CITY COUNCIL.

The ordinary fortnightly meeting of the City Council was held at 7 o'clock last evening, there being present—His Worship the Mayor, and Ore. Ick, Grapes, Ayers, and Wilson. THB NEW MBITBEBS. Ore. Gapes, Wilson, and Ayers signed the usual declaration. THB LATE BBSIGNATIONS. The Mayor proceeded to read the following correspondence, the letters being read in in the order in which they bad been received :— September 12. I herewith resign my seat as a member of tho Christchurch City Conncil. I am, yours most respectfully, J. G. EUDDENELAtr.

September 13, I beg to resijrn my seat as s member of the City Council of Christchurch. Your obsdient servant, William Badcliffh.

I beg to tender herewith my resignation of my seat in the City Council of Christchurch. I have the honor to remain. Yours obediently, William Peatt. September 13th, 1878. Dear Mr Mayor,—The result of yesterday's election convinces me of the scant consideration the members of the City Council receive at the hands of the ratepayers. In the exercise of their right, they select their representatives, and it is presumed those gentlemen in whom they have most confidence are placed in office. I had hoped to have aided in the early accomplishment of several important measures, such ae securing a good water supply, the erection of enitable Municipal offices, and tho utilisation of the city reserves; bnt I do not suppose that the electors have any deeire that the late Conncil ahould undertake these useful works, and I hereby resign my seat in the Council. .Remaining yours truly, J. P. Jameson.

September 13th, 1878. I hereby resign my position as city councillor. I am, sir, yours, &c, A. W. Bickeeton. His Worship stated that he had that morning received a letter from Cr. Radcliffe, which he would now read to them, and which ran as follows :— Badc'iffe's Hotel, 16th September, 1878. Dear Sir,—ln consequence of a wrong inapresaion circulated through the city that I resigned my seat in the Council in consequence of Mr Wilson's election, I beg to withdraw : t, and will take my seat as usual at the Board. My only reason was ill-health, and unless I improve I certainly will resign, and so enable ono stronger to attend to the interests of the city.

William Badcxiffe. To the Worshipful the Mayor of Christchurch, Tho Mayor said that he was exceedingly eorrj to hare to make the statement which, he was'about to do, but it was only right that the truth should be known. Within half an hour of the poll being declared, Cr. Eadcliffe had informed him that he intended to resign, in consequence of the election of a certain gentleman. Two other Councillors had also heard him make tho same remark. What had been the motive of Cr. Eadcliffe changing hia mind, as was ehown by the letter just read he (the speaker) could not of course say. He was very sorry that Cr. Kadcliffe should have written tnat letter, in which he aeoribed his resignation to his bad

health, which wa, rntainW^T^""" , cordance with tho truth.' ul \ ««• have kept this m»ttor to !,im s ,l t been for the .t-itcmonl. that ffif, "? ' tnot thep.bhV, »nd which he wnfeS 10 imperative on him to epeuk out eecmod to prevail thuti a oouneiUn, f» withdraw hi. roMß, w tio n , h,,tft tor Mβ soon Msurh reseat i-jnc'im l,0 ' (ll»Ma y o,;.h. n dort e g w feS' be a member of the Council Tu ta moment such a letter reached him it t Tf J- f duty to txiko eeriain .tew h,, fro*h elwtion. His w-i?"* 0 * mimical with the Returnim-bITWr .l? 1 ? , hi* turn took step., for a fresh election i* ' a cordanee with the, Act. uun "»&j. Cr. Wilson did not see how it could t». -~ that theresignations had occurred tk" his election, when it was a fact that t» 1 them had taken place on the 12th a d a , 0 >! fore the election. [It was cxoUin-d ??* Wil.on that tho date of thejSKi?' 12th.] Hβ would very much like wi' whut tho assumption was founded thatlhp reflijjnutione had taken place through his (r speaker's) election. It was quite "clear til!! Or. Eadeliff?'. letter tt,a t q that man had resigned from a wholly different cause, and even after resigning he Z\ withdrawn that resignation, which vfiU. drawal, he considered, ought to haTo been accepted. He maintained that neitae- & Radehffie nor Ruddenklau had reiimcS through hie election, and he felt nuiu & t loss to understand why euch a reason had been aesigned. He considered, i n M it defence, he was bound to mako this etat«" mont.

The Mayor considered Cr. Wilson wiu out of order. The mere rending of the letters of resignation did not call for a diecuesion. The mutter then dropped, and the Council proceeded to business.

