the Works Minister, Bill Power. At the ceremony at Rosalie, de Valera said "...the new school was part of the evidence of the magnificent works of charity and community effort that he had seen in every capital of the Commonwealth." On 2 October 1949 Duhig formally opened the new school building which had cost £35,000. The school closed in 2008 despite considerable protests from families currently and formerly associated with the school. The school buildings are now used as the Lavalla Centre, a conference and meeting facility. In the early 1960s Lord Mayor Clem Jones of the Labor Party embarked on an ambitious programme to "sewer" Brisbane and within five years all the residences were sewered. Occasionally "outhouses" can still be seen in back yards. Following on from that over the next 10 years or so bitumen was laid to the sides of all roads. Bitumen used to extend to curbs only on the main roads. The 1960s saw the first steps of inner Brisbane moving away from a "country" town to an urban city. Until December 1968 electric trams, operated first by the Brisbane Tramways Company and later the Brisbane City Council, operated along all four main thoroughfares in the suburb. A tram depot (garage) was located on Latrobe Terrace between 1915 and 1962, when it was destroyed in one of Brisbane's largest fires. The cause of the Paddington tram depot fire is not known however arson and public corruption has been rumoured for years. Sixty-five of Brisbane's trams were destroyed which was a large proportion of its fleet. After the fire Old Dreadnought trams were pressed into service, and eight replacement (Phoenix) trams were built, but Lord Mayor Clem Jones began to close lines almost immediately. The destruction of the depot is generally seen as the beginning of the end for Brisbane's tram system, providing the justification for the subsequent closure of four tram routes, the gradual encroachment of bus operation on other tram routes with the final closure of the tram system occurring on 13 April 1969. The 1970s reflected the new ethnic mix in Paddington and though still a working class area many Italian restaurants opened in the area as did various "fish and chip" shops, delicatessens, and tailors. Though hardly cosmopolitan by Melbourne and Sydney standards, Paddington along with New Farm and West End, was at the forefront of exposing traditional Brisbane residents to cuisines