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combination and better government of certain Municipalities in the Cape Peninsula.” Local

councils met for the last time during August and on 1 September elections took place in all 9
wards to elect the 43 Councillors who would form the new Council. Neither Wynberg nor

Simon’s Town were among these. Wynberg joined in 1927 but Simon’s Town remained an
independent municipality until 1996.

Cape Times, 1 September 1913.

KALK BAY MUNICIPALITY
_____________

Last Meeting
_______

The expiring council of the Kalk Bay Municipality met for the last time on Friday
afternoon [29 August 1913] at Muizenberg, when the Deputy-Mayor (Councillor Pocock)
presided, there being present: Councillors Gentry, Wege, Cooper, Gourlay, van Blerk, and
Brown, as well as the Town Clerk (Mr D J Scott), the Electrical Engineer (Mr George
Swingler), and the Acting Engineer (Mr Ford). [Mayor Delbridge was at sea on a trip to
England.]
As you all know, we, as a Council, will cease to exist after Monday next, and the
Municipality as a separate corporation will be a thing of the past. On and after that date we
shall form part of the larger Unified Municipality of the City of Cape Town, and though we
are about to take our departure, I think you will all agree that we do so full of hope for the
future. We are about to bequeath to our successors what we have every reason to suppose will
be looked upon as a most valuable heritage. We may not be able to claim that we are in all
respects a model Municipality, but we have passed through very trying times and have had to
encounter many vicissitudes. When we take a retrospect of our somewhat brief existence of
seventeen years, we have to plead guilty to various sins of omission and commission; but we
can at the same time point to certain improvements and developments which stand to our
credit. Fifteen years ago when I had the honour of presiding at this Council board as Mayor,
we had neither water nor drainage, and the streets were badly lighted by a few paraffin lamps.
I am reminded that one of my last acts as Mayor was to preside at a public meeting of
ratepayers convened for raising a loan of £20,000, for the purpose of obtaining a very
necessary supply of water. Of course there was opposition to the scheme, as unfortunately
there always is to anything in the nature of improvements, but the proposal was adopted, and
we have to-day a plentiful supply of good, wholesome water – more than sufficient for
present requirements. Our catchment area is, however, capable of supplying us with a much
larger quantity of water than is at present conserved, and in the near future it is hoped that
steps will be taken to increase our storage capacity. In addition to our water supply, we have
for some years past practically completed our drainage scheme, and though this is perhaps
capable of improvement, it is an incalculable boon, and an absolute necessity in the interests