Before the institution of the City Council, Dunedin was controlled by a Town Board. The first election of this body took place on Monday, the 20th of August, 1855, when the following gentlemen were returned as the first Board: Messrs John Jones, James Kilgour, Alexander Rennie, James Macandrew, John Hyde Harris, William Henry Cutten, John McGlashan, Charles Robertson, and Robert Williams. With various changes of membership, the Board existed for ten years. Its last meeting was held on the 19th of April, 1865, when the members of the retiring Board were: Messrs Thomas Redmayne, John Barnes, Horace Bastings, Jabez J. Ham, David Miller, junior, Robert Murray, James F. McGuire, John Griffen, John Grey, James Turner, George Smith, and John Lovell. For the next three months, the affairs of the city were controlled by commissioners. The first mayoral election took place on the 21st of July, 1865, when Mr. William Mason was elected chief magistrate of Dunedin. Since then twenty-eight gentlemen have occupied the position. Mr. Mason held office for two years, when he was succeeded by Mr. John Hyde Harris, who was Mayor for a year. Mr. Thomas Birch occupied the chair from 1868 to 1870, and Mr. Henry Smith Fish filled the position for the three ensuing years, and subsequently for the two years, 1893–95. Mr. Andrew Mercer was elected in 1873, and Mr. Keith Ramsay in the following year. He was succeeded in 1875 by Mr. Henry John Walter, who was afterwards Mayor from 1878 to 1880. Mr. Charles Stephen Reeves was elected in 1876, and in the following year was succeeded by Mr. Richard Henry Leary, who held office also for the year 1886–87. Mr Archibald Hilson Ross was Mayor for the year 1880–81, and he was followed by Messrs James Gore, John Bryce Thomson, William Parker Street, Arthur Scoullar, John Barnes, William Dawson, and Hugh Gourley, each for a single term; but Mr. Gourley again filled the office in 1896–97. Mr. John Roberts was Mayor for the year 1889–90, and was followed, for a similar period in each case, by Messrs John Carroll, Charles Chapman, Charles Haynes, N. Y. A. Wales, E. B. Cargill, William Swan, Robert Chisholm, George Lyon Denniston, and James A. Park. Mr. Thomas Scott, the present Mayor, was elected in 1903.

Mr. William Mason , the first Mayor of Dunedin, held the office for two years, from 1865 to 1867, and he had previously been a member of the Town Board. He was born at Ipswich, England, In 1810, and arrived in Sydney in 1838. In 1840 he came over to Auckland with Governor Hobson, as clerk of works. Subsequently he was elected to the House of Representatives for the Pensioners' Settlement. Mr. Mason removed to Dunedin in 1862, to superintend the erection of the Bank of New Zealand. He also designed a number of buildings throughout the colony, including the Dunedin Exhibition of 1865. Mr. Mason entered into partnership with Mr. W. H. Clayton, afterwards colonial architect, and father of Lady Vogel; and subsequently he went into business with Mr. N. Y. A. Wales. In after years he farmed for a while at Otepopo, and, on retiring, took up his residence at Paradise, Diamond Lake, twelve miles from Glenorchy at the head of Lake Wakatipu. In shooting competitions he took a lively interest, and was an excellent marks man. He was the winner if the first prize offered by the Government in the colony for rifle shooting, and was second for the colonial belt, in the first annual competition. Mr. Mason returned to Dunedin in 1894, and died on the 22nd of June, 1897.

The late Mr. W. Mason.

The Hon John Hyde Harris else where referred to as one of the Superintendents of Otago, was the second Mayor of Dunedin, and held office during 1867–68.

Mr. Thomas Birch was Mayor of Dunedin during the years 1868–69–70, and while in office he entertained the Duke of Edinburgh, when that prince visited Dunedin. In another article he is referred to as an ex-member of the House of Representatives.

Mr. Henry Smith Fish , five times Mayor of Dunedin, filled the office during the years 1870–1–2–3 and 1893–4–5. He also represented Dunedin South and the City of Dunedin in the House of Representatives for several years, and his biography is given in that connection.

