page_title: Charles Hulbert (mayor)
section_title: Political career
hierarchical_section_title: Charles Hulbert (mayor) / Political career
caption_attribution_description: English: The Christchurch City Council Chambers on the north-west corner of Oxford Terrace and Worcester Street .
context_page_description: Charles Partridge Hulbert was Mayor of Christchurch in from December 1883 to December 1885.
context_section_description: Hulbert first stood for election as Christchurch city councillor in September 1879 in the South East Ward on the Ratepayers' Association ticket. The South East Ward was located south of Hereford and east of Colombo Streets; it was the first time that the ward system was used in an election. The Ratepayers' Association intended to support three candidates in each of the four wards, i.e. a candidate for each available position. Of those 12 possible candidates, 11 were eventually nominated, and 9 of them were elected, including Hulbert. Notable councillors elected in 1879 apart from Hulbert were James Gapes and Aaron Ayers.
  At the time, councillors retired by rotation, and Hulbert's term was up in September 1881. He contested the South East Ward against Samuel Manning and was successful, with 556 votes to 519. Later in 1881 at the general election in the Christchurch South electorate, Hulbert proposed John Holmes as a candidate. The other candidate was the former mayor John Anderson, but Holmes was successful.
  In 1882, Hulbert became a strong promoter of a proper water supply system for Christchurch, where one of the principal aims was to have water available for fire fighting purposes (in fact, Hulbert's business premises had burned down in 1875). Consequently, Hulbert was asked to join council's Water Supply Committee. Hulbert spoke against a resolution by the Local Board of Health to take the sanitary functions off the city council and carry them out by itself. In July 1882, Mayor George Ruddenklau chaired a large and often rowdy public meeting, proposing a public loan of £60,000 for the installation of water reticulation in the city; there were strong views expressed against such a measure.
  On 4 September 1882, Hulbert resigned from Christchurch City Council. He did so at that particular time as elections for the normal rotation of councillors were about to be held, and although he had one more year to serve, he felt that having given his time for three years was enough and somebody else should represent the South East Ward. Hulbert was succeeded as councillor by Frederick Jenkins.
caption: During Hulbert's mayoralty, the design competition for the civic offices was decided
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