VALEDICTORY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1701, 21 April 1917, Page 2

VALEDICTORY.

At the conclusion of last night’s Council meeting the Mayor (Mr Alt'. Fraser) said that as it would be the last time.he would have the pleasure —and he could assure them it had been a pleasure—of presiding over the meetings of the Council, he wished to thank the Councillors for the very courteous maimer in which they had upheld the ruling of the chair and the amicable way in which they had worked with him during the past two years. They had not always seen eye to eye with him, but no doul.it differences of opinion were an advantage, as it stimulated a keener interest in the affairs of the borough. He knew he had many faults, and wished to thank them for the kindly way in which (hey had borne with him. Cr Henderson said he was sorry Mr Fraser was relinquishing ollice. as it had been a pleasure to sit under him. He hoped that on some future occasion he might see his way to again occupy the Mayoral chair.

Cr Thompson said he wished to personally thank the Mayor for his patience and kindness with him during his first term of ollice as a borough councillor, and could assure him it had been a pleasure to sit under him.

Cr Stevenson complimented Mr Fraser on Ihe manner in which he had conducted the meetings. Tie had kept them up to the standing orders, and as a consequence there had been no undue waste of time, (he business being transacted very promptly. Personally he was pleased to have had the honour of sifting with Mr Fraser as Mayor.

Cr McColl said he was sorry Mr Fraser was not continuing in ollice. Cr Freeman said that, thanks to the businesslike manner in which the Mayor had conducted the meetings, everything had gone along well, and he, with the others, was sorry he was no continuing. During his two years of ollice, Mr Fraser had not missed a single meeting. Cr Bryant endorsed the previous speakers’ remarks, and said that he was pleased to have been a councillor with Mr Kraser as Mayor. Cr Coley said that during Mr Fraser’s term of ollice the Council meetings had been conducted very well indeed. He could remember the time when the meetings were not; finished until midnight, but there had been none of this during .Mr Fraser’s term. Cr Simmons was pleased that Mr Fraser was Mayor during his first term as a councillor, as he had been a great help to new councillors. He hoped that the new Mayor would treat (hem as kindly as Mr Fraser had done. The Mayor said In 1 had to thank them all for their very kind remarks. To have all the Councillors speak in the strain they had done was indeed (he most: flattering testimony a Mayor could have. During his term of (diice he had endeavoured to keep as near the Standing Orders as possible, and had systematised the business as far as he could, and this had resulted in the meetings being tinished earlier. The kind expressions he had heard that night made the severing ofjiis connection with the Council still harder, and if at some future time he could do so, and the ratepayers desired it, he would again offer his services to the borough. In conclusion, Mr Fraser said he felt sure that in the newly-elected Mayor they had a, man who would discharge his duties faithfully and well.