Mr Andrew Mercer , one of the pioneers of Otago, was Mayor of Dunedin for the year 1873–74. He was born in Fifeshire, Scotland, in 1829. He served his time as a cabinetmaker, and entered into partnership with Mr. George Ross. The partners came out together to Otago by the ship “Philip Laing,” in 1848, and had under the New Zealand Company's land regulations. Acting on these orders, they selected rural land in the Clutha district, but letting it lie for a while, they started a store in Princes Street, Dunedin, opposite the Bank of New Zealand's present premises. Subsequently Mr. Mercer sold out, and went farming at Warepa, but returned to Dunedin, about 1859, to open a store on the site of the Colonial Mutual Buildings. He carried on business there till about 1880, when he retired, and went to live at Portobello, but afterwards removed to his residence in High Street, where he died. Mr. Mercer was a member of the city Council for seven years. At the Otago Convention, formed when the provinces were about to be abolished, he attended as representative of Owaka. He was made a Justice of the Peace in 1872, and sat very often at the Police Court. Mr. Mercer was married in Dunedin, in March, 1849, and died on the 6th of June, page 103 1902, leaving a grown-up family of seven, and thirty-three grandchildren.

Mr. Keith Ramsay was elected Mayor of Dunedin on the 22nd of July, 1874, and held the office for a full term. He is elsewhere referred to as a former city councillor, and as a shipowner and shipping agent.

Mr. Henry John Walter , who was Mayor of Dunedin for three terms, held office during the years 1875–76, and 1878–80. He was born in Jamaica, and arrived in Victoria in 1853. Eleven years late he crossed over to Otago, where for twenty-nine years he was proprietor of the Occidental Hotel, in Dunedin. Mr. Walter first entered the City Council in 1869, and he was also a member of the Otago Harbour Board. After leaving Dunedin he settled in Wellington, where he kept a hotel for some years in Willis Street.

Mr. Charles Stephen Reeves , J.P., who was Mayor of the city of Dunedin in 1876–7, was born in Wexford, Ireland, and came to New Zealand in June, 1863, after a residence of eight years in Victoria. In 1873 he was returned to the city Council for Leith Ward, which he represented till May, 1876. During the term of his mayoralty, which followed closely on the abolition of the provinces, Mr. Reeves was called on to discharge many of the duties which had previously devolved upon the superintendent. A member of the first Harbour Board. Mr. Reeves was chairman of that body when the first contract for dredging the Victoria Channel was let to Mr. D. Proudfoot. In 1874 he was returned as a member of the Provincial Council for Dunedin, and subsequently served for eight years as a member of the Land Board, and was one of the first Hospital Trustees. Mr. Reeves joined the Dunedin Artillery in 1863; he was captain of the North Dunedin Rifles for nine years, and was promoted in 1885 to the rank of major in command of the first battalion of Otago Volunteers, from which he retired in January, 1890, as lieutenant-colonel on the unattached list Mr. Reeves has been a Master Mason since 1859, and a member of the Order of Oddfellows since 1864. Mr. Reeves is referred to in another article in connection with the business carried on by himself and his son as accountants and commission agents, in Vogel Street, Dunedin.

Mr C. S. Reeves.

Mr. Richard Henry Leary , who was Mayor of Dunedin during the years 1877–8, and 1886–7, was born in 1841, in London, and was educated in his native place. At an early age he emigrated to Victoria, Australia, where he entered the timber trade. A few years later he settled in Dunedin, where he became a partner in the firm of Messrs Bastings, Leary and Co., auctioneers and accountants, and was afterwards in business on his own account as an accountant. In 1894 he was sent to England by the Dunedin City Corporation, in connection with business affecting the city loans. During his sojourn in England he contracted pneumonia, which led to his death. Mr. Leary took an active interest in church work, and was for some years secretary of the Dunedin Diocesan Trust Board.

