Page:Municipal Handbook of Auckland 1922.djvu/51

 payers, they formed one joint proposal, and they were rejected at the poll.

In 1905 the Council resolved that the time had arrived for providing a Town Hall for the City of Auckland, and that such Hall be erected on the site already acquired for the purpose at the corner of Queen and Grey Streets, subject to the Council being enabled to acquire the additional land necessary, and being satisfied that no architectural difficulties existed to prevent the erection of a suitable building.

Negotiations were entered into for the purchase of the necessary additional land, resulting in the acquisition of Lots 2 to 7, 9 to 13, of Allotments 1, 2 and 3, of Section 29, of the City of Auckland, at the price of £13,301.

This additional land having been acquired, competitive designs were invited for the Town Hall, the premiums offered being:—

Forty-six sets of designs were submitted, and these were placed by the Council before a special Board of Experts, consisting of Messrs. W. E. Bush, A.M.I.C.E., City Engineer; H. C. Kent, F.R.I.B.A., of Melbourne; P. Oakden, F.R.V.I.A., of Melbourne; T. Mahoney and R. M. Watt, Architects, of Auckland.

These gentlemen, after spending seven or eight days in exhaustively studying the designs, recommended the