CITY COUNCIL.

Press, Volume XLVI, Issue 7441, 15 October 1889, Page 3

CITY COUNCIL.

An ordinary meeting of the City Council wm held last night. Present—His Worship the Mayor, Crs. Pradhoe, Gray, Manning, Gosa, Crooks, Cooper, Bonnington, Wood, Rowe, Scott andßeese. ; The receipts since the last meeting had Amounted to £889 7s 9d general account, :£7 3s 6d cemetery, £136 15s 3d suspense, £135 188 2d interest. Expenditure, £166 6s lid general account. Bank overdraft, £3336 15a 6d. ■ Cγ. Crooks presented a petition from ratepayers on the North belt, asking for an asphalt crossing at North street. He moved—" That the petition be referred to the Works Committee with power to act" - Cγ. Rowe seconded the motion, which &h the objection to the last four words by -jQr. Bonnington, was amended to read " to report," and carried. HThe report of the City Surveyor to the - Worka Committee on the question of the widening of the East belt was read, in which it was stated that the Trustees of the Cemetery had declined to give the Council the necessary width of land some while back. t The letter from the Church Property Trustees of the previous meeting in which 'the land was offered for sale wasagain read, 'and on the motion of Cr. Gray the consideration of the question was postponed j until the next meeting. j ' A letter from Mr Mac Donald, explaining what concessions were desired in respect !to their proposed electric lighting system, was read. The letter was referred to the Special Lighting Committee to consider and report, Cr. Gray and other Councillors objecting to the Committee having power to act, as the question was one demanding careful attention. ,/The Secretary of the Chrlstohurch Gas 'Company wrote that the Directors had; Suggested a free conference by way of permanently settling the gas question, .and asked the Council to appoint a Committee. The Mayor said the Special Lighting Committee had perused the letter, and were in favor of the conference. The letter was formally referred to the Committee to arrange for attending the conference. A letter from the St. Albans Council, suggesting that a distinctive alarm might , be given when a fire occurred in St. Albans, .was referred to the Fire Brigade Committee to report. : Mr Geo. Swan offered a email sum as rectal for the reserve next to his property. It was suggested that Mr Swarm should be allowed authority to send anyone off he found trespassing on the reserve. The letter was referred to the Reserves Committee, with power to act. ▲ letter was read from the Fire Insurance Association. It stated that at a general meeting the question had been diaSussed of the alleged infringement of the building by-laws, and that these seemingly -trivial infringements were becoming serious. Attention was drawn to the etorage oof kerosene, and instances were given where the building by-law was being infringed, A reply by the Town Clerk stated that a new by-law was being considered, which ■would get over the difficulties of the present one. So far as kerosene storage was concerned, the letter stated that the officer authorised to report on the accommodation had given a satisfactory report. Cr. Gbat remarked that he did not (think the building by-law was at all fairly ■administered. i The Mayor answered that the Council had certainly shut its eyes to some trivial eases because the cases had so often been 'thrown out of court Where, however,: the cases appeared to be glaring the officials took action. It was upon the 'reports of the officers that cases were stakenup. The officials, he believed, did Ihelrduty as well as they possibly could, and he did not think there was any 1 avoritism. v ! Cr. Prudhok did not know why the * lew building by-laws were not brought into operation. He moved that the be taken into consideration at Xrace. L' Tho Matob said that the by-law would ) placed upon the table. Further became necessary, for which fjreaeon it had not been printed, and he suggested that it should be referred back so the Committee. 1 The question was referred back to the ■ (By-Law Committee, with the addition of jthe names of Crs. Reese and Prudhoe. " J , The CMy Surveyor reported:—" In {compliance with instructions from the-; •Works Committee, I have endeavored to estimate the cost of putting the roads fithin the belts, where the Canterbury am ways cun, in a good state of repair, j id also the cost of maintaining the same* proper condition. I find there are about £our miles of road, and the cost of putting* the same in repair would be i! 480. This* bum would include the first year's main- i stenance, and to keep the same roads In' repair would cost annually £228. In ■arriving at the above results, I assume that the tramway, that is to say, the rails, rand sleepers, would be put back to a proper level and condition before the repairing of, Abe road is executed, as it would be very[inadvisable to break up the road after it is in order to repair rails and sleepers. An application has been received from the St. Albans Borough Council for permission to construct a water-tank under the footpath in front of the Carlton Hotel on the North? help, and the Works Committee recom-1 mend that the application should be granted, subject to my supervision." The report was adopted. The letter from the Canterbury Tramway Company, who asked for certain concessions respecting the maintenance of the roads, again came up for further consideration after the report of the City Surveyor. Cr. Prtohob approved of the Council taking over the maintenance on the figures given by the Surveyor. He moved to that effect The Mayor asked if the Council might not be'called upon to compensate the Company for damages if the cars were Injured through metal getting on the line. > Cγ, Gosa suggested that the Council should be careful about the conditions so as not to leave itself open to action for damages. It was eventually agreed that the Works Committee should prepare a draft agreement and submit the same to the next -meeting of the Council. His Worship the Mayor said- that at a meeting regarding the reception of his Excellency the Governor it was decided to present him .with an address, and it was left with the local authorities to draw up the address. .He suggested that Crs. .l&nning, Gossand Bonnington should be appointed the Committee, with his Worship to represent the Council. , [This was agreed to, and after granting several licences the Council adjourned,.