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Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 116, 14 May 1903, Page 4

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- ;.C V :i i" ... V tOM iu iiu I.CCSKILL T•i : . i. io i■ he May. v dec 1 (M> I>. c- c.-) look p ace as the Coucr.i C-i-=. . 'lO s 'c:i-ck i.t. Wednesday d-.ol'. <». 'ilip.ie wre prrs-iit, the r«tiririi! \!-:yor (Mr E. Djckri l ]), '.he May.) -' iittjj'lr R. Cock), Coutciilois Brc.oks: £, liilltiofecr, Gobi*, Conceit, Tit,ih, iXwunds, Alexand r, Sanritb, and Vv'o, ; A 1 -vjj * uumbor of Citizens wcro also i ; Mr D c':ril', af:<r rcf*r.i*! ; * t.-> tie ti: it- us \vitH :• 1 1 at--.! y m-eticg, said tha: ~o minutei wou!J b.> oti«i ; he (Hsinsiis vf the m etiug was simply to i;:s;al tiio tew Mat or into office. Mi- J5.-iv-tbg tai'd an would like *o 6ay a few woids before Mr D*;biill vacated ihe ohiir. Tfce naembsrs of tfce old CouLci 1 , whose term of office bad expired, wished, b_-fore parting, to tender Blr Dockrill a slight maik of thtii- sppm-iation of Lis co: duct during his p;e.-ii'e cy of the Council. Thsy dfsited Lira to accept nn illuminated addns 1 . I i . c pi r e of any differences they hd vh y r cognised that ho had ever striven to do hi,? duty. They thanked hi .a for the c:.ut;ey and im- , parthli'y ha ir.d ulw.sys show;'. The years of his oacupamy of the al ch? ir hf.d been years of s ranuous ecdßivouM for the betterment of tha bvrougl', and mest important years in the his'ory of th 3 to*D. Schemss had been formulated, work? put in hind, and loats raided, all of wbich bad had an important bearing on the fa'ure of _the borough. The M ivor and Councillors had mtundly bacn subj«ct to criticism. St me coaiphin- d that they went too fas'- ;'«nd t.' e --.ibe's fh«it thiy went tco slow. 'But he thought the works tisoy hid carried cu"; and put in hand would prove, as the y- ars went cn, tho and forethought cf the Cojiicd in i!s sct onss. No one ctuld h?.Vi> preside! at tha Council table with • mere' Biugl«no:3 of purpose than Mr - Dcckrill had, bu" >ln tiaia bud cotne when a ch'.nga was brought shout aud anothtrr wo j'd take his p!>ce. It was the wry of the world. Jtl» hoped that thote aho came af'er would guard the i interests of N-w Plymouth as za ilcusly a 1; bid She retiri g Mayor ».nd Ccunciilors. II) could n:.fc dose f.-ichjut refe'r;og b:i fl , to the debt they o ved toEOui' w'-o had faithfully on the Council, lab wlw w- u!d tever Rib th ro i g in. I i conclusion, Mr Br.ok in-; i". ad the text cf the ndJr g.«, as published iii cur yts'-crd i) 's iss:;o. He hopsd bo'h Mr p.i-d Mrs Dccsrill wou d lor.g bo tpa'eJ, and cniiuue to assisi, in tiio progress of thu borougb. Mr D.ckriU B id tfce pt-senta*iin was a great surprise to fern. He was no' cxpa;ting such a handsome recognition of the few servicss ho and Mts Djckiill hid rendered. I- would bs treasured a? a precious htir'oom, and wou'd ba handed down to bi3 children. ' He was sofry he cculd not express himself a3 ha wished, but would like to refer briefly to the p«t. During tba long term of years he had sat in tha Coutci', 11 years as a Couccillor, and five and a halt years as Mayor, t'ae dealings between tha members of the Cjuncil and himself had been very happy. Thero had been difference of . opinions, but he waß happy to eay that he was abla to leave them in that rjoro, and not take them outside. (Applause). After his election as Mayor it had always been his endeavour tokeep the borough in the forefront, and he thought this had been done very effectively. Daring the South African war they had started a war fund, and ■with Mersrs McDiarmid, Berry, Belllinger and others to assist, they had i raised no less than XBl5, which was far in excess of tlw sum raised many similar (own. Then there was the Indian Famine Fund, which had rea- ■ listd £2OO, agiin in excess of other , places. The Governor's Veteran's . Home was n=xi up, and no less than X 157 contributed to that. These were results to be proud of, and he thanked those who had, by their liberality and by standing by him in thesa mitte-g, kept up the credit of - the towr.'. Than tfceio was the 3".rdi'g ! away of the Continjjent;, aud Ing them heme. H-) had al.vaysdone - all in his power fc> ,«nda..vjur t-i «-x- f pre3i the admii-a'iin and g'n'i'u-e * which he knew every oce f h for :hj ! gallant fellows who left the district prepared, if necess ry, to l;y d'ov/n their lives for the Hiinpirp. (Loui applause.) JU.9 would now lik ; to say a few w jrds abjut fiimcc, and to ssy that dur.ng tho 1 -s r , fiye or s-x years " ho had hel'i oflica es Major, tt e rateable value of the borough had increased from i>26,500 to £46,224, an increase of or,'o cu', it another way, !h< J . vaiua bid nearly doubled i sell in thai J ; time, and he thought ha and the Cauccil ""era catifcied to thka some V credit for thi=<. Jn few bo- oughs had sua; a record to show. This waa tho mora rcjn.ukab'o, bccaiHi oniy £4164 of the !oa-i money bad been ■PEES of tha £15,000 vThich had be.ir ; raispd. ihn ki!ani>i ! u _n_

