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22
Seventeenth Report of the Council.
(Year ended 31 st March, 1931.)
Mayor.
At the Annual Meeting of the Council held on November 9th,
1930, Alderman Horace W. Smyth was elected Mayor of the
Borough for the ensuing year.
Ex-Mayor.
It was thereupon resolved unanimously :—
That the best thanks of the Council be accorded to the retiring Mayor (Councillor
Arthur Leonard Bateman) for his valuable, painstaking and untiring services
to the Borough during the past year, and also to the ex-Mayoress for the gracious
and willing assistance rendered by her during that period.
Valedictory Address of Councillor A. L. Bateman, J.P. (Mayor of
Camberwell, 1929-30.)
Delivered at the meeting of the Council on October 15th, 1930.
Aldermen and Councillors,-—Another year has passed into history, but
this past year has been the most eventful of my career.
It has always been my conviction that every man and woman in this life should
be imbued with a spirit of ambition, especially if they are to be of any service to their
country, and to enjoy the fellowship of men.
I confess to you that it was my great ambition in life to rise to the highest and
most respected position in the Borough of Camberwell, and I feel as much pleasure
at the close of my civic year as I did on the day of my election to the Mayoral
chair.
The retrospective fills me with pride and a sense of pleasure that I have been
honoured and supported in whatever sphere my office has taken me during the
past memorable year.
The year to me has been no sinecure. It has been filled with hard work, but
it has also been full of interest. I looked out on the year with apprehension, but
now that I have so happily completed my Mayoral year, I feel proud of the success
that has crowned my efforts.
It was a glad morning in my career when the bells of St. Giles' rang as a prelude
to the Civic Service which was held to commemorate my Mayoralty and which
deeply inspired me to the high ideal of service to this important Borough.
During the past year I have felt seriously the claims of the poor children of the
borough, and nothing has given me greater pleasure than the joyous sounds of the
children's laughter.
I, therefore, determined to do all that could possibly be done for the less
fortunate little ones, and with the kind co-operation of the management of the
leading cinemas I was able to give some 7,000 poor children a Christmas treat and
to present each a toy. These Christmas treats inspired me to go all out for these
youngsters.
I therefore made an appeal to personal friends ; and also to Mr. Wilson, the
President of the Showmen's Guild, who gave me a Fair for three days : and the
Management of the Camberwell Palace who gave me the use of the Palace for a