The Banquet to the Mayor.

Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 174, 8 December 1886, Page 2

The Banquet to the Mayor.

Tho Mayor (Mr". A. W. Brown) was en tortalnsd by tho City Council at a banquet in ' tho Occidental' Hotel last evening, on tho eve of his retirement from the position whjoh he has occupied witii so muoh bucocss I during tho past year. The chair was oooupiod by Councillor Williams, who was sup- , portea on his right by the gnest of the ovqn;fng and' ott his loft by Mr. T. F. Martin, , Town Clorlfc and City Solicitor, Coanoillor Rich' arcteoiv ftUtog tho vice-chair. Thtonlv member of- the Council absont was ComrciLlor Danksy 'Who 1 forwarded a note to tha" Chairman, statfntf that indisposition was > the only reason why bo was not presont. ¦ The ohieS onieera of tho Corporation (Messrs. Martin. Page, Loughroy, Amos, ' Chabplo, WiltshM*, and Jobason), ex-Coun- • (Sfflora FitzGorald und Wilson, and the • repfftentatives of iho pres» wore the only, other gotfihmen jwCßont. The viands woro of the choloOS* dbsoription, and tho dinnor would have donff ftrodit to- » firot-olas* London establishment. " The Queen " was pf4*c*etf by tbo Chairman, and "Th« GovernoY" by tho VioeOhalrman,- and both wero dBI/noOffWeu' ; Tho Chairman, in givinff "t'fl* Gnest, said 5 tho toast was one which 1 gave ploasuro ttr propose, and he \fem st*o ».W* »* would meet with a hearty roooption. They had met that oven?ng not only todo honour to a gentleman who baa eixtonaod ffto&t hospV , tafity and courtesy to thefts dtfring^ti&ternri of office as Mayor, but to ncknewledge the) services rendorod by the saflio gentlomani during the five years he had been bo intimately associated with the municipal govornment of Wellington. Tho retirement of the Mayor was a matter for deep regret, m the • Council would bo deprived of an experienced advisor, one who hnd for years taken a deotpMerest in municipal affairs. Sinoe hiselectkai as the representative of Cook Ward the Mayor had boon most attentive to thowants of tbitt part of the oity, and whilo ho bad represented titat ward he had shown his 1 qualification for the position which he had occupied fs>r tho past year. He (the speakor> was of opinion that tho Usofttlness of a Coun- , oillor might be Judged by tbo amount cf > work ho did on the different committees, 1 aiitt he thought he was correct in afffvraip? ' thai; his Worship, during bfa connection*- '. with : tihb C/Odncil, had attended! as many ' ' meetings atfoiiy councillor past or psosent. • 1 The' Mayor had 1 brought a deal of oxporfeaco, ¦ combiflM 1 with' aya v certain amount of ostatc ' business liUbUt, to' b«aV (ttt tho work of tboCobncil, and thoioss whioh' the latter woul(?" sustain by his retiftftßteßft vttraW be» loss to the whole commnnisy. Yfh»# Ms Worship was oleoted to his presori«tit»Kk*l2nKmthß ago some people expressed ttib OpMon that ft -Woe injudicious to placo such a ttupohsL ' bility oft th« shoulders of one so youhgr, ktHt 1 he (the speah**) thonght that those who mm* ' been of that mitid wtmld now admit that tho 1 ' guest of the evening Aad acquitted himself remarkably well during' Ito post year. Ho r thought that Wellington, *t well as tho ' Mttyot, Was to be congratulated on the 1 manner in which his Worship had ityoresented the oity af the Jubilee Festival in Sydbsjr recently. With rsferoneo to the rolationn i between tho Mayor and councillors he coulSl i truly say that thoy had been and still woro; of the most harmonious oharaotar. Doubt-.- ' loss there hod been opposition in tho past. . i He might claim to have been ono of thci strongest members in the opposition, but ho 1 thought that the Mayor would admit that, i the opposition was against principles involved, and not on account of personal' ! animus, and regard the present rounion as ¦ , afl evidence of their goodwill. He was sure '. all present would join with him in the hope i that at no distant date the Mayor would . aftftitf be a member of tho Council. Tho . i city could ill afford to lose tho services of such a gentleman-, »nd he was sure that his i Worship's refftm to the Council would beI Welcomed by all. Tfc» toast was drnnfc with musical honours. His Worship 1 roplied at considerable length. Ktt commenced by expressing his - pleasure and grSii&CfAicra at the handsomo treatment ho had revived fronj the Council, and then went on to" «ny that he was not acquainted with words til t»Moh'to appropriately express his thanks. ?bfe< <*» far as !b»,was aware, was the first GOVHaQh on 1 which such an honour hod been ps&» to a Mayor by tba Wellington City Council, *#d , he, as the yotinf e»t who had had the honou* of occupying the position, felt that to be "no ,of .the proudest moments of his life. He> doubted whether be deserved all that