HAWERA BOROUGH COUNCIL

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 21 May 1915, Page 8

HAWERA BOROUGH COUNCIL

CAB STAND AND TELEPHONE

, MOftTHJSY MEETING, ** The monthly meeting of the Hawera Borough Council was txeld on /Thursday evening. Present: The Mayor \Mt'luD\xoti), Crs A. Reid, F. btevens, C. Xfi. - Hoilard, J. W. Harding, L. A, bone, A. B. Burrell, E. C. flayton, and J. G. Osborne. .Leave ot absence was granted to Cr D. J. Goodwin. An application was received from the Eltham Brass Band 'for permission to give a programme in King Jkdward Parlt on May 30, the proceed* to be devoted to a tund in aid or the wounded soldiers trom Taranaki.

The request was granted. J. H. McDowell, secretary, wrote asKing for permission to make a charge of' one shilling admission to the spores ground on Thursday;. June 3, the occasion of the annual ladies' hockey tournament. It was proposed to devote the proceeds to the Belgian Relief Fund. The request was granted. AN APPLICATION DECLINED. The Te Ngutu-o-te-Manu Beard wrote asking it the Council could see its way to remit the c'hargeror water. The Board's-t'ui>ds were at a"low ebb. ■ The clerk explained" that the-'-Board never used more than the minimum and that it owed the Council £2, two years' | supply.. cr Reid moved that the request be not granted. He said it would be a bad precedent to give the water away. Cr-'Bbne seconded the motion, whiclx was carried. ~ ! ' COUNCIL DEBENTURES. The Provident Lifer Assurance Com-; pany wrote that the / company ;:w^id!: take up a further £600(7 of the Council's debentures on the same terms asona previous loan oi £30,000, the nioney, to be payable in eighteen months'. time, the price being £y9 per cent. On the motion of Crs Harding and Bone, it was decided that the otter be accepted. EMPLOYEES' WAGES. The borough employees petitioned the Council for an increase of a shilling per day owing to the extra cost of living. The clerk said this would mean, at a shilling a day, an increase of £640 per annuiHv The Mayor said that while they might be in sympathy with the workmen in their petition, it was a matter which should be referred to the Finance Committee. He moved in this direction.

This was seconded by Cr Hayton. Cr Burrell: What are they getting now ?

The clerk: Nine shillings is the ruling rate; gangers get an' extra shilling a day.

RAILWAY STATION ENTRANCE

A letter ncs received from the Hawera stationmaster (Mr J. A. Rcdie) stating that he had received complaints as to the entrance to the station platform being blocked through vehicles obstructing it. He would be glad if the Council looked into the complaints. The Mayor moved that the'inspector be asked to attend to this matter, it was necessary, he said, for the inspector to be on the spot to direct the traffic. The Hawera people had been longsuffering in this matter, particularly the ladies. • Cr Hollard seconded the motion. From what he had seen the complaints were justified, for the obstruction had been very bad. Cr Harding said he understood the real trouble was the privately-owned ears or vehicles. The clerk: I think they all infringe 3 a certain extent.. The motion was carried. BOROUGH COUNCIL COMMITTEES. Ths following are the committees of the Borough Council for the ensuing term: & General, the whole Council; Works, the Mayor (chairman), Crs lleid, Goodwin Burrell, Hayton and Stevens: Lighting, the Mayor, Crs Reid, Goodvvm (chairman), Burrell and Havton: Plans, the Mayor, Crs Reid, Goodwin Burrell (chairman), and Hayton • finance, the Mayor, Crs Fone (chairman), Stevens, Harding and Osborne:* Library Crs Harding/ (chairman), Ste-' yens Hollard and Osborne • Parks Crs Harding, Stevens (chairman), Hollard and Osoorne; Reserves, Crs Harding! Stevens, Hollard and Osborne (chair-man)-Abattoir, Crs Reid (chairman), Bone, Burrell and Hayton; Whs, Crs I 5 (eliairman). Harding, Bun-ell and Osborne; Cemetery, Crs Reid (chairman), Osborne, Bone and Hollard • Crs Goodwin (chairman) and

The Mayor is a member of all committes (ex-omcio).

RAILWAY WARNING BOARDS

~ A communication was received from the Railway Department with reference to its intention of erecting warning boards at railway crossings. The clerk said he ha<i written acknowledging .the letter.

A letter ,was read from the Hawera 1 ostmaster- (Mr T. B. Salmon) with reference to the telephone for the cabdrivers, i

The Mayor considered it was very desirable for the cab drivers to have a to l ephone on their stand, provided the present stand was .satisfactory. The clerk said the stand, after a itnal, had proved satisfactory. Cr. Harding said it was desi-able that the cab drivers should have a telephone on their stand.

Cr. Reid moved, that, the present stand being satisfactory, the -clerk arrange for the installation of a telephone there.

Cr. Hayton seconded the motion, which was carried.

PROGRESS REPORT

The Engineer (Mr Sturrock) reported as follows:—

Tarviating Streets Loan.—Work on this loan has been suspended with the exception of the top-dressing of South road, now almost completed. Street tar macadam work is better performed during the summer months.

