BANQUET TO THE RETIRING MAYOR.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 771, 10 December 1886, Page 23

BANQUET TO THE RETIRING MAYOR.

At the Occidental Hotel onTuesday evening a banquet was tendered by the members of the City Council to Mr A. W. Brown, the retiring Mayor of the city. All the members of the City Council excepting Councillor Danks, who was detained by illness, were present. The chair was occupied by Councillor H. J. Williams, supported on his right by the Mayor, and on his left by the Town Clerk The vice-chair was filled by Councillor J. M. Richardson. The usual toasts of “The Queen” and “ The Governor ” having been honored, The Chairman proposed the toast ot the evening, “Our guest his Worship the Mayor.” In doipg so, Councillor Williams said the Council had met that night nos only to reciprocate the courtesy ,and honor with/which the Mayor had treated them, but also to bid farewell »,o a gentleman who had now terminated a career of five years to the city. Councillor Williatns eulogised the conduct of the Mayor in the Council, and isaid that that gentleman s work* gauged on the severe test of the work done in committees, was such as would make his loss a loss to the whole community. When twelve months ago his Worship was elected, it was suggested; that it was unwise to--place,--'so much responsibility on one so young. But he claimed that neither the prestige of the town nor the dignities of the office had suffered during Mr Brown’s term of 'office. Wellington was to be congratulated, as well as his Worship, on the circumstance that at the Municipal Jubilee at Sydney he had not merely acquitted .himself creditably where there was such an array of municipal dignitaries —he had shone resplendent. With reference to his Worship’s relations with the. Council, Councillor Williams said the differences, if any had existed, were on public and not on personal questions. He hoped that this would be an incident that would be remembered by his Worship as a pleasant memory. He hoped that it would not be long before Mr Brown would be with them in the Council again. (Hear, hear.) The toast was drunk with musical honors, and cheers were given for his Worship and. Mrs Brown. >.

His Worship, who was well received, expressed the pleasure and gratification he felt at the handsome treatment he had received from the Council. He did not know, he said, whether it was the poverty of our language, or his imperfect acquaintance with it, but he was not acquainted, with words in which to appropriately express his thanks. This, as far as he was aware, was the. first occasion on which such an honor had been paid to a Mayor by the Wellington City Council, and he, as the youngest who had had the honor of occupying the position, felt that to be one of the proudest moments of his life. He doubted whether he deserved all that Councillor Williams had said of him. He could only say he had done his be3t, and if he had succeeded in winning the esteem and respect of the City Council he had the” more reason to feel a proud and happy man. There was another element, however, to which prominence should be given, and that was the assistance he had had from the City Councillors. Each member of the Council, he said, had not only been actuated by the kindest feeling toward himself, but he had been encouraged by that kindly feeling to bring to bear all his ability to assist in carrying out the work of the Council. His Worship went on to point out that if members of the Council had their minds occupied 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 had, during his five or six years’ service in the Council seen instances of personal differences interfering with the business of the city, bub during the last year such scenes had been almost, if not altogether, absent. This pleasant state of things, he claimed, had been brought about by the fact that the members of the Council, with him, had been endeavoring to carry out the business ia a quiet and unobtrusive manner, and with a due regard to those courtesies which should be observed among gentlemen. And because he happened to be the first. Mayor who had had such a compliment paid him, he was not vain and foolish enough to imagine for a moment that he had been the best Mayor the city had had —far from it ; but this he would 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 name reasoning it was only fair to assume that previous Mayors might not have been treated so royally on the eve of vacating the position, because they bad not such good and large-hearted councillors associated with them. He complimented the Council on. its staff, which, he said, had at no period been so efficient as at the present time. Having made these prefatory remarks he would take the opportunity of making a few general observations on some matters which came under his notice during his visit to Australia, beside giving them as faithfully asi he could an account of the Jubilee celebration proceedings. First, however, he had a word or two to say about Auckland, as he went that way. A few months ago, some of the Auckland councillors were <3 own here, and he made their acquaintance. When he went tc Auckland they showed him round in the kindest manner possible. There was generally supposed to be a kind of rivalry between Wellington and Auckland, but