Manasseh Ward, Mayor of Gosford

From the Gosford Times

Manasseh Ward entered public life in 1888 when he was elected to the 'Gosford Borough Council'. He was 37.

For most of Manasseh's life there had been no local government as such in the Brisbane Water District and the area was administered by the Police Magistrate. The 'Gosford Borough Council' was established in 1886, with six aldermen, one of whom was elected as Mayor. The Council was a Municipality, only covering the town of Gosford, in which there were only 136 rate-paying properties. The remainder of the district remained under police administration.

Manasseh and Madeline had recently returned to the district after living in Balmain for a year. Manasseh put himself forward as a candidate the second elections for the Council in February 1888. He stood in East Ward which was the smaller of the two Wards in the Council.

On polling day, Manasseh attracted only eight votes, but that was double that of his only opponent, so he was elected! (While only 12 votes were cast in East Ward, there were almost 150 cast in the West Ward). 

In August the following year, the Mayor, George Watt, resigned from the Council. The remaining alderman elected Manasseh Ward to take his place. After serving out the remainder of the Council year, Manasseh relinquished the Mayoral position and returned to being an alderman for the remainder of his  four-year term.

He stood for re-election in 1892, but was not elected. He was elected again in 1896 and remained on Council until 1903. During this second term, he was elected Mayor on six occasions. He was in the Mayoral chair when he resigned from Council in 1903. He resigned because he was 'leaving the District'.

Manasseh and Madeline were not long away from Gosford, but Manasseh did not re-join the Council on their return. He would have been aware that the Council was in financial difficulty and also aware of that extensive local government changes were in the wind.

In 1906 new Shire Council's where established across NSW, replacing all former Police Districts. Erina Shire was established in May 1906. The Gosford Borough remained, now renamed Gosford Municipal Council, but it was completely enclosed by the new Erina Shire. (Gosford Municipality would later merge into Erina Shire in 1907.)

Manasseh was announced as one of the six men appointed to the interim Erina Council which operated until elections were held in late 1906. He was subsequently selected as the interim Shire President, a position he maintained when the new Council was elected. He would remain Shire President for six of the next seven years.

In 1913, Manasseh was 60 years old and had been in local government for 25 years. But his public life was brought to an ignominious end when he was convicted of an offence under the Local Government Act. 

Manasseh had taken out a grazing lease for a park in Gosford in 1903 and paid the lease fees in subsequent years. For some reason that I don't fully understand, this was  ruled a breach of the Local Government Act and Manasseh was fined £50 (the minimum penalty) and disqualified from Council for seven years. The magistrate made it very clear that this was a technicality and that Manasseh had not gained or intended to gain any benefit. The fine was later reduced to £1.

Manasseh resigned from Council, who immediately placed on the record "its deepest regret at Cr Ward’s retirement and expressed its greatest appreciation of the work he has done in the interests of the Council". 

I am sure this would have generated a huge amount of debate in the local paper, but there are no local papers in Library archives from 1913, so we rely only on the snippets published in other newspapers.

In his 25 years in public life, Manasseh had been on one Council or another for 20 years, 13 as mayor or shire president.