Inquirer and Commercial News (Perth, WA : 1855 - 1901), Wednesday 29 June 1887, page 2


JUBILEE DAY.

IN FREMANTLE. OPENING OF THE NEW TOWN HALL. SPEECHES OF THE MAYOR AND THE GOVERNOR. The ceremony of opening the Fremantle Town Hall on Wednesday was an event in which the people took a very lively interest. There is no occurrence in the history of the Port within the memory of its oldest inhabitant that has caused so much stir and has resulted in so much general satisfaction to those who took an active part in the arrangements as well as to the great concourse of people who turned out to witness the spectacle. The Mayor and Corporation are to be congratulated upon the very excellent manner in which the whole ceremony was conducted. Along the route of the procession there were three evergreen arches. The first, at Cliff-street, end of High-street, bore a banner on either side ; one with the portrait of Her Majesty in the center and the words "Peace, Prosperity ;" on the other "God Bless our Queen," the top being decora- ted with flags. The second arch was simi-larly decorated, the banners bearing the inscription "Welcome Jubilee," with a black swan at each end, and the side facing the top end of High-street contained the words "Long Live Victoria." The third arch, facing the front of the Town Hall, was profusely hung with flags with a banner on either side; the wording being "Welcome Governor Broome" and "Long Live His Excellency." Besides these the residents displayed a quantity of bunting ; the most noticable [sic] of which were Mr. J. G. Flindell, Pier Hotel ; Mr. W. Samson, French consular agent; Mr. W. Sandover, American, consular agent ; Messrs. Scott &. Hagan, Victoria Hotel ; Mr. Fothergill, Cleopatra Hotel; Mr. A. W. Armstrong, Commercial Hotel ; Mrs. Alveranga, Coffee Palace; Mr. C. J. Hughes, Emerald Isle Hotel. The vessels in port were also decorated with flags from stem to stern. The railway station was tastefully dressed in evergreens with a banner bearing the words "God Save the Queen" in silver letters on a blue ground. Crossing the main line at the Locomotive workshops was erected a triumphal arch that sur-passed everything of the kind seen in this colony. It was constructed chiefly of palms and evergreens, the top being deco-rated with 8 flags and a transparency which at night was illuminated with gas and chinese lanterns. The transparency contain- ed a portrait of Her Majesty with an in-scription of "Our Queen's Jubilee" and two paintings one at each end in medallion form of a locomotive engine and steamboat. On the sides of the arch were written the words "Jubilee Year." The artist was Mr. Carey, carriage painter, belonging to the Locomo-tive department, and he with others who assisted at the erection of the arch deserve great credit for their excellent taste in dis-playing in practical form their loyalty to Her Majesty on so auspicious an occasion. The special train with His Excellency, Lady Broome and suite reached Fremantle about 10:30, and were received by the Mayor and Corporation and a guard of honour of the Fremantle Rifle Volunteers under the com-mand of Captain H. Smith, drawn up in front of the railway station. Captain G. B. Humble, who acted as marshall, assisted by Mr. Wriford, secretary to the Health Board, then arranged the procession in the following order : — Fremantle Rifle Volun-teers, with Band ; Sunday School children, etc, with banners ; Fremantle Fire Brigade with Fire Engine, Fremantle Naval Artillery Volunteers with Band, Deputation of Residents, Ministers of Religion, Heads of Departments, Members of the Legislative Council, Speaker of the Legislative Council, Members of the Executive Council, their Lordships and the Bishops; Mayor and Coun-cillors of Perth; Councillors of the Fremantle Corporation; His Excellency Governor Broome and the Mayor of Fre-mantle. On reaching the Town Hall the procession halted and faced inwards to allow His Excellency the Governor and His Worship the Mayor of Fremantle, and Councillors of City and Port Corporations to pass in the main entrance. Those ad-mitted to the platform and by tickets followed. The Hall was filled without leaving any standing room. There must have been fully 2000 persons present. The greatest decorum was observed throughout the whole ceremony. There was, however, one omission we noticed in the Mayor's speech, which we presume was partly acci-dental It is well known that Mr. B. C. Wood was Mayor when the foundation stone of the Hall was laid by His Excel-lency, and it is also known that the Town Hall loan was obtained entirely through the determined efforts of the late Mayor, who upon succeeding in disposing of the opposition he met with from the ratepayers when he first mooted the question of raising the money for the erection of the edifice, publicly announced that on his first taking office as Mayor he had made up his mind to get the sanction of the ratepayers to build a Town Hall, and he was particu-larly gratified that his efforts had been crowned with success. It is to be regretted the present Mayor altogether forgot to re-fer to the circumstance, which we think is of sufficient importance to draw public attention to. Opening of the Fremantle Town Hall. Shortly after 11 o'clock the procession halted opposite the Town Hall. Those privileged ones who were provided with tickets having taken their seats the public were admitted, and when His Excellency entered the hall a short time afterwards there were 1500 persons present. The pro-ceedings commenced by the singing