raised, its bakiic > LaVir.g ba,n allocated to S' mo or which were alreaay un .er contract. If such good reralts had b?oq suown f>; such a small expenditure they would tee what bright probe's were b fore thc-m, with tha obj *t : • i- E, M. Smith had worked for 83 bird the ironsicd industrylooking so bright, and tha new 3 tbat . Mr Cadn ai Lad b:eu ».ucecs*ful in his mission it was clew that a vonprosperous l a ure w„s be£. 10 hem and every presses cf Now Plymouth b>CHning a v iy large and [reap:reus _ town in t ! e tear future. There still a cor..,vej.% bi« poiticn of the Io»n to be r-is lotving atoal of £6IOOO Btill to b-s expended. The overdraft, which, when h 9 came in'o office, stiod at £2500, wis now only £1127. Tbis year i» thouid bj pntsible to reduce it by a futthor £613. Th i o was a)su the incr- ase of revenin due to the inCiaased va!uations,«liich woul J c mount ti over £BOO, and should further reduce the ovirdi'.ift. The p-esent Council •Would le entiusteu with the experditure.of a large sum of mcney, tub3 set to tho works already autho rised. Tho late Qcuncil had ob tained tbo very bibt engiceeiing advice ob ainab!°, and had acted in accordance therewith. A onttac; had been let for tha erection of public baths . and the abattoirs would be put in hand aa soon as tha plans fore ready, an.-) the dri inage works would go on as soon : tu tha j h:.g were approved by the Sfeil li Dasaitmen!; He gave Councillors ci'idio for the woik done, atd t-iankod tkm for the assfstaco they had given him. There was only one thin g Le fad to complain of—and h< J only mentioned ii becau-e it had a hrighS side—and (hat was an inset •which i>; peared in the papers during thsci t:ian ; but ho w?a gkd to know that, m et:ig '.hi major elect on ths ' mornirg it tho election, he had assured him ti.as he did not consider the 1 gtaUwcuts the jceet contained were (

lig'it oi- far. la concliis'on ho wis l, o<; t ihaijK ilie Tuwa C:ak for ha aucn r-i-diUMI, and tho able way he bail j "lwijs car>iid out his duties, and felt jsur-j the ui'.yc-r el ct would receive the assis'ance from him. He aVo 'fished to thank the o'her officers and members of the Council for, the a;sistanca th y had giveu hira, and hoped his successor, when he came to the ecd cf his term of office, would be able to endorse his remarks. He would again, ion behalf cf himself and Mrs Deckrill, I thank thera for the address press ited. , j Mr Collis.asone of tho oldestC' juteilJ Io:s, '.v: s glad to tee some recognition of .the g'sa.t services of tha Mayor made, i >nu hid ghidly signed the address io t-ia'j.spii is. Mr Tisch also ppake, and 'bought the Mayor would soon c hitcself on his retirement fi ..athe worry and anxieties of office. Cr. Brooking was then elected to witn- ss the Mayor elect's signature to the declaration, which, having been duly mtde and attested, the Mayor elejt was duly installed in the Mayoral chiir by the retiring Mayo* - , who shook hands with, and congratulated him on as-uming office. Mr Ccck, who was hoartily received,said he hoped at the end of his term of office the sime good feeling would be shown, He intended to rely largely on the advice of the late Mayor, and Mr Dockrill had promised his assistance. Ho f.nd Mr Docktill had contested the eltc'ion as friends, and did not intend to les the elec'ion disturb that friendship. The expenditure of ihe £61,000, balance of the loan, would r< quire a good deal of care, and eomet hing had beau made of the difficulty of raiting the money, but if it could not be got in one way, it could in another. He remembered on one occasion when Me A. C. Fook'S was Mayor, he hid had to giva his personal guarantee for the £25,000 loan they- were ra'sing. Mr. Fookes never got sufficient credit for his services on that joccieiw. He favoured the valuation of the Borough being made outside the Council, the Town Clerk had quite enougti work without doing that. The lighting cf the Barcugh Council also requ T red looking into, ss it was, hs thought, very unsatisfactory at present, he advocated the Council doirig more of i's business in open Council, and tbcu.-ht the Council did too much cf its busu.e sin committee. Ho favoured the erection of municip 1 buildings and tiio letting of the present building for a warehouse or an oppositioa bout fictcry. (Lwghiei). He referred to his long connection with public affairs, and to his chairmanship of tho Harbor Beard, which, ho hopsd, wss entering upon brighter days, though he noticed by the morning piper that thoso who had always opposed tfce improvement of the harbour were etill work ice against it, although it was mce-saty for the progrcFS of the district and tfce welfire of the borough. Tha Mayor resumed his seat amidst applause. Councillors Bfooking (Central Ward), Tisch (West), and Bellringer (East Ward •, congratulated Mr. Cock on his elevation to the dignity cf Mayor, and promised him every assistance in their power, and a meeting of the Council havi< g been fixed for the iv.ning, the prcciietiings closed. On ths invitation of the Mayor these present assembled in the Mayor's room, and champagne and lighter drinks being provided, the health of the Mayor, proposed by Mr. Brooking, and of Mr. and Mrs. Dockrill, proposed by the Mayor, were drunk and duly responded to.