PINANCB. The Town Clerk reported the rccoiof* during the week as follows:—Week ondL August 31st, £552 Is 7d j Board rate, £211 15s lid; week ending September 7th, £550 14s IOd ; Drainage Board r»t» £126 12s 6id; balance Dr., £HB2 11. two weoks' receipts, £1132 16a 5d ; rote iiCL'junt balance, £370 15s 2d ; bill* mja £269 12a 6d ; bills to bo paid, £177 12s Id. surveyor's report. No. 1. Two pieces of chnunclUng in ColomV Bli-eot. between LinhfieUl aud Oiukol etreata have been Iml by direction of tho works com! naittoe.

No. 2. Messrs Scott.Brothers have comment to-i:iy to fix the irou railing round the Gofe statue. '

No. 3. The works committee desired me fo report on the subject of a letter written b; Jf r B. IX Thomas, claiming compensation for "an accident which occurred to a horse on OiforJ ttirrice. The enu'o of the accident was the sinkiug of the road, in consequence of tae nti having oxcavutod u tannel across the roidaaj alongside a culvert about turoo feet frata tin surface of the road. A niinilnr accident occurred at tho same place from tho mime cause about tin years ago. A brick culvert or large pipes laid in pluee of the wooden culvert might prj. vent a recurrence of the uPciHeut. Annexed hereto is a list of building licenaa granted since the 27th of last month. O. Walkden, City Surveyor, The re port wae adopted. MAYOEAI, STATEMENT.

His Wowhip eaid the Oounoil would «■ member that they had made application loi a reserve of 1500 acres of land, and thitt certain adjoining borough had raissd en objection to their getting it, on fti« pavrod that the Borough of Sydenham and n&«j had an equal interest in the land in quwtioa, Hβ (the speaker) had an interview with the Minister of Lands upon the subject, who «sj oonvinced that the claim of the Sydenham Borough was not a just one, and that tlw reserve could not be used by them for the purposes intended. He was glad, thotvfon, to inform them that a reserve of BGO Acre; would be handed over to the city of Ohriit; church, and a Bill v ou\d be introduced into Parliament giving them full power to deal with it. In tho course of tho oaetb| ,e petition, signed by some sixty residents oEtas Springfield and Caledonian roads and the vicinity, would bn read to them, asking tta Oounoil to annex that portion of the district to the Borough. He would like to correct an erroneous impression that was abroad in certain quarters, and that was that the city rates were 6s 4d in the £. They could easily imagine why such a statement had be«n made and with what objeot. He would tab that opportunity of contradicting it mosi flitly. Their rates wero Iβ 3d, viz., Is forth) ordinary rate, and 3d the special rate, end lot this special rate they had thoir drainage, &c Aβ a matter of fact the ratepayers would gain by being joined on to the city. There vrm several notices of motion to eomo befew them, some of whioh, would probably ,be dropped, as the originators of them were not now in the Oounoil. With regard, however, to a motion given notice of by Or. Briggi in reference to the revision or the rales, be thought it very necessary that it ehoald be carried out, and he therefore hoped one of tki present councillors would move it, ■. • ; NEW BULBB, Or. lok then moved the resolution standing in Or. Brigge , name. Hβ thought if t-he present members had gone through tho rule they would find that everything had bete provided for. They had, too, been approved by the city solioitor, and if carried, tte Council could not but feel the benefit of it

The motion was seconded by Cr. Ayers. Cr. Wilson thought the rales should notfe passed hastily. It would be better to all;» the motion to be postponed, to give memtei time to make themselves acquainted fri& them.

After some discussion, Or. WUaon mored as an amendment—" That the motion be passed until the next meeting o? tho Council" The amendment was not seconded.

