BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXV, Issue 3943, 28 May 1913, Page 6

BOROUGH COUNCIL.

FORTNIGHTLY MEETING, y The usual fortnightly meeting of the Gisborne Borough Council was held last night. There were present: The Mayor (Mr. J. R. Kirk), and Crs. Wade, Bright, Hill, Collins, Brown, Wildish, Sherratt, Hepburn, and Smith. CORRESPONDENCE, Messrs. Blair and Sainsbury, on behalf of Mr. Wildman, proprietor of the “Silver Grid’’ restaurant, wrote whh regard to the condemnation of tho premises by tlie Health Department. They pointed out that nine months ago’Mr. Wildman had paid £250 to go into the place, tho sublease then haying three years and eight months to run. It would, therefore, be a great hardship t-o him if he had to leare the place after so short an occupancy. The letter pointed out that Dr. Cliesson was well satisfied with the clean way in which the front shop, and indeed the whole place, was kept, but that the objectionable feature was the use of two or three rooms at the back as bedrooms. Mr Wildman was prepared to discontinue entirely the use; of these rooms, and to give any undertaking the Council or Dr. Chesson might require. They asked that the Council would deal with the matter either directly or by asking Dr. Chesson to review his report . On the motion of the Mayor, the letter was referred to the District Health Officer. The secretary of tho Fire Board (Sir. F. Gumming) wrote informing the Council that under section 17 of the Fire Brigades Act, 190 S, the Council were required to elect three representatives on the Gisborne Fire Board during this month. The retiring representatives were Messrs. Jas. Brown, Geo. Smith, and Dr. Collins, and their term of office as members of the Board expired this month. On the motion of Cr. Smith, Crs. Wildish. Bright, and Collins were elected lo represent the Council on the Fire Board. The A.M.P. Society wrote advising that the further payment of £3OOO asked for by the Council would be in the hands of the Gisborne district secretary in time for the amounts to be lodged at- the date desired by the Council (May 31). The letter was received. Messrs. Grundy and Shcnnan, Ltd., wrote drawing attention to the disgraceful condition of the channel in front of their premises in Gladstone Road. They pointed, out that they had repeatedly appealed to overseers and Councillors without anything but temporary and mere makeshift improvements resulting. This condition had existed for the last three years, to the inconvenience of customers and detriment of the firm’s business. ~ The letter was referred to the Works Committee. Mr. J. E. Foster wrote, stating that on December I.' 1911, lie had placed in the Council's hands £604 8s to finish Foster and School Roads, with the object of getting the roads dedicated, so that lie could sell his sections and get a title for them. That had been done, but the position he took very great exception to was that the roads had not been finished,’after a lapse of IS months, the Council meanwhile holding the money. Prior to his leaving Gisborne over 18 months ago, lie had spent on the roads, in forming, kerbing, etc., over £2OO, which work was passed by the Engineer. The Council had promised to get tho roads finished prior to April 1. 1913. but lie had heard since that only the sewerage in Foster Street had been done, and that the roads were in a very bad state. Ho hoped that the Council would push on with the completion of tlie *ork, as the delay was militating very much against the sale of the balance of tho sections.

The Mayor explained that the .sewerage had been completed in Foster Street, and the Engineer was pushing on with metalling.

It was proposed to reply to Mr. Foster in these terms. The Cook County Council -wrote with regard to the A wap uni cemetery site, stating that as the land had been vested in the Borough Council % a proclamation of March 4, 1902, all that was required was that the Borough Council should apply to the Gcve.rnor-in-Council to have the sito vested in the Borough Council for any other purpose they might desire, but as the County Council may he supposed to be interested in the public cemetery at Awapuni, the- County Council would give tlie necessary certificate that the land was not no-vv-re-quired for a cemetery by the inhabitants of the County. The County Council repeated their former request to have their one-third interest in the Taruheru cemetery clearly defined before any payment was made from the County fund for the purpose of acquiring the -land. ( It was decided to reply that a deed setting cut the respective ownership of the cemetery would be prepared. Dr. Chesson, District Health Officer, wrote stating that in view of the fact that the new regulations by the Health Department were now in force, he considered it Would not be necessary for the Council to pass by-laws for the protection of foodstuffs from flies and dirt. He enclosed a copy of the regulations, and asked that Inspector Kerris should be instructed to act in conjunction with Inspector York to assist the Health Department in enforcing the regulations. It was decided to refer the letter to Inspector Ferris, anti write to Dr. Chesson thanking him. Tor his letter, and asking him to give Inspector Ferris power to prosecute. Major A. G. Beoro, local senior officer, wrote informing the Council that orders had been received to hold a parade of the local troops and senior cadets on the King’s Birthday, and that the parade.was to fit in as far as possible with any local celebration. It was expected that the parade would be hold between 9 and 10 a.m., so asto interfere as little as possible with the holiday. He asked to ho advised as to what arrangements, if any, the Council was taking in the matter. The matter was left in the hands of the Mayor.

