MUNICIPAL.

Evening Star, Issue 11680, 12 February 1902, Page 8

MUNICIPAL.

St KruiA.—Last night's meeting of this Council was attended by the Mayer (Mr Gabriel Hodges) and Crs Sandiland*. Allan, Gore, Marlow, Parker, Burk. Cought-rey, and Ashton.—The Secretary to t>.e Department of Agriculture wrote that although he was aware that the populatioi ot the borough was not sufficiently large to render the establishment of a public abattou under the Slaughtering and inspection Ac! compulsory, he should be glad to hear that the Council intended to arrange with vb Dunedin Citv'Council fnr the use of the Burnside abattoir tor the borough. The letter w;is referred to the General Committee.— The Works Committee recommended that rough footpaths be formed and pipes laid. The Committee bad no recommendation to make re Callan and Callaway s letter informing the Council that footway formation might be paid out of loan mone,-. • The Committee recommended that patches be put round all fire plugs. '.Hid that tenders bo failed for I.oooyds of handbroken metal at quarry in lots of 500 yds each. Confirmed.-The inspector reported on the work of the daymen since last meeting, and suggested that they be instructed to complete the pitch'ng formation at the south end of High street, ihe pitching to be winged on to Queen's Drive. This would give the street i more finished and uniform appearance. He also suggested that the successful tenderer for the lilling-in of Bridgmau street ditch be asked to use the sand accumulated on the sides of Victoria road for the purpose instead of taking it from the quwy. and that, owing to the much shorter distance he would have to cart, the sand he be asked to make a reduction in tlie price. This was o!jreed to. —The mayor, town clerk, and Cr Ooughtrev was deputed to obtain an opinion from the horoii?h solicitors a.s to whether an appeal should be lodged in the case of Smith v. the Borough, —The town clerk (Dunedin) forwarded a communication regarding the proposed electric tramways that II) the track was to be of the cross sleeper type of conduction, with heavy grooved girder steel rails The bed was to be of 2in blue metal ballast of a minimum depth of litin. \bove the 2in metal there was to be a layer of from 4in deep of lin tarred blue metal, a >d above that a layer of l£in deep of tarr'd blue metal screenings. The sleepers will be spaced 2ft 6in apart, centre to centre. On such portions of the route whore *b<* nature of the subsoil was found to be. ui.iftrsfattory, concrete would be used hi place of the" layer of of 2in blue met' l ballast specified above ; (2) the gauge of tta track was to be the standard— i.e.- 4ft 8-Jin : (3) the mils were to weigh not less than 811b per linear yard ; (4) there was no snch thine as "insulating bond." For the information of the St. Kilda Council it was stated that it was proposed to bond the rails under the fishplate with a bone 5 equivalent in section to 500,000 miles of copper. The rails were also to lie crossbonded rail to rail and track to t.rack at regular intervals. The poles would be seamless tabular steel, 28ft lone, without joints. Spans would be spaced at intervals not exceeding 120 ft. The trolly would be of the standard type, with grooved wheels and spring swivel base. It was proposed to use only the closed, combination, and open types. The hf> : ght of the clearway under the railway bridges left no oplion in the matter. Referred to the Tramways Committee to report.--The tender of i\lr John Jones for work i»i Main, Bridgmun, Larkwoithy. Chapir.nii, and Begg streets wns accepted a' schedule prices.—The fJeiieral Committee reported that they had no recommendation to make with regard to Stewart and liiin'. patent closet pans. The Commit tee recommended that, with reference to the resolutions of the Conference of Boroughs re tramways, in the absence of further information and advice, the matter ?