he was sure that the residents of the northern city would hardly accuse him of parading any of this feeling if he at once said “that there was no doubt their city is by far the finest. It was not only finer in the sense that the buildings were grander, bub it w as larger, the streets were wider, the harbor, though not superior to ours in point of utility, more picturesque, and it had such a number of large and thickly populated suburbs as to give the visitor a great idea of the whole city. He was shown their waterworks, which only consisted of a number of springs in a .valley a few mileg from the town, which were collected, and all the water had to be pumped to several reservoirs placed at the higher levels, so as to give the pressure. By this means they got about 80 to 1001 b, with which they seemed quite satisfied, and the quality of the water appeared to be good. They had lately erected a splendid building at a cost of £20,000, which they called a public library, but as it was much too large for present wants, they were going to utilise it as a town hall and Council offices. A great impetus was given to the erection of this building by Sir George Grey’s magnificent present of his library, and he thought Auckland was to be congratulated, not only upon the possession of the library, but also upon the very fine place in which to keep it. For some years they had had a public library, which seemed to be very largely used by the citizens, and he could not help thinking what a stigma it was on Wellington, that it, the capital, the Empire City of New Zealand, was so lamentably behind in this respect. The Corporation of Auckland also provided fresh and saltwater for baths for the people, which seemed to be just what we wanted in Wellington. They had a separate saltwater bath for ladies, so as to avoid the system in vogue in Wellington, which sets apart certain hours every day for our lady friends. He was very much struck with the freshwater bath, which seemed exactly the idea Councillor Richardson was aiming at when he moved in the matter some months ago. This was only just 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 be ant undertaking considerably less magnitude' than was thought when the matter was being considered. _ He thought that in most other municipal affairs there was not much difference between the two cities. He dwelt upon the kindness he had been shown in Auckland, remarking that such civilities between members of municipalities tended to induce good feeling. After a fine weather passage, he arrived at Sydney on the Sunday evening preceding the Tuesday on which the Jubilee celebration beganf" so that be bad a clear day on which to look round the city before being taken possession of by the good people of the place. He spent this day in walking about, and got lost three times ; but that did not disconcert him, because there were so many cabs about that it was an easy matter to haibone, and, putting on’ all the air of a man who thoroughly knows his way about, order the cabby to drive to such and such a place. The cabmen were civil and obliging, but, like the fraternity everywhere, preferred to get two shillings when it should only be one, and so on. They were all hansoms in Sydney, 1200 in number, and Is was the minimum fare; but he was pleased to be able to say that in no place had he seenn better class than in Wellington. Indeed, the splendid landau carriages wehad were not equalled anywhere he had been. On the next day the Jubilee proceedings were opened by a grand reception, when the Mayor and Mayoress of Sydney formally received the visitors. The Mayor of _ Melbourne was the first, looking gorgeous in his black silk cloak, trimmed with fur and lined with mauve satin, and a magnificent doable gold chain round his neck, cocked hat, kneebreeches, patent leather buckle shoes, and silk stockings. He was followed by his Aldermen and Councillors, who were dressed similarly, except that instead of cloak and gold ’chain they each had a braided coat, which appeared to be a few centuries o . He (the speaker) had no Councillors to introduce but as he was the Mayor of the capital city of New Zealand, which Colony ranks third in point of population and importance, and had travelled 1900 miles, a greater distance than anyone else, to be present, he felt none the less distinguished on that account. He might remark here that he saw Councillor Benzoni over there, and escoited him to the Town Hall, and took care that he had cards of invitation to all the events ;but he never turned up, neither could he learn anything satisfactory as to how long he was likely to remain in Sydney. But this was a digression. When all were received and seated, the Mayor of Sydney delivered his address of welcome, to which the Mayors of capital cities replied, and then there was considerable attention paid to refreshments. He found the representatives with their wives and daughters—especially daughters—very agreeable, and the fact that he had to deliver’ an address at the reception caused him to be very well known. Indeed everybody got into a habit of introducing themselves. There seemed a desire all round to assist in making the Mayor of Sydney’s task a pleasant one by being on the best possible terms with everybody. The Mayor of Adelaide was dressed similar to his brother of Melbourne, while the Mayors of Sydney and Brisbane had purple cloaks trimmed with ermiae. The Mayor of Hobart was the

