A MUNICIPAL DINNER.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13098, 24 April 1908, Page 9

A MUNICIPAL DINNER.

-eXTEHTAININ-.-; THE .MAYO!?

P V The ~,,.-;„-> ,;•; the CVWaaV '"-""pity Co'ii-il ■•'' -1 th-- i-~s_:a.-:--._. ilVt •V- !\Vye~* V.r Ov, -." pavlinc- ■•'- '• '!:»»"■'• 1; " ul :n <••■' | . cincii CVuV-r !«.M m.dit. Cr. ii. ~g. Lou-;i'. an pi", sns.-l. a:.<! in. ,!.<• were ' with iV oxr option of Ur. F<>rr<*-i---r. -.\ !■<> .v.-.-t a:i t? olagy for aVem--. -V Lr. Jiyd-.-. irho is awr.y on leave ot ab.-.-i".--. The Chairman, in the ' 'toast Of "The M;,y-r." said .hat Mr p ß viing hr..l ach:ev<-.i a great *nc.-,-.s '. n.azMrato V t:.e city, and that sufceto was the great- r -~\ ::--n t l.ey ." considorrnl the som-what 'iA~-~-.~n,i-,i: ~ \: material which he had to w<*r._ with in # -tho shape of the Council. .Lan-iutcr.) '•*'•• There was to 1*? a c-jiu-t-i. ;-..r tbe ■' Mavoraltv of tho City this year, and ■ . hp.thcu_.lu he w:is exr.n— .pa- yict, :■ of all priWiUfflicii he said thai it the • Vavor were JRslwted. b- pr ■.*•*-id e!ic> ;. 1-er the deliberations ot the Coun;:. :•-:" «uW »*■ distir. g ui*h.d>y i-'-i consideration and bagaoity wmch had '■ -narked his tenure 01 ofhoe during tne !■' .past vear. H« *'_. i.uito s:n'« that I. ■* The councillors would ail be to I «rp Mr Pavling come- bac*K. (A;ipiaure.----i Mr Pavl'.ng.' in reply, mi id that d»r- -- ißg his termV.l offico he had only wiit-■■"-what he considered was the ujiiy ot a JJJy councillor as well as tho Mayor I-' Thev wen- all there to do tne Im-st ibev po'ihl for the progm*. of tne city. Of course, thev were always subjected !-''" to a great de;_l of abih* in trying to inmrove the condition of things in the I citv, and in lact only that morning a Lf'ter had appeared in one of the !■' papers saying in clfc-ct that tin- couni ' JilU were no good, and that they !" -miffht as well be placed in the dustbins. Ho however, that : -fthen buaineis men «av« t-lw.-ir time -- free to the citizens they were dc-scrv-ina of a little more credit than tlwy •yrt but a* thev were public men tlvey B«t P"t up with criticisms. He Wk«l upon the material with which jtabadtowork rs really good material, ro matter what anyone said outside. aotllW™ 3 P ro " J of t],e C^>llTial - !im ' oftholoval support accorded him in earning "o'.it the work accomplished during n» t°nn of offio °* Ho been very'fortunate in carrying pro- , posab which had been before the Council for many years before, but thoee proposals were .not carried without a great deal of energy and work, i" and anybody who took tine position of I Mayor would find that there was plenty of work for him to do if he - 4-onld do his duty. Tho amount m- : '-raited in tho different proposals i " adopted during his term of office was " something like'£2oo,ooo. that sum I ' including the high-pressure water I -supply, the niunicipa.l baths, tho sanitary works, and tho St. Aloans imi provements. He felt sure that tlie high- ! pressure water (scheme, when ooii:»jleted, i would bo the success which Mr Dobsoa, •the City Engineer, -claimed for rt. He hoped that the reticulation work would -bo put in hand as soon as possible, for he claimed that onoe tho ratepayers had sanctioned the raising of o loan for a certain work, it was the ' duty of the Council to carry that work - through with as much expedition as • - possible. If he was re-elected Mayor, lie would do all ho could to havo tho scheme completed as quickly as possible. Tlie municipal baths would be ' opened -»h irtly, and he believed those - h.iths would be the first in Australasia. _- Tlie sanitary workß -in Cathedral pquarc, now being constructed, were b-dly needed, a-nd'wihen finished would lie moat up to date. Tlie Council had Vbecn blamed on account of the condi- • tuin-iof tho city streets, but he would 1 p-fint- out that during tho''.post two or throe years the Councdl had "Seen in a most unfortunate position as repivds street maintenanoo. Tho new tram linos seriously disturbed the in reck, and thero was also the disturbancaeausTd by tihe laying of .-the ■ <{' linage mains. * Furthermore, the l-'ding of the Exhibition in Christ-f-nirch _i>ade it necessary to devoto a g-i-it deal of attention to tho 'street* , " le-ding to the Exhibition gronndb. But t'"»-.!> disturbing factors were now removed, and money, was now boinf snent freely to put tJie srtreeta in a* g.>'«l or hotter condition than we-o ever in before. If ]>eoplo wou-h only lrx>k around in other cities ant - • t"--n*» of New Zealmnd. tihey would hi f Msfied that the Christchncrch street! - w«r o equal to, if not bettor i_h_ui,iihor-< ebewhere. (Hoar, hear.) H< h'd been all <iwr Now . ZeaJajid anc to Australia, and he- was of opinior _ f'Tt thero was no town where flu h-trer-ts were more cleanly kept than in Cliristchnrdi. (Hear, "hoar.) The Council were prepared to pive tht "'people everything they warded if the people would vote the* money, but the t>vrnpil could not onrry out "the works

