clearly at an end, but he was willing to remain in office to secure some resolution from the legislature of the Charter issue. On January 30, 1920, he wrote to Squires asking for an Immediate 91 decision on the matter. Squires' reply was not encouraging; the new Executive Council, he wrote, would have little time to study the bill before the legislature opened and the Charter would not 92 therefore be brought forward as a government measure. Gosling's reply on March 5 pointed out that the bill embodying the Charter was not originally meant to be a government measure; moreover, the members of the Executive Council could familiarize themselves with the Charter's provisions when the bill was read in the House. The task was "by no means such a stupendous one as you may think," he wrote to Squires. All that needed to be done was for the legislature "to take it up, 9 3 amend it, pass it, or reject it." Squires now gave way on the issue, arranging for an informal committee consisting of Gosling, two government representatives, and the four St. John's opposition MHAs 9 4 to make a report on the Charter to the Assembly. With the Charter now seemingly about to be passed at the 1920 session, Council in late June approached the government asking that the civic election scheduled for July be postponed. To hold an election in July, the Council argued,would deprive residents of the new voter qualifications proposed in the Charter. Instead, the election should be held later in 1920 with the new Council taking over on January 1, 1921. In the meantime, the municipality should be administered by a Board of Commissioners appointed by the Governor-in-Council. The government accepted this proposal and subsequently had legislation 9 5 passed for the purpose. On July 5 Gosling and former Councillors a Ayre, Morris, Mullaly, and Vinnicombe were appointed to the Commission. 376 Unanimous approval of the Charter by the Assembly followed; but the Legislative Council now posed a new roadblock. The Upper House took exception to the fact that the bill had gone through the Assembly in the last days of the session and without any debate. 97 It was an insult that the Assembly expected like action from above. As a result of this fracas Squires was forced to enact legislation further extending the life of the Board of Commissioners to June 30, 98 1921. Angered by the attitude of the Legislative Council, the Municipal Commissioners met on July 13 to decide what course of action they . 99 should take. Gosling, who had been elected Chairman, suggested a mass resignation on July 31, 1920, if the government had not persuaded the Legislative Council to cooperate; all the Commissioners except Mullaly agreed^ ^ For his part Mullaly believed that it was better to remain in office than turn the affairs of the town over to a new set of commissioners with little experience in municipal government. Although he approved of the Charter in general, Mullaly was strongly opposed to the sections of it which would disenfranchise taxpayers who were in arrears and give Council the right to shut off water to any householder who was six months behind in his tax payments. Later in July the Commissioners agreed to stay in office even though the Legislative Council was still adamant. The reason for their change of heart was the strong show of public support for the stand they had taken. They now also had the assurance of Premier Squires that the Charter would be re-introduced at the beginning of the 1921 session to allow the Legislative Council sufficient time to . 10 2 debate it. While these colony-level disagreements were proceeding, the Charter was under examination by the informal committee appointed by Premier Squires. That body made certain recommendations and others were effected by the Legislative Council during the 1921 session, the most notable amendment being the Legislative Council's removal of the section providing for biennial Council elections; in short the Upper House did not accept the argument that Council always had to have experienced members. The Upper Chamber also struck out the section of the Charter, put there no doubt, at the insistence of the Citizens' Committee, which gave the mayor and Council the right to divide St* John's into wards. 103 The Upper House conceded one important point. Under the 1902 Municipal Act Council was required to balance it budget each year and could not incur any indebtedness beyond the amount approved by the legislature. Under the 1921 Municipal Act Council was required to have only the approval of the Governor-in-Council in these matters; but its estimates still had to be presented to the legislature for public information. This change was made because Council, faced with less revenue than expected, had often found itself unable to keep within the bounds of its own estimates. The only alternative in these circumstances had been hasty cutbacks, a circumstance it was now hoped could be avoided by the simple procedure of having the Governor-in-Council approve further spending. The 1921 Act also retained the system of appraisal based on the rental market value; Gosling's original proposal for an appraisal system based on the construction cost of the property had apparently been dropped by Conncil as a concession to the Citizens' Committee before the Charter was presented to the Assembly in 1920. Those 378 features of the Charter which were embodied in the amendments to the 1902 Municipal Act made in 1915, 1917, 1918, and 1919, were retained in the 1921 legislation. These were the stricter controls over the installation of water closets, the institution of the City Tax, the right of Council to use its funds to build or assist in the building of houses, and the greater control given the munici­ pality over the development of building lots and over street improve­ ments. The 1921 Act also empowered Council to establish a Town Planning Commission, a Municipal Arrears Commission, and a public library, and to use its funds to provide or to assist in providing for the medical care of the newly-born and sick children and for the medical examina­ tion of school children. Other sections of the Act defined Council's authority over the registrations of dogs, horses, carts, and motor vehicles; the enforcement of fire safety regulations; and the control of the water supply system. Council was empowered to cut off water to any householder who owed taxes for a period longer than six months, payments being due on June 30 and December 31 of each year. In this regard, it could issue a distress on the private property of any taxpayer who was in arrears. Again, the Act included the provision in the Charter whereby persons who entered into leases in future could purchase the freehold title to the land being leased. Title was to be obtained by the leaseholder paying his ground landlord an amount equal to 20 years rent on the property. Finally, the 1921 Municipal Act recognized St. John's as a "city", whose inhabitants formed a "body politic and corporate."^^This change from 'town' to 'city' reflected Gosling's desire to stimulate greater civic pride. 379 Since the first election to be held under the new Act was scheduled for December, 1921, the term of the Municipal Commssion was once more extended, this time to the end of thè year.106 Gosling and Commissioner Ayre, however, declined to accept reappointment on the grounds that their business interests needed more of their time.10^ Isaac Morris, who had been on the Commission since 1914, 108 replaced Gosling as Chairman and then ran for mayor in the election of December 15, 1921. He was defeated - 2,052 to 1,476 - by the prominent St. John's merchant, Tasker Cook. Out of a field of 25, four councillors were elected who had had past experience: James T. Martin, Nicholas J. Vinnicombe, Samuel G. Collier and Charles W. Ryan. The two new members were P.E. Outerbridge, a partner in 109 Gosling's Water Street firm and Reginald Dowden, a real estate agent. With their election and the coming into effect of the revised Charter, St. John's entered a new era that extends to this day. At last the town was properly incorporated as a city! The metropolis of Newfoundland, however, was soon to lose the guardian who had guided its destiny for so long. Gosling, when he resigned as Chairman on June 30, 1921, attributed his retirement to the pressures of his business; his declining health was possibly a more important reason. For several years he had suffered from high blood pressure, which he blamed on his hard work for the Charter and the general welfare of the capital. Regretably, his health did not improve with his release from office. In August, 1923, he suffered from what contemporary medicine described as a severe nervous break­ down and retired to his native Bermuda. He died there on November 5, 1930. As his final benefaction, he left his adopted city his fine library, which became the nucleus of the Gosling Public Library of lie today. I Footnotes 1. Municipal Commission meeting, July 17, 1914, as reported in the Daily News, July 18, 1914; and St.J.M.C. Minutes, July 31, August 21, October 2, 1914; and Gosling, William Gilbert Gosling, 69-70. 2. Gosling, William Gilbert Gosling, 69-70; St. J.M.C. Minute October 27, 1914; "Report of Municipal Board for Six Months, June 30th to December 31st, 1914"; and "Report of the Municipal Board for the year 1915," published in the Daily News, April 8, 1916.