greatest swell of the whole crowd—in white silk stockings, patent leather shoes with silver buckles, black satin vest (embroidered in colors), black silk cloak (handsomely trimmed), a gold chain, and cocked hat. Apparently for self-defence he had a silverhilted sword. These were the Mayors 6f capital cities ; so they .would observe that there was only the Mayor of Wellington who had no distinguishing mark. Of course he was aware that in the Queen’3 drawingroom

the moat conspicuous figure is the American Minister, who, among uniforms of the most gorgeous descriptions, stands out prominently in evening dress, but somehow he did not think of him just at

the moment, and he would like to suggest to the Council that the new Mayor should be provided with a proper official costume. There were many occasions when the Mayor should be seen in his official capacity and in becoming dress, apart altogether from Council meetings, at such as the opeuing of Parliament, when he receives a special invitation to be present in his official costume, and the Governor’s levees; and the Mayor of the Empire City should be enabled to do his duty in these matters in a becoming way, especially as the Town Hall Committee in their report the other evening spoke so nicely about sustaining the dignity of the city. . The next day (Wednesday) was set apart for an excursion round the farfamed. harbor of Sydney. This was inoeed lovely beyond description, and the trip tamed out a grand success. His Worship described the excursion at soma length, and went on to say that on the Thursday the garden party, which was to have been given by Lord and Lady Carrington, was made impossible by the rain which foil, so that a reception was held instead, the house being throwu open. Their host and hostess on this occasion were very kind, and did their best to make everybody happy and comfortable. He found them very much interested about New Zealand, and had to answer all sorts of questions concerning this fair Colony. Indeed, where* er he had been j there had been, among the more intellectual of the people, a great desire to know ali there was to be learnt about it, and they might bo sure his patriotism' stood, him in good stead whenever ho had an opportunity to put in_a word. Both Lord and Lady Carrington said V 0 they were charmed with colonial life, and, having heard so much about New Zealand, intended, if possible, to see it before going:, Home again.* Among a great many of the-# people, however especially among .; ladies—there existed a large amount /of . ignorance on the subject of our geography* ; Some of them knew that he had come frbm.- Sn New Zealand, and were also aware fact that he was a Mayor ; so they put the ; two things together,, and he at enco became “the Mayor of New Zealand,” and, as / such, was introduced ou several occasions/ - . He had to correct this notion ; and he did so, till one gentleman remarked “ Oh, well, if you are not Mayor of New Zea : ;C|| land, vou ought to be, you crack up that Colony ever after tha<t soiiie of tbern CiillGd Jilin, •• Mayor of Is e.wf* Zealand*On tb.B. next? day, Friday, 15th, they were due at Sir Patrick Jennings).;.; He met two prominent personages there,., who had visited Wellington some time b.efore, Cardinal Moran and Admiral Tryon. The baud from the Vernon, their training ship, consisting of about 20 boys, was present, and played some selections very nicely. The next- day, Saturday, was to be occupied by a trip to the Blue Mountains by way of the famous zig-zags. There were two of these, and the train goes up one and down the other on each trip. They were favored’with lovely weather most of the day, and saw the beauties so great advantage.” The scenery was, of its class, good, although the rugged forest scenery of New Zealand was not in any way approached indeed it was admitted by travellers that there is nothing in the world to beat the natural beauties we can show in this Colony. He was very much struck with the appearance of all the rivers. They run through clay, and of course are very dirty looking. Some Sydney people called his attention to the Nepean as they were crossing it, and expected him to say “What a fine river, and so on, but after he had described some of ours with the water as clear as crystal, of immense width, and navigable, they gave up showing him rivers. Two garden party days having been wet, the Mayor of Syi.ney issued cards for a garden party at his residence. On the following Monday morning the Mayors of the six capital cities were photographed. He was the only one without robes, &c. He did not know how they would look, . but he had ordered enough to give each Councillor one. The morning he attended the Conference, but did not take any part in it. There seemed to be an idea that something in the nature of a municipal federation should take place, and a broadly-worded non-committal resolution was pissed, after which the Conference adjourned. He took the opportunity, in. proposing the Mayor’s health, to say that he had abstained from airing his eloquence because, after having been surfeited for the past week with pleasure of various kinds it did not appear to him that the representatives were in the mood to tackle anything in the nature of business, and, further, tnat while he recognised that a great deal of good might result from the formation of a municipal union, he did not think that New Zealand could be expected to join, seeing that the distance was so great, and conditions so different to the other parts of Australasia. In the evening the whole proceedings were brought to a close by a very enjoyable ball, at which the Mayor of Melbourne, on behalf of the visitors who had subscribed the cost,

