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Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1508, 2 August 1912, Page 5

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: -9 MUNICIPAL DELEGATES ENTERTAINED. The visiting delegates to the Municipal Conference, which concluded on Wednesday, wero (with their wives) the guests of the Wellington City Council at a luncheon. in the Concert Chamber, Town Hall yesterday. Tho Mayor of Wellington (Mr. 1). M'Laren) presided, and tho proceedings were of a most felicitous nature. The toast of the "New Zealand Municipal Association" was proposed by Mr. M'Laren, in a brief speech, happily expressed. Tho responses were by the Mayors of Chrislchurch (Mr.. 11. Holland), Duncdin (Mr. J. Wilson), Palmerston North (Mr._.T. A. Nash), Woolston (Mr. M'Gregor Wright), aitd Asliburloii (Mr. H. Davis), in felicitatory speeches appropriate to tho occasion. Mr. Holland, in the course of his remarks, said that the local bodies should hold firmly to the determination never to part with their rights and privileges, their tramways,|lighting, wafer, drainage, and power supply.' (Applause.) They should give no heed to the suggestions of other people that (hoy would profit by departing from that policy. Auckland people had repented bitterly that they had given tho tramways to a private company. As an illustration of successful municipal enterprise, he quoted (he Manchester Corporation, which had made a profit of .£35,000 last year in its gas business, and that from a cost to ths consumer of 2s. lOd. per 1000 cubic feet. _ This profit had been applied to the relief of the rates. Christchurch, with its projected power supply from tho Lake Coleridge hydroelectric scheme, ho]Hnl to profit largely by municipal enterprises in the future. Jlr. Nash hoped that the next conference would bo held at Palmerston. All roads, said he, led to Palmerston. Other toasts were: "Tho Association's Solicitor" (Mr. T. V. Martin), proposed by Mr. Holland (Chrislchurch); "The Wellington City Council," proposed by Councillor Michaels (Auckland), and responded to by Councillors E. Fletcher, A. I?. Atkinson, Mas. Trevor, P. Cohen, and tho Mayor; "The Officers of tlio Wellington Corporation," proposed by Mr. Wilsoni (Mayor of Dunedin), and responded to by Mr. '.I. Tl. Palmar (Town Clerk); and "Tho Ladies," proposed by Jlr. E. N. Liffiton (Wanganui).