of God Save the Queen by the school children, after which The Mayor (Mr. D. K. Congdon) said: Before presenting this address to the Governor and asking him to open this Hall I purpose making a few remarks concern-ing the site and building. On searching the records of the Corporation I find that the want of such a building for public necessity and amusement had been long felt in our town. In the very early years I find it recorded that various Councillors thought it necessary to have a Town Hall. In 1876 the Government set aside a reserve in South Terrace as a site ; this at the time was considered fairly central, but as High-street came to be built over and the town became extended right and left the Church authorities two years later determined to build a new church, and offered the right of purchase of this block of land on which this Hall now stands. In 1883 the Legis-lature unanimously voted £2,000 towards the erection of this building. This was a great incentive to the ratepayers, and the result was that in 1885, on June the 18th, Mr. Edward Keane's tender was accepted for the construction of this building for £9916, and when I tell you that it has been constructed with so small a sum as not to reach 2 ½ per cent. for extras I think every one will admit economy has been studied (cheers). I think it is only fair to Mr. Keane to say that the manner in which he has turned out this building must reflect credit on him, not only now but in the future as a contractor (cheers). I think it right to say that I should acknowledge my indebtedness to the members of the Council for their assistance and best advice, not only in matters connected with this Hall but in matters concerning the best interests of the town. To them I feel I owe a great deal (His Excellency: Hear, hear; and cheers.) Messrs. Wright and Paterson, as representing Messrs. Grainger and D'Ebro have carried out their part of the work most satisfactorily, and to them as well as to the clerk of the works (Mr. Foreman) on behalf of the ratepayers I tender our most hearty thanks and freely acknowledge that they have performed their part as architects and supervisors thoroughly well (cheers). I can only now say that I con-gratulate my fellow townsmen on having a building which is a credit to the town — beautiful in exterior — well finished in interior — cheap at the price paid for it and a building which will form a lasting memento of the Jubilee of Her Most Gracious Majesty — a building which will also fill that want I referred to in my opening remarks (cheers). I will now read the address to His Excel-lency "We, the Mayor and Corporation of Fremantle, have great pleasure in meeting Your Excellency on this auspicious occasion, and we desire to express our acknowledg-

ments to Your Excellency for consenting to open our Town and Jubilee Hall. Several months ago the Foundation Stone was laid by Your Excellency, and now having wit-nessed its completion, Your Excellency's name will be associated with the building which from its architectural beauty is worthy of our town, and which we trust will be utilized for many years to come, by the citizens of Fremantle, for all purposes calculated to promote the material and social welfare of the community. We specially recognize with pleasure that the ceremony of opening this building by Your Excellency occurs in the Jubilee year of our Gracious Queen Victoria, whose life has been adorned by so many virtues, and during whose reign the British Empire has made such marvellous progress in popula-tion, prestige and power. We desire to ex-press our loyal hope that this province may long continue to be a part of that great Empire, the influence of which has been so favourable to the advancement of civiliza-tion in the World. Your Excellency will unite with us in grateful recognition of the kind Providence, by whose care this build-ing has been brought to completion. We now in conclusion respectfully ask Your Excellency to set apart this building for Public use. Signed on behalf of the Cor-poration of the Borough of Fremantle," D. K. Congdon, Mayor. Fremantle, 22nd June, 1887. His Excellency, in reply, said — Mr. Mayor and gentlemen: It is by a happy and a fortunate coincidence that the muni-cipality and people of Fremantle are able to include among their rejoicings on this national occasion of her Majesty's Jubilee, the dedication to public use of the hand-some edifice in which we are now assembled (cheers). This undertaking has been arranged for and carried to completion in a manner which reflects great credit upon the Corporation of Fremantle (cheers), and it is impossible to look around this spacious hall without feeling that it is a fitting and a striking monument of the public zeal and spirit of a municipal body which has to meet many demands from limited resources (cheers). With every good wish for the future of the town of Fremantle to-day, united with the whole Empire in a special manifestation of loyalty and affection to our beloved Queen, I have great pleasure in now declaring this Town and Jubilee Hall open and available for the public purposes for which it has been designed. (Loud and prolonged cheers). The Mayor, Mr. D. K. Congdon, said : When your Excellency mentioned just now that it was a happy and fortunate circum-stance that this Hall was completed at such a time I felt that I too was fortunate in having the honor to perform the first act within these walls. On this day which has been set apart to celebrate the Jubilee I am deputed by the Corporation to