presented Miss Young, the Mayoress, with a very handsome diamond bracelet and star for her hair. He might remark here that the Mayor himself was a widower, and his daughter, a charming young lady of about 20 or 21, did the honors in an admirable manner. She had done so much to add to the enjoyment of them all that they felt the very least they could do would be to give her some little thing as a memento of the great occasion. And so ended the great jubilee gathering, while with one accord the united voices of the exhilarated guests placed the Mayor of Sydney, Mr John Y r oung, on a pinnacle of civic fame, to which, in years to come, the fascinated memory of those whose happy lot it was to participate in the jubilee celebration would turn and mentally mark as a memorable promon-

tory in the annals of Australasia. It \ might be asked what good had all this flone whether it had served any useful purpose ? He could not help thinking that as a display of loyalty, and a* giving another proof the (reality and substantial character of our colonies and theisr institutions, it must have done some good. Beside, nobody of any intellectual capacity could take part in such an affair without having his mind enlarged and his views on many questions expanded. In his opinion such a great gathering must in this way have its effect upon the future of some municipal institutions. Before he went away, Councillor McKenzie was good enough to hope that he would return with some new ideas. Well, if only this was accomplished, Councillor McKenzie would 'be pleased, and that would be some good. He thought, however, that he might claisr"Ur-have been the means of removing a number of'false impressions about the Colony. He could, keep them here all night, were he to attempt an account of the questions he had to answer, especially about earthquakes and volcanoes. Having attended this Jubilee celebration, had brought to his mind the fact that in 1890—just three' years off, New Zealand .would enter upon its Jubilee year, and he took the opportunity of expressing the hope that tho event will be celebrated in this the Empire' City in a manner worthy of so great and important an occasion. Indeed, he thought it would be a splendid idea to have the town hall finished, and invite a gathering of all the municipal representatives. If not from Australia, thev could have quite a large party from the other parts of our own Colony. His Worship described his trip to Melbourne, remarking passingly that the Governments of New South anu Victoria had placed a free railway pass at his disposal. He thought the inspection of customs officials at the border a great nuisauce, and he hoped tolive to see the custom house abolished as a relic of the barbarous ages. The New South Wales railway cars were lit with gas, which meant that there was an absence of that disagreeable oily smell which is noticeable on our lines after the lamps are lit. He did not wonder that their railways did not pay, for there were enough porters at the Sydney station to do away with the necessity for a standing army. ;:1 He had a week in Melbourne, and it rained every day, more or less. He had, however, a good look round among the public buildings, wherever he went being treated with £§tbe utmost courtesy, and shown everything ; df mote. He took the train one day for Ballarat, some of the representatives from ' that city having pressed him very much to If spend a few days with them, but it rained p worse, so he remained one day, and had a good drive rijund the city; and a very beautiful city it was. They spared no expense either in making it attractive, and he had it on good authority that they spend one'seventh of their total revenue on planting ; and beautifying. One of the principal things li/: which struck him was the great encouragev inent"given to education and culture, both of l and recreative character. "-'Both in Sydney and Melbourne there were libraries, art galleries, public gardens, and ' recreation grounds. In Sydney the art gallery was very fine—very much in advance ; of Melbourne. The reference and lending libraries were not kept in very imposing buildings, but he noticed that both wer verv largely patronised, and any person who got" a certificate of respectability from a Justice of the Peace or Alderman, or a member of the Legislative Assembly, was allowed to take books home, and if he might judge from what occurred iu the New South Wales Parliament while he was there, the standard of respectability was not a very high one, so persons have very little difficulty in getting books. This was all maintained at Government expense. The Melbourne public library was for reference only. They had a splendid building there, with library, art gallery, and museum all in one, and lit with the electric light. He was very much amused