BUILDING INSPECTOR'S REPORT The Building Inspector reported that for the fortnight ending 24th inst. 13 permits had been issued for works to the value of £2931. The building situated on section 15, Awapuni Road, had been shifted to the necessary distance from the boundary line; the .chimney had also been erected in brick, and was now in accordance with the by-laws as regards a dwelling. During the wet weather he had inspected the verandahs in the busy part of Gladstone Road and had issued notices in a few of the worst cases. He would suggest that all storekeepers should see to their respective verandahs as regards cleaning out spouting, down-piping, etc., befoi'c the wet weather sets in, as in most cases the trouble was only caused by a chokage of leaves, paper, etc., and could he easily remedied. He would suggest that a reasonable time limit be made for scrapping all condemned buildings and cleaning up their respective sites, as at present they wore an eye-sore and require constant inspection. X INSPECTOR’S REPORT. The Inspector’s report included the following:— , , . .House Inspection.—The house-to-house inspection of the Borough still continues, .and during the ..fortnight 326 private dwellings were visited, and of these it will he necessary to inform 59 householders to conform to the bylaw or to dispose of their poultry; a t-

37 others it will be rieoessary to pr<H vide a regulation rubbish receptacle for retaining house refuse. , Sanitiation. —On account ofi the satisfactory progress being made with the sewerage connections I have dispensed with the servioes of two of the hands at the Banitary depot, and further reductions will lie made as the installations warrant. ' Traffic Inspection.— A considerable amount of my time has been taken up during the fortnight regulating the traffic in tho principal thoroughfare—and it has been necessary to lay.three informations for breaches of the motor by-laws. ENGINEER’S REPORT, Tlie Engineer (Mr. A. 3. Pater&oii) reported as follows: — Ivaitaratahi.—Tlie output from this department was 64 trucks, or 512 cubic yards. Quarry. Work has proceeded steadily here,, with some stoppages on, account of rain, tho principal development being in the drive in No. 3 face. A distance of 5-1 feet has been driven and a good sample of stone has been cut. .It is advisable that further testing be earned' out by extending the drive another 50 feet. Authority is asked for this work.

Quarry Line.-‘-The amount of material hauled, to town was: —Metal, 637;) cubic yards; screenings, 166 A cubic yards; gravel, 267 cubic yards; while the Cook County Council has had 75 yards at wayside depots. Street works. —During the fortnight ono formation • gang was dispensed with as tlie work was well in front of the shingle and metal supplies, and this caused a corresponding reduction in the working time for the hired drays. Tramways.—The number of passengers carried for the fortnight"'was 12,066, made up as follows : —ld tickets, 6547 : 2d. tickets, 5519. The car miles run were 1656, and the car hours 318. The receipts for the fortnight were £73 10s sd, while the amount paid to the electrical department for current for batteries was £l6 2s. Sewerage.—ln various parts of tho Borough 17 private drains have been laid, also, three connections from sower to boundary fence. Seventyone w.c.’s have been connected to the Borough mains, making a total of 728 connected to date.. Reserves. —The river bank retaining wall is caving in and some protective work is urgently required. This should bo of a. permanent character in view of tho dredging operations below the bridge. With regard to the Childers Road Reserve, the Mayor said he considered it- would be cheaper and add more to tho beauty of tlie ground if a hedge was substituted for an iron fence, which would only prove an unsightly hoarding for advertisements. lie proposed that tenders be called for planting a licdge tlivoc fco-t within t-io boundary. Cr. Smith said be would lib-* to have an estimate first of what such a fence would cost, as if he remembered rightly there were trees on the line which it would be expensive to shift. Such a hedge, he considered, would in a short time become unsightly with dust. Cr. Bright said that the Rugby Union had found the cost of keeping the hedge round Victoria Domain m order fairly heavy. The Mayor said that they should go in for the class of hedges which were being favored in Sydney and Auckland. The cost of clipping would bo saved in paint. On the motion of Cr. Collins, it was decided to call for alternative tenders for an iron fence and a hedge. Cr. Brown asked where the money was to come from. When the Council had-gone into the matter before they found that they had no money to fence the ground. He did not know where.they could get it now.. The Mayor explained that he had foreseen this, and had had £3OO placed on the estimates for the fence. . Tlie Mayor mentioned that he intended to have notices printed warning persons from putting disinfectants in sanitary utensils, as this adversely affected the sewerage. On the motion of the Mayor, the following motions were agreed to :— > “That in future laying off of streets, the persons dedicating deposit sufficient to cover cost of name plate for same.”

“That in future all correspondence, etc., to be dealt with at meetings of the Council be left at the Council office on or before noon of the Monday preceding each meeting.” “That the hours at which the Borough office shall be open to the public shall be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., except on Saturdays, when the office shall be closed at noon.”

“Tliat the Borough solicitors be asked why the matter of the compensation payable for the reserve of 12 acres on Kaiti hill is still hung up.” The Mayor explained that the Pahiatua Borough Council had risen the salary of Air Parke, who had been temporarily appointed in Mr. Darton’s place, and consequently he would not now come to Gisborne. He had arranged that Mr. Lafferty should take charge at the Borough yards. Things were going smoothly, and they would be able to carry on all right. The tramways, the Mayor explained, were just holding their own. Cr. Wildish said he would like a report prepared on the question of the reservoir, which appeared* to have been lost sight of for some time. The Mayor said he would prefer that the report ho held over for a time. The Engineer had so much on his hands at present that he really had no time to prepare reports. The matter of condemned buildings was referred to the Works Committee.