NEW HALL AT MOSGIEL.

Evening Star, Issue 14933, 20 July 1912, Page 11

NEW HALL AT MOSGIEL.

The much-cursed old public hall at Mosgiel now lies a heap of ruins. Fire settled it. Within musket-shot of the debris, towards the railway station, now stands the capacious and comparatively princely Coronation Hall, which was yesterday formally taken over by the Mayor from the architect and dedicated to the service of the public. The proceedings were unusually simple. Mr E. W. Walden, the architect, handed the Mayor (Mr H. H. Inglis) the key of the hall, and said he thanked Mr Lindsay (the builder) and Mr Young (his foreman) for the way in which the work had been carried out. Mr Lindsay had had to contend with adverse weather conditions, but he had pushed the work on and made a first-class job of it all through. He (Mr Warden) had much pleasure in presenting Mr Inglis with a small key as a memento of the occasion. The Mayor said that on behalf of the Borough of Mosgiel it gave him much pleasure to take over the building from the architect, and it was satisfactory to have his assurance that the construction had been faithfully carried out. He had every confidence that Mr Walden's assurance was not lightly given, and that the test of use would prove the new building to be a credit to the builder and of great service to the borough. He would value the golden key presented to him, and keep it as a memento of a very interesting occasion in the history of Mosgiel. It would in the future remind him of the important work that was undertaken by the people of Mosgiel at his request, and carried out during his regime as Mayor. He much regretted that Mr E. H. Clark, member of Parliament for the district, was unable to be present. Mr Clark came from Wellington specially to attend the opening of the hall, but found his mother seriously ill, and that had detained him. In the past there had been much grumbling about the want of a suitable place in which to hold entertainments at Mosgiel, and at the need for better public offices. When standing for another term as Mayor he said that if elected he would bring the question up for discussion. That promise he redeemed. He brought the matter before the Borough Council ; the General Committee took up the project enthusiastically ; Mr S. Young helped materially by selling the site for £2OO, a less sum than be could have got if he had sold to others ; then the Government gave the Coronation grant of £250 ; after which they by legislation got authority to dispose of the old site and place the proceed to a district fund account ; and thus the way was cleared for the vote of the rate payers on the question of raising £3,000 by a loan ; and these steps led to obtain ing an estimate of the cost of a new building. He. was pleased to be able to announce that though the price of material had risen, that estimate of £3,250 would be exceeded by very little. Mr Walden's estimate was really not exceeded when one considered the rise in the value of material. That was a new experience for Mosgiel. They had generally had to pay much more than the estimate whenever anything was undertaken. He trusted that the new premises would prove serviceable. He had great hopes of seeing a club formed to make the best use of the reading room and library. Mr Edward Wilson had offered to give a clock to put on the back wall. The new hall was put up for two purposes—to supply the requirements of the public and to commemorate the Coronation of King George V., and he would ask the audience to rise and sing 'God Save the King.' This was responded to heartily. There were many town fathers with Mr Inglis, including members of the Borough Council and Mr Kennedy (town clerk), the Rev. J. Aitken, the Rev. Father Liston, Dr Allan, Mr James Gow (whose offer of a reservoir site was gratefully mentioned by the Mayor, and Mr S. Young (who gave £IOO to the new hall and sold the hall site cheaply. The Rev. A. W. Kinmont sent an apology. One of the platform men rose towards the finish—Mr W. R. F. Fraser, manager of the Bank of New Zealand branch—and on behalf of the townspeople congratulated the Mayor and Council and thanked them for their enterprise in supplying a public want. This concluded the ceremony, and the large crowd present proceeded to inspect the building in every detail. In the evening a concert was given, at which Mrs Wakefield Holmes and others sang. The fine electric light supplied by Turnbull and Jones gave every satisfaction.