Mr. Archibald Hilson Ross , Mayor of Dunedin for the year 1880–81, was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, in 1821, and lived for several years at Sunderland, in which he was a town councillor and a guardian of the poor. On coming out to Dunedin, in 1859, Mr. Ross accepted a position as chief draughtsman in the survey office. He afterwards entered into business on his own account as an optician, and carried it on until a few years before his death. As a resident of Roslyn, he became a member of the borough council on its constitution, and in 1879 was elected Mayor of the borough. Mr. Ross was also a member of the Dunedin City in 1880. He was an active member of the Benevolent Trustees, and was chairman of the Otago Harbour Board for five or six years. In 1887 he was elected to represent Roslyn in the House of Representatives, defeating Messrs Carlton and Hutchison; but in 1890, the boundaries of the district having been considerably changed, he was defeated by Mr. Dawson Mr. Ross was a careful astronomical observer, and took an active intest in the observation of the transit of Venus in 1874 and 1882. He was a member of the Otago Institute, and contributed several papers at its meetings. Mr. Ross died at his son's residence, at Pahiatua, on the 8th of December, 1900, and left a widow and a grown-up family, The eldest daughter is married to Mr. H. Skey, of Leith Valley, Dunedin.

Mr. James Gore was Mayor of Dunedin in 1881–2. He first entered the Council in 1877, and has been continuously one of its members since the close of his term as Mayor. Mr. Gore is referred to elsewhere as a former member of the House of Representatives, and as a present member of the Dunedin City Council.

Mr. John Bryce Thomson , who was Mayor of Dunedin for the year 1883, and held a seat as a councillor for eight years, was born in Stirlingshire, Scotland, in 1840. He served an apprenticeship of five years to carpentry in Glasgow. In 1884, Mr. Thomson came out to Port Chalmers in the ship “Aboukir,” Immediately after his marriage to a daughter of the late Mr. Wm. Clough. With Mr. James McGill, he founded the firm of McGill and Thomson in 1866, the business being continued till 1893; many important buildings were erected by the firm, including part of Messrs Bing, Harris and Co.'s fine warehouse, the stone house of the late Mr. Robert Gillies—one of the best houses within the town belt—, Mr. A. Lee's house at Roslyn, and many others. Mr. Thomson was for four years a member of the Dunedin Harbour Board, of which he was at one time chairman; he also occupied a seat on the Hospital Board, and was a trustee of the Benevolent Society for one year. As a member of the order of Foresters, Mr. Thomson occupied office as district chief ranger at the time of the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh, to whom he presented an address on behalf of the society. His family consists of two daughters—married respectively to two brothers and settled in America—and two sons, the elder of whom is associated in the business, to which reference is made elsewhere in this volume.

Mr. J. B. Thomson.

Mr. William Parker Street was born in 1846, and arrived in Otago, from Victoria, in the beginning of the sixties. After experiencing some of the vioissitudes common in those days, he received the appointment of clerk of the Resident Magistrate's Court, and Registrar of Births, Marriages, and Deaths in Dunedin. This position he filled with credit for some years, until he resigned for the purpose of entering into business on his own account. In 1877 Mr. Street was, with Mr. page 104 Sydney James, elected auditor for the city, and, being re-elected the following year. he held the office till June, 1879. In 1880 he became a member of the City Council, and on the 28th of November, 1883, he was elected Mayor by a large majority over his opponents. Mr. Street left in 1888 for Victoria, where he engaged in business until about three years before his death, when he became afflicted with paralysis, from the effects of which he died on the 11th of April, 1899. He left a widow, and a family of three sons and three daughters.

