PRESENTATION TO MR. E. G. KERR.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 844, 8 March 1877, Page 2

PRESENTATION TO MR. E. G. KERR.

At the close of the business of the Kaiapoi Borough Council on Tuesday, several of the Councillors being present as well as a few of the townspeople, a presentation of a silver tea and coffee service and salver was made to the ex-Mayor (Mr Kerr.) The Mayor (Mr Ellen) in making the presentation said —Gentlemen.lfeeltbatanhonor on this occasion has been conferred on me in being asked to present your late Mayor with a testimonial of our esteem and respect. ( iddreesing Mr Kerr) —You will understand, sir, that it is not in a monetary value point of view we wish you to look on this present, it is on account of your services and the leading position which you have taken, that this presentation is made in token of our appreciation of those services. Although the present is not a costly or expensive one, we hope you will not look on it in that light, but take it in the spirit with which it is given. I have known Mr Kerr personally for many years, indeed I may say since " We were boys together," and in the discharge of his public duties I must say he has acted without fear or favor. I have found, since I came into his shoes, the amount of work which devolves on the office of Mayor, and [ find he has done his work excellently well. Although he has retired into private life, I hope he will not long remain in seclusion, but will be forward again in this Council at no distant date. I need not add anything else. 1 have great pleasure, on the part of the subscribers, in handing him this souvenir ,f our reg&rd. (He here handed the articles to Mr Kerr.) Thty consisted of live pieces jf electro plate, purchased from Messrs Joates and Co, and on the salver was inscribed - " Presented to Mr E. Q. Kerr, by several of he inhabitants of Kaiapoi, in recognition of services i uring his five years MUyorality, March, 1877.'

Mr EG. Kerr said—Mr Mayor and Gentle, men : I have to thank you very much for your present. With respect to the intrinsic value of the articles, I do not attach ko much importance to that as to the knowledge that it has been presented as a mark of your goodwill. It is ten years since I first entered the Council as a councillor, and I was then only twenty-one years of age. I occupied the office of mayor during five years, aud on the last occasion was elected by the body of the ratepayers. Whatever I may have done during my terms of office to gain your goodwill, I am satisfied that on all occasions I endeavored to act impartially, and wa3 always, a« chairman of the Council, ; n favor of keeping order and allowing each councillor to express his opinions in a proper way. Gentlemen, I must again thank you and the subscribers to this testimonial for your handsome present, and, as in speaking of one's self it is difficult to avoid egotism, I mußt again say how very much I am obHged to all those persons. [Cheers.]