PATEA BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 5 November 1924, Page 6

PATEA BOROUGH COUNCIL.

(From Our. Pa tea Correspondent). MONTHLY MEETING. The ordinary monthly meeting of the Pate a Borough Council was held on Monday .evening last, his Worship the Mayor (Mr P-. S. Finlayson) presiding. A. communication was received from the Prime Minister setting out the programme to be observed ou Armistice Day. Mr D. Calder wrote stating t-hat he hoped to finish the fence in front of section in Oxford Street in a few days’ time. Mr B. Smith was granted permission to cut grass in Kent Street. Mr D. Oalder was granted a permit for alterations to a house in Essex Street. In moving that a permit be granted, his "Worship stated that the building inspector (Mr C. Gardiner) was a real live and competent man, and was keeping his eyes open and not allowing the ■building by-law to be regarded as a ‘‘dead-letter.’’ V REPORTS. The following committee reports were adopted : The General Purposes Committee resolved, inter alia:—That the lettei from the Patea County Council regarding the filling in of the creek and the tar sealing of th,e road leading to the Patea station lie on the table; tha I Messrs J. AY. Tong, Ltd., be granted a building permit for the erection of the | new Nurses’ Home ; that the res.igna]'tiop; of Mies Mavis Glenny as Office as- \ sistanf to take effect as front Novem- } her 15, 1924, be accepted with regret; M that the Patea Fire- Brigade be granted ■ the sum- of £4O toward the- proposed additions to the 1 five statical; that the rent of sections 19 and 20, block 40, lie • fixed at 12s 6d per week, to be charged from the: date of re-entry ;• that the matter of contributing one-third of tlie cost and maintenance of the proposed alterations and repairs to the creek and road to the station to- the County Council be held oyer till Council] meet- ; ing. Tlfe committee reported that a ('deputation from the Patea; County ■ Council, consisting, of Councillors Gibbs, Back, Belton, the County Engineer and .County ‘Clerk waited upon the commit•tee with; regard to the County 'Council’s , proposals that the Patea Borougli' ; Council; should contribute' one-third of the cost and maintenance of suggested .filling in- of the creek or diverting-the stream by means of a tunnel under the road and railway line to discharge , into' the Patea River on the northern side of the Patea bridge, and also the tar sealing, of the road from, the Patea' ; River bridge to Paieia. Station, the • 'estimated cost off which was: Filling in . creek £!?30, tunnel £530, each of which estimates includes the tar sealing of Portland Quay. Councillors Gibbs ana i ■ Belton and. the County Engineer fully i ; explained the proposals, and after several questions had been asked by coun- : pilfers the dep.utßlon withdrew. The Electric Right and Water and Drainage Committee resolved, inter alia: That' the' action of his' Worship . •the Mayor in granting tlie Patea Butphery Company permission to lay a water pipe - under the- footpath from ,dts shop in Egmqnt Street he con--1 firmed; that owners of frees overlfang- ; ing electric wires, be notified that the overhanging limbs of same will be trimmed back by the engineer at their expense. The- electrical engineer’s report foi October stated: —The water supply ha? been maintained continuously throughout the month, the 17 h.p. pump run* ; ning 160 hours, pumping 960,000 gal- ; lons of water, with an electrical com sumption of 2392 units. The hydro plant has run Very satisfactorily during the month, running 731 hours and generating 16,251 electrical units. Owing to a tree falling across the high tension lines on Saturday night. Octobei 11, at 7.30 p.m., the whole town Was thrown in darkness. It took Id hours before the tree was removed and the . lines re-erected. The cabfe for Gaym- , bridge and' Lincoln streets has come to hapd, and' the- work has been c<*ni- . menced. Twenty-two lighting point? have been installed during the month', , two applications for current have been received, and several repair jobs have .been carried out. MISS GLENNY’S' RESIGNATION. As Miss Mavis Glenny, assistant to the Town Clerk, has resigned l her position, the Mayor said he would aslc the council to mark its appreciation of her services, and moved: /‘That the council place on I‘eqpvd its appreciation of services rendered by Miss ,M. Glenny during the period she lias been assistant to tlie Town Clerk.” In speaking to the motion, the Mayor said he had had many opportunities of noting Miss Glenny’s worth, and as they all knew she conducted the work of the office for one month pending the arrival of the Town Clerk. The resolution was seconded by. Cr Honeyfield, who endorsed the remarks of the Mayor, and after the other councillors had spoken the. resolution was carried. It was also resolved to give Miss Glenny a testimonial, to be signed by the Mayor, depuiy-Mayor (Cr Honeyfield) and Cr Ramsbottom. A number of tenders were received for supply of tip-up chairs for the Town Rail, and after consideration of same it was resolved to obtain two :samples and then make a selection. BOROUGH AND COUNTY. , The question- of contributing onethird' of the cost and maintenance of tlie proposed alterations and repairs to the small bridge, creek and' road to the station, as requested by the Patea County Council, was considered at length. The Mayor placed the matter before the council, remarking that they had all heard the remarks of the chairman of the County Council when a deputation from that body waited on tlie General Purposes CYmmittee, and be ■would' now like to hear an expression from councillors. Cr .Honeyfield: Has this council the statutory right to spend any of it? funds oii roads, etc., outside the limits of the borougli ? His Worship: I believe so; but I have not gone fully into the matter yet, and therefore could not quote the authority. He certainly thought the borough should recognise some liability in. the .matter. t Cr Honeyfield said that on the Mayor’s assurance that their action was legal lie would move, for the purpose of pushing the matter on a step: ‘‘That this council' recognises no liability for any work beyond' the railway yard gates, and will not entertain the proposal to contribute towards the cost of tarring the road to the back of the station.” Seconded by Cr Peacock and carried. Cr Ramsbottom then moved: “That provided the opinion of the municipal solicitor is satisfactory, this council contribute the sum of £lO9 towards the Work to be done to the county road at the creek near the railway * yard gates, such amount to be- tlie limit of this council’s liability in the matter. Seconded by Cr Watson, who remarked that he did not favour giving .the County Council a free hand in the matter. Cr Jones said he would make himself perfectly clear on the matter. He did not believe in helping-the County Council in any way. The borough wks

not in a position to: be doleing out grants to other bodies towards repairs to roads; they had more to do within their own boundaries than their finances would permit. He had heard the deputation’s threats about a commission being set up to decide the proportion of each authority's liability ; let the county go ahead with its commission. After further discussion the resolution was carried. TEN HER CENT PENALTY. The Mayor moved a formal resolu-, tion authorising the infliction of 10 per cent penalty on all rates unpaid by December 15 next. The question of charge for electrical current consumed by the Ivakaramen Dairy Factory was considei’ed, and it 'was resolved to make the charge 4d pei* unit, less 10 per cent, for the first 800 units; IJd for the next 1200 units; and Id for all over 2000 consumed in any one month.' Cr Jones gave notice of his intention to move at the next meeting of the Council a. motion to reduce the number of councillors from ten to eight (including the Mayor). It was resolved to hold a special meeting; of the council on 10th inst. to consider applications for the position of assistant to the Town Clerk. The council then adjourned.