BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1776, 15 April 1874, Page 2

BOROUGH COUNCIL.

The adjourned meeting of the Council „.was held last evening. Present — Messrs Kerr (in the chair), Acheson, Hamilton.!, Maclean, Glenn, Dupre, and Moore. The minutes of previous meeting were read and confirmed. \ Letters from Messrs Masters and Nancarrdw, in reference to supplying iron rails, were received. , \ The following telegram from Mr W. si Smith, Mayor, was read : — " Sorry to hear of the flood. Trust that no serious loss has taken place. If my absencb should hamper the Council in any works!, or be detrimental to the interests of Greymouth, I shall resign. Not likely to return for two months." Received. : The following letters were received regarding the use of quarries to procure stone for the procective works proposed to be undertaken by the Council : — ■ " Terms of sale for the rock in a quarry on the land occupied by Mir Wylde:- ; "The Borough Council to have the right for a reasonable terra—say two years — to quarry all the stone for a length of 132 ft along the Arnold road[ and 30ft back from the road, and to remove any earth or loose stone beyond this depth which may be necessary to secure the safe working of the quarry. ' ' Usual and reasonable precautions to be taken to prevent danger from blasting operations. Price, L3OO. " Edmund Wiokes, owner. ' "James Wylde. tenant. "Greymouth, April 14, 1874." " Greymouth, 14th April, 1874. " Sir — In compliance with your request respecting the purchase of stone from the quarry, I havo the honor to inform you that, as it will necessitate the pulling down of my house, the sum I shall require for ten yards in from the present face will be two hundred pounds (£200). In conclusion, I beg to add that I would much rather treat for the purchase of the whole of my interest. "I have the honor to be, "Sir, " Your obedient servant, "S. G. Rowley. "R. J. Johnston, Esq., " Town Surveyor, Greymouth." The following report on the best means of protecting the river bank was brought up by the Town Surveyor : — "I have the honor to lay before you as requested my report on. the best means of protecting the river bank from Johnston street to the mouth of the lagoon from encroachments by floods. " I find from a survey made a few days after the flood, that the bank of the river has been washed away to a considerable ] extent, from Johnston street to the mouth | of the lagoon, the greatest encroachment « being at Chapman street, where it exceeds i 1 300 ft ,, and at which point the river shows 1 a decided tendency to break out into the a lagoon, and, if not arrested by some c works, will, in a few floods, break through, t and thereby materially injure the naviga- 1 tion of the river, by allowing it to spread j over a large area, on which there would I not be sufficient water for the ordinary t boating trade of the Coast. "In order to secure the bank from fur- G ther encroachments, and thereby preserve p

the natural curve of the river (which all engineers who have given an opinion •on the subject agree should be preserved), I would suggest the following works :— I would rough stone face the bank about 4ft deep, from the natural level of the top of the bank to the riverbed, and as the slope of the bank is generally at an angle, of. 45deg, the stone facing woukl therefore assume that, angle! ... The only effect a flood would have on this work would be to scour b"utthe"riv"er-bed at"th&"to'e""of ttee stone, which would cause/the facing in parts to settle down -and expose a portion of tho top of the bank, in which case it would be necessary to renew the stone in precisely a similar manner by which the stone wall at the top of, the town ,is preserved, by renewing the apron when por- 1 tions are carried away by the ifloods. The ! only difference between this style oi pro- 1 tecton and the stone wall protection con-; Bists in the natural bank of the river in! this case being preserved by an apron, ( and thereby doing away with expensive' stone dressing; which, of its own merits, could not withstand the effects of one' flood, if not preserved by an apron. ' c I might inform the Council that the same style of work was proposed by me to; the Council on Ist July last for the pro-! tection of the river- bank from Boundary to Johnston street; and a short time afterwards was agreed upon as the most suitable style of work. by Messrs Dobson,; Wylde, Young, and Cooper, in their report 1 to the Council on the .10th day of July last. The work was carried out from' Boundary street to Johnston street as suggested, and thongh the full force of; the current was directed against it for 36. hours during the late flood, it showed no' weak points in any portion of it. "I have made inquiries as to the differi ence of cost between iron and wooden i tramways, and also, to the best means oi: obtaining rock. The offers from the proprietors of the rock I beg to lay before » you. r " Attached you will find a schedule of ' quantities of rock required, with cost for ', different lengths of the work from John- > ston street to the mouth of the lagoon, ) also the cost of tramways, showing the difference between wood and iron rails. ' You will see from the estimate of .tramway that the. iron rails only exceeds the cost of wooden tramway by Ll7l. It is . calculated for 60 chains, which is sufni cient from the qurary to Johnston, street, ! including shunts, and about five chains f for the extension of the works, and about 1 22 extra chains will have to be supplied j during the continuance of the work. "I am of opinion if the iron rails could ' be obtained within a reasonable time that 1 they are superior to the wooden rails and ■ worth the extra cost. - "My calculation for rails you will see ; is based on the price the Coal Company obtained them for, Ll3 los per ton for 14lb rails. Mr Whall has telegraphed to Nelson and Westport to ascertain if any - are available, and the cost, but no replies i have been received yet." i EsxriiATß for Stone Work. t Tramway ... ... ...£38215 0 Trucks, repairing Government., trucks ... ... .. 30 0 0 Section I— From Johnston street . l the west Arney street, 5300 ',". , yards at 4s ', 1060 6 0 i Section 2 — From weßb Arney 3 street to west Chapman street, ; 4700 jards at 4s ... ... 940 0 0 Section 3— From west Chapman street to mouth of lagoon, 8500 yardß at 5s ... ... 2125 0 0, £4537 J5 0 The above estimate is taken out for the ? different lengths of work, but in carrying ? out any of the above length's the first two 3 items for tramway and trucks would have to ' be added to' the estimate of stone. Estimate for Iron Tramway. 14lb rails, at £13 10s per ton, 1 amounts to (per chain) ... £3 14 3 ■ 60 chains, at £3 14s 3d per chain £222 15 0 > Sleepers, 12,000ft,"af £5 per 1000 60"0 - 0 i Shunts, 3at £10... 30 0 0 j Spikes ... ... 10 0 0 , Labor, 60 chains, at £1 per ' chain ... ... 60 0 0 ' £38215 0 Wooden Tramway. I Rails, 12,000 ft at 10s ... ... £60 ,0 0 i Sleepers, 9900 ft at 10s 49 10 0 Wedges, 2000, 12s 12 0 0 3 shunts, at £10s per shunt ... 30 0 0 Labor for laying 60 chains, at £1 per chain ~ 60 0 0 1 £211 10 0 After f ome discussion, on the motion of ' Mr .Kerr, seconded by Mr Acheson, the following resolution was carried :.— " That the Public- Works Committee be'authorised _ to arrange for the purchase of a sufficient quantity of iron rails to construct a tramway from the quarry to Johnston street ; that the Town Surveyor be instructed to lay down said tramway, and to carry on the first section of. the work as recommended in his report." The Town Clerk reported that Mr Greenwood, the district- Native Commissioner, would allow the Borough Council to excavate rock along the line of road between Mr Wylde's lease and Mr, Coe's residence. Mr Hamilton moved, and Mr Maclean seconded—" ThaUhe Public Works Committee wait on Mr Greenwood for the purple of obtaining his official' authority." . Mr Glenn, during the absence of the Mayor, was voted on the Finance Committee, with power to sign cheques. The Council then adjoufh^d.