During the years 1850, '1, '2 and '3, I had for colleagues, in addition to those of the above who were re-elected: aldermen John G. Bowes, Hon. J. H. Cameron, Q.C., R. Kneeshaw, Wm. Wakefield, E. F. Whittemore, Jno. B. Robinson, Jos. Sheard, Geo. Brooke, J. M. Strachan, Jno. Hutchison, Wm. H. Boulton, John Carr, S. Shaw, Jas. Beaty, Samuel Platt, E. H. Rutherford, Angus Morrison, Ogle R. Gowan, M. P. Hayes, Wm. Gooderham and Hon. Wm. Cayley; and councilmen Jonathan Dunn, Jno. Bugg, Adam Beatty, D. C. Maclean, Edw. Wright, Jas. Price, Kivas Tully, Geo. Platt, Chas. E. Romain, R. C. McMullen, Jos. Lee, Alex. Macdonald, Samuel Rogers, F. C. Capreol, Samuel T. Green, Wm. Hall, Robert Dodds, Thos. McConkey and Jas. Baxter.
The great majority of these men were persons of high character and standing, with whom it was both a privilege and a pleasure to work; and the affairs of the city were, generally speaking, honestly and disinterestedly administered. Many of my old colleagues still fill conspicuous positions in the public service, while others have died full of years and honours.
My share of the civic service consisted principally in doing most of the hard work, in which I took a delight, and found my colleagues remarkably willing to cede to me. All the city buildings were re-erected or improved under my direct charge, as chairman of the Market Block and Market committees. The St. Lawrence Hall, St. Lawrence Market, City Hall, St. Patrick's Market, St. Andrew's Market, the Weigh-House, were all constructed in my time. And lastly, the original contract for the esplanade was negotiated by the late Ald. W. Gooderham and myself, as active members of the Wharves and Harbours committee. The by-laws for granting £25,000 to the Northern Railway, and £100,000 to the Toronto & Guelph Railway, were both introduced and carried through by me, as chairman of the Finance committee, in 1853.
The old market was a curiously ugly and ill-contrived erection. Low brick shops surrounded three sides of the square, with cellars used for slaughtering sheep and calves; the centre space was paved with rubble stones, and was rarely free from heaps of cabbage leaves, bones and skins. The old City Hall formed the fourth or King Street side, open underneath for fruit and other stalls. The owners of imaginary vested rights in the old stalls raised a small rebellion when their dirty purlieus were invaded; and the decision of the Council, to rent the new stalls by public auction to avoid charges of favouritism, brought matters to a climax. On the Saturday evening when the new arcade and market were lighted with gas and opened to the public, the Market committee walked through from King to Front Street to observe the effect. The indignation of the butchers took the form of closing all their shutters, and as a last expression of contempt nailing thereon miserable shanks of mutton! Dire as this omen was meant to be, it does not seem to have prevented the St. Lawrence Market from being a credit to the city ever since.