BOROUGH COUNCILS.

Press, Volume XXXI, Issue 4290, 30 April 1879, Page 3

BOROUGH COUNCILS.

! SYDENHAM. The usual fortnightly meeting of tbe Sydenham Borough Council was held on Monday night. Present, bis Worship the Major, and Councillors White, Andrew, P-vitt, Brown, Hall, Langdown and Charters. The minutes of the last two apecial and previous ordinary meetings were read and confirmed. COBBBBPOHDESC-'. A letter was read from the Commissioner of Railways for the Middle Island, asknowledging receipt of Council's letter re proposed alteration of the name of the Christchurch railway station to the Christchnrch and Sydenham railway station. The letter was ordered to be reoeived.

A letter was read from the clerk to the Christchurch City Council, enclosing a copy of the resolutions passed at the public meeting held on the 10th inst., re holding next session of Parliament in Christchuroh, and requesting the Borough Council to take such steps aa they might deem advisable to urge the Government to give effect to the resolution. The letter was ordered to be received. The following letter was read from Mr 0. F. Barker :— Sir, —I have tbe honor to enclose a copy of a letter received from the Under Secretary for Public Worka, stating that the consent of your Council to the railway obtaining the portion of tbe borough reserves applied for in the notice of 26th Jane, 1878, must ba obtai ed previous to Crown Lands Department tnairing the necessary exclusion from the Crown grants. I shall be glad if you will tako the necessary steps to obtain the Council's consent as early as possible. I have tbe honor to be, Ac, C. F. Bakeer, Secretary. His Worship the Mayor, Borough of Sydenham. Cr. Charters asked that the resolution passed by tbe Council npon tbe matter at a previous meeting be read, which being done, Cr. Hall moved, and Cr. Langdown seconded, and it waa agreed to—" That Mr Barker be aaked what equivalent the Council will get for their consent." A circular letter was read from the Regis-trar-General, asking for tbe information necessary for the compilation of Municipal Borough statistics for the year ending 31st March, 1879. Or Charters moved—" That the RegistrarGeneral be furnished by tbe town clerk with the information required." Or. Langdown seconded the resolution, which was agreed to. 'WORKS COSIMITTEB'a BEPOBT. The following report was read and considered seriatim :— Your committee have the honor to recommend that a bridge over tbe side channel of the Lincoln road be granted to Mr Hobden in terms of his request. An account of costs of the work lately completed has been sent to the Biccarton Boad Board, asking that Board to pay the half of it, amounting to £296 9s 7d. The proceeds of the sale of earth off these works haa, however, not yet been deducted off the total coat, bnt will be ao soon as the amount is ascertained and collected.

2. That a bonus of £10 10s be paid to the foreman of the works for extra work done on the Lincoln road and'other works.

3. That Mr Telford's request, that old Colombo road he repaired, be grantel, so far as filling up the low part of it at its junction with Gorn's right of way. 4. That the Gas Company be written to, directing their attention to the damage done to the Gas Works and Lincoln roads, on In? to the careless and unsatisfactory manner the trenches have been filled up which were opened for the purpose of main laying, and asking them to put the road in the same condition aa it was previous to their commencing the work of main laying. 5. Tour committee have the matter of the Sandridge contract still nnder consideration, and would ask the Council to give them power to do the work by day labor or accept a tender for same, as they may consider most advantageous. 6. The following is tke estimate of expenditure arrived at by your committee for the year ending 31st March, 1880 : — WOBKS AND PUBLIC WOBKB. £ s. d. Current metal contract 1000 0 0 Farther 2000 0 0 Wages 1000 0 0 Permanent improvement work ... 1500 0 0 lighting 500 0 0 Contingencies 500 0 0 £6500 0 0 Clauses 1, 2, 3, and 4 were adopted, and clause 5 was left to stand over until the finance committee's report waa read, the remainder of the report was adopted. LIGHTING CO_t_nTT_E'S BBPOBT.

The report was read as follows :— Yonr committee have to report that the casti_g of the lamp-posts ia being pushed on by the contractor, and that ths total number (twentyfive) contracted for will very soon be ready. A contract is also about to be let for the lamps, and taking into consideration the fast approach of the dark nights, yonr committee would recommend that the lamp posts be erected so soon as they como to hand in the following places—Colombo road, 3; Windmill road, 3; Montreal street, 3; l-tncoln road, 4—total, 13— in the positions formerly recommended by the lighting committee. Cr. White moved, and Or. Pavitt seconded— " That '.the report of the Lighting committee be received."

