LONG SERVICE RECOGNISED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16560, 8 June 1917, Page 6

LONG SERVICE RECOGNISED.

PRESENTATION TO MR. J. ROWE. Mr. John Rowe, who for the past 28 years has been connected with the Onehiinga Borough Council—for 17 years as a councillor and during the last 11 years as Mdyoj; —was last night presented with an illumi. nated address and a purse of sovereign.. Sir F. W. Lang, Speaker of the House of Representatives, presided over the gatherJ ing, which was held in the Foresters' Hall On the platform were Sir James Carroll, and members of local bodies of Auckland and district.

Sir Frederick Lang, in making the pre* sentation, said that Mr. Rowe during hiaj term as councillor had been associated with, tie introduction of a water scheme and of tje electric tramways. Among the works effected during his term as Mayor, was; the erection of the new reservoir and pumping plant, and the extension of the water l ' supply to outside bodies, which yielded the borough a profit of £2000 per annum... The fire station had been built and mod-' era appliances installed. A drainage}' scheme, costing £42,500, had been inaugurated,'and the Carnegie Library and Coronation Hall had been built. Tha harbour front had been improved by tha formation of the esplanade, and the endowment of Geddes Basin and 75 acres of foreshore had been secured. •' Sir Fred* erick said he had known Mr. Rowe during his whole terra as Mayor, and could endorse- the remarks made in the address. He had always found him to be unselfish, able, and persevering in the interests ofl the borough., In the coarse of. his reply, Mr. Eowa said he knew he did not always find fayour with everybody, but he had done hid duty honestly and fearlessly, and in what) he believed to be the best interests of the? community. The address is in book form, and records Mr. Howe's service to Onehunga aa Mayor and councillor, and egresses appreciation of his worth as a citizen and a public man. The. .front cover is of solid puriri, inlaid with New Zealand woods and fragments' from H.M.S. Orpheus, wrecked on the Manukau Bar in 1865, the s.s. Wairarapa,. H.M.S. Wolverine, and the Boyd, burned' by the Maoris in the North. The address itself is illuminated with 14th, 15th, and 16th century borders, and with lettering, of the..same periods, and is also set off i with views of the various municipal works J with which Mr. Rowe has been associated. j and of Onehunga in 1860 and IQI7. ( The proceedings we're opened with an .excellent musical and elocutionary pro* gramme.