you have made to me that I am permitted to associate with it the memory of my late brother, who gave to this city the best of his life, the best of his thought and work, and died in their service. His memory will be long cherished by all those who witnessed his public spirit, his long and his unselfish devotion to the interests of the people of Liverpool. I remember well the first time I entered this Town Hall. As a boy I had spent my summer holidays at the Edge Lane entrance to the Botanic Gardens, obtaining signatures to a petition to the Town Council asking them to purchase the land adjoining the Botanic gardens for a park. I obtained 62,000 signatures. I brought the petition down in a cab. I remember it was too bulky to carry, and it had to be rolled through the vestibule to the Town Clerk's office, which was then in this building. That petition was successful, and the Wavertree Park was the first of those beautiful parks which now girdle the city. My next appearance within these walls was as the proud representative for Pitt Street Ward. It serves to mark the flight of time when I call to mind that of the members of the Council when I entered it in 1868 only three now survive--Mr. Samuel Greg Rathbone, Mr. Philip Holt, and myself. Mr. Rathbone is already a freeman, and our roll of freemen would be greatly enriched if we could add the name of Liverpool's anonymous and great benefactor. Of the members who have since entered this Council, many have fallen by the wayside, many have retired into private life, some have gone forward to the Commons House of Parliament to bear their part in the government of the country; but a goodly number have, I am glad to say, remained faithful to the municipal government of the city, recognising that they can undertake no more noble or useful work. Municipal work is many sided: it is full of interests; it is very attractive, and even fascinating; and it brings with it its own reward in the satisfaction of feeling that you are doing good. It may lack the glamour and prestige of the Imperial Parliament, but it has this great advantage: the City Council affords greater opportunities of initiating and carrying into effect measures for the benefit of the people among whom we live, and we have the added advantage of seeing the growth and fruition of our work. Who can compare the Liverpool of to-day with the Liverpool of thirty years ago without feeling thankful for what has been done, and proud that he has been privileged to take part in the doing of it? It seems only the other day we were wrestling with such an insanitary condition of things that the unhealthiness of Liverpool was a byword, and the prevalence of drunkenness and crime caused this city to be alluded to as the 'black spot on the Mersey.' Great social and sanitary problems had to be solved, which for years defied all attempts at their solution--it was only when broader and more enlightened views