THE CITY TRAMWAY AND PARK BRIDGE.

'On Thursday, "For. 26th.his Worship the yayor (Mr C. P. Hulbett) formally inaugurated two works in connection -with city improvements, viz, the Corporation tramvxy and the bridge over the river into tip Park. The first of these was at 1130 ito, when, at the invitation of Mr Brighthsg, the contractor for the work, his Worship laid the first rail of THS-COBPOBATION TBAKWAT. •At the hour appointed there were present in Latimer square, nearly opposite tiie Club, from where the tramway starts through Latimer square, his Worship the Mayor, the Mayor-elect, the members of the City Council, and several old members of the Council and ex-Mayors. The rail being placed in position, and ready for the spike to be driven, Mr Brightuag presented the Mayor with a hammer manufactured for the occasion, the handle is of polished New Zealand -wood, the head itself being of polished The Matob said he had been requested If Mr Brighiling, the contractor for the Corporation tramway, to formally inaugurate the work, and he had much pleasure nf doing so. .Before, however, he performed the ceremony of driving; the spike gal fastening the first rail, he desired to 09 a few words as to the reasons which had induced the Council to recommend tins work to the ratepayers, and he did so because be did not think the public were fißy aware of those reasons. They were twrfold— first on account of the sanitary ' improvement of the city, and secondly as a satter of economy and convenience to the dozens. For some yeara past the Council sad experienced considerable difficulty in finding a suitable site for the deposit of their street scrapings, house refuse, Ac. It had been shot into places in the suburbs, ' hut the people naturally objected, and the Medical Officer also reported -that it waa Bjarbus to the public health. They had alio used the Park, and other parte of the dry, but it was found that these were by no means suitable. The Council was thus . farced to find some other place whereon to their rubbish, and it appeared to that there was no more suitable And than their reserve at the Sand--hills. Not only would the rubbish of the city—which, cf course, as it pro-, pressed must largely increase—be. placed sway without the possibility of a nuisance to the citizens being created, but' ft would also assist in fertilising and leveling their sandhills reserves. But to go thither with the carts and. horses would ssaan a very great expense to the ratepayers and a great loss ot time. Hence the Council suggested to the ratepayers the formation of the shore line of tramway which they had met that day to inaugurate. Bat it was not alone as a matter of economy ' @r solely for the disposal of their rubbish that ihe Council had advocated to the rate- [ payers the carrying out of this work. I When, by means of private enterprise— | sMch he hoped would soon be the case— i tbe abort line now to be inaugurated was 1 connected with one to the New Brighton ; beach, the advantages to be derived by the i citizens of Chriatchurch would be very I treat indeed. It would enable the whole | cf their population, at a very. small cxl peaditure of money and of time, to enjoy 1 fts benefit and health-giving properties of I ' tie sea breeze. This was an advantage, | . the importance of which to the thousands cf people who in the future would inhabit this city it was impossible to over-estimate. Baring now briefly indicated to them the reasons which had actuated the City Council in submitting the work for the approval of the ratepayers, he would pro- ! " wed to fasten the first rail. The first spike having been adjusted, his Worship drove it home in a very workman- ' hie manner, the second being fastened by the Chairman of the Works Committee— Ceaaoillor Vincent. . 4 , _ Having responded to the invitation of ' Krßrightling to drink success to the work, sad after the health of the contractor and sjeeess to the undertaking had been duly Ase honor to, the party proceeded to carry catthanext portion of the ceremonies of ft« day. viz., the -» OPENING OF THB FABK BBIDGX. . Ga arriving at the bridge, the drag, con- - tshnng the Mayor, the Mayor-elect, and ~tb4s£embers 0 f the City Council, ,was :1 dme* on to the centre of the bridge. *„- . --. The Matob eaid tne objaret of their visit . t&srathat day was to open the bridge, tKrili weald facilitate the AOOeSS Of tbe - - mate to the noble and heantif nl Park they IWesßei. 