when he asked what New Zealand papers* they kept, to find only the New Zealand Herald and Lytteltou Times. These were, of courae, representative papers, and have a right to be there, but the only others are the Dunstan Times and Grey River Argus—no Wellington or Dunedin papers at all. Another injustice to these two cities. Wellington, of course, puts up with it in a Christian-like manner, but he wondered at Dunedin allowing herself to be slighted in that way. Both Sydney and Melbourne paid great attention to the planting and beautifying of their cities, the gardens in each place being lovely beyond description, and on fino afternoons frequented by thousands of people. Enjoying the fresh air in such a place must be a great of health and happiness to the people. With regard to buildings, Sydney certainly ex. celled in warehouses, shops, and offices ; whale for educational institutions and churches Melbourne took the palm ; _ but they were not bound to make any deductions, although he had said that Sydney excelled for business places and Melbourne for religious edifices. The Sydney shops were open very late at night, and a good many on Sunday, but in Melbourne early closing was the rage, and on Saturday afternoon a great many closed. Just a few words about Town Halls. The one in Sydney he admired very much, and anybody looking at a picture of it would say “ what a fine place,” but it was not half biult yet. The room which was used and looked upon as the public hall, was really only the vestibule to what would eventually be one of the finest Town Halls in the world. The contract for an addition had jußt been let, the price being £151,009, and they intended to have an organ in it to cost £17,000. They proposed altogether to spend another £300,000 on the building, so it might easily be imagined that the result would be something verv grand. They were anxious to get it completed by 1888, which would be the Mew South Wales centenary. The Melbourne Town Hall was a very fine edifice, and had an organ which cost £7500. This was played by Mr Lee, the city organist, on Thursday afternoons and Saturday evenings. He had the pleasure of listening to one of these recitals (to which an admission of fid was charged) one Saturday evening. The hall was occupied on Sunday morning and evenin<* by that celebrated preacher, the Rev Charles Strong. It happened to be Hospital Sunday while he was there, and by request of the Mayor this gentleman held, forth. The hall wa3 quite full to overflowing, the

amount of collection being nearly £3OO. / Every suburb round Melbourne had a town hall, and manv of them would be a credit to Wellington. 'Quite a decent revenue was made out of them —indeed, it was such an institution in some places that the mere fact of something going to take place in the town hall ensured an audience. He had already said that Auckland was now provided with a Town Hall, and so was Dunedin, and he hoped" the time was not very far distant when the Empire City would be able to possess a similar luxury. He was glad to see that Councillor Cootnbe had broached the subject; and he hoped, now that most of their financial difficulties had been overcome, a step onwnrd in this direction would be taken. He knew that while they had a heavy debt, and some streets unmade and others in a bad condition, some people would object to an expenditure of that sort ; but if they waited till our streets were perfect and the debt extinguished, they would never have a Town Hall. Depend upon it Wellington was going to be a great city, and unless the Council was prepared to discount the future to some extent, it might be charged with really standing in the way of progress. They should also, in building a Town Hall, not forget to make provision for a public library, and, if possible, an art gallery. These were both matters which reauired to be given some encouragement and"some stimulus to, and he thought the Council should lead public thought on such questions. Some months ago, when they were having a little improvement made in the offices, he thought that the nucleus of an art gallery might be formed if some of their old settlers, who are now fast passing away, could be induced to give some of the pictures and other things which many of them have in their possession, and which in a number of oases were of considerable historic value. With this idea he wrote to some of them, but did not receive encouragement iu any quarter except from their old friend Mr John Plimmer. Had he been continumg as Mayor, he should have followed up the matter, for he considered it a very important one. As it was, however, it would be banded over as a sacred legacy to his successor. He might add that, with reference to a public library. Sir George Grey called on him last session to talk over the piatter, and was good enough to offer any assistance he could, if it could only be started. He (the Mayor) most sincerely hoped that something would be done soon in this connexion. He thought the conduct of a great many of those who had amassed vast wealth in Wellington wa3 nothing short of mean. They did nothing at all for such worthy objects as those. They had gentlemen in the city who could as easily give £IOOO as be could give one, but they stuck to their money, while objects of this kind might starve. He only wished he