Mr. Arthur Scoullar , who was Mayor of Dunedin for the year 1884–85, was previously a member of the city Council. He was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, where he was sent to work at the age of seven, and for eight years was engaged in making Kilmarnock bonnets. He was then apprenticed to the cabinetmaking business in Glasgow, where he completed his term about 1850, and, in 1854, sailed for Melbourne, as a carpenter's mate on the ship “Contest,” After six unprofitable years on the Australian goldfields he came over to New Zealand, where he was very successful on the Clutha diggings. In 1863 Mr. Scoullar established himself in business in Dunedin, and was afterwards joined by Mr. Chisholm, under the style of Scoullar and Chisholm, furniture warehousemen. Mr. Scoullar died in Wellington in 1899, leaving a widow, and a family of two sons and five daughters.

Mr. John Barnes was born in Stockpert, Lancashire, England, in 1817, and arrived at Port Chalmers, by the ship “Nourmahal,” in 1858. He entered into business in Dunedin as a carter and contractor, was engaged for some time in carrying goods to Tokomairiro, the Lindis, and Tuapeka diggings; and afterwards carried out, amongst other contracts, the construction of the Rattray Street, Stuart Street, and the Pelichet Bay Jetties, and a portion of the Port Chalmers railway. In 1863 he was Town Board, and retained his seat till the dissolution of the Board in 1865. In August of the following year he was elected a member of the City Council, and in 1867 was appointed inspector of works. He again entered the council in 1870, and four years later resumed the position of insepector of works. In 1879 he was once more elected to the City Council, and retained his seat until 1885, when he was elected Mayor of the city. In November, 1883, Mr. Barnes was elected a member of the Harbour Board, and continued to represent the city on that body until 1888, when he retired from public life. He died in 1889, from injuries received by a fall from a horse at Milton. Mr. Barnes left a widow, since dead, two sons, and one daughter.

Mr. William Dawson, J. P. , was Mayor of Dunedin in 1877–8. He is elsewhere referred to as a former city councillor, and also as having been a member of Parliament.

The Hon. Hugh Gourley was twice Mayor of Dunedin; first in 1888–89, and, again for the year, 1896–97. Mr. Gourley is further referred to as chairman of the Otago Harbour Board.

Mr. John Roberts , C.M.G., who was Mayor of the city of Dunedin during the Exhibition year (1889–90), is the New Zealand resident-partner in the firm of Murray, Roberts and Co. He was born in Selkirk, Scotland, in 1845, and was educated in his native place, at the Cheltenham Grammar School, at the Queen Street Institution, Edinburgh, and at the Edinburgh Academy. On leaving school in 1862 he entered the woollen mill of his father's firm, Messrs George Roberts and Co., of Selkirk. Two years later Mr. Roberts arrived in Melbourne, where he was employed in station management and business in the firm of John Sanderson and Co. In 1868 he came to Dunedin. Mr. Roberts has long been prominently connected with the mercantile life of the colony generally, and especially with public companies in Dunedin. He is an original director, and has for many years past been chairman, of the New Zealand Refrigerating Company, Limited; and for two years he was a director of the Colonial Bank, from which he retired in 1891. He has always taken a keen interest in agricultural and pastoral matters, and was a leading promoter of the Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association of which he is a life governor. Mr. Roberts has served on the boards of management of many local public institutions, notably the Otago University committee, and as chairman of its finance committee, During the days of Provincial Governments, Mr. Roberts represented Kaikorai in the Otago Provincial Council. He was a member for Deep Stream riding in the Taieri County Council. His work in connection with the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition, As president, he succeeded, by ability and untiring zeal, in bringing the exhibition to a successful issue, and for his services in that respect, Her Majesty the Queen conferred upon him the Companionship of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, in 1891. In recognition also of his work, the ratepayers of the city of Dunedin elected him Mayor of the city in 1890 at an uncontested election. Mr. Roberts married, in 1870, a daughter of Mr. Charles Henry Kettle—who, as surveyor to the New Zeland Company, originally surveyed Dunedin—and has, surviving, four sons and four daughters.

Mr. J. Roberts.

