CITY COUNCIL

Evening Star, Issue 16237, 5 October 1916, Page 2

CITY COUNCIL

llß\i The fortnightly meeting of tho City Council was held last evening, and attended; by the Mayor (Mr J. J. Clark), Otj Small, White, Douglas, Sinclair, Black, Scott,.. Bogg, Green, Thorn, Carroll, Limn, Whyte, Hcndereon, Taverner, Sincock, Patton, M'Millan, Williams, Hastic, Finncrtj', Wilson, Shaddock, Hancock, Thompson, and Hayward. ' —Motion of Condolence.— ■ The Mayor moved a motion of condolence with Ex-Mayor J. A. Park in the loss ot his son on active service. Mr Park, he, .said, was tho second ex-mayor who had given his son to tho cause of King andyqoxmtry, and the council deeply sympathised with Mr Park and family ./. The motion was carried in silence, counbillol*3 standing. —Or Sinclair’s Return.—- • The Mayor, in nominating Cv Sinclair ns a member of the General, Tramways, and Finance Committees, expressed the pleasure the council felt in having Cr Sinclair with them again. They regretted that the object for which he went Home had, not been attained, but none the lees . thoy-honored him for the attempt he had biade. to secure a place in the firing line. Cr Sinclair briefly replied. Ho was ap- ’ v tpointed to the committees stated. &_ —Presentation Fountains.— The Mayor submitted a minute stating t that Messrs R. Hudson and Co., Ltd., had q ■f.informod him that they were willing to two drinking fountains from their V special supply of waiter, which was taken above Royal terrace to their facT - Tery in Castle street, the position of the y adrinking fountains to be decided by the comma. The fountains would ho of the y,siAmerican bubbling type,, attractive in ap.s ,hj: -vjpearance, and of sanitary design. ..Tho otter was accepted,, "the donors tia.•.itnaiured, and the matter of arranging the ws-r ,positions of tho fountains was referred h' ■ to the Works Committee. |(p —Chief Hoiks Inspector.— *i*^TTT^ reen ’ I,loV!n g the adoption of SU the Works Committee’s "report, said it was (A vecommended that Mr H. King, quarry ' ;mana g or ) he appointed chief works iu*‘s-, specter to fill tno vacancy caused by the sf‘A. death of Mr J. M‘Lachlan. After rceeivK * ln S report from the city engineer the ' ■ committee were unanimous in recommendY?.. . e appointment of Mr King, who in r-".- Addition to being quarry manager for a fV number of % cars, had undertaken otlie>a, y’orks in tho City with credit. He had ft 1 been a most successful manager of the -k- ■- 3 uan 7. •which was one of the* most 'diffir,- Butt in the_ Dominion to work. Besides ?, , ander the city cneincer ho had carried out g. s®? “ connection with the construction * at the bulhvan dam with satisfaction and % fj" connection with the esplanade at k- C.lam and the inundations of the gasC ‘ + lf fPPO’ntcd’ Mr Ki, N‘ would still P ‘ t le , ] rorfc of manager. ~ and that would menu a saving from a ij;*.,',' financial point of view. t ' S x < ? tt In , oy<xl - ;,t: nr. amendment, that applications be called to fill the position M ArSfif , l, y the death of Mr : M Lachlan. lie did so, h e said, because M waa a bad precedent to make an am ■ of this character without mving °3T s ‘? n opportunity of nutting ffi an I S^° a and havill S tlieir qualifications V , mi .te seconded, because he wanted m be satesfied whether or not the committeo were departing from their usual ■ C&T ; ■•” In? SrnT - £ai f a ]lad been done lndanCe (the appointment of inspector of nuisances) by the ballot of the council and he believed that the ncd JonM rapport the recommendabSs Mm? 6 oftl,JCr m Chaxge in cases of C -r Gr&el } having replied, the amend-' . ment was lost by 18 votes to 7, and tho committees recommendation adopted. I. ■)■■■, —Shelter at St. aair.— in moving the adoption of the . , IrMnways Committee’s report, said that it had been found nectary to alter the , nwaflfgoments already liaproved for tha' Eiibmission of the for the shelter’ etc., at St. Ola.ir to aVommitteo of adjiudjcation. Fhe New Zealand Institute ox Architects had standard regulations controlling their members in the matter of competitions, and these provided, inter film, that the assessor should be a professional man, and thdt no one connected with tho promoters should be concerned in the assessment of the designs. In these circumstances, it had been arranged that Mr P. Y. Wales should act as assesr - pot, at a fee of £lO 10s Tho report was adopted. —War Pay.