ont one particular
scheme which they have at heart. Whether they will
succeed in that object or not at present, it is not for me to
say ; bat I wish to direct the nue :don of the public to
this—that if there is in their inmost thoughts any object
which they nre de ermined, at all hazards, to carry here,
they cal come—they can leave their premised, they can
leave their own business, t' ey can leave their own inte-
rests, and, like men of digeified hon mr, come to the
resew.), and virtuously attend to their duties. (Einar, hear,
and laughter) Now, sir, I feel very g-eat satisfaction in
being permitted to propose, for the consideration of the
Council, the name of a gentleman, a member cf this Cor-
poration. as a lit and proper person to fill the offs e of
Mayor, foe the ensuing yew. I believe, sir, I shall speak
within the bounds of perfect truth, when I say, that a
sense of justice and of honour alike, and a 1 eve of fair
play—(hear, hen') —all as it were, instinctively combine to
recommend, to the favour ble consideration of the Council,
one gentleman, to wheal I shall peesently allude sir, a
lengthened daretien of faithful sere cas, ex ending over
a periol of something like twenty years, with one
year's intermission only, I believe ; if a close and punctual
attention to the duties of the various committees; if an
anxious desire to promote the bests interests and welfare
uif 4)rtltiltVl re ,uiiun ito4Lvt. au ...NUM. 4/•-ibLE
desiring municipal distinction, I say that all these are the
property of Mr. William Preston. (Applause.) It must
not be supposei, sir—it cannot be made a charge egainst
me at d the gentlemen who propose t act with me on this
occasion, that we i tten i to pot our hands, as it were, into
the tree-nry of municipal ands for the urpose of dis-
charging a debt dug for political services only (Saar,
hear) On the contrary, Mr. Preston has never been, in
my recollection at least, an active political partisan ; but
if he had taken each a line of conduct, I am quite satisfied
of this, that he would be the very last man to accept of
such a payment, under such circumstances. (Cries of
" Ilea-, hear.") Again, (4r, on the great It'alto of our
Exchaige, " where merchants most do congregate," Mr.
Preston is honoured and esteemed. (Hear, hear.) No
name stands higher: no man is mere siocerely re-
girded than Mr. Preston. (Hear, hear.) During the,
number of years that Mr Preston has been a member
of the C haul, my attention his frequently been directed
to him, not on acconet of any frequent appearance he has
made among us as a speaker. but I have observed a total
absence, which has been particularly g-atifyiug to my own
feeling as an t.l3;erver —a ts. tal absence of self laudation,
(cries cf hear, bear) -no disposition to blow hie own
trumpet. (Hear.) His manner tied demeanour at ell times
have been quite retiring and unobtrusive. Again. Mr.
Preston has never sought to place himself on my Com-
mittee whe:o his own private interests were likely to come
into contact wit') the question of the welfare of the com-
munity. We well know that in byrgcne times it has been
made a chit, ga against some gentlemen engaged in the very
same bu-iness as that in which Mr. Preston is occupied,
that they had. when they ought not, continued to bemem-
bers of the Watch Committee. Nor, shall lover recollect,
without feelings of pride and pleasure, hew one gentle-
, man, a member of this Council, M e Go frey, withdrew
from th Committee when he was aware of the strength
of the existence of that feeling. (Hoar.) N.w, sir, Mr.
Pre ttoo has never been, as I have stated, an active
political partisan. He falls very far a' o t of
going the sane leug h in some matters of deep
interest which I, f r one, will humbly advocate, and have
humbly advocated. But, sir, he was one of those- and I
wish I could say as much for myself -who were instru-
mental, with many others, in giving us the Municipal
Rsferm Act ; an act sir, under which, during the last
teelve months, you hare by law been au herhed to sit in
that chair. Since the passing of that a't, the Liberal
party have enjoyed about ;even years of ittl tepee in re-
gainiug the possession of the municipal chair. But those
seven years stand, indeed, in 'a very email minority, when
compared eiih the sixteen years which have been enj )yed
by the opposi-e party. Nw I pu,-, it to this Council—
seeing that perhaps there is not one of us who w mid
revert to the old system—whether we do n owe a debt of
gratitude to Mr. Pre;ton, for hiving been instrumental.
wt h many others, in giving us the Minicipal Reform Act?
Fcr this, and for many oth r reason-, which it is quite
uanecessa-y for me to urge, for Mr. Preston holds much
too h'gh a position in the estimation f society to render it.
necessary, on my part, for this and for other
rem° a, which recommend Mr. Preston in she most
forcible mangier to our favourable consideration. I there.
fore move, with all due respect—" That, being a fit
and proper person, and having by length of servitude
squired an honourable ti le and claim to the position of
Mayer, he be elected to fill that office for the ensuing year.
(Hear, hear.)
Mc. STEAties : Tn rising, sir, to second the nomination of
Mr. Alderman Preston, I have but little to add to the
exceedingly judicious soil well-expresso,' remarks of Mr.
Gladstone. I feel, however, that he and I are alike res-
ponsible to the Council and tae town fir submitting the
name of a gentleman to occupy the chair which you, sir,
are abut t, vacate and whichyou will pardon me if I
presume to add my te.:tanony to that of others, and say
that you have fitted wt•h eq ell urbanity, impartiality, and
imparting by your condu •t during your may orality
increased honour to your high offs te, and rendering it no
easy task, be your succcssor who he may, to emulate, still
more to surpass, the in inner in which yen have discharged
the duties. (Hear, hear.) But, happily, I can 'peak
with confidence of the qualifications of my friend, Mr.
Preston, for I have known him for upwards of twenty
years ;, and if du ing that period the exercise of
unsullied mercantile and pateonal integrity, suav ty of
manner, the possession of the bast of all sense,,
common set se—(hear, hear)—social position, ample
fortune hosts of friends, entitle the owner of all these
claims to the high p saition of occupying the chive. of
Chief Magistrate of the second town in this empire-then
I say that Mr. Preston has every claim to that enviable
position. ([fear, hear) And if there be added the fact
that he is the oldest member of the Corporation, that his
services, mita ble and great, extend over the period which
Mr. Gladstone has stated, of 20 ears, with the solitary
• breek of one year, then I say that his claims become
irresistible. (Hear, hear.) I do hope that the Cnuneil,
) will :.ffirm the proposition of Alr. Gladstone, and will say
by their votes, pawls qui offuse fold. (Row, hear.