knew what could be done to shame them into doing something. He could not help thinking that if Mr or Sir Walter Buffer had given his £SOOO to some worthy object in the Colony he might have done a good deal more good. Suppose he had given it toward the Town Hall and Public Library, he (the Mayor) would have arranged the K.C.M.G. affair for him all the same. While in ( . Dunedin hec eaw Mr Hutchinson, who -premised to have hia (portrait taken and sent to lie bung in the Couheil Chamber with the rest of the ex-M&vors. That would complete them all. While in Melbourne he was shown over their Hospital byjMr Williams. The very courteous Secretary paid Wellington the compliment of saying that its Hospital was the nicest and best appointed one he' had seen. In Sydney the tramways'were the property of the Government, and that probably accounted for their dirty condition. They used steam motors, and great ugly things they were. The effect of steam trams in a narrow street was to drive all the other traffic out of it. Iu Melbourne, where the streets were wider a Company had . a monopoly of the tramway the same as in Wellington, and had a splendid system of cable trams, clean and noiseless, and easy to travel in. They were extending the system all over the city, and the travelling was very •cheap, threepenny fares taking you to any of the suburbs to which the line wss laid. As the whole system was not quite complete the same company owned a line of ’busses which drove everywhere about the suburbs for the same fare. The Sydney people were very proud of their wood-paving, several of the streets being entirely constructed of this, but he was not quite sure that it was the success they claimed in damp weather. The horses slipped down on it very often. It Melbourne they were trying it by paving Collinsstreet, but one of its most ardent Melbourne advocates told him he was not quite sure that it would prove a success ; from time to time it had been spoken of as a thing worth trying here in Wellington, but he was very much afraid the severe frosts would make it very slippery, and lead to accidents. However, he would suggest a trial of it on the lower part of Willis-street, and see how it worked. It was a great preventive of dust, but on some of our graded streets he was certain it would never do. While he was speaking about dust he might mention that in no town where he had been was the dust so effectually laid as in Wellington. Neither the Sydney nor Melbourne water service was as good as Wainui-o-mata. He was pleased to have the testimony of the captains of the steamers he travelled in to the effect that the harbor facilities in our port were first-class; in fact, one said Wellington had the best of all the harbors he visited. He was amazed at the large number of small municipalities round Sydney, and in speaking abdut it to the Mayor, that gentleman said that there were 34, each of which could easily be joined to the city. If they were to do that it would make Sydney a magnificent city, and be the means of saving a vast amount of money, because every small place has its Mayor, Council, and staff of officers. The Mayor of Sydney, who was a man of large ideas, had a notion of moving in this direction, and it would from many points of view be a good thing. He was very much shocked at the bad system of giving employment in Sydney. The Mayor appeared to have the privilege of employing what men he chooses, and any man who wanted work, if he could only ■ get a letter from an alderman to the Mayor, was certain of being taken on. When it was borne in mind that nearly all the work was done by day labor it would be apparent that i a very large amount was thus being lost to

the city through the bad system which pre* vailed. At the present moment there were some contractors charged with conspiring to rob the Corporation of a large sum of money, and he did not wonder at it, for when the Mayor and aldermen set so bad an example by their carelessness and neglect of the city’s interests, it seemed to him the natural consequence that officials became more careless, and neglectful, too, and thus a swindle was perpetrated. His Worship pointed out that in Wellington a much better system prevailed viz., the appointment of a responsible engineer. One could not go about Sydney streets without being met very often by evidence of its age. You would see the pulling down of a stone building in one place, and before yon got to the next corner probably you were waylaid by a beggar who sought to relieve you of some cash by reciting his tale of woe, or a little further on there was a blind man with a printed ticket calling your attention to his condition, beside . women and children selling fruit andmatches. All sorts of dodge 3 seemed to be practised for the purpose of eliciting the sympathy of the people who passed by. He noticed that ‘’cheap jacks ” ply their trade in the streets without being molested, even the policemen joining in the crowd with the utmost disregard of the manner in which the road is blocked. In Melbourne he saw a real live crossing-sweeper, a ragged little urchin, who kept the crossing very nice and clean. He noticed there was no postage on newspapers in New South Wales and Tasmania. This was certainly a step in advance of us, although in most things New Zealand was well to the