MAYORAL LUNCH.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 956, 22 December 1881, Page 2

MAYORAL LUNCH.

The custonjayy annual lunch given to the retiring Mayor jh Mastertpi) was celebrated last evening at the Club Hotel, where, as usual Host Elkino had prepared a capital spread. The chair was filled by Mayor Bisb, and the vice-chair by ex-Mayor Renall. After the usual loyal toasts had been drunk, the Chairman proposed " The health of Mr Renall,who was, he regretted to say, retiring from the Council. He trusted, however, that -'they would see him coming forward again at some future time, Mr Renall had taken a very great deal of interest and devoted a considerable portion of his time to the

welfare of the place, and the Borough owed biin a debt'of gratitude, He trusted that Mr Renal], if lie did not come forward agaiu for the Council at the present opportunity —Mr Eenall bad served his constituents so long that he was entitled to a rest—would do bo at the next one.

Mr Eenall, in reply,' expressed his anticipations of Mr Bish being successful during his Mayoral year. His outward appearance even was of a gratifying' character; his very presence would command respect and admiration. There were two vacancies then in the Council. If he made tip his mind to come forward he would let them know very shortly. They ought to be able to get sufficient men to carry out the wishes of the people without him. He complained of the inferiority of publio men of the present day as compared with those whose names were associated with the early history 'of the colony, and concluded by stating that if any persons were asked by the burgesses to come forward for the two vacancies he should not oppose them. He thanked them for the kind manner in which his health had been drunk.

Mr Eenall then proposed " The health of the new Mayor." The position of that officer was a working one at present —rather a mechanical one than otherwise. He had confidence in Mr Bish being able to do justice to .it, The only hope he would express would be that during his term of office Mr Bish would earn the silver cradle. He had plenty of time to do it without calling in assistance. (Laughter.) The Chairman returned thanks fur the kind manner in which his health had been drank. No effort would be wanting on his part to fill the office properly and get on amicably with the Cuuncil. He felt that it would hare been much better if some one a little older had taken the position, but wlion he found his brother Councillors were not prepared to come forward he decided to run for the office himself. He was glad to find that the publio confirmed the opinion he hftt| expressed—that a man should prk jlis way up to the Mayoralty through-the Council. As a niembor of that he had done his best to further the interests of the town, and as long as ho remained in it lie would not shirk any responsibility which might bo thrust upon him. He hoped after the coming year to be able to retire with the feeling that he had satisfied the Council and the public. He looked for no further reward than this. (Applause.) Mr J. Russell proposed the toast of " Prosperity to Masterlou," coupled with the mime of Cr Gapper. Or Gappor referred to the time when he first settled in the district after a tour through Taranaki aud the Waikato, some sjx or seven years ago. For Ihe'first three or four years the prosperity qf was something wonderful, and it was only old heads who delected the fictitioUß character of the prosperity. They had, howovor, all been taught a lesson by the reverses of two years ago, and would be able to avoid in the future rash and groundless speculation, He now credited both the district aud the town with making a sterling advancement. Ho waa afraid that S"'!! 8 gentlemen were still too eago'r in anticipating t!]o future and wei;e rushing up' building too fast. He advocated caution in "both private and public enterprises. The only thing he cared to see immediately undertaken was a woollen factory, and for the success of this lie cfliisidefeil the _ co-operation of the City osp'eiitial. The district as a whole had improved so materially that ho himsolf hid abandoned an intention ho had formed of moving to Tasmania.

Or (Japper proposed " The Cmnmercii! ami Bunking Interests," coupled with the name of Mr Carr,