Tho resolution of Or.lofcwa* then put and carried, tho only dissentient being Cr.Wileon. MBTAI. On the motion of Or. lok,;it was resolved to aciept the offer of Mr J. i. Wilson for the supply of 900 yards of broken mstal at 9» a yard. ' ; AOOOtrHTB. On the motion of Or. Gapes, the Major and councillors were authorised to examine the accounts previous to payment, ' THB GAS. A letter waa read from the Qμ Company referring to the complaints which had been made as to the inferior quality of the gia supplied to the city lamps, and enclosing a list of bi-weekly testa made by the photometW from June Ist to August 2Gfcn. The""J«*t» stated that tho average of twenty six -teite gave an illuminating power equal to 18192 candles, or 13£ above the London standard. h Cr. Ick took the opportunity of stating it was an oversight on tne part of the worli committee not having consulted Or. Wihots in the matter of moving the lamp near Gobb h seeing that it was erected during Cr. Wileou'* mayoralty. Or. Wilson said he was quite eat«fl*d with the explanation. Or. Gapee did not think the explanation was at all necessary. The works committee had a perfect right to remove any public lamp if they thought proper to do so. The Mayor also was rather sorry the matter had been brought up before the Council at all. Cr. Wilson said aa a matter of fact; tns lamp in question had cost him i}2s. THB lUTJIB. A letter was read from Mr William Garrard offering to loase the Ooiporation baths for £1 a week, from October Ist to March Blsfe next. It was resolved to call for tenders for the renting of the baths for the period referred to. NBWSPAPBB STALLS. A petition was read from Messrs Pope, Lavender, White, Atkinson, Lake, Wood, Crerar, and Brad well, booksellers, aeHog the Council, to withdraw the permission given to various persons to erect stalls for the sale of newspapers. The Mayor said permission had been given to two pereons to erect suob. stalls far tw sale of newspapers. Cr. Gapee thought it would be ae well U> let this matter stand over till they had ft M* Council. Hβ moved a resolution tow 1 * effect. * , The motion wae • econded by Or. »do agreed to. •

THB 3AJZ.WAY. _._,:■ j A letter was read from Mr J. W. Treadwell on the Bubjeot of the Council faroraWJ taking into consideration hie scheme « bringing the railway into the city. Itw&e decided that the matter was outsKW the jurisdiction of the Council. THB SINKING *UND. . _~ , In reply to • letter from the Sinking J<n» Commissioners as to the investment of tw sinking fund now accrued in the B*nr« New Zealand, the Council resoired to «q«» the Commissioners to inreet the tvai* : \»*»> in good freehold security. THE SrDBNHAM COTOCIL. A letter wae read froml the . Jfr<g*s Borough Council, asking un&r wast par*«

] 7o« the Citv Council ba?e their claim •"•"iSbt Sydenham of £*) for keeping tor on the " rural » side dw ? Town Belt, alw asking wLich of South Belt the City Council conM be rural-north or south. if the Sydenham Borough „ ,;« thoueht the city wss eom 2 to C °?k«P S the belt without any I»jm«.t, *** LT thev were disabused of that ides the looaf *|/ thought the beat thing that eiuld do was to take possession of j PSfStaof the belt. The Heathcote Bo*rd | to w arrangement as to keepingthe *? ££•£ the ro*dl clean. It was hardly "Sw to enter into a correspondence as to "FTZ*a*" ra»i" aide of the belt r v lT*» decided to take no action in the Sft£t * r ' HXATHCOTE EOAD BOABD. . from the fleathcote Road Board Z*a asking that the present arrangement 7?JSb& to the «de channel, on the East *? r irSt7hould continue. X Ce cSysurveyor wa, instructed to take a neoMsa" steps for carrying out the wuhee Utter tni read from the city solicitor, JjJnea table of cab stand*, which he sugshould adopt. **«» Ceoacil then rescinded the table of j. J. m aereed to on a former occasion, end £2?3 tables encloied by Dr. Foster, forthwith. fyoelition referred to ty hie Worship at an earlier «Uge of the meeting 'I'u W ould be in favor of all the muniwkearoand the citj bem« annexed, so as 2£STone powerful municipality. Still, he iariHinove-— "That the consideration of the S be deferred until there was a fall !!SLr of the Council, and (hat m the meanshould mate themselves acwith the locality in question. 9 Eie motion wm agreed to unanimously. A CLAIMA letter was read from Mr E. D. Thomas, »*"£s«££ iJE Showing to the very defective state of ttecSVert at the corner of Hereford street "it let the matter etand over till a fuller meeting. DfSPBCTOB'a BBPOBT. The report wa» r id and adopted. Several cab licenses were granted. jronoE of hotios. Cr Wilson gave notice to move at the next meeting— "That the iurveyor be instructed to make an estimate of the probable cost of meeting » bridge for wheeled and passenger traffic over the Avon, to the cemetery and populous neighborhood adjoining Barbadoes itreet" _

THB SfARKBT EKSEBVE. Cγ Ick moved —"That the plan of the jnsrkrt reserve attached to the Bill be altered ja a-eordance with the reserve as it stands now'showing the roads through it—viz., Oxford terrace and Victoria street." The motion was seconded by Cγ. Wilson. After a good deal of discussion, the motion ttss carried. The Qeoßtft adjourned at a quarter past ten o'clock. ■