'Ilus was the idea of the V -Oea&eU when proposing the present bridge, .and he sincerely hoped that this would be - the result of the construction of the bridge before them. Some remarks had been - aade at thefime of the proposal to build &Q bridge that the Council had no right ; to wend bo much money on it; that the , Bostain Beard would take possession of it, r ~ and a lot of other nonsense. The Domain - - Bard and the City Council, he took it, '--nere both public bodies trying to do the i seaJMihey could tor the public interest, and _>■ wsnwas no fear of any antagonism be- " t tveen them. The bridge would be of great . -advantage to the citizens of Chriatchurch, "> c -*» Nfording them more-- ready means of --IP** to the- Park, and;therefore, he felt - »c expenditure was one which the Council , the citizens were quite justified in They had had for some years, they aIT knew, a wooden structure' 4S' viach was far from beiru? safe at the time .i--. naen large numbers of persons wißhed to ">;.. -ester the Park on Buohoooasionsns demon- - -<■> -stations or sports. But now they, had rePbaed that with a bridge which wonld ~ *%tcrediton the city, and would last, - : *c aught almost say, for all tune. The - «*Stt was b-f ore them, and, as he had said, >:' *&feh that it would be a great boon to the ~ -eSsenr, as affording them increased facili- • nerfotthe use Of the Park. There was - net a city in New Zealand, he might say, «f vfould not be delighted to possess such •handsome and extaisive Park so close to '- *ew. and lie felt sure the people of Christ- ' Church would appreciate to the fnil.the •wantages which the bridge now enabled f«a to enjiy to a fuller extent than tefore. He had now to declare the bridge ; -v <pea, - t | --' the conclusion of his Worshio's ad- --' "wesg a more was once more made to the \ ,* vmr Council Chambers, where a number ;*- .5 fs&tlemcn had been invited by the \. «syorto IS ■». TH» X.IJNCHBON. :.- ---<.-" This was laid in Council Cnamber, S and Mr W.H. Messenger, the caterer, def« ssrvesthegreateet possible credit forthe 1 »"y splendid hwcheon provided, and the ansnrable manner in which it was served. .. About fifty gentlemen sat down. His Wor- -" «pp tiie Mayor presided, having on his • *Mit the Mayor-elect (Mr A. Ayers), Hon. v £■ J - Stevens, Messrs F. J. Garriek and ; •*•<». Bttddenklau, and on the left Hon. VMonel Brett. Messrs L. Harper (Chair- ~ ttaaof the Domain Boa d), B. J. S. HarJohn Ollivier, John Holmes, H. A. J*att,Ae. After ample justice had been *ac to the luncheon,

His Wobship ths Matob said as it was a business day and they were business men, it was not his intention to detain them long with toasts and speechmaking. There were, however, one or two toasts which he would ask them to assist him in doing honor to, and the first of these was the "'Health of Her Majesty the Queen." The toast was duly honored. Tne Matob said he would now ask them to do honor to tiie next toast he had to submit to them, which was success to the works they had that day opened, or assisted to commence, viz , "The Park Bridge arid the Corporation Tramway." As he had said before that morning, when speaking of the tramway, he did not think that the reasons which influenced the Council in advocating its construction had been put fully before the people. fHis Worship then reiterated the remarks reported above as to the reasons which had actuated the Council in bringing the proposal before the citizens, viz., the removal of the refuse of the city rapidly, and at small cost, and the enabling the citizens to reach the New Brighton beach quickly as well as cheaply.] As regarded the Park bridge, there had been some statement that it was unnecessary, but he felt very strongly that the erection of tiie bridge would afford, the public an opportunity of using the Park far more frequently than was now the case. ["Hear, near .J Oneofthe powerful reasons which had induced him previously to take an interest in the matter was, that shortly after taking office, the City Surveyor informed him that he would not be responsible for the safety of the then existing structure if anything like a crowd were to assemble on it, or essay to pass over. This being ao,he (the Mayor) was by nomeanswillingto accept the responsibility himself and the Council after consideration had agreed to provide the structure they had seen that day, which he took it was a credit to them. Now, there was one thing upon which he desired to ask them to accord to their fullest sympathy and support, and that was the very great necessity which existed for the erection of decent accommodation for the City Council and their officers. [Hear, hear.J It was no credit whatever to them as a city that those gentlemen who came forward voluntarily to give their time and talente to the service of the city, should be compelled to do their work in that old and 7 rotten building [Hear, hear], or that the citizens should be compelled to do business inconveniently, and the officials be murdered by want of proper accommodation, [dear, hear]. It was, he felt, no fault of the citizens that this was so. It rather rested with, the Councillors, who had never brought the matter forward, because he felt sura that the majority of the citizens, if not all, were in favor of a proper building being erected pn the present site, if the matter had been brought forward, [Cheers.] He was perfectly sore of