Kerbing and Channelling Loan.—The kerbs and channels of Princes street south have been sompleted at a cost of about £4 3s per chain, in Nelson street at about £4 Is, and in Wellington street at about £3 19s per chain. The amount allowed in the estimate is about £4 12s per chain. Work is proceeding in Glover road (east of Union street), Caledonia street, Albion street, and Erin street. I shall be glad to receive instructions regarding the ne«t streets to be ker.bed.

hewer Extension Loan.—Work has been temporarily suspended in Glover roiid to allow the men to perform topdressing operations in Collins street and South road. The cost of the sewer in Jhsmont street east was about £7 13s od per sham, including manholes. The amotmt. allowed by the estimate is about £14- per chain. Asphalt Footpath Loan.—Tar macaclam has been laid in High staee* west, High street east, Princes strer rmth, Inn ces street north, aad earf .-,rk in rselson street, Wellington sti* :. and \ ict^na street. No further oosts are available of completed work. The last cost given was of Regent street, which cost Is B^d per squar* yard, against Is 9£d allowed in +Jie estimate. Hi<*h street vrest and Princes street north require top-dressing when, sufficiently consolidated.

~uty& Ui^O'ttg^aiid. metaiungdf Bim*ey • afreet ~'©xiei&ion; is'no*.* completed cost, £121 j esCimate, HiaO. b<sm«) jjft&k uW been done ito;tamer<?a Vr^et^but oweet Construction out •of General Account.— lattie Hegent street iormaUon>.and metaifing are now completed. Hub me special oaj streets' ptpti out ot general account. The sweets ineuuied or gracted and metalied are .umaeii street, kittle Regeat scieec, Nelson saeet, YV^soujßtreet;, 4'ur-' ioag street, Wellington -ecieefc and fcrr,ey Aweet. lac estimated coat ior tnea*j was £l4iy. Ine actual cost has been £lifß2. About •4Mb* was. allowed tor metalling. Kegent street troin High 'street to Little Regent street,- but id seems 1 unnecessary jo do more than patch the suia'ice until the tarviated ihetal is laid there out of loan account.* Lake jtiepairs.—ln order to try to avoid unnecessary expense this work has been carried out in stages. The first was the repairing or' tne cracks in the walls. This did little good. The floor was then carefully gone over, and all.cracKS repaired. In addition the screed marks or junctions between the slabs in the floors, were such that/ a knife could be pushed, almost,,through the floor in places. These have now been made good, but the lake is still leaking, which might be expected, as the Gbhcrete floor" is less than three inches thick in p.aces, and is of a porous nature. Having made good the most obvious, defects the question of whrft is next to be done has to be settled. To ■ remedy, ihe' defects by putting fresh concrete over the floor wbajd cost several hundreds of pounds, an^ to plasterthe "flG^v;*#duld'-; -be ay dbubtfui !and costly proceeding. Probably the best method to adopt would be to apply the Sylves; ter wash process consisting of alternate applications of hot solutions of castille soap and a'um. This fills up the pores of the concrete and forms a skin. I have used this process with success in other work. The cost would be, roughly, about £50. At present the leakage is equal to about the w.ater which would come from a one-inch pipe running full at town pressure, »and. as there is more than sufficient water.at the intake, the supply to town would not be appreciably, affected. Haying made good the weakest places, it is probable that, in time, the pores of the concrete will become filled to some extent. Already the sum of £40 has been spent and you may consider +hat the matter could be left over in the meantime. If you so decide I would require to fix a ball valve inlet to keep the lake full without the s attendance it requires at present. The cost of this is trifling. Sundry.—Collins street has, as instructed, Jbeen top-dressed again with tarvia. The cost has been £95 against £60 on last qccasion. This time the material used was tar.via, last time it was gas tar. .Tarvia costs Is 4£d per gallon, gas tar 6sd. The extra wear to be got out of the tarvia will probably repay the extra cost. Victoria street south is about to be top-dressed, as insbracted. I wo^ild suggest that Princes street nor.^h and High street* should be now top-dressed with tar prepared to British Road Board specification, such as we are using for the footpaths. While it is desirable to avoid loading general account, it is necessary to preserve the tarviated roads already laid down, and I do not think top-dressing can be further delayed with safety. Estimated cost, £120. The Mayor: One satisfactory feature about the renort is that the work car-

ried out is under the estimate. The question of deciding what streets were next to be kerbed and channelled was left to the Works Committee, with power to act. On the motion of Cr Stevens and Cr Burrell, it was decided that no further moneys be expended on the lake for the present, with the exception of the valve as suggested by the

The engineer was authorised to proceed with the top-dressing as suggested in the report.

INSPECTOR'S REPORT

The Borough Inspector (Mr Pettett) reported having made 536 inspections during the month. The sanitary condition of the borough was good, and the drains were also satisfactory. Only on one occasion had it been found necessary to have a second test on account of leaking joints. The street traffic oa race days was well looked after, and there were no accidents reported. THE ABATTOIR REPORT. The manager (Mr G, H. Barker) reported the number of stock slaughtered as follows: Cattle 91, sheoD 298, calves 9, lambs 45, pigs 45. ' The fees lor the month amounted to £72 6s- a decrease of £5 Is 9d compared with the corresponding month of last year