CITY COUNCIL REPORTS.

Evening Star, Issue 9771, 30 July 1895, Page 3

CITY COUNCIL REPORTS.

The following are summaries of the reports to be presented at to-morrow night’s meeting of the City Council

The Gas and Water Committees’ reports are formal

The Finance Committee report that they have no power to reduce the rents of section 10, block 11, Waikouaiti, held by Gilmore Bios., and three sections in Upper Harbor East, held by A. Johnson. The Committee remit to tiro Council for their decision the question of demanding payment of the amount due hy the late Mr K. U. Leary in connection with the loans conversion, 1894.

The Public Works Committee rec nnmenU that the application of Messrs 8. N. Brown and C. Bayley for assistance towards the cost of improving the roadways across the Town Belt Irom the City to booth Word, Mao.-i Hill, bo referred to the Unemployed Relief Wo ks Asiociation for their favorable consideration. The city surveyor has been instructed to act at a cost not exceeding £ls in improving the condition of Lower Frederick street, as requested by Sir K. Sandilands : to act at as small a us possible in effecting necessary repairs to the Forth street bridge ; and to act as to the condition of the gutter crossings in Stuart tee;. at its junction with Smith and Cumberland streets, as request 1 by Dr Coughtrev and 140 others. Messrs J, W kio and Co.’s tender to supply 2;0 maps of the City for £9 17s 6d has been accepted. The Reserves Committee report the rec ipt, with thanks, of donations of karaka -cedi to the Botanical Gardens from Mr G. Fenwick, •ad Mr Beverley (per Mr C. W. Adams). The General Committee report; —Baths and sanitary : Your Committee recommend (1) ihut t,ho fees to the judges of the competitive drainage schemes be made the same to each of the three professional exports viz, ICO guineas; (2) that one of the following applicants be appointed expert inspector of the public abattoir, viz. A. W. Barnes, Quetmiand; J. G. Bushman, Launceston; 8. G. Cameron, Melbourne; T. Cunningham, Uamaru ; J. Desmond, Warrnambool; A. I’. Giibbeu, Sydney ; J. H. N. Keene, Kew, Victoria ; A. Park, Hobart j W. Peirio, Sydney ; li. Kn ott. Melbourne : C. J. Vyuer, Am idaie, New South Wales. All the men are M.R.C.V.S., except Mr Desmond, who is a V.S. Your Committee have fixed the remuneration to the architect for the erection of the public abattoir at 6j | or cent., no charge to be made to the contractors, and the p.ans to Ire the property of the Corporation. Instruction* have been given to submit the thawings in pencil at first with G-c draft spocitr cations for approval.—Legislative; (11 In relation to the following Bills now bctoie IVLament affecting local bodies, and remitted to your Committee for consideration —viz , ■■errant?’ Registry, Public Tenders Contracts and Works, Municipal Franchise Enlargement, Municipal Insurance, and Rating on Uni nproi ■ d Value of Lands Bills—your Committee big to report as follows Servants’ Registry; 'Phis Bill seeks to take the power of inspection and control from local bodies and transfer it to the Government, with the usual inspectorship by a Government official. Seeing that the Government profess to have a desire to extend the functions of Real bodies, and that it was ouiv in 1892 that the existing Act was passed, mid that this Council, and, so far as yojr Committee know, other local bodies also, have given * (feet to the law by passing by-laws fixing rate of charges, etc., etc., your Committee are at a loss to conceive why the Government should seek to amend the law and take the control t-om the local bodies. Public Tenders i.’mitracts and Works Bid : Your CommiUeo fail to perceive the slightest necessity for this Bill, one amongst other reasons being that, as a matter of fact, this Council (and doubtless i y .er local bodies), to far ns the wages question is concerned, practicdly now carry out the provisions of the Bill. The piovl-ion expr. .