Municiple Council.

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 50, 24 June 1875, Page 5

Municiple Council.

\-v* ' .:yJyryJ\ : ,y A y'^yJJ ~ r y i .The, usual, fbrtnighly meeting; < v pf ; .!,t*]ae-! Balclutha .Town *" ! 'G6uh'cii./.wa9'';hindlin 'tne Council Chambers W 1 uesday evening. ; "'.! : There were" present' his .Worship the. May or , and Councillors Stewart', , Mason, and Dr Smith. - : . ;> „' The minutes of previous meeting were read and confirmed. - ' ; ; '■'■■'■' An account— -Messrs Luke, o\Neil, and' Co. for fencing the 80 acre section on the north side of the river, Lll9 3s ;6i-:wa3 handed in. Mr Mason explained that he along with the surveyor had inspected the work,;and found thatf it would be completed in another day or so; but the. men wishepVtb get the account passed, so that they ! might 1 /get away so soon as they had finished; A ; Mr Dunne said he understood, the men had another job which they required to proceed with at once. It would therefore be very hard to keep them waiting '■■ idle . about the township for another fortnight, iv order to get, payment from, the Council. He therefore moved that the account be passed, conditionally upon the surveyor and works committee' certifying to the work being compltted. \> The motion was seconded and carried. :: The clerk read a 1 memo from" Messrs Briscoe and Co., intimating that' 'the eight ton weighbridge ordered by the Council had been shipped by the Strathmbre, which: might " be expected ;to arrive .at h "Port Chalmers in' the course of r three weeks. They, also enclosed tracing of the foundation required to be prepared for -the machine, so that the same might be got ready against its arrival. The Mayor said it was for the Council to say where the „ weighbridge was, to .be placed. It the site were fixed; the tracing could- then be placed: in the hands oi a^ tradesman to prepare the foundation. • Mr Stewart suggested the desirability oi delaying fixing the site in the meantime, to affordJCouncillors time to think over the ; matter. Mr Dunne said the citterns would no doubt look upon the weighbridge W a great boon to the township, and as they had to pay for'it, he thought' it was only righf that they should be invited to suggest a site. j&fter the machine shall have been erected, he thought it ought to ; leased to some one, and that it should be compulsory that all produce brought to 7 the township for sale should be Weighed. The Mayor said that- to enable the citizens to suggest a site it would her necessary to call a public meeting;. Either this pculd be done or .the Council could fix the site themelves. After some further remarks, Mr Dunne's : suggestion as to consulting the ratepayers upon the subject. was agreed to. An account— John Finn; 1112* 10 i, for timber supplied by Mr Biin for.gates, etc., in connection with the lower reserve— was passed for payment. A letter was read from the Provincial Secretary, dated 12cb inst., ie reply to one from the Town. Clerk reque ting that certain reserves set apart; for the Muni-' cipality should^ be transferred" to* the Council. The ; Provincial Secretary indicated tbo.-e reserves which could be so. transferred, while others : specified by the Town Clerk were set apart for railway ; purposes ; some were sold, while in the case of one— -the eighty acre reserve block VII. — the^ General < Government; declined to set it apart. ; for the Municipality. , The Provincial Seeretarv also requested that a tracing of the 100 acre reserve on tbe north side of'Hasboroughfioad be forwarded for his informatiori- .The clerk was instructed to forward the tracing referred to, and also to communicate with the ; Government with i reference to certain reserves regarding which mistakes had evidently arisen. * Mr Dunne ; said he thought the Council should now reconsider their decision re-; garding the mode of leasing the 80 acre reserve, with a view to the Council being reimbursed the sum they had alreadyexpended in fencing it in. He suggested that the Council should lease it at so much per annum, the tenant, to be bound to give it up when required either by the Government or the Council. He had no doubt, by the exercise of a little tact and energy, they would yet get the reserve handed over to the Municipality^ but in the meantime it was a pity to leave it unproductive, more especially seeing that., the Council .had f expended upon it large sum of money.' * Dr Smith said 'it' would' be' necessary before leasing the ground to get permission fromtheGovernmenttodoso; The Council, he said, could* not lease ground that did' not belong to them, and with which, they/ had nothing to do. , , <.. ; . A-.\-n «■■* Mr Dunne said the Government could; not give them permission to lease it, and unfortunately the Council bad fenced it in ; and wanted back their money; ! i Dr Sfoith said ; ho man would give a penny for it, seeing that the Council had: nd right to it,-, and coild ? give no tenure dfv , title. ,;The honest and , .fltraightforward ( course ';was to: explain r ihe ( . whole circumstances to theGbyerhmeht. J. J' ; A .?; A Mi Dunne 'said fie knew quite W^U par- ; ties ' #ould ; ';' leaed j the .ground" from itis'l CounciKatia^giye'a good rent: for it under the condit'dnVhe suggested. > !w; A ''-A ..: rr The Maydr thought it would be judicious: to explain the4mat,ter to the Government, ' ancf a Jfc permission jio uae ,tbe \ ground in _ s : the, meantime^ seewg thay hacl fenced ii'iaj ; "ffaviif^seCh" the; ground set apart 'Jfox'i. public purposes, the fconiideredf ; and reasonably so, that-they^ha'd^rigWid^ ,it He belie ved ; if the matter were 1 properly < iexplainedvthe ' Gd vernment -r- would rat/jallt : eyentai: allow ; ihe .OounjjUi to, use it in the; ;mejmtime..7^;,^ ; „A A a>A'jA-^ -:V& Mr Dunne ja^^t,althb i^;jth« t C|iiQiu : cil !ea3ed it oh therterms he proM would incur no resppnsibilty m th^nMjter. There was nb'use'in^ailb'^i^gl'tl^^g^^r^^ ; to remain a 'wasteWy loftg^ should at once ) adopt step's Jtb&.miice thtei fencing a reproductive : !$j : 7 The Mayor said he .had, notthe BBghtf»tj ldqubt_the Council W^ujdget asgrea^^^£ imbre for ; it' than they had paid r for;; i^ncvßgP A After spine" furth^r,digWßsronlfir?vfali^ ;solved;t&^ Council be allowed use the sgroiindiin"? jthe meantime,' soithat iihe^liwt3?|i|el|?eiß|j : 'har^'foWtlj^rjpuiilw^; 1 1. AAls %J^hM ! :> After aorne arrangementa with referehce.' ftp. a few trifling -financial mat%s 4 the