MASTERTON—PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8993, 30 November 1907, Page 7

MASTERTON—PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

-AN INTERESTING KEVIEW

In returning thanks at the public meeting in the Town Hall, on Thurs ■ -day evening, for the presentation he -had received from the citizens, Mr R. Brown, Town Clerk, said he thought it a fitting occasion on which to refer to some extent to the progress of Masterton during the time he was in office, and matters of to-day with those of thilriy years ago. The borough, he said, had been formed some time previous to the month of July, 1877, and among those that had assisted him in the change were his brother, Mr J. Brown, and Mr Jas. -Russell. For the nine seats in the v -first borough council there were 18 candidates, and the highest voting for any one candidate had been 152 votes, and the lowest 18 votes. Mr R. G. Williams was the first Mayor, and he held office until the close of the year 1878. The first council comprised the following:—Messrs D. McGregor, W. W. McCardle, E. Feist, H. Bannister, F. Gray, Walter Perry, Wylie arid D. j Donald. On September 11th, 1877, J he was appointed Town Clerk, and he was virtually relieved of his office •on September 11th, 1907, so that he had huld the position for just thirty years. When he commenced duty the office hours were from 10 a.m. to 12 a.m. on five days of the week,and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. His salary was then ±'loo per annum i but even in those early days, an engineer was appointed at a salary of £2OO, to be increased if he suited the council. Mr A. R. Bunny was the first borough solicitor, with a retaining fee of £lO 10s. The council first held its meetings at ■the hack of the old Town Hall in a building that was then known as the Literary Institute, but a removal was •soon made to Templs Chambers, built by the firm of Messrs R. and„.J. Brown. He mentioned his first efforts •to start a museum, and stated that the first contribution that he received towards the museum was a cuckoo •clock, presented by Mr A. P. Fielding. The clock was hung m the council chamber. The speaker referred humonrously to the part that it played in council meetings in warning members not to be too loquacious. He , also related several anecdotes anent the sayings and doings of early j Mayors and councillors, and the man* ner that they carried cn business at meetings. Ir, the history, of the borough, continued the speaker, it had been divided into wards on two occasions. On the first occasion the borough was j divided into four wards, when the late Mr A. W. Renall was Mayor. There were then three councillors to ■each ward, but the arrangement did j not last long. Later on, three wards were established, tut these were abolished some time before 1900, -when the Municipal Corporations Act came into force. The receipts from all sources during the first complete year of the borough had been £2,527, of which amount £952 was j received in rates. The expenditure ..during that year had been £1,300, jnainiy in roads and streets. Last year the borough was only about half the size that it was in the early .days, ' and the receipts had totalled, £43,857, of which £5,687 was re- i ceived in rates. It might be inter-! esting to know, continued Mr j Brown, that the first loan was I authorised on September 29th, 1877. | The amount of the loan was £B,OOO. It was tc have been used chiefly for street w "ogling, footpaths, etc. Though thiWfean was authorised it was never raised. Since then the borough had actually raised £64,791 in loans, £13,150 of the £25,000 loan authorised is still to come and £12,000 authorised to be expended on the gasworks is yet to be raised, so that the total indebtedness of the borough was £89,941. Add to this the overdraft which was approaching £7,000, it would be seen that the total amount owing by the borough was £96,741. This, said the speaker, showed that the best men possible should be selected for seats on the, council to manage the people's affairs, and he was afraid that it was not always the best men in the town that sat on the council. He would like to see in the council the best financial commercial and working men of the town and they . should thus get a good council. He would like to give the people warning that they were going to have a lot more rates to pay in the future. Money would have to be raised sooner or later to put the water supply and drainage uf the town on a better footing. It was, therefore, absolutely necessary v that only the best men should have the management of such vital matters as these.