Mr. Charles Robert Chapman , who was Mayor of the city of Dunedin for the year 1891–2, is the only surviving son of the late Mr. Robert Chapman, one of the pioneer colonists of Otago. He was born in 1847, in Edinburgh, and accompanied his parents to the Colony in the ship “Blundell,” which arrived in Port Chalmers on the 21st of September, 1848. He was educated at the old school that was originally the first church in Dunedin, and which was built on the section where the warehouse of Messrs Sargood. Son and Ewen, and the office of the Standard Insurance Company now stand. He subsequently studied at the Dunedin high school, of which he was one of the first scholars. Mr. Chapman first contested the mayoralty of the city of Dunedin in November, 1888, when he was defeated by Mr. H. Gourley by 189 votes. In December, 1890, he was a candidate for the city council for Bell ward, when he was returned at the head of the poll, and was elected Mayor in the ensuing year. Mr. Chapman was married in Adelaide in 1885. He is elsewhere referred to as a barrister and solicitor.

Mr. C. R. Chapman.

Mr. Charles Haynes, J. P. , who represented Leith Ward in the Dunedin City Council, was born in 1838 in Tasmania, whence he was taken by his parents at the age of seven to Victoria, where he received his primary education. Landing in Dunedin in 1859, he afterwards lived almost continuously in Otago. In the early days of settlement he was known as a carrier from Dunedin to the interior. In 1873, Mr. Haynes retired from the carrying trade and commenced business as a storekeeper in Palmerston South. Soon after he was elected to the borough council, and during the thirteen years of his life in that district, served the public in various capacities to the utmost of his power, being five times mayor of the borough. In 1884, he contested the Moeraki seat against the Hon. J. McKenzie, by whom he was defeated by a narrow majority. On leaving Palmerston in 1886. Mr. Haynes was enterained at a public dinner, when he was presented with an illuminated address, expressing regret at his departure, and thanks for his great services in the interests of the district. After settling in Dunedin, he served the ratepayers as councillor for South and Leith Wards, respectively; and was mayor for the year 1832–3. He was also on the board of the Benevolent Institution, and acted as chairman of the George Street school committee. In other capacities he wilingly devoted his time and ability, having been vice-president and subsequently president of the Dunedin bowling club, president of the Dunedin debating club, and church-warden of All Saints church. Mr. Haynes was married, in 1859, to a daughter of Mr. P. Logan, of Gifford, Scotland; this lady died in 1885, leaving two sons and two daughters. In the year 1888, Mr. Haynes married a daughter of the late Mr. Samuel Woolley, of Waikouaiti, by whom he had one daughter. Mr. Haynes died at his residence, 331 Comberland Street, Dunedin, on the 7th of October, 1901.

The late Mr. C. Haynes.

Mr. Nathaniel Young Armstrong Wales was Mayor of Dunedin for the year 1895–96. He was well known as an architect, and as sometime sanior partner in the firm of Messrs Mason and Wales, is referred to in another article. Mr. Wales died on the 3rd of November, 1903.

Mr. William Swan , who was Mayor of Dunedin in the year 1898–99, and had formerly for about ten years been a representative of Leith Ward in the City Council, was born at Prestonpans, Scotland, in 1838. He was educated at Tarnent, and was brought up as a practical miner; afterwards he served three years at the grocery trade, and subsequently worked for his father, who was a contracter. After arriving at Port Chalmers in 1861 in the ship “Geelong,” he experienced considerable difficulty in obtaining employment. On the outbreak of the Dunstan “rush,” he went to the diggings, and spent three months on the goldfield without any success. For six months he was engaged on a farm at the Taieri, and for eighteen months was employed as a carrier to the goldfields, and was very successful in that connection. In 1865 he went to the New South Wales goldfields, and there spent nine months; returning to Otago, he entered into business as a firewood merchant in George Street, and subsequently in King Street. In this line he met with considerable success, purchasing land containing bush, which was felled and brought to market. When coal was discovered, Mr. Swan added this branch to his business, and also imported coal from Newcastle, New South Wales, for twenty-eight years. The business was afterwards conducted under the name of Swan and Son, but is now carried on by Mr. Swan's brother. Mr. Swan purchased “Mosgiel House”, Mosgiel—from the trustees of the late Mr. John Hyde Harris—and resided there for two years, and became a member of the Mosgiel Borough Council. For eight years he was one of the trutees of the Benevolent Institution, and was connected with the Caledonian Society for over a quarter of a century, holding the office of treasurer of that body for eight years, and that of president in 1896. Mr. Swan was married in 1857 to a daughter of Mr. John Brown, engineer, of Cornwall, and had one son and one daughter. He died on the 28th of January, 1901.