present to your Excellency an address to the Queen and to ask you to be good enough to for-ward the same to the Secretary of State, that it may be laid before Her Majesty as a token of the adoration, respect and love of the people of Fremantle (cheers). The address is as follows : — To Her Majesty Victoria, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith, Empress of India. May it pease [sic] Your Majesty, — We, the Mayor and Corporation of the Borough of Fremantle, in the distant province of Western Austra-lia, on the auspicious occasion of Your Majesty's Jubilee, humbly desire to assure Your Majesty of our continued loyalty and allegiance to Your Majesty's throne and person and our unwavering attachment to the Dynasty of which Your Majesty is the head and representative. We recognise with thankfulness the Divine goodness which has spared Your Majesty for so many years to reign over the Great British Empire ; and we congratulate Your Majesty upon the wonderful extension of British power, prestige and influence, especially in this Island-Continent of Aus-tralia, during the fifty years of Your Majesty's reign. We are grateful for the possession of those privileges of civil and religious liberty in the defence of which Your Majesty has always shown so deep a solicitude, and it is our earnest prayer that Your Majesty in the years yet to come may be cheered by witnessing the unity, peace and prosperity of our nation, whose influ-ence has been so conducive to the welfare of mankind. We also hope that Your Majesty may be long spared to enjoy the solace and comfort of the loving ministry of Your Majesty's descendants, and we assure Yonr Majesty that our one constant prayer will be, "God bless Victoria our beloved Queen." Signed on behalf of the Corporation of the Borough of Fremantle, Daniel Kean Congdon, Mayor. Fremantle, June 22, 1887. His Excellency in reply said he need scarcely say that it was with feelings of great satisfaction that he as Governor of this colony was taking part in the proceed-ings held in that hall to-day. There could be no doubt whatever about the respect and loyalty to Her Majesty of the people of Western Australia. It had always been and he fully believed it would always re-main above suspicion, but it was well sometimes to give particular and emphatic expression to these sentiments (cheers). It was in accordance with every immemorial custom and usage all over the Empire that municipal corporations should take a lead-ing part in such celebrations as they were now joining in. They would perhaps remember that the celebration of one Jubi-lee in our history was considerably marred because it was thought that the king intended to abolish corporations. He did not think that the Mayor of Fremantle or any Mayor of this colony would be afraid of such happening here, for acting under his powers he had signalized this Jubilee by creating six new municipalities. He might again refer to his remarks that it was a fortunate coincidence that this Hall was being used for the first time on this occa-sion. It appeared that this Jubilee of Her Majesty abounded with happy and fortunate coincidences. In the first place besides being the Jubilee of Her Majesty it was the. double Jubilee of Australia itself. Again, our neighbours in South Australia were cele- brating a double Jubilee — the existence of their colony for 50 years and the reign of Her Majesty for 50 years (cheers). There was ano-ther most happy and fortunate coincidence in respect to this hall, for they were not only celebrating Her Majesty's Jubilee but were doing a most important municipal work by the opening of this handsome hall for the first time. He then came to another coinci-dence. On Saturday last it was his pleas-ure and duty in conformity with the desire of the Legislature to forward a special telegram to Her Majesty, pointing out the loyal manner in which the Jubilee was being celebrated and stating what was being done on the part of the Government, the Legis-lature and Municipalities and offering our congratulations. That telegram was sent on Saturday and he now held in his hand Her Majesty's reply (cheers). He thought they might call it a crowning coincidence that Her Majesty's reply had reached him through all the chances and mischances of telegraphic communication in time to enable him to read it there (cheers). It showed how punctual and particular Her Majesty was in thus promptly acknowledging a message from this distant dependency. The reply, which was from Sir Henry Holland, read : — "I am commanded by Her Majesty the Queen to request you to convey to the Legislature, Munici-palities and people her cordial acknowledg-ment of that loyal sentiment." (Loud cheers.) He thought that the Government, Legislature, Municipalities and people of West Australia thoroughly understood each other on this happy occasion, and there was therefore no need for him to enter further into matters of significance of a special manner. He would forward at the first opportunity this handsome illuminated address, and he had no doubt but that they would receive in due course Her Majesty's most gracious reply. (cheers). The children then sang the Jubilee verse of the National Anthem. His Excellency announced that the children attending the Government schools of Perth and Fre-mantle would receive an extra week's holi-day in honor of the Jubilee. Sir Frederick Broome then retired with the Mayor and Councillors, and partook of refreshments in the dining room. His Excellency returned to Perth by the 12:45 train.