Ooun--cillor Williams hod said of him. He ceoWionly say he hod done bis best, and if he hfl"4 5 succeeded in winning the esteem and rospcot of the City Couflcil ae' had the more roasonj to feel a proud and happy meat. There was another dement, however;- to which prominenoo should be given, andJ tßufr mi tho assistance he had had from tbe City Councillors. Each member of the Connoily Ktfsaitf,, hod not only been actuated by the kindest feeling towards himself, but he had been en<couraged by that kindly feeling to bring by bear all his ability to assist in carrying outthe work of the Council. His Worship < went on to point out that if members of ' the Council had their minds ocoupied by personal differences the business of the city/ must suffer, and he pointed out that in the ¦¦ present Council, though there might have . been differences of opinion, there had: always been a feeling of good-fellowship between them. He hod, during his fivo or ¦ six years' service in the Council, soon ' instances of personal differences interfering - with the business of tho city, but daring the last year such scenes had been almost . i if not altogether absent. This pleasant, stato of things, he claimed, had been brought about by the fact that the members of the Council, with him, had been endeavouring to carry out the busines* in a quiet and unobtrusire manner, and with a due regard to those courtesies which ¦ should be observed among gentlemen. And because he happened to be the 'irst Mayor - who had had such a complimen' paid him, . be was not vain and foolish enough to-, imagine for a moment that he had been the best Mayor the city hod had— fair from it ; but this he wonld claim, that there never was a Council which tried to work together better, and among whom a more cordial feeling had existed than this one. To carry out the same reasoning it was only fair to - assume that previous Mayors might not have been treated so royally on the eve of vacating tbe position, because they had not such good and large-hearted councillors associated with them. He complimented tho Council on its staff, which, he said, had at no period been so efficient as at the present time. The Mayor then gave a long and interesting account of his visit to Australia, and in the course of his remarks on this subject, he referred to his stay in Auckland while en route for Sydney. He considered that the water supply of Auckland was not eqnal to that of Wellington, but thonght the* tbe northern oity was ahead of us in having Vrfft© public baths and a free library. He tfbfr very much struck with tho freshwater batJi,, which seemed exactly the idea Councillor - Richardson was aiming at when he moved in the matter some months ago. This was only iufst finished, and seemed quite the idea . for Wellington. He thought that if they, were to ask for the plans they would be willingly lent, and he commended the idea . to the Councillors because it appeared to bo an undertaking of considerably less magnitude than was thonght when the matter was being considered. He thought that in most other municipal affairs there was not much much difference between the two cities. He dwelt upon the kindness he had been shown in Auckland, remarking that such civilities between members of municipalitiestendedtoindncegoodfeeling. During his stay in Sydney he found that among a great many peoole in that city — especially among the ladies— there existed a largo i amount of ignorance on the subject of our' geography. Some of them knew that ho hod come from New Zealand, and wero also aware of the fact that he -was a Mayor ; so they put the two things together, and he at once became " the Mayor of New Zealand," and, as such, was introduced on several occasions. He had to correct this notion ; and he did so, till one gentleman remarked, i "Oh, well, if you are not Mayor of New Zealand, you ought to bo, considering the way you crack up that colony of yours,'" ' and ever after that some of them called him ¦ tho "Mayor of New Zealand," The festival ' concluded, he and the Mayors of the capital cities TTerepUgWgraphed.butbediauotkaow