this, that the citizens would moat strenuously oppose a large sum of money being spent for a Town Hall. [Hear, hear, and applause.] It would mean an extra rating of from 3d to 4d in the £ bo put up a building for a Town Hall, ;onsiatenc with the site on which it was sought to place it, and the class of the other buildings which would be erected clobb by. I hey would require to expend at tiie very least Borne £30.000 or £iO,COO on such a building, and what amount of revenue was it likely they would get on that expenditure ? They had seen the Tuam street Ball erected since the proposal to build the Fown Hall had been before the ratepayers, md the revenue received upon that expenliture would scarcely pay for cleaning it jut. Opinions had been expressed by some jorrespondente in the newspapers—who mew little or nothing of the matter—that she Town Hall site should be where mc Council offices should be built. If they attempted to put a Town Hall on that site, t would simply mean special rating; and ie felt certain of this, that the citizens iroald almost unanimously decline to be sted for an expenditure for ornamental rarposes. [Cheers]. He, therefore, was jipposed to tbe proposal for a Town Hall, during the last three years they had a serious depression existing, and though, no loubt, the citizens would allow them ;o have necessaries, they would by no heana be in favor of giving them luxuries -LHear, hear]—at any rate, for some time » come. Let him just give them the benefit >f the information he had obtained on ;he subject with reference to Dunedin. In Dunedin some £44,000 had been spent in nunicipal buildings. Ac., part of the design 'or a Town Hall, but they had not got a Eowri Hall yet, And though some ten years iad passed, notuing was now said about Ihe erection of a 'i'own Hall. Now, the Dunedin people had not received any return on the expenditure of that £24,000. Uhe endowments of Dunedin were producng, according to their own statement, some 813,000 per annum, not including license ieesj&o., whilst in Christehurch they had % revenue of some paltry hundreds per mnum. Yet, in the face of this, they did not hear a syllable as to the erection of a rbwn Hall in Dunedin. IHear, hear, and sheers ] Some years ago a smilar proposal was brought forward in the Council to that wlich he (the Mayor) had made relative to the erection of municipal offices, but nothing was done, and they had gone on ill these years in that miserable building instead of having emcee which would be a credit to the city. It had been said that ihe carrying out of this scheme for muni;ipal offices would shelve the question of ihe erection of a Town Hall for Borne years. Well, all he could say was, that if thia were jo the majority of the citizans would say that it was an exceedingly good thing. [Cheera.] Let those Present, jnd all the citizens, 'aid the City Council in -the effort they, were making to erect a commodious building for municipal offices, not at enormous coat, but sufficiently convenient for the discharge by the officials of their duties. It would be a shame to use the beautiful site in the Market place for a building such as they proposed now to erect, the more so when the present Eite was one in all respects so thoroughly suitable. The reason why he bad brought this matter forward in the Council was, that in his opinion the time bad arrived when the Council could pruientiy do the work. Formerly tiiey had a general rate of Is in the £, wi'hl id in the £ for.sanitary purposes, and lii in the £ Eor"a watering rate, making a total of Is 3d in the £ three years ago. Twelve months ago the watering rate was absorbed into the General rate, and that reduced to 10id in the £. fHear, hear.]. Owing to the loan-noB being used early in the year they would have, after paying the £1500 mtereat, to™on the £25,000 loan, about £1000 of a surplus on their general rate.. Thus, he thought, the Finance Committee were fully Stifled, under this state of things in recommending that they should go on with Khfl work. fCheers.] Be himself had &ed Lt thecWuaTonthat as they could see tneic way financially ■■ to do thia work, they ought to proceed. TCJtweraJ to to the BtAtement »ade about tiie arising from thA leittiM Of tflß Market place reserves being- 6 ?.