Monday, October 08, 2007
As mayor it is an honour and privilege to stand in the shoes of one of my predecessors, the late great Percy Dowse, for this re-enactment of the day Normandale was welcomed into Lower Hutt - or was that the other way around? Amalgamation Day stands as an important moment in the history of the city, and it’s just wonderful that here today, 50 years latter, we celebrate the event by faithfully re-creating the ceremony that ushered in the union. I congratulate everyone involved in organising today’s ceremony, and commend those who have entered into the spirit of the occasion. It now gives me pleasure to read the proclamation delivered by Mayor Dowse on Amalgamation Day – 5 October, 1957:
"Now therefore, I, Percy Dowse, as duly elected Mayor of the city of Lower Hutt, bring greetings and goodwill to my newly acquired citizens and assure them that without fear or favour my officers will see to it that they are soundly taxed for their own good and further that the sufferings of my new citizens should not be less than those of their neighbours, and for this purpose, I, together with my fellow councillors, demand entry to our new domain.
"And it is accordingly decreed that as from today all Normandale citizens are free to come and go within or about the precincts of the city of Lower Hutt, but at their own peril, but none-the-less subject at all times to the codes, ordinances, rules, regulations, by-laws, licences and red tape of the said city, all of which have been designed to constrain my citizens from falling into evil ways."