without iraney. He was gratified at l*"inx; able to prw'de over such a bcxlv ' of men as the Oiristohtirch Cit-v Coiindl. arid he would always retain feelings of th--* stronger!-, gratitude for the lava] Mjniw.n which councillors hud . stood bv tyra during his term of office. •Mr J: B. Fisher, »„>itv . c v->lieit«->r ) m proposing the to-isi. of" "The Oli-ri'f-ehnrch. City Council." referred to the eondition of the city streets in the fifties ..and sixties. nr.d the improve! wenfa eff«r-ted from that time onwards. He did not think anv mmi . had had better opportunities of "watching and forming just a_nd clrnr opinions on the work of tho Christchufch City Council than himself, ahd he had the highest nnr-reciatien of tho work the Council had done. He . had been travelling round the world j. during the past year, and he had had - the opporttrnitv of oomparing the work done by "tho Christchurch Citv - Council with that don© by the councils of much bigger cities, and the result of what he had seesi had been to confirm him in the opinion he had already formed, that tho work done by the Christchurch City Council was good work and well done. He was .--. bound to say that with very few excaptions, and theso only in very large cities indeed, would one find better streets thaji those of Christchurch. In Monte Video, a town with a pooulation of GCO.OOO. the streets in the older part of tho city wero not to Ih> compared with those in Christchurch. and the local streets were as good- if . not better, than those in Rio. with a '.population of 1,500,000. In EnglaJid, outside of London, the streets were 110 better than these in Christchurch. He also preferred the Christchurch streets to those of Paris. From the time of the first institution of municipal government in Cnristchurch this city had- been very fortunate in the • men who had given thoir time and to the affairs of the c-iry. The citizens always had nublic spirited business men who had sacrificed their -own affairs ard given time and hard work to the affairs of the citv. nnd he thought notwithstanding tlie adverse criticisms that appeared from time to ' time in the local newspapers, tho Christchurch citizens hnd a very hi_rh sunreciatinn of the valuable service*of the men who governed tho city. -_"d : lie thought that was proved by the Vet ■ taat then- 1 were so many men on thf- - Council who hnd served far so loutr. The Chris'church citizens, he thought. ".-•Were be_r:nniu.'x to understniid tJiat .- the time cf t!.t c .uncil.ors was oeou- • V'll net -■_-!.>• at the Council nicotines. -' kit ;it tl— c<">Tuitto<- meetings al~=>3 .'The C"ou:V1 deserved the v<~ry hi-jh-«t con fid -nee nrd the e rentes t grati---tnde : of the citizens, aiid he lxdieved v' that the citizens wore rot. as some think, blind to the fact that y\ their affniro ivr-ro beiti--- we!) adtninVUtered in iho Council Ch-H-.Vr.s.

tfV Cr. Cornier, who replied to tlie toast. ,'d end it v.-is gratifying t<*» .v'f.kr.ow tHot at least some of uie pubUtho approciatc-d their efforts. The

C'"'Uiu*i! conkl effeot many more city .4iipiy.'V-..-.r.i:-jUb if die money were avail- ..-.,•.-. but praftitwily the whole of what \.,..s «-xpeii(l«i cairn- from iho ratepay- <:--, I iu- Council, unJiki- other ir.ui:ici--1'.11U..-.-.. huviii-.,; n;> oiit.-ide income <le--1 iv..d from ro-ervca. i'ne Council, he I'onu-ndod, had done well wii-ii the itiDi :■';.- at it.. <iL.:jK>iai, ar.d the city •-.0u1.i cjuiixire t.ivourabiy with any other city ia the colonies. iu- lligh-prfs-.-ure Water Supply Committee, of which he was <-li_.iirinan, had 1 _.►-:. io-jt- one day in the pushing on. cf tin' work. Tho work now was well forward, and in the oouiv-e of two or three weeks a start, would be made with the excavation for the reser\<>\r.

f'r. OtVy. who rVo responded to the tvv:i.--_t. <aid thai the duty of eaoh cjiiiicilior wa.s t-o t.A" i-ii-y as -a wh-dc. He v.ai.s very plea.%e<l to say that thatwas the general feeiintr of the Coun-i-ii. for the member*-, forgot sm.iJl jyiro-chi-ii affairs and remembered that they vero by the oitizenf. to do their very Iw-st. for the city and to as.sist the .M.;iyor in every way t.hey could to enrrv out anv work for the l>oneiit of the city. Cr. Hall, in proposing the too.st of "Tlk-* Munici|K«l Staff," said that the cs.dstan<v» derived by junior members of the Council from the staff was beyond all pra.ise. 'I'-Ik- i--~.iV wa.s re<qif>nd«?d to 1/v Mr H. R. Smith 'Toivii Clerk) and Mr A. D. Dobson iCity Engineer). Oth r> r li<-HK-urf~d were "The Cit-v Solicitor." "The Chairman," and t.h--' "Pre^." Durinii the evening .«on.<_K w-ere eiven by .Mr A. Millar and Councillors Morri- nn-d Parsons. Mr A. .7. Merton acting as aooompanist.