Centennial Meeting Of City Council

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29778, 22 March 1962, Page 15

Centennial Meeting Of City Council

Television cameras whirred and bright lights clicked on and off as the Mayor (Mr G. Manning) opened the City Council meeting in a flower and shrub-bedecked Chamber of Commerce council room last evening.

The unfamiliar surroundings for a council meeting were in use because the council was marking 100 years of local government in Christchurch; and it was on the site of what is now the Chamber of Commerce building that the first local council met on March 3, 1862.

The site had served many institutions in the young life of the city, Mr Manning said.

‘The first step taken by the representatives of the Canterbury Association to bring order out of a chaos was the allotment and sale of land to the settlers,” Mr Manning said. ‘The first of these important gatherings took place on February 17 and 18, 1851, at the Land Office, then but partially built on the bank of the Avon at Worcester street This place was used for all sorts of purposes, subsequently being in turn— Government buildings, Survey Office, Resident Magistrates’ Court, Supreme Court, library and municipal chambers. It is on record that the Freemasons held their first solemn conclave here in the days when Christchurch was but a village. The city council met here from the time of its formation until well into the eighties when the second city council chamber was built, the one in which we meet tonight But. of course, the original old building suffered many rearrangements and some enlarge ments during the period 1862 to 1887. The plan and design of this building was entrusted to Mr S. Hurst Seager, the contractors being Messrs England end Martin. ’The foundation stone was laid at the corner of the old site on March 16, 1886, by the Mayor (Mr Aaron Ayers), who remarked that it was high time that Christchurch had new municipal chambers, for he and the councillors felt positively ashamed at having such a miserable place as municipal offices. "The council’s new home was opened on March 24, 1887, and it held its first meeting there on April 4, 1887. "The present city council chambers were opened on September 1, 1924, by Mr J. A Flesher. The council met

there on September 8 of that year.” The Christchurch Municipal Council was set up in 1862. It was set up by an ordinance of the Canterbury Provincial Council. That council had been in existence for more than nine years and was spending over £lOO,OOO annually on its various concerns such as immigration, public works, police administration and education, Mr Manning continued. Right on its doorstep was the town of Christchurch with a population of over 3000 —a town in which many of the streets and footpaths were still unformed, a town, moreover. which had no system of sewage disposal, and no drainage; so that after a good downpour of rain the streets, to quote ‘The Press” “wore quite a Venetian aspect.” The town also lacked any system of refuse disposal. The Christchurch housewife at a loss to know what to do with the kitchen scraps, would dry them out on the kitchen stove and then burn them.

The first municipal council was elected on February 28, 1862. John Hall (later Sir John) topped the poll with 154 votes. Tree planting amounted to an ardour with him; and while chairman of the first council, he served on a planting committee of the council, along with Councillors Grosvenor Miles and George Gould.

‘To the work of that committee and of subsequent planting committees we owe the avenues of trees that adorn our city today,” the Mayor said. Other members of the council were John Anderson, the foundryman, and Edward Reece, the ironmonger, William Wilson, a nurseryman, Henry Alport, an auctioneer,

John Barrett, a hotelkeeper, and W. D. Barnard who, while serving on the first council, built a horse-reposi-tory in the town that would accommodate 90 horses. Debt to Forefathers

Mr Manning read the minutes of the first council meeting, and said: “When we look back at the conditions under which the first council was formed, the physical conditions of the area of the town at that time and realise that we are now living in the garden city of New Zealand, it shows the debt the present generation owes to past members of the council and to many far-sighted residents of the city. "It is also a challenge to us as present councillors and to the citizens to plan and visualise the city of the future. The growing or expanding population with the increased amenities needed healthy living in a community will tax our vision of the future and the capacities and qualities of our engineering and administrative staff. May we hand an even better city to those who follow us than that which we have now inherited.” A formal motion acknowledging the “vision, courage and determination” of those elected to. govern the city 100 years ago was moved by Cr. H. P. Smith, the deputy* Mayor. Agreeing to the promotion of all steps likely to make for improved government of the metropolitan area, the council decided to arrange as soon as possible a meeting between representatives of the council and contiguous local authorities and ad hoc bodies to consider what steps may be taken in friendly co-operation towards that end.