— The Finance Committee reported, with reference to the instruction from council at their last meeting to report further regarding tho application from an employee in the tramways department for half-pav during his absence on active service, that they had further considered the matter, and in view of the additional facts adduced they were of opinion that the employee in question came within the scope of the original resolution of council, and he was there fare'entitled to half-pay. The report was adopted on the motion of Or Small. ‘ —Maryhill Tram Service.— • The Tramways Committee, in a supplementary report on the Maryhill, Mmnin/r. ton line, stated: “With reference to the msteiobion from council at their last meeting for the committee to arrange, if possible, for the conveyance of passengers to Maryhill, the committee report having carefully investigated the matter, bub regret that so far they are unable to submitany feasible proposaj for dealing with the ' traffic on this route. It was thought that j a motor service might have been ar- ■ ranged, but only two offers could be ob- ' tained, and these were out oi the question, as they called for a subsidy of irom £4 10s to £5 per day, with the right to ’ all faxes collected. A horse bus service would be equally expensive. The question of purchasing a suitable motor vehicle was ■ also looked into, but tho committee did not favor this proposal, as considerable capital expenditure would be' required. The matter is still under consideration, and the chairman and tramways manager will further report.” Cr Scott, in moving tho adoption of ,lhis report, said the committee intended lo try and -find ways and means as soon , ■ W possible- to give relief to the Moniimfton residents. The present price of rails —£3o a ton—was prohibitive. Cr Whyte seconded. Or Hayward. wanted to know what the -ost of repairing the old lino would be. Cr Scott said the pre-war price was £2,098, but it would probably cost £4,000 . now, Cr Taverner said that tho tramwavs manager last no opportunity whatever of reporting adversely, on this line, and drawing attention to the paucity of the patron»ge. The council had decided to do somethirjg.to relieve these ratepayers, and the council should dictate the poliev of the department. The Mayor said this was not fair to the tramways manager. When an officer was asked to report he was expected to expose , the whole facts, and it was better to face the facts, however black, than to distort the position. A solution was more likely to be found when all the facts were ' . known. Or Sinclair said that it was the duty of ;: the council to do something to relieve tho , position of Maryhill residents. It was V absurd to contend that a department which had expended £550,000 upon tramways in and about the City could not afford to ..spend another £4,000. Ho believed that , tho line could be made safe for much les* - than £4,C00. Cr Sincock was still hopeful that they would be able to do something for the people of Maryhill, Within a short time a new cable would be landed for that line and he thought they should try and bring influence to bear on the Government to . meet them in the matter. The Maryhill lino, was in better condition now than it had been some years ago, and in much . , better Condition than the main lino had been some time earlier than that. What had the Government engineer been doing . in those days? He hoped the council -A , would be able tp get tho engineer $o modify;

the.demands .made. Cr Scott, in reply, said that, the tramT‘Y S :™ ana S ei ' would not have done his fluty if h e had not exposed the facts. The figures showed that to earn every £IOO on ns lino it cosjt £250. He could assure ho council that he would do everything he C ? U i. d - to assist .the. Maryhill residents out of their difficulty. The Mayor said the committee were unanimous in their desire to do something to relieve, the situation, the report was adopted.