« held over ter further consideration. Cr Coughtrey moved the adoption of the report, and referring to the matter of the trams said that there were many important matters which the interests of the residents demanded should be considered before the enormous concessions asked for by the City Council were granted. Apart from the question of the absence of double-decker cars, and other matters referred to in the letter from the Citv Ckrancil, there were other questions of equal importance which demanded careful coLsidera-' tion. In approaching a question like that, which was momentous in the history of a young borough, they should do s<: in a calm, judicial spirit, not with the object of sitting tight or "bringing the Council on to its marrow bones," as someone had unfairly and inelegantly put it. bm for the sole purpose of seeing that the iutciests of the borough were safeguarded. Or Conglitrey characterised the statement sulmitted to the Council concerning the traffic on the St. Kilda line as unfair and entirely misleading. It was to be remembered that the regular customers of the trams were the suburban residents It was on the suburban routes that the City expected to make a large revenue. Coming to the consideration of fares, what d'd the City Council ask for in that direction.'' They asked for the power to abolish ».: penny section system, to levy double -.ares on Sundays, and a higher milage on holidays. They also asked for power to continue the same long intervals between the r'espateh of cars as at present. The matter of season tickets was an importer!; one, and it was one that required car:tui consideration. Fifty per cent, of the revenue of the old company came from sea-son ticket-holders and purchasers of Is tickets. Another matter to be settled was the completion of the line along Prince Edward road. Cr Coughtrey also dealt with the gauge, advocating a smaller gauge that would correspond with the railways, and so permit a cheap goods transit, to the boroughs in years to come; and combated the statements submitted to the Council as to the financial aspect of the St. Kilda line. He referred to the methods which were adopted in arriving at the conclusion that the line was not paying as being unfair. Cr Sandflands seconded the motion, and said that the information supplied to the City Council about the St. Kilda line was altogether wrong. No other councillor spoke, and the motion for the adoption of the report was agreed to.—lt wa~ decided that no permit should be granted for the re-erection in the borough of any irsanitary or condemned building. Roslyn.—A special meeting of the Borough Council, held last evening, was attended by the Mayor (Mr T. Mackenzie, M.H.R.) and Crs Philp, Dawson, Washer, Wedcjerspoon, Shuttleworth, . Kemnitz, M'MiTlan, Nelson, Davie, Hunter, Sutherland, and Sim. The object was the consideration of a report submitted by the mayor on the condition of a number <f streets in the borough. On Saturday, January 25, in company with Crs Philp and Hunter and the engineer (Mr Wedge), a visit was paid to Kirkland Hill, Halfway Bush, and the North Taieri road. Subsequently the party visited Church, Vale, Clyde, Tay, Tweed, Fifield, Kilgour, Frederick, Leven, and other .streets, with the view of inspecting their condition, and at all points improvements of one sort or anotlier. were found necessary. Drainage matters, etc., were also touched on. Many of the works are regarded as extremeiy urgent, and, in the interests of health, some must be gone on with at once. The number of men now employed was not sufficient to carry out necessary works. Councillors might favorably consider the propriety of letting by tender such work as could be reliably done by contract, and, in the case <.f channelling the borough, of supplying the material. The total estimated cost of the

various works wag £1,700, but this did not include the cutting of Tweed street nor the strengthening of the bridges, which would cost £3OO more. He' had endeavored to summarise the works in their order of urgency as follows: —£2l7 already authorised to bo done by day labor; £sll partly authorised and partly new, to be done »y day labor; £331 by contract, and, in some cases, the Council to supply material; £BO, top-dressing footpaths; and £340, for metaL Total, £1,479. Other matter* might be considered in dne course. The requirements o fthe borough would justify the outlay, and the finances would admit of the works Deing undertaken in anticipation of revenue.—After discussion, on the motkm. of Cr Kemnitz, it was decided that a special committee, consisting of the Mayor and Crs Shiittreworth, Dawson, Nelson, and Sim, be appointed to consider the report* and >& report thereon at the next monthly meeting of the Council; as also upon the manner of financing the whole work; and that tenders be called for forthwith for channelling the by-road authorised, the borough supplying the materials.—A vote of thanks to the mayor brought the meeting to a close.