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I THE MAYOR'S OPENING ADDRESa

In his opening address, the MAYOS said :-" Your Excellency, ladie« and gentlemen,-We are assembled hore to-day io celebrate the opening ol' this hull in commemoration of the centenary ot the colony, and from which it takes ita name-Centennial Hau. The cause that led to the settlement of the colony was the disruption of the United States from British rule, which States had'been up to then the outlet for the criminal population of Great Britain and Ireland sen- tenced to transportation. For a «hört time these criminals had been sent to Africa; but the climate was «o unhealthy that it had to be stopped. ' As the gaols were becoming crowded with criminal«! It waa «een to be desirable to find out «orne opehihg for this class, and a« ' Captain Cook's then recent dis- coveries pointed to an outlet, it wa« determined to «end a number of convicts to form a settlement at Botany Bay on the east coast of Australia. Accord- ingly, a fleet of 11 was assembled at forUmouth, ira March, 1787. On board were 600 male and 260 female convicts, with a guard of 40 officer«, 168 soldiers, 40 women (the wives of some of the marines), together with their children. Of the convicts, 40 died on the passage, The other« arrived in Botany Bay on January 20,1788. Botany Bay wa« found unsuitable, and it waa deter- mined to seo if a better port could not be found. What had been noted by Cook a« Boat Harbour wa« dis- covered, and Harvey brought the fleet round there. On 26th January, 1788, he hoi»ted the Britten colour» there and read the Royal proclamation and eotnmi*sion constitutine* the colony of New South Wales. The party landed consisted of 1030 «oui«. A« Uluitrmtina; the progress the country has made I may quote the following figures: -In 1788 there wara

hi ' Auston* 7 hone«, 29 sheep, 74 swine, 6 rabbit«, 7 cattle: and the white population of the whole country was 1030. In 1888 Australia owned

1,601,203 horse», of whioh New South Wale« possessed , 411,368; 96,487,811 sheep, Now South Wales owning;{ 46,603,469; cattlo, 9,248,919, Now South Wales boing | credited with 1,622,007 ; 1,136,683 swine, our share boing 248,683; whilethe populationhad increased to 3,G7'2.803,

1.085,740 being within the borders of this colonv. | The Hon. James Service, of Victoria, has predicted that Australia will at tho ond of 30 vonrs contain a population of 20,000,000. Mr. Havtor estimate« that, m 1901 Australia will hold 6,678.029 people ; m 1960, 32,782,290; and in 2001, 189,269,663. . The railway» of Australia oxtended for 10,431 mile«,

those of New South Wales being 2206 »iles. We have 61 miles of trarawavs, and 22,214 miles of tele- graphs out of 76,358 owned by Australia. We have 8106 manufactories, cmplopng 45,664 hands, and there are 1.048,305 acres under cultivation. That i« the progress we have made during a hundred years. As the head of our municipal government, I may bo allowed to say somothing of the progress here. The City of Sydney was incorporated by Act of Par- liament bearing date Julv 2<>th, 1842. The city of Melbourne wa« also incorporated by an Act bearing the dateof Augu«t 12th 1842, in fact both bill» were almost similar as far as powers are concerned. Tho first elec- tion under tho new Act took place on November 1, 1842. The city was then divided into six wards, each ward returning four representatives. For these «eat« there were 49 candidate*. The first meeting of the newly-elected councillors waa held at the Royal Hotel on the 4th of November, to discuss the question of a permnnent meeting-place, and at noon on the 9th of the month they held their first legal meeting in the market shed A for the purpose of electing the aldermen and the Mayor. According to the Act, the councillor« had the power of electing BUT alder- men outside of their body, and it was thought by the citizens thev would do »o. However, they did not do so, but elected six from their o» n body. ?The aldermen elected were Messrs. John Hosking, George Allen, J. R. Wilshire, Robert Owen, Thomas Broughton, and Francis Mitohell. Mr. John Hosking was the first Mayor, and Mr. Chambers the flr«t town clerk. The counoil rented premises in York-etreet on the site of the Freemason's Hotel, but as this place bad to bo fitted up they held their meetings in tho meantime at tho Royal Hotel. Tho council afterwards removed to King-street, opposite bt. James's Church, where they remained for a abort time. They then re- moved to a house on tin east side of Wynyard-square. From there thev went to the other side of Wynyard square, where thev remained until they came to the Town Hall. In 1843, the council, as toon a« the Mayor had issued the fini financial statement that the probable income waa £20,000 per annum, determined to spend £5000 upon a Town Hall. Thev advertised for tenders, but the rate-

payers protested ajgainst money being spent in this way. The city at this time is described «s being in a most de- plorable state. There were had roads, worse foothpath«. and garbage everywhere. In 1853 an Act wa« passed sweeping away the corporation and appointing three Commissioners. In a very short time-about three yean-an Act was passed doing away with them and re-establishing the council. The newly-elected counoil oonsitted of 16 aldermen, representing eight wards. They held a piece of land, which had been granted to them in Bent-street for a site for a town hall, and Mr. Edward Bell. C.S., was instructed to prepare plans for a hall 120ft. by 60ft., to cost £12,000. The ^ plans were approved in 1868 bv the council