Or. Charters and Cr. Langdown seconded— "That the report be not received."

The amendment was first put and carried, and then the resolution, which was negatived.

Cr. Charters then moved—"That that portion of the works committee's report referring to the lighting be received," but hia Worship ruled that the motion could not be put in that form, and the matter then dropped. PHTAHCB COM-tIT-EB'S BEPOBT.

The finance committee's report, which showed the estimated revenue for the year ending March 31st, 1880, of £6619 4s Bd, and the expenditure for the same year was estimated at £6619 4s Bd. That portion of the report which referred to the receipts and expenditure waa adopted, but the portion referring to the estimates was referred back to the finance committee.

tbba.ubbb's bbpobt. The clerk read the following report :— April 28th, 1879. I have the honor to hand herewith the balancesheet for the half year ending 31st March, 1879, certified to as correct by the auditors, and to remind you that a special meeting of the Council must be held on Tuesday, the 13th May, to receive auditors' report. W. Citthbebt, Treasurer. With reference to the last clause of the works committee's report, referring to the estimate of expenditure, it waa resolved to refer it back to tbat committee. PBTIXIOK. A deputation of residents at Addington waited on the Council and presented a petition asking the Council to take over, form, and metal the atreet running from the Lincoln road, opposite Hansman'a hotel, to the Immigration Barracks, and offering to guarantee their fair share of the paymont of the cost.

The Mayor explained that the street would first have to be made before the Council could take it over, and that the money would have to be paid upon an estimate of the cost before the work waa commenced. He suggested that the petition should be handed to the works committee for them to confer with the deputation. Cr. White suggested that the works oommittee should be instructed by the Councfl. The matter was ultimately referred to the works committee, with power to act. DEF-TAHOH. A deputation waited on the Council with reference to the formation of Hawdon street. This waa the renewal of an old application, and the Council had refused hitherto to entertain any application until the street was widened. The spokesman of the deputation stated that efforts had been made to purohase land sufficient to widen the street to the required space, but the owners of the adjoining

property had refused to sell. He therefore thought that if it was impotsible for the residents to purchase the land, the Council might form the street at its present width. The matter was referred to the works com* mittee. KBW BBIBG- OTBB THB HKATHOOIB. The following letter waa read from Mr Stanley Edwards re proposed bridge over the Heathcote:— Christchurcb, April 28th, 1879. Bir, —I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your memoranda of the 16th and 26th inst., and regret that I was prevented from replying in time for the meeting of the Council on Wednesday last.

With regard to the report and sections prepared by Mr John Webster, C.E., which are already before the Council, I can only repeit that he considers that the proposed site is by far the best that could be adopted for anew bridge, and estimated rsughly that the cost of construction of the bridge, as shown by his drawings, would b3 about £iOO. The acreage of the land that would be required to form tbe approaches on i either side of the river is as follows:—Sydenham j side, 3r. 18p.; on the Heathcote side, 2r. 16p. Tot.*l, la. lr. 34p. The landowners are now willing to sell the above land at a very low price, viz., £100 per acre, or for a total of £146 ss; the total cost of the bridge and approaches, as proposed, would therefore be, in round numbers, £iOOO, but in all probability a less CDstly bridge would s ffice for the wants of tbe neighbourhood, and still be capable of carrying a tramway line. I have reason to believe that if the Council will express their readiness to provide, within a certain period, one-third of the cost of a bridge and approaches at the site proposed, fixing £1000 as the maximum cost of the whole, the other two-thirds of the cost will be provided by the district on the other aide of the river. Upon receiving a reply from the Council adopting the above proposal, I would lay it before a meeting of the inhabitants of the district, with a view to carrying the matter through. I may add that the offer of the land owners is not open for any definite period, and that unless it is accepted readily it will probably be withdrawn. I am, &c, -Staki/by Edwabds. The Clerk to the Council of the Borough of Sydenham.

Crs. Brown and Hall thought it was a very handsome offer, and worth the consideration of the Council.

After some discussion, it waa referred to the worka committee to report on. After the transaction of aome routine business, the Council adjourned.