^ 0 this purpose, he would point out that the entewerato be available for the improvement of the City Conned reserves. The Bite they were now on was one of tne reserves of the Council, and it would certainly be improved by the, erection OT a roodlbuildingon it. fCheers.] Aa to the [mount likely to be raised by means of these rent, hemightsny that it the reserves weielet at half the rental paid for other bnsinesss Bites there would ba enough. rCheers.J For himself he saw no difficulty whatever in the Finance Committee obtaining an advance, and paying eff the principal and interest at say the rate of £1000 per annum from this source, rcneersj if here was no need at all to go the ratepayers every time they wanted to do a little public work like tins. If they were to carry out a poßcy like this of going to the trouble and expense of consulting the ratepayers upon every little point they would not get men of any experiencs or position to go into the Council. Heapolo£Ued for having had somewhat lengthily into matters, but it was very necessary, as they had ™*£™yioMiybeen explained very clearly. He now asked £h!m to drink tucceas to tie works they had that day inaugurated. [Cheersj. The toast was duly honored. The Matob said there was yet one toast which he would a* them to do honor to, ffittat was "The City CoWs of the mat present, and future.' Ihts Mr feanTaTone of their oldest citizens, wfandly consented ** propose, and it cmpled name of Mr JoSb Olltvier.the second of tte Board which preceded the City Council, ESdframer of the Municipal^Corporations £SS to pi»I»».. ™. ,12" .P"* wtwJfc at a time whenthe grass growing" lad done much

i to smooth the way of those coming after , them, and tiie result had been that, mainly l owing to the way in which their municipal i pioneers had done their work, they had i been able to place their city in the position : of one of the healthiest in the colony. > [Cheere.l All the work in connection with the city had been done, as everything in connection with Canterbury was done, i with the determination to do the best they ■ could for the general interest. In this i work no one had done more than thegen- ■ tleman he was going to call his old friend, i only that with the obstinacy which charao- : tensed him, though be was getting grey, he resolutely declined to get old. He referred ;' to his friend Mr Ollivier. I Cheers. I For . the present members of the Council he had nothing but praise, and wherever work t wanted to be done there they always could rely upon finding Councillor Vincent. [Cheers.] As to the future, he trusted that when the Mayor-elect came to occupy the chair, which had been so worthily filled by the Chairman, he would profit by the example afforded. If he, like the present Mayor, had schemes—whether of water supply or building—it would be weU to remember that if their carrying out meant an increase in the taxation of 3d or 41 in the £, the citizens would mot be inclined to sanction or be satisfied with them. ["Hear,hear and cheers.] There was this, however, aa to the Mayor-elect—that he came to the office with a great deal of experience in municipal matters. Before concluding his remarks, he wished, as a rr ember of the Domain Board, to express on behalf of his Colleagues and himself the satisfaction with which they viewed the erection of a suitable bridge connecting the city with the Park, and enabling the citizens to take full advantage of the latter. For this to a large" extent they were indebted to the advantages which had been conferred uoon them by the opening of that bridge. rCheers.J The toast was duly honored. Mr Oluvisb said, as the representative of the past municipal old identities of Canterbury, he would thank them. He had followed Mr John Hall as the Chairman of the City Council, after a great deal of work had been done for him by his predecessor, and he (Mr OUivier) had held office for two years because he was surrounded, as his Worship now was/by citizens who had but one end in view, that of the advancement Of the city. During those two year* some great municipal works were pr< jected and carried out, notably the supply of that inestimable boon, the artesian water supply. fCheers.] In the old times bread and cheese and- ale was the simple Mayoral f easts to which they were bidden; but, as a murk of the progress made, now they were surrounded by all the luxuries of the season, and he noped the incoming Mayor would follow the example so worthily set by the retiring one. He fully agreed with the remarks of the Mayor as to the imperative necessity which existed for erecting new municipal offices. fCheers.] _ Mr Vincent also responded. The Council was composed of men who worked to the best of their ability for theintereat of the citizens. He desired whilst he was : speaking to pay a tribute of praise to their present Mayor for the zeal and interest he had always displayed in connection with the work of the city. [Hear, hear.] The Council wanted a man at its head who would display that zeal and energy which ' the Major had always exftibited. He (Mr . Vincent) had been in the Council for many ■ years, but he had not seen work done so , well aa during the past two years. The ; way in which the Mayor had persisted < till the Market heserves Bill was carried, < a measure frem which the city would re- ' ceive great, benefit was worthy of all praise. ; There were still some necesiary improvements to make, which he should like to see carried out. They were" endeavoring," for one thing, to get a better supply of water ( at a moderate expenditure, and he