bow i'o would look, as ho was the only one who did not wear robes. However, Connsillors present would Boon havo an opportunity of judging, as he had ordered a copy 'or each. It mi?ht bo asked what good ha--jll this done — whether it had t orvedony übt Enl purpose ? Ho could not holp tblrking that is a display of loyalty, and as giving another proof of tho reality and substantial oharactor jf our colonies and their institutions, it must have done some good. Bofido, nobody of any intolleotual capacity conld take pare in such on affair withont having his mind onlarged and his views on many questions expanded. In his opinion such a groat j.ithoring must in this way havo iti effect ipon the futuro of some municipal institu.ions. Beforo he wont away, Councillor vt'Konzia was good enough to hope that he would rotnrn with some now ideas. IVoll, Jf only this w«3 accomplished Coun•'/lor M'Kenzie wonld bo nleaßod, and that would bo Rome pood. Ho thought, howovoti that he migbtolaim to havo been the means 01 romoving annmbor of falso impressions about tho colony. He wonld keep thorn all night wore ho to attempt aft account of the questions ho had to answer, especially about jarthquakpg and volcanoes. Having attended this Jubilee celebration, had brought to h'B mind tho fact that in 1890, just three VWtt* OH, Uow Zealand would enter upon its jubilee year, and he took tho opportunity of ixpresstng the hope that the event would bo jelebrated in this tho Empire City in a manner worthy pf so great and important ,m occasion, lhdeod, ho thought it would bo a splendid idoa to havo tho town hall linishod, and invite a gathering of all tho municipal representatives. If not from Australia, they could havo quito a largo party from tho other parts of our own uolony. His Worship described his visit to Victoria, and amongst other things mentioned that overy suburb of Melbourne l>odnenacd a town hall. Ho expressed a hope that tho day was not far distant when Wellington would also havo a town hall, mid ho suggested that in erecting such a building provision should bo made for a [>nblic library and an art gallery. Ho thought many of our wealthy citizens wqro rury moan in not coming forward to assist m tho establishment of an art gallery and a public library. His Worship said that in 10 placo he had visited was the dust so cffootually laid as in Wellington, and tho vater supplies of Sydney and Molbourno wore not so efficient as ours. The speakor rtso naid that ho was pleased to have tho testimony of tho captains of tho steamers ho .raveTka in that tho harbour facilities hero ivoro first-class, one gentleman going so far is to say tfurt tho arrangements here were jotter than at any othor port ho visited. Minding to local matters, his Worship renarked that ho had attended no less than HO meetings since ho tcok tho Mayoralty, which were all attendant on the office. After pointing out that ho had been associated with 26 differont membors of tho Council, ho laid eineo Dcoombor, 1881, tho overdraft lad been roducod from .£28,0C0 to .£lsoo— )raeUcally no overdraft. Tho arrears of ¦atos had beonroduood from .65000 or £6000 to £550, and salaries and advice fro- - £4290 to £3290. Then they were get' ,'£ £6500 in rates more now than l^* tt^f £26,000 or £27fidO had been • / ™"J >n drainago, which ho bohoved v *i « B C"f i? aKnf V •«** «>»* bo undertake^ L'ifta Jhr «*»*» lhß ratepayers would D o 3 rw* * T»oßby boing borrowed for it, inn ?v ttot Cootnbo proposed. BogardV, j« Te Aro reclamation, Mr. Brown 5i >dWd that of tho thirteen who sat in tho xranoil, ho had dono his thirteenth share ; and ho was glad, he said, that it was during his term of OfHdo that tho difficulties in tho Way of progress had boon got over. He hoped everything would not be sacrificed to utility on tho reclamation, but that provision Would bo made for beautifying tho city, planting it with trees, Ac. With respect to the agreement betwoon tho Harbour Board and City ¦Council, he thought if ho had boon in Wellington he should have been a, bar to tho ugroement. Howevor, that was all settled, And he hoped that now tho work would be ffono on with for the benefit of tho city. ¦Touching the rooreation reserve, ho believod tho matter wonld bo sottled if tho city got -control of tho Botanio Gardens. Ho hopod hat greater attention would bo paid to making drives for tho city. His Worship roforred to a number of other matt or s. Into alia, he said ho believed tho time wonld come very soon when comotories would have to ho provided at both ends of the oity. In conclusion, he expressed rogrot that he was leaving tho Council. "Tho Officers of the Counoil" was tho next toast. It was proposed by Councillor Qniok by a enlogistio speoqu, and was acknowledged by Messrs. Martin, Longhroy, and Page. The Vioe'Chairman gave the toast " ExCouncillors," and Messrs. W. FitzGerald and A. Wilson roplied. Councillor Fotheriok proposed "Prosperity to tho oity," Councillors Smith, Young, and Coombe responding. The remaining toasts wore— "Tho Ladies," given by Connoillor Brandon and aaknow* lodged by Councillor Edwards ; ''Tho Press," proposed by Councillor M'Kenzie and replied to by Mr. Wakoflold, M.H.K. ; and " Tho Chairman and Vice-Chairman," propoied by tho Mayor. Dcring the evening songs were contributed by Messrs. Pago, ioughrey, and Johnson, Mr. Loughrey supplying the pianoforte aocompanimonts. Auld Lang Syne." was sung soon after 1 a.m., and tho proceedings itotminatod.