, Mr Ciirr, in responding, expressed gmtifjcjtiqi) aj; tl|e commercial bank- . ing ini'orests 'beiHg !|'nited. !Shp jjad i not always beeii a very fi iurtdly feeling'in tliis town between the two interests, and , the coupling of thorn in # toast showed that if'aity'unfriendlyjoeling had existed , it, was weadng ai?ay. (Applftiise.j F ' l 1 were romemberpd thatban| nianagerqhad to render an account of their stewardship, I and were bound to carry out very particular alid stringent orders, he felt sure ! that this consideration would still further . strengthen the friendly feeling which . should exist bet ween the banking and . and oommoroial interests of the town. The feeling between the Borough Council and the bank which had the honor to conduct its business had always been a cordial one—(Hear, hear) —and he expressed a hope that tho future relations between tlicni would strengthen thiß sentiment. '(Applause.) ' "'Qr Hcftnjlo tjieiy proposed "The Agricultural and Pastaral'lntejests of the District "-the two grpat interests whipl) requjred to be developed befire Master, ton could assume that prospeiity'which its position demanded. He referred to the surroundings of the town, more especially to tho Forfcy>Mi|o Jkali, It was a hard tusk to got bush land'of this character undir way, but once under way, its progress would bo rapid.' He pointed out tint Maste ton Bottlers must bestir themselves to see tlnit, when a small loan was floated to complete the trunk liius of (hi colony, the district got its share for the extension' to'Woodvjije. extensiojj of this line'meaiit (lie extension of large commercial interests. It not only meant (he local expenditure of large sums of money, but it meant the settlement of a large population. In America the principle of phpqlatiot) following railway extension was generally adinitlecf, The: future of the town to certaijj if the settlement of the outlying districts was I secured. Ho himself would do all in his poyer to promote this great interest. Gr Vile,' whoso name\yaa couplet} wi|,h. the toast, expressed ap opinion that this district was' almost exclusively a pastoral one,and dependent upon pastoral interests, During the piut'few years the development pf the pastoral interests, had been more marked than tho agricultural ones, Men with capital coming into the neighbourhood had cleared some 60,000 acres of bush land, which had given an impetus to this particular interest. Capital nt the great want of the district, It was ret quired to work up the bush country, which, if cleared, would plaoe the town and district in a better position. Year after year, too, their agricultural orops were becoming more valuable. At first their land was found to be sour for grain crops, but the working of it had removed thiß drawback, and, with a little more enterprize, he felt sure a mucli larger area of ground could be profitably cropped. Or Price proposed tho toast of '• The Educational System of Now Zealand." Colonists had reason to he proud of placing pducafion the reach of tho poorpsp sutler, ai|d tljafc it wty wiseotariau and open to all, ' Since tl)e district sohools bad been under Mr tee's charge they had shown a marked improvement, and a very gratifying increase in attendance. He also complimented Mr Grundy on the success whioh he had ficl)ioved since he topk oharge of the Masterton school. coupled the toftst ■ with the name of Mr Lee, Mr Lee, who was reoeived with applause, expressed the pleasure -nth whioh he heard the toast ef education honored on an occasion like the present one, as well as the expressions which had been made as to his own poor services. He was 'glad to find that the question of education was engaging the' attention of sej;tiers throughout the colony, |t wt)jj only recently that a complete system had been introduced which grappled with i

the training of all classes in the commtli • nity. He tliought that the colony'as a whole might be proud of the/Byßtem which it had inaugurated. He did not Bay that it was without faults; no system was perfect, and advance and progress . Were the order of the day. It was not often that he bad an opportunity like tbe present one of speaking broadly on the system. He had devoted the whole of his life to educational pursuits, and took a pride in the work which he discharged) and had striven right and left to advance y. the causo of education in the district. , • j He felt that the time was coming when • V-i education would be regarded as esaen- . \.v tial to the well-being of the community,gE?' There were difficulties to be such as the question of cost, but that w him appeared to be only a matter of arrangement, Educational expenditure was a. reproductive one, awl was worth taking up. An opinion had been re. cently expressed in favor of limiting free education to the fourth standard. As a praptical man he declared that to give education to some children and to charge it to others voulj be a mischievous thing, and would tond to lower..the standard of education now prevailing aud undermine the system. It would act in the direction of withdrawing the beat children from the schools it would set olass against class, and would lead to thoin troduction of & less valuaable teaching staff than the present one. He was glad to find that Edvcation in the distriot was making fair progress, and that the progress it wan making was appreciated. Sir JuliusVogel, he believed, once said that an educated man was worth £IOO a year more to the State than an uueducated one on account of the greater skill that he brought to bear on any work he had to perform. The toast of the Press was then proposed by Mr George Dixon and responded to by Mr Payton and Mr Hogg. Mr Hogg proposed t|ie " Magistprijt} Bench iu New Zoalapd' 1 witji tj)e name of Mr Wardell, coippjimenting that gentlefflap on thp careful planner in which . he discharged his official duties apd referring to the mistakes sade by % " great unpaid," Mr Wardell jn responding said that without the respect and coufidenoe of the people no Court would be of real value to the country, and he should feel that he v accomplished a great result if he secured this confidence and good will. He admitted the valuable assistance he had received from the "great, unpaid," and if they occasionally made mistakes on technical grounds the? were preeminent in their desire to do right between man and man, and as a body had the confidence of the country. (Applause), The health Mr Russell was proposed in eulogistic language by Mr Renall and responded to jn sujti)ble tet|T4 ''' - J -" f ho''health of' thp fjojt' 'aj)d tyostesß was the iast'one'oif t||e (jst, and was duly honored, At intervals songs from Mr Bish, Mr Hogg, &c,| enlivened the proceedings. The gueslß broke up shortly after 11 a.m., after spending a very pleasant evening.