front. In Melbourne, for instance, at a quarter-past 8 exactly he went into the Telegraph Office to send a message of six words to Ballarat, and was asked for 3s. As.he wasn’t the Bank of New Zealand, he inquired the reason for such a eharge, and was told that if he liked to wait a quarter of an hour, till half-past 8, it would be 6d. So he waited. He happened to mention this to a mercantile gentleman in Melbourne as an instance of how' much they were behind us, and he got on to him about the cable charges; so he (his Worship) departed from his usual rule, as the credit of our colony was at stake, and offered to bet him that Sir Julius Vogel would beat the Cable Company. But he wouldn’t take it up j he (the speaker) only wished he had. By the courtesy of the people connected with them, he was enabled to look over most of the public institutions of Melbourne. The Houses of Parliament were not yet finished, but were so far advanced a 3 to give a general idea of how magnificent they would be. The new Law Courts were a splendid pile of buildings. Me was very much interested in going through; the Melbourne mint, and saw the whole process of making sovereigns, from the melting of the gold to the turning out of the bright yellow treasures ready for use. In all the colonies of Australia, except Victoria, the members of the Council were called • Aldermen, but in Victoria there were both the ratepayers electing the Councillors and the Council electing one from each yyard to: be au Alderman. He then was the leader of all matters connected with* the ward, , and chairman of all committees of the ward, members. They said it worked very well. Turning to local matters his Worship remarked that he found he had attended no less than 340 meetings since he took the Mayoralty,‘.which were all attendant on the office.... If he could not-do a thing thoroughly he would leave it alone. He hoped that any other gentleman who took the office would look at the matter in that light also. After pointing out that he had been associated with 26 different members of the Council, he said since December, 1881, the overdraft had been reduced from £23,000 to £lsoo—practically no overdraft. The arrears of rates had been reduced from £SOOO or £6OOO to £550, and salaries and advice from £4290 to £3290. Then they were getting £6500 in rates more now than before. A £26,000 or £27,000 had been spent on drainage, which he believed wouid be of great use. The sanitary condition of the city was very much better than it was five years agoi Though the newspapers blamed them occasionally, he believed the Council had done very well. He urged that a drainage loan should be raised, and expressed the opinion that the ratepayers would willingly vote the money. He again referred to a town hall, and hoped it would soon be undertaken. He did nob believe the ratepayers would object to the money being borrowed for it, a 3 Councillor Coombs proposed. Regarding the Te Aro reclamation, Mr Brown claimed that of the thirteen who sat in the Council, he had done his thirteenth share ; and he was glad, he said, that it was during his term of office that the difficulties in the way of progress had been got over. He hoped everything would not be sacrificed to utility on the reclamation, but that provision would be made for beautifying the city, planting it with trees, &c. With respect to the agreement between the Harbor Board and City Council, he thonght if he had been in Wellington he should have been a bar to the agreement. However, that was all settled, and he hoped that now the work would be gone on with for the benefit of the city. Touching the recreation reserve, he believed the matter would be settled if the city gob control of the Botanic Cardens. He hoped that greater attention would be paid to making drives for the city. His Worship referred to a number of other matters. Inter alia, he said he believed the time would come very soon when cemeteries would have to be provided at both ends of the city. In conclusion, he expressed regret that he was leaving the Council. He had good reasons which° had already been made public. It was satisfactory to him to know that the finances of the city were in a very good condition, and that the Council was thoroughly conversant with their duties. The Council had an excellent staff also. It would be to him always a pleasant recollection that he had been in the Council for five years, during one of which he was Mayor. He uraed the Council to bear in mind that the future of a great nation was moulded, the prosperity of which would depend to a great extent on the present. He again thanked the Council and the city. His Worship, after speaking for two hours, resumed his seat amidst applause. Councillor Quick proposed “The officers of the Council,” highly eulogising the services of the Btaff.

I Mr Thomas Martin, Mr Loughrey, and Mr Page responded, Councillor Richardson proposed “ Ex- ] Councillors,” coupling it with the name of | ex-Councillors Wilson and Fitz Gerald. Mr Fitz Gerald and Mr A. Wilson responded. Councillor Petherick proposed, “ Prosperity to the city.” Councillors Smith, Young, and Coombe responded. The toast of “The Ladies” and “The Press" having been duly honored, the bauquet terminated shortly after 1 o’clock, all who were present having spent a most en oyable evening.