Page 67 - Bulletin 7 2003
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the Supreme Court action, which had failed. Gourlay later withdrew this
proposal, but it is clear he was taking strain from all the problems that had
developed.
Gourlay was also responsible for the initiation of the Royal Road Power Station
and the Pump Station at Kalk Bay, which is now the Kalk Bay Community
Centre. He also had the added problem of finishing all the kerbing and guttering
of the Main Road after the contractors Riebeeck Quarries went into liquidation.
Another of his problems was overseeing the erection of the gantries by the Cape
Government Railways on Fishery Beach for the protection of the fishermen's
boats. Gourlay appears to have handled all these problems with great skill,
especially as the Cape Colony was suffering an economic depression.
He also approved the introduction of trout fry into the Silvermine Reservoir by
the W. P. Angling Association, but regrettably the multitude of frogs at the
Reservoir ate all the fry. It was he, also, who in 1903 had moved that the
reservoir be named after former mayor Hansen.
His resignation from Council was greatly regretted and the councillors made
every effort to persuade him to stay on, but to no avail. This move, more than
anything else, indicated the high respect in which Gourlay was held. He died
aged 83 on 2 June 1934 leaving a wife and two daughters from a previous
marriage.
Mayor R. Haworth 1907 - 1908, 1910
Rick Haworth was Mayor on two occasions from October 1907 to August 1908
and February 1910 to August 1910. On each occasion he accepted chairmanship
of the council with a certain degree of reservation. First, after Gourlay resigned
in October 1907, and then after Rutter’s retirement for health reasons in
February 1910. Each period was short, the first for 10 months and the second for
6 months. His first Mayor’s Minute of August 1908 noted “the prolonged