entirely , dissented from the opinion that the , work was :an extravagant expenditure . of money. [Hear, hear.] He had ( no doubt that eventually they would . be successful, and be able to water the : streets more —a work which would be of great benefit to the city. His opinion was that any work which would extend, their wat r supply was a very important one. The Mayob-Elbct (Mr Ayers) said that : he. was there that day as the oldest Councillor, and he at leest as such ought to have . experience in the work before him. He j felt sure tb.it when placed in the high and honorable position of Mayor of. the city he would be able to work harmoniously and ■ effectively with the gentlemen he saw : around him, as he had done before. He ■ had advocated, what he was glid to see , now in force, viz., the carrying out of, the Bjßtem of paving for permanent works out , of borrowed money. Previously they had had to put their hands in their pockets to pay for them—a course which crippled their advance seriously, but which he was glad to j say had now ended. THear hear.] Hewou'd do all he could to advance their interests and so discharge bis duties as to enable them ■ at the close of his year of office to say that . at least he had done his best. [Cheers.] . He wanted to see—with the assistance of .' the gentlemen with whom he had been " associated in the past and worked co well— the Council progress and not retrograde, , and that the year they were now entering ' upon should be one of progress and ad- ' vancement- [Cheers.] Mr OtuviKß proposed "The Health of . his Worship the Mayor," remarking upon ; the absurdity of the proposal to expend ; Borne £30.000 or £40,000 en a Town Hall. They had a beautiful site in the one they were now oh, which was as it were stored to municipal institutions, and for-£SOOO or • £6000 could erect a very handsome and commodious building. I£ there were a ' person who was opposed to this beir>g done he could only say he must be one ci very limited intelligence- ICneers. I Let them look abroad. In Sydney they had spent thousands of pounds, and yet the building I was not finished, and probably would not be for a quarter of a century. Far better take the experience of Hobart, where they had erected a commodious building at a ; very small cost, which was Btill worthy ofthe city. Let Chriatchurch -_, follow this good example by putting. :on this site handsome municipal chambers, which would be a credit to the city, and he hoped his Worship the Mayor who was now incoming would inaugurate his year of office by at any rate laying the foundation stone of the new buildings, [••heers.] to Jbia Worship the present Mayor, the citizens of Christehurch owed a deep debt of watituds ; to. s Mr.Hulbert for the truly noble manner in which he had discharged the duties devolving upon him as Mayor of Chrißtchurch during his two years of office. [Cheers j He trusted, as he felt sure would be the case, # that the many services rendered to the city by Mr Hulbert would never be forgotten by the citizens of Chriatchurch. [Cheers.] He said this, that the Council ought to be proud of the gentleman who hadtoeen their chief for the past two year 3. l o **^.. The toast was drunk amid cheers for the Mayor and Mre Hulbert. ~ His Worship the Matob said that any success he had achieved during his two terms of office was due mainly to the generous support he had received from the citizens, and the able ajaistance rendered to him by the,naembers of tue_ Council and tiie city officers. The members of the Council were business men, _and went about their work in a business-like manner. They had no Monday night Councillors who came on Monday nights, and asked all kinds of questions, not having taken any share of the work on committees. These gentlemen were a great trouble to the reporters not to record what they said, but to see what to leive out. They came down on the Monday night and nVadeall sorts of trouble, and not having made themselves acquainted with the work which their follow Councillors had done during the fortnight in Committee, moved motionsand amendments which were never carried. This waa whas was called I MondaTnight Councillor, butithey had «on« of fcheee Mr Ollivier bad been good entwh in very flattering terms of h?m?but really so far from the• cUasens he owed them a debt of gratitude for the kindness and consideration which had always been shown to him. [Cheere.J. He ala?Sestred to say that after the.experwnee 'to the ortyhndUu. beetofficer* that could possibly bei got. rCneeSjnke had held different views some time ago, but he was not aslamed to say that hehad altered them, and that he had received most ungrudgingly tne warmest and most zealous support or tne officers of the Council whenever called upon by him, and he derared Publicly to thank them, and also those present for the way in which they had drunk his health. [Cheers.] "" " . . . The proceedings then terminated.