TE KUITI BOROUGH COUNCIL.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XVIII, Issue 1896, 4 December 1923, Page 5

TE KUITI BOROUGH COUNCIL.

ORDINARY MEETING. The ten good men and true, elected in April last, to watch and guide the destinies of Te Kuiti for the next two years, met for the last time in 1923 last night at the Municipal Chambers. There were present His Worship the Mayor (Mr H. Rothery),,, and Crs Somerville, Walker, Broadfoot, O’Connell, Morton, Ferguson. McHutchison, Peterson and Boddie. The town clerk (Mr J. Kiernan) was also in attendance.

A PERSONAL EXPLANATION. The first business dealt with was an application for a transfer of a billiard saloon license from R. C. Cheeseman to D. C. Mclntyre. It was mentioned that the usual police report concerning the latter had not yet been received. It was decided to hold over the application, pending a report from the police. Two councillors were emphatic in a statement that the police should not dictate to the council in the matter of granting licenses. The town clerk pointed out that the council was not compelled to refuse a license simply because of an unfavourable police report, but the police were the best fitted to advise the council as to the suitability of an applicant.

R. C. Cheeseman, on whom the police reported unfavourably owing to a conviction for keeping liquor for sale, attended, and was allowed to make a personal explanation. He said that the conviction was the only one recorded against him in 58 years. A wedding party was held one evening at his house, when the guests consumed a certain amount of liquor. Next morning he had carelessly thrown the empty bottles over the river bank, and a prosecution had followed. He contended that the billiard saloon had been much better conducted since he took it over than previously. The Mayor explained that the Council had been placed in an awkward position, but could hardly ignore the police report, which was backed up by the magistrate’s conviction. It was unfortunate, but the Council was out to look after everybody’s interests. He hoped that no further trouble would be met with in securing the transfer, pending a report from the police.

HOSPITAL MATTERS. A communication was received from the secretary of the Waikato Hospital Board, levying £548 3s 10d, being the Council’s quota towards the Te Kuiti Hospital.—Received. AN IMPORTANT PRINCIPLE. W. Gilbert asked permission to construct a road up to some sections about to be sub-divided in the vicinity of George Street. Cr O’Connell explained that the application had been held over from the Works Committee, in order to settle a doubt as to the position in regard to a water supply. The Town Clerk threw some light on the subject by quoting an opinion of the Municipal Association’s solicitor, to the effect that a council automatically accepted responsibility for the laying of water mains, if it was not specified in the conditions of dedication that- