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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]
[prefatory note]
Before the institution of the City Council, Dunedin was controlled by a Town Board. The first election of this body took place on Monday, the 20th of August, 1855, when the following gentlemen were returned as the first Board: Messrs John Jones, James Kilgour, Alexander Rennie, James Macandrew, John Hyde Harris, William Henry Cutten, John McGlashan, Charles Robertson, and Robert Williams. With various changes of membership, the Board existed for ten years. Its last meeting was held on the 19th of April, 1865, when the members of the retiring Board were: Messrs Thomas Redmayne, John Barnes, Horace Bastings, Jabez J. Ham, David Miller, junior, Robert Murray, James F. McGuire, John Griffen, John Grey, James Turner, George Smith, and John Lovell. For the next three months, the affairs of the city were controlled by commissioners. The first mayoral election took place on the 21st of July, 1865, when Mr. William Mason was elected chief magistrate of Dunedin. Since then twenty-eight gentlemen have occupied the position. Mr. Mason held office for two years, when he was succeeded by Mr. John Hyde Harris, who was Mayor for a year. Mr. Thomas Birch occupied the chair from 1868 to 1870, and Mr. Henry Smith Fish filled the position for the three ensuing years, and subsequently for the two years, 1893–95. Mr. Andrew Mercer was elected in 1873, and Mr. Keith Ramsay in the following year. He was succeeded in 1875 by Mr. Henry John Walter, who was afterwards Mayor from 1878 to 1880. Mr. Charles Stephen Reeves was elected in 1876, and in the following year was succeeded by Mr. Richard Henry Leary, who held office also for the year 1886–87. Mr Archibald Hilson Ross was Mayor for the year 1880–81, and he was followed by Messrs James Gore, John Bryce Thomson, William Parker Street, Arthur Scoullar, John Barnes, William Dawson, and Hugh Gourley, each for a single term; but Mr. Gourley again filled the office in 1896–97. Mr. John Roberts was Mayor for the year 1889–90, and was followed, for a similar period in each case, by Messrs John Carroll, Charles Chapman, Charles Haynes, N. Y. A. Wales, E. B. Cargill, William Swan, Robert Chisholm, George Lyon Denniston, and James A. Park. Mr. Thomas Scott, the present Mayor, was elected in 1903.