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The Mayor of Akaroa was the head of the municipal government of Akaroa on Banks Peninsula in New Zealand, and presided over the Akaroa Borough Council. The borough council existed from 1876 to 1957.

History

With the abolition of Provincial Government in 1876, Akaroa was proclaimed a borough in July 1876 and thus the Akaroa Borough Council was formed.

(rewrite) the Akaroa Borough Council held its first meeting on the 13th of September in the same year. Mr. George Scarbrough was the first mayor, and Mr. G. H. Watkins his successor. The present municipal building was erected about five years ago; it is of wood, in one storey, and stands in Blagueri Street. It contains the council chambers, the Mayor's room, and the Town Clerk's office. The Council consists of nine members and the Mayor. Business meetings are held fortnightly; councillors are elected every two years, and the Mayor is elected year by year. The present Mayor is Mr. H. C. Orbell, and the Councillors are Messrs T. E. Taylor, J. R. Newton, George Armstrong, junior, Charles W. Leete, George Checkley, E. F. Lelievre, A. R. Munro, W. B. Ingram, and H. Mottram.

house built for 1883 mayor

Past mayors

George Scarborough

George Scarborough (1876–77) was the borough's first mayor.

On 22 July 1876, Akaroa came of age. With the abolition of Provincial Government in that year, Akaroa now had to show it could organise its own affairs. As one of ten new counties it had an area of 914 square kilometres, 463 holdings and a population of 3722. Akaroa Township was proclaimed a borough and an election of councillors was called for. George Scarborough, who lived in an elegant home on the corner of Rue Jolie and Church Street, polled best and became Akaroa’s first elected mayor, serving a population of 642. Scarborough held office for only one year, most of which was spent instituting standing orders and bylaws. However this first Borough Council worked to get the Akaroa Baths started and put out tenders for the proper construction of Bruce Terrace, Church Street and Aubrey Street, (named after the only child of Charles and Helen Robinson who had lived, briefly, nearby).

A board of health, set up by the council in January 1877, tackled other matters which gave concern and which showed the less idyllic underside in Akaroa’s life: the disposal of offal, faecal matter and dead animals; the provision of earth closets and ash pits; the proper notification of diseases such as diphtheria, typhoid, small pox and scarlatina; and the disinfection, with carbolic acid, and of any houses where such sickness existed.

The council also prosecuted individuals for “Furious riding”. As the Akaroa Mail lamented in January 1878: “It is positively unsafe for women and children to walk through the main streets owing to the mad pace at which semi-inebriated equestrians and heedless boys race along, regardless of life and limb.

died 1878ish

Henry Watkins

Henry Green Watkins (1877–78)

Under Henry Watkins, Akaroa’s second Mayor (like his successors, William Penlington and James Garwood, only briefly in office) the formation of the streets and footpaths continued and a telephone link was put through to Christchurch. Tenders were called for a new courthouse in 1878 and the building opened in March 1880. Akaroa’s last resident magistrate, Justin Aylmer, died in 1885 and thereafter magistrates travelled out from Christchurch until the last court sitting was held in 1979.

Jacob Waeckerle

Christian Jacob Waeckerle (1878–80)

Waeckerle Bridges Waeckerle cottage

James Garwood

James Daniel Garwood (1880–81)

Thomas Adams

Thomas Adams (1881–83)

During Adam’s term, the famous hotel burnings took place. An incendiarist, never identified, burned down Waeckerle’s Hotel and badly damaged the Criterion and Bruce’s Hotel, all during the same night.

Alexander McGregor

Alexander Innes McGregor (1883–86 and 1897–1901)

Alexander McGregor, an accountant, also represented Akaroa in Parliament after defeating George Armstrong Sen. In 1888 and became senior Whip in the Atkinson ministry. A progressive and effective mayor, McGregor advocated a railway to Akaroa, saw the Akaroa High School begin in 1883, and George Haylock started a fruit preserving company up Grehan Valley. He also produced street lighting and in 1885, had a telephone link put through to the lighthouse at Akaroa Head.

In his second mayoral term, Alex McGregor showed no less a touch when he raised a loan which allowed Akaroa’s first high pressure water system to be installed. Fed from a 771,120 litre reservoir up Aylmers Valley the new pipe supply was turned on in mid-1902. Unfortunately McGregor, whose Council had seen out the old century with such élan, died in office in January 1901.

William Tosswill

William B. Tosswill (1886–88)

In Mayor William Tosswill’s term, beginning in 1886, the construction of the present main wharf was begun and completed in August 1888; and the Recreation Ground was established on reclaimed land. Once the north beach. The somewhat tottery Presbyterian Church was replaced by a new structure in 1886 and the original building moved along Rue Lavaud to a point opposite Rue Croix where it later served as office premises and is now holiday flats. The town held a jubilee celebration in 1890 and the Akaroa Rowing Club built its first boatshed, which was destroyed by fire three years later by the fire that levelled Daly’s store.