-ly legalising the non-acceptance of the h-west tender will (although this Council dees not, ai a matter of fact, always accept the lowest tender), your Committee feci convinced, have a ren-dc-ncy to encourage c .rruptior. and log-robing. The power to adopt the co-< pera uve system does not commend itself to your Committee, ns in their opinion such a system is likely to give unequal results, so far as the wage earner is concerned, and to prove a much more co-tly mode of executing local works than tho system of tendering. The power given to any union or association of workmen or employers to appeal to a court of arbitration to fix the rate of wages and the hours of labor will, your Committee ted convinced, lead to endless friction gnat exp, n-e, and considerable annoyance, tho general result of which would be the permanent injun of the wage-earner. The other multifarious provisions of the Act wquld, in the opinion of y our Committee, prove irksome in tho extreme, so much so that practically they would non be acted upon, and thus the Bill become a dead letter. Fina'ly your Committee believe the Bill to be entirely unnecessary, and trust it will never encumber the Statute Book of the col-my. Municipal Franchise Enlargement: This Hdl has happily already received the cov.p dci/race, and your Committee only refer to it hr order to expre-s the hope that the recent division in tne House of Assembly maybe indicative of tho fate which awaits any proposal of a similar charuoner which tho Government may introduce into ’heir proposed Local Government Bill. Municipal Insurance: Notwithstanding this Bill is permissive, your Committee think that it» previsions, it acted upon, would, in all probability, bo so disastrous in their result that they express the strong hope that it will never become Jaw, inasmuch as it would give the sanction of Parliament to a dangerous principle. In the opinion of your Committee there is no business yvhicli requires for its success such delicate handling, jirofound knowledge of details, or such constant ami closesupervision as that of fire insurance, and toentrust such important functions to the (professionally speaking) uneducated manipulation of members of local bodies could not result in other than most serious loss and risk to mun:e,ipal finance, and at the same time greatly increase the cost of insurance. Municipal and local bodies have manifold and important functions which they cm properly and efficiently perform, but in the opinion of your Committee fire insurance is most emphatically not one of them. Rating on Unimproved Values in Relation to Cities : However good this principle may be as applied to country districts, where- large areas of land may be kept unused, to the detriment of settlement and awaiting the unearned increment arising from the industry and enterprise of others, your Committee is convinced that it cannot be satisfactorily applied to cities; and, indeed, from a careful perusal of the BIT, your Committee is constrained to think that it was originally framed to apply to country districts only, and that the incorporation • f cities was simply au afterthought; but whether this he so or not, your Committee 11 of opinion that its application to cities shot id be eliminated from the Bill. Annexed to this report is a comparative statement ns to how it would bo likely to affect Dunedin, from which it will be seen that it would he perfectly unworkable bore ; and the same will apply, your Committee think, to a greater or lesser extent to other cities and large towns. Your Committee, in conclusion, recommend that the town clerk be instructed to forward these objections, or the gist of them, to the City members and the secretary of the Municipal Association, so that they may he discussed at the proposed meeting if the Conference, (u he held shortly, and that His Worship the Mayor, as delegate to that holy, he requested to give effect by Ids speech and vote to tk© views* oi the Council bereitir (2) The suggestion of lire Woofiville Borough Council for amendment in the law as to the majority of votes required to carry loan proposals has been referred to Hi s Worship 'be hj lay or as delegate to tho Municipal Conference, Accompanying the report is a letter from Mr K. Hay, asking the Council to place him on an equal footing as regards emolument with the other gentlemen who have boon appointed judges of the competitive drainage schemes.

The ‘Outlook’ says that New York is being rapidly rehmit, to the eye, in s uctute» of varying degrees of excellence, but representing, <n the whole, a very aul s; filial and, in cases, a really impressive u;- hitjeture. Concurrently there has be n, in the last twenty years, a very marked, advance in breadth of intellectual interests and in the higher resources of life, accompanied by the pronr'se of even moro rapid progress in the future. Some members of the London Health Board recommend the exclusion of domestic pets from rooms where there are patients suffering from contagious or infectious diseases. Contagion- has been traced co a cat that had been petted by a child suffering from diphtheria, the animal having been allowed to roam about the neighborhood. The Board point out that pets should not be fed from dishes that have been in the sick room until such dishes have been thoroughly cleansed.