Page 57 - Bulletin 7 2003

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A few gentlemen met in Farmer Peck’s Hotel, Muizenberg, on Wednesday
evening to further the candidature of Mr. Neumann Thomas and Father
Duignam, but the ratepayers as a body have not been called together to hear the
views of these candidates.

Tonight Messrs. Scowen and Ellis will address a meeting in the Masonic Hall,
Muizeberg.

The Wynberg Times, 26 July 1902

In the election the Scowen and Ellis “Ticket of Two” triumphed, and the

following year, 1903, Scowen went on to become mayor. His election in 1904
for a third term as Mayor was the occasion for another celebration.

COMPLEMENTARY DINNER TO THE MAYOR

On Wednesday evening last the Municipal Staff gave a dinner, in the Council
Chamber to Mr. H. H. Scowen, on the occasion of his being elected for the third
year Mayor of Muizenberg.

In proposing the toast of the evening the chair [Councillor Gourlay] paid a high
tribute to the Mayor for his indefatigable efforts in promoting the welfare of the
Municipality. He (the chairman) was afraid that ratepayers did not sufficiently
appreciate the gratuitous services of their councillors or realise the amount of
valuable time they had to give to their duties. He had often wondered if their
Mayor ever found time to attend to his own business, as the amount of
Municipal work he had to perform just now was quite sufficient to keep him
engaged. He had the greatest pleasure in proposing the health of the Mayor. The
toast was enthusiastically drunk with musical honours.

Mr. Scowen, in replying, thanked those who had been good enough to invite him
there that evening; it was an honour that he appreciated very much, also that he
had been elected for the third year as Mayor of the Municipality. The position
was unsought by him and he would much have preferred to see one of his
brother councillors occupy the position. They were told that this was a small
Municipality. It might be small in wealth but it was big in acres, and
unfortunately those acres did not yield the money to make it the place they
would all like to see. They would like to have had a Town Hall, but there were
other things required before that. The first care was public health and so they had
provided a splendid water supply which would be a god-send for generations to
come. They had a reservoir capacity of 26 000 000 gallons which had cost less
than any other supply in the Peninsula. The next undertaking was a drainage
scheme, which with their limited borrowing powers presented financial