MUNICIPAL CONFERENCE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 228, 19 June 1908, Page 9

MUNICIPAL CONFERENCE.

■ fl REMITS FROM GITl" COUNCIL: At ; the meeting of tho City Council last night, the, Legislation aiul Leasehold Committee rccdmmeilded that., the following remits bo considered by the Council, aiid forwarded to the Municipal Conference:— ThH tho provision that. tlie~ annual charge on tho district shall hot bo increased V/horo a local authority raises money by special order for paying oil', consolidating, or converting tile whole or hny part of anv special order therotoforo lawfully raised bo repealed. lhat tho Council shall kavo power to take under tho Public Works Act, waterworks gasworks, clc-ctric light works, used, or Suitable for supply of water, gas, or cicctric light, 'or electric power for the inhabitants ot tho borough; and that any legislation passed should prescribo tho principles, grounds, and measures of assessing compensation. ' '

, That the term of office of Mayor bo two yeais, and that tho election be held on the same dato as the election of councillors. That corporations and companies conducting a tramway business should not be liablo for damage to luggage, unless a special fc6 )3 charged for carria£o of sarno. . That all dwelling-houses built contrary to the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act relating to open space, and not only lodging-houses so built should be. liablo to demolition or alteration as insanitary buildings. lhat power bo given to tho District Health Office to require repairs as well as structural alterations or additions to insanitary buildings whero samo would bo sufficient to make building sanitary. _ Charges on land for work done by corporation should bo registered (for the protection of purchasers), under tho Deeds Registration and Land Transfer Acts. ' That the limitation imposed by clauso 18 of tho Local Bodies Loans Act that no debenture shall bo for moro than £1000 be removed, • and that debentures bo issued to any amount. The machinery for repairing tho rolls shall be, as far as possible, tho same as under the Electoral Act, 1005, and that penalties for false-, statements in application, for enrolment shall bo the same as in the parliamentary elections. . Tho Council shall have power to appoint a registrar of cleotors who shall havo similar powers to thoso vested in registrars' under tho Electoral Act. Applicants for enrolment shall prove their qualifications ■to . tho Registrar,. but they shall have a .right of appeal to tho Council or a magistrato. Provisions similar to the provisions as to tho scrutiny ,of rolls contained in the Electoral Act shall • apply to local elections. There shall be one systom of voting for all elections. Tho Registrar shall, prior to official declaration of poll, open and recount all packages of voting papers sealed up by deputy returning officers on lines of powers vested in him by tho Electoral Aot. Tliat the Committee bo empowered to consider additional remits, and forward them to the Conference, if approved. Tho remits will be considered at a special meeting on Tuesday evening.

A resident in Rcalcy Avcmio eleaned out a sump in his yard oil Sunday and forgot to replace the iron grating." Yesterday morning, according to the "Lyttolton Times' 1 of Tuesday last, lie found a largo stoat, about. IBin. in length, and pure white in colour, which had fallen into the waturholo and been drowned Owing to the smooth concroto sides the animal had evidently been unable to climb out. It is not often that sliMs are discovered within tlio citv, and white ones aro exceedingly rare. In Northern Europe tlio stoat changes, its colour in winter, and is then known as the ermine, ■but such an occurrence has not been reported as 'common in this part of tho world. ! Tbo recipe for bcinp well dressed is (o "o to a soOd tailor, pot really Road clothes, p£y a really good price for tliem, and let tliei'n bo perfectly unostentatious mid unromarkablo in every way.—'"Qontlewoniin."