It' was afterward« considered that neither the site nor the building would be suitable, and the land wa« «old. In 1869 an Act wa« passed giving the council three Suertera of an acre of the old burial ground-or, a« it was

jen known, the Cathedral Close. Designs were in- vited for a building not to exceed £26,000 in cost. Seventeen were sent in, but, as the lowest would have coat £36,000 if carried out, all were rejected. Fresh designs were invited for a structure which was not to cost more than £35,000 ; and premiums of £300, £100, and £60 were offered. Twenty dengna were then sent to, and Mr. J. H. Wilson received the highest premium. The Hon. Charle« Moore (then Mayor), the Hon. John Macintosh, and some of the aldermen caused a modification of Mr. Wilson's design. Tho Duke of Edinburgh laid the foundation stone of the administrative part of the buildmc. A portion of the work wag carried out under Mr. Wilson'« supervision. The late Mr. Thom«« Bradndge, in conjunction with i lib brother, Mr. Edward Bradridfre, after the death of .Mr. Wilson, carried out the building to its completion. Thev also designed and carried out the tower. Mr. A. Bond was Mr. Thomas Bradridge'a successor, and ne finished the vestibule. After Mr. Bond resigned, Mr. D. M "Boath was appointed. He designed a hall on this present site, and, under his direction, the foundation was built, but the carrying out of this work resulted in a Supreme Court case. Mr. Sapeford ' then became the city architect, and he wai instructed

to prepare designs. Accordingly, at his request, I instructed advertisements to be issued for a draftsman. «'After, a trial of two or thr^e we succeeded in obtaining _ -*h» «JTTIWJ« of" Mr. John Francis Hennesxev. .a

medallist, who bad «mined the prize silver medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects. His fint design waa on the original area, but the aldermen determined to occupy the whole space available. He then designed the present structure, and I feel not a little proud that it wa« during my mayoralty that it wa« designed, and that I had the 'appointment of the designer. Mr. Hennessey waa appointed by the council consulting architect to advise the city architect from time to time. Professor Warien had to design the girders and roof. The building has been supervised by Mr. George M'Rae, city architect, and he wa» ably assisted by Mr. Nancarrow, the best clerk of works of the day. Since hi« death Mr. Tough ha« «Misted. The contractor« are Mesar«. Stuart and Harrison. It would be needless for me to say anything about them. Their work «peaks for itself. During mv term of office thev have shown a great anxiety to do their work well, and to finish it a« quickly as possible. It may be thought that some of the aldermen were extravagant in their ideas when they accepted the plan« of thi« hall. I rayielf have heard people «ay we have gone too far in spending so much monev ; but, ladlee and gentlemen, it mnst be remembered that the building in which we are now assembled has not been erected for the require- ments of to-dav, but of future generations. As a city we occupy a third position among the cities of Great ' Britain, and it I«, I think, a proper ambition for us to

have the largest town hall in the world. We have been ridiculed, too, as a council for obtaining the largest organ in the world; but here again, I say, with our rapidly-inoreasing population and revenue, and the knowledge that our city must become the London of the Southern seas, the ambition is a laudable one. I will now read to you a comparison of the size« of the largest town hall«, so that you will be able to ' compare them with this. 1 he Centennial hall measures

186ft x 85ft. ; the Melbourne Hall, 147ft x72ft.; the Preston Town Hall. 147«. x 95ft. ; the Glasgow Publio Ball, 185ft. x 75ft.; St. George's Hall, Liverpool, 169ft z 76ft. ; the Philharmonie: Hall, Liverpool, ' 136ft. X 102ft. ; St. George's Hal!. Bradford, 152ft. ' z 76ft ; the Surrey MUBIO Hall, 162ft. x 76ft. ;

the Leeds Town Hall. 162ft. x 71ft.: the Free Trade Hall. Manchester. 135ft. x 78ft. ; the Exeter Hall, London, 133ft. x 77ft. ; the City Hall, Chicago, 160ft. X 64ft. ; St Martin'» Hall, Long Acre, London, 121ft. x71ft.; the Birmingham Town Hall, 130ft. x 65ft. ; 'the Manchester Town Hall, 100ft. x 60ft.; and the ' House of Lords, Westminster, 90ft. x 46ft. The

foundation-stone of this hall was laid on the 13th of

.November, 1883, by my late wife, and the topstone was

?laid at the commencement of this year by my daughter. .In concluding 1 must say that I am deeph proud that , this magnificent building has been erected and com- pleted during the terms ot my mayoralty. (Cheers.)

Digitisation generously supported by
Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation
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