Page:Municipal Handbook of Auckland 1922.djvu/32

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AUCKLAND MUNICIPAL HANDBOOK


beautiful scenery of the Wanganui River, the Alpine pleasures of the Tongariro National Park, and the beauties of Mt. Egmont. Connection with the South Island, where the fiords and cold lakes attract the visitor, is easily made.


MUNICIPAL DEVELOPMENT.

The municipal advancement of the City is also interesting. Auckland has the distinction of being the first Municipal Corporation established in New Zealand under the immediate sanction of the Royal Authority. The first meeting of the Council was held in November, 1851, Mr. Archibald Clark being the first Mayor. The Borough Council, as the Corporation was then called, did not last long, the disallowance in England of the "Land Fund Appropriation Act," from which the Council had expected to derive its principal revenue, causing its termination. The boundaries of the Borough were larger than the City's boundaries to-day, and covered the whole isthmus from the Waitemata to the Manukau, and from the Whau (Cox's) Creek to the Tamaki, an area of about 58,000 acres.

The City's municipal history during the remainder of the 'fifties and the 'sixties is not of much importance. "An Act to Provide for the Municipal Government of the City of Auckland" was passed by the Provincial Council in 1854, but was repealed two years later, and the powers contained therein were transferred to the Superintendent of the Province. Another attempt at

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