Beach Road bridge

mayor presiding

William Penlington

William Penlington (1888–91)

Herbert Clarke

Herbert O. Clarke (1891–95)

George Armstrong

Main article: George Armstrong (mayor)

George Armstrong (1895–96, 1907–22 and 1923–32), eldest child of George Armstrong senior. Three times Mayor of Akaroa.

The “Father of Akaroa”

George Armstrong’s three terms in office, totalling 22 ½ years, led to Akaroa becoming the most modern and best equipped boroughs in the country.

His list of accomplishments, with the support of a whole succession of councillors (notable among them Etienne Le Lievre), was formidable. The Technical High School, Public Baths, new tennis courts, considerable improvements to streets and footpaths, and the laying out of the Domain. In 1911, the year of George V’s enthronement, Samuel Farr’s Literary Institute Library was thoroughly revamped and given a new name, The Coronation Library. That same year saw the town provided with electric light

mentioned in caption

died 06 Nov 1932 in his 80th year.

NZETC

upload photo

Freeman Potts

Freeman Potts (1896–97)

Herbert Orbell

Herbert Clement Orbell (1901–06)

The mayor who succeeded Alex McGregor was Herbert Orbell, a partner since 1895, in Akaroa’s legal firm of Beswick Harris and Orbell. During Orbell’s period in office, which lasted until 1907, a fine burst of civic activity, the Esplanade extended, Rue Benoit regarded, and celebrations held in June 1902 to mark the end of the Boer War. The town go its first sewage system in 1903-4. A coursing Cruising Club and a beautifying Association were added to the Rifle Club, Boating Club, Farmers Association, Good Templars Lodge, Horticultural and Industrial Society, Jubilee Benevolent Society, Literary Institute, Oddfellows Lodge, Young Mens’ Christian Association and sundry church groups, which provided diversion enough for the men anyway. There was also a Railway League still agitating for a link with Christchurch.

Orbell

Etienne LeLievre

Etienne X. LeLievre (1906–07)

Etienne LeLievre in his brief six months in office organised an impressive Akaroa exhibit for the Christchurch International Exhibition in 1906-7. A feature of it was a model of the French blockhouse constructed by J.B.Eteveneaux. If Le Lievre’s mayoralty was the shortest in Akaroa’s history, his successor, George Armstrong jun., contributed the longest.

mayor during international exhibition

Fredrick Davis

Fredrick Davis (1922–23), (1932–46)

Fredrick Davis was the town’s baker- with 13 children, a baker’s dozen. Under his direction the town continued to develop its facilities as a tourist resort. Fairly constant pressure on accommodation was not helped by fire damage done to the Ilfracombe Hotel in 1928 and Garthowen in 1937. The secondary school, operating in the Technical building, had outgrown its foster home and the Education Board bought a new property on the corner of Bruce Terrace and Rue Jolie. The new District High School was opened in 1936. The new Hospital opened in 1923 and in 1938 E. J. Galt established the Akaroa Tweed Factory. In 1940 Akaroa held its centennial celebrations with Frederick Davis in charge.

Robert Bruce

Robert Bruce (1946–53)

During Robert Bruce’s mayoralty Akaroa picked up some of the momentum it lost during the war and work was done to improve the road to Christchurch. In 1948 the rowing regattas recommenced after a lay-off of eight years. The crayfish canning factory in Rue Jolie reopened until the advent of a freezing plant on the main wharf put it out of business.

William Newton

William A. Newton (1953–56)

Akaroa’s last mayor was William Newton whose father had been a councillor before him. In Newton’s time efforts were made to better the quality of the town’s water supply, the bus service was improved and the Akaroa Progress Association took fresh initiatives. In 1957 the borough was pressured into amalgamating with the county and the town’s business has since been administered by a Town Committee, or until 1989, the Akaroa Community Council. The Community Council’s two representatives took their place on the County Council alongside members for the Duvauchelle, Le Bons Bay, Okains Bay, Takamatua and Wainui ridings.

Newton was a horse breader

List of mayors

	Name	Term
1	George Scarborough	1876–77
2	Henry Watkins	1877–78
3	Jacob Waeckerle	1878–80
4	James Garwood	1880–81
5	T. Adams	1881–83
6	Alexander McGregor	1883–86
7	William Tosswill	1886–88
8	W. Penlington	1888–91
9	Herbert Clarke	1891–95
10	George Armstrong	1895–96
11	Freeman Potts	1896–97
	Alexander McGregor (2nd time)	1897–1900
12	Herbert Orbell	1901–06
13	Etienne LeLievre	1906–07
	George Armstrong (2nd time)	1907–22
14	Fredrick Davis	1922–23
	George Armstrong (3rd time)	1923–32
	Fredrick Davis (2nd time)	1932–46
15	Robert Bruce	1946–53
16	William Newton	1953–56