Vacation and Occupation of Mayoral Seat.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3647, 15 May 1906, Page 2

Vacation and Occupation of Mayoral Seat.

Prior to vacating the Mayoral seat at last night's Council meeting, the late Mayor (B. G. Gower Esq.) made a few remarks re his term of office. When installed on the Bth of May, 1905, there was an overdraft on the General Account of £zs 19s aiM * at the present time the overdraft on the same account has increased to £l6O 73 gd, but it must be borne in mind that the Council had during that time to build a concrete culvert at a cost of £221 to,, replace the one carried away in the Avenus Road ; we also during the same time let a contract for building a concrete culvert in the Main street to replace the old bridge which had at last carried away; the amount of the contract is and out of that amount , we have already paid ,£132, which is included in the overdraft of 7s qd before mentioned, so that those two amounts, and or a total of may I think, be fairly termed extraordinary expenditure; and it really means that starting with an overdraft that to the extraordinary expen- ; diture of we paid out £3BB 19s gd, and deducting the amount of the present overdraft 7s 9d from that amount, shows that during the year we have saved on the ordinary expenditure no less a sum than ,£228 12s, a result which I think should prove to the ratepayers that the Borough’s affairs have been well managed in the year that has passed. In conclusion, he wished lo especially thank Mr Fraser for much support, and he thought Council could congratulate itself on having , the services of such an able clerk. Applause. Cr Baker then rose, strongly eulogising the good work done by the late Mayor, feeling sure all present Councillors were sorry Mr Gower could not see his way clear to serve another term. All the previous Council had worked hard to ensure his return as Mayor, and their efforts had not been in vain. Amongst others, he would be pleased to see Mr Gower again filling the Mayoral chair at some future date.

Then the presentation to the late Mayor, and Mr B. G. Gower vacated the chair, and with a shake of the hand welcomed back Mr G, A. Simpson (Mayor), at the same time saying he had kept the seat warm for him the past 12 months. He would have liked to have seen the finances in a better condition, which seemed unavoidable, and he trusted all Councillors would work amicably with the new Mayor. The new Mayor (G. A. Simpson, Esq.) thanked the retiring Mayor for his hearty welcome back to office, and said though the finance was low, he realised the unavoidable breakdown of culverts was responsible. However, he trusted that Councillors would work amicably together during the present term, and concluded by hoping burgesses would have no cause to regret'the confidence they had placed in him. Applause.