MANAIA TOWN BOARD.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 5 December 1924, Page 3

MANAIA TOWN BOARD.

MONTHLY MEETING. The Manaia Town Board met last evening. There" we re present: Commissioners L. G. Nielson (chairman), J. H. Hickey, N. C. Innes, S. H. Greaves, C. Jones ana Mr W. J. Badley (clerk)., Apologies for absence were received from Commissioners V. H. Hobday and J. A. Cosgrove.. THE MONTH’S WORK. ‘ The report of the foreman (Mr T. pee), as io-llows, was adopted:— Work during the past month has been confined to- ordinary maintenance. Water supply. Two connections iha-ve been made to the bin. main outside the town area, Mr E. Walters :be--ing conneoted up an the JNc-rmanby Road and a mei'er installed, and a connection has been made on Mr Stoddart’s farm. For the- last-named job Mr Bturrock very -kindly lent the Board the high pressure boring machine, which saved considerable time, and also, as the water is not shut oft' with this machine there is no disturbance of the town supply. The settling -tanks -will require their quarterly cleaning about the .latter end of .the month.

Footpaths.—The footpath on the east side of the Manaia Road has been completed .up to Mr Judd’s residence. Owing to dry hot weather setting in early, I did not fill in the west side, by the croquet lawn, as the town cows tear new work about rtoo -much in dry weather. About chains of path •between the Town Hall and Mr -Howell’s garage will require re-tarring -this season, also 25 lineal yards between Mr Chong’s and Mr Bailey’s shops, and a section from Mr Gibson’s office to the efid of the tarred footpath on -that side of the Get agon. Roads.-—The -water-tables on Riemenschneider Street between Hassard and Ra-ngauri Streets have been ploughed and cleaned out, but .holes on the “filling” have been filled in and the ; centre of the road rounded, up and’ -rplled. A few bad holes on Karaka Street have been filled with clay, and the grass ploughed off the edge of ;the -metal on the Sutherland Road -between South Road and Te Rau Street. The -spoil from this I aim .carting to the Ngatai Street and Manaia Road intersection.

- General.—Regarding concrete -drinking troughs, as only small troughs are required, I consider that a trough 3ft dong by 2ft. -.wide and Ift. 6ih. .deep would suffice; this would hold 56 gallons. With a 4 to 1 mixing the cost of these will be about £2 each, .and the cost of ball tap and connecting to the main another 255. • Twelve new lamps have been put on during -the ! month. Property owners have mostly 1 -complied with the request to cut down “wild carrots.” There are still several patches of gorse not started' on, -but 1 hope to see it cleared after the ensilage and haymaking is finished. ' The dray and plough have been overhauledj. a new soleplate ,being put on the latter. Gn the 14th of the month I -topk an inventory of all tools, plant, .spare parts both for the water and drainage loan and the board’s equipment for the use of the auditor. The gate at the horse-paddock is broken beyond repair, being thoroughly gotten; it would require 90 running feet- of 4 .by 1 to ma-ke a new gate of the same pattern The provision of drinking troughs for cattle in the town area was also discussed, it being left to- the Works Committee to obtain prices fo,r erection and to report regarding suitable positions. sanitation. With reference to inspectors -of health -undertaking work as -sanitary inspectors .under local authorities, a circular letter -received from the Public Health Department explained .that where a health inspector had been appointed by a local authority as sanitary inspector, he was its officer for the purposes ,of the Act, and should ieiporb -direct to the local authority all matters with which it had power Co deal. -He would endorse such reports as sanitary inspector and not as inspector of -health. The policy of the Act was to make local authorities responsible -for its administration w-t-bin their area. The Department advised and supervised, but when the Department’s officer was acting as sanitary inspector -for a local authority he -was that body’s officer. The Department requested advice as to whether the Board had duly appointed such an o-f-; ficer, and recommended that the appointment, if not already made, should be effected forthwith. The chairman said that the notification seemed to indicate that- all responsibilty was thrown on the board. Cr. Innes thought it indicated that the inspector’s duty was to place all complaints before the board, and if the board was unable to deal with the matter, to bring it to the notice of the health officer. The foreman (Mr T. Dee) was the board’s sanitary inspector. Cr. Hickey agred that the board officiated under Inspector Coleman. The clerk intimated that “though apparently Inspector Coleman had not been officially appointed by the board, it was responsible for £2O per annum as a contribution to his, salary. No action was taken, "the clerk being instructed to communicate with the Department regarding the board’s position. A cony of gazetted regulations under the Health Act to prevent the contamination of food during manufacture and sale was received from the Health Department.—lt was decided -to hand the regulations to the board’s solicitor for attachment to the town by-laws. MAIN HIGHWAYS. Notification was .received from Mr T. M. Ball, district representative ol the Main Highways Board, that owing to delay in printing the- forms, formal authority had not been issued for approved maintenance works. The letter suggested that local -bodies should render -claims for one-third of expenditure from June 9 to .October 31. An endeavour would then be made to arrange for payments as early as possible. The clerk reported “that a claim had been forwarded for payment on £ls 10s 4d, the total value of work completed. TELEPHONE HOURS. Replying to -the board’s application to have the holiday attendance a,t the Manaia telephone exchange altered, the Chief Postmaster (New Plymouth),, writing under date November 24, advised that it had been arranged to give immediate -effect to the alteration, and that- in future the. holiday attendance would be from 9 n.m. to 10 a.m. and from 7 p.m. to 8 p m. — Received. CHRISTMAS NIGHT ENTERTAINMENT. Enclosing particulars of the proposed picture, the’proprietor of the Empress Pictures applied for permission to present a picture entertainment in the Town Hall on Christmas night. Cr. Hickey said it was customary in other places to permit approved entertainments, and saw no reaso-n why permission should not be granted. On his motion, it was decided to permit the screening of an appropriate programme, subject to the final approval of the chairman respecting the pictures and prices.

RANGER. Tli© action of tlie chairman and Commisisoner Innes in .appointing Mr H. V. Ricketts as ranger and dog tax collector was approved. GENERAL. An application was received from Mr E. A. Mitchell (Manaia), requesting that a drain in the rear of his property be opened up was referred i'o the foreman for action. Messrs Parsell anil Sutton’s tender at £8 10s for painting the. fence and cap rail at the entrance to the Domain being the lowest received, was accepted, subject :to endorsement of conditions.’ ft was decided that the -Christmas and New Year holidays to Jbe observed at ,the board’s offices be, as previously, from December 23 to January 6, 'and that in January the monthly meeting be postponed from the first to the second Thursday. The clerk reported that the jnqnth’s revenue amounted to £209 16s 3d. - Accounts totalling £lll 8s 4d -were passed for payment. At the conclusion of the meeting the chairman appropriately tendered the compliments of" the season to hoard members. -He expressed his sincere appreciation of the support- accorded in the board’s affairs, and ■hoped that throughout the .ensuing year a similarly successful -co-operation .would mark its deliberations.