CITY COUNCIL.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12965, 19 November 1907, Page 4

CITY COUNCIL.

Th* City Council «•» ** ■*{£• Present-The Mayor (pres.ding), qcj, W. H. Cooper, T. Gapes, J. &JM. T. N. Hor-Jey, C. A"iWf, •/ *«W er , 0. Taylor, 0. P- *W»» E* J' Parsons, J. Hyde, C. Wilhams H. B. Soronaen, and H. H. -* U «»»J' ..__ The Mayor stated thai ♦from tbe rurel area_ 4*»»red to.be Wrd by th* Council on dr*m»g. matters. . ______ . ..__. j-_ Cr. Allison moved: "Th** tbe deputation be heard in committee. »" Lid thero was a great deal W, P£ Sid on the part of the Council which they did not want to go ou . t » ** ** might bo likely to prejudice }t, The Mayor said Vat he did not think it was a good preoedent to CO into oommitteo on th* aubjpct. . Tho motion waa agreed to by eigne to six. CORRESPONDENCE. The Engineer of tho Drainage Board wrote with reference to restoration of the surface of streets over the eew©r trenches. Before the Engineer of the Board certified os to the balinco of money due to tho contractor .heasked tho City Surveyor to examine the streets, lt waa .lit** imprMtlp. able to leave the surf*** ** >t was UU« tii a reasonable time after the §ew©r» had been laid, and hi* experience was that within a comparatively short P©» riod things were in a satisfactory co»» dition. As to placing si* inches of metal on tbo top of the trench, ho considered it would be obviously vim fair to ask for a greater depth than was found before the excavation had b-en commenced, provided the surface was properly restored, or to put the ratepayers to the expense of such. Ho could not suppose th»t tha Comioil wished the cast of street maintenance 'to bo charged to funde* which were not allooatcd for the purpose, He was of opinion that the }nt_r«§te of the public and the Cpuucil werp amply protected. The Mayor said the Dreinege Board b.jke up the streets, and even when tuo metal waa put back, it did not make as good a job as before. The matter was referred to th© Works Committee to report, Tho secretary of the City and Suburban Burgesses' Afcsoeieupn wrote forwarding two resolutions passed by tiiat body, one urging tlie local authorities to make strenuous effort- to abate the smoke nuisance, and the other stating that whore eteel-grind-ing was carried on every possible effort 6_ould be mado to protect the health of tho operative*!. The letter was reoeived. A RAILWAY BJDJNQ. A letter wee read signed by seven ratepayora residing at Addington, urging that a railway siding should not be allowed to be placed aerobe Drydeq street, Addingtou. A deputation, asked th© Council to withhold tho permit for another meeting, in order that ratepayers might consider whether there would be any risk if the application wee granted. There was »n impression that jt would be dangerous to children- passing that way on their way to school. Th© depu» tation did not know exactly what we* going to bs done, end desired tb»t there should be some enquiry about < it. A great number of the ratepayers endorsed th® action Www by the deputation, One member of the deputation *eid that he would like to know what sort of building was going to be erected jn connection witb the elding. Tho matter an being diacueeed wee postponed till next meeting of tbe Council, THE BANK COHNBR. The Finance Committee reported that it had considered the natter of widening Colombo street at the Bank of New Zealand corner, which waa referred to it by the Council, and waa of opinion that the amount aeked for the necessary land, Tin., £16,000, wa# reasonable, and recommended that the matter be submitted to a poll of tha ratepayers. The report was agreed to without debat©, Of' A li«on dieeenttog, Cr. Coopor remarked that the mutter was "perfectly safe in the hands of the ratepayers." In reply to Cr. Allison, the Mayor stated, that necessary details in connection with the taking of the poll end security to be given would be »übmitted to c future netting ef the GENERAL. Tho By-laws Committee reported that an application for ft refreshment room license for the top floor for the High itrcet-Cbwobere had been refused on eoeount of the absence of uufficfont means of eioape In case of firs. The report was adopted, Cr. Forrester drew attention to the ba £ "*&.*& th * *<** J »» fl.«lridge, Cr. \Villiams said that the trespass of cattle on the road* in North-fit. ™ * was T6r y DlU< * complained of. Tho May6r said that these matters should be brought before the ranger and th© police. w • DRAINAGE MATTERS. I , Th 6, Unitary Committee reported I that, the Drainage Board had intimated that it had no funds available for assisting tho poorer ratepayers to con-nect-their premises with the sewer, and the Committee felt that unless some remedy was found numbers of people would be unable to take advantage c-f the' sewers on account of inability to find the mone* for cost of connection. The Committee under, stood that tho By-laws Committee had the question of framing a by-law to deal with tbi* matter under consideration. Cr. Cooper suggested that the Ceun. oil might lend some £10.000 to poor j peoplo to enable them to make con- i nectiona. i Cr. Hall said that the way it could j bo done was by putting a clause in the ' .Amended Drainage Act. by which "the Drainage Board could carry out tha ponnection*, the cost being s statutory cha-rgo on the land in priority te any encurribrences, the amount advanced to bo repaid by small instalments. This wns what had ocourred to the By. Laws Committee. A portion of a letter was read from tlie Drainage Board, stating that the Drainage Board Loan Act, 1875, contained a provision for lending money for connections, but this bed not been taken advantage of. and the money was being spent in connection witb the cewers. The report was adopted. Th© Council went into Committee to consider the report of the .Special Committee on the Drainage Board Act Amendment Bill, which was to the effect that the Bill be opposed. On resuming it was reported that the report had been rejected by eight votes to six. Tlie division on the question was taken in open Council aa under;—Tor. the report; Or*. Gapes, Allison, Cooper, Hyde, Pereone, and Horsley. Against: The Mayor, Crs. Longhnen, 1& illume and Hall. ' It wss resolved to teWrseb to Mr C. M. Gray «»t_ll» oESefUS d£ clmed to oppose the Bill,