The late Mr. W. Swan.

Mr. Robert Chisholm, J. P. , was elected Mayor of Dunedin by a large majority, on the 29th of November, 1889, at the first local election under the extended municipal franchise. He held office during 1900–1901, and took a leading part in the patriotic movement that led to the prompt despatch of New Zealand troopers to assist the Empire in South Africa. Mr. Chisholm was chairman of the Royal Reception Committee, and was appointed one of the three Royal Commissioners in connection with the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York to Dunedin in June, 1901. To mark their appreciation of his services the citizens have had a full size oil painting of Mr. Chisholm hung in the Town Hall. Mr. Chisholm is elsewhere referred to as managing director of Scoullar and Chisholm, Limited, and also as a former member of the Dunedin City Council.

Mr. George Lyon Denniston, J.P. , was Mayor of Dunedin in 1901, during which the city was visited by the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York, now Prince and Princess of Wales. Mr. Denniston is a son of the late Mr. Thomas Denniston, who was one of the early sottlers of Southland. He is referred to elsewhere as Consul for Belgium, and in other capacities.

Mr. James Alexander Park was Mayor of Dunedin for the year 1902–3. He was elected without opposition, and had previously represented Bell Ward in the City Council for some years. During his mayoralty the celebrations of the King's Coronation were held in Dunedin, the Fourth Contingent returned from active service in South Africa, also the Otago detachments of the Eighth and Ninth Contingents, and peace was proclaimed. Mr. Park laid the foundation stone of the new tramway car-house, and thus inaugurated the service of the new electric tramways. After the wreck of the “Elingamite,” Mr. Park took an active part in organising the Shipwrecked Mariners' Relief Society of New Zealand. He is chairman of the Otago Fallen Soldiers' Memorial Committee. The Greater Dunedin scheme has found in Mr. Park a warm advocate, and he has also taken an active interest in the Dunedin Competitions Society. Mr. Park was born in Edinburgh, in 1854, and was educated in Dunedin at the Boys' High School, and at the High Street School of which his father, the late Mr. J. B. Park, was headmaster for twenty-nine years. He entered mercantile life in 1870. as junior clerk in the office of Messrs McLan-dress, Hepburn and Co., auctioneers, and page 107 twelve years later started in business on his own account, under the style of J. A. Park and Co. He is now senior partner in the well-known firm of Park, Reynolds and Co, auotioneers, Manse Street. Although an active business man, Mr. Park has managed to find time to interest himself in athletic sports of all kinds, and their organisations, with which he has been identified from his youth. His chief hobby is volunteering, with which he has been associated since 1867, when he became a lieutenant in the School Cadets. He afterwards joined the High School Artillery, and subsequently the B Battery. In 1883 he joined the Otago Hussars, of which he was Regimental Sergeant-Major until his appointment as Quarter-Master and Hon. Lieutenant of the No. 1 Battalion Otago Mounted Rifles, Mr. Park was married, in 1881, to a daughter of the late Mr. George Ross, of Dunedin, and has a family of twelve children. At the close of his term of office as Mayor, Mr. Park was presented by the present Mayor and members of the Dunedin City Council with an address and a massive gold ring, set in greenstone, the greenstone piece being engraved with the arms of the Corporation of Dunedin. The band of the ring was inscribed, “J. A. Park, Mayor, 1902–3,” and inside the band were the words, “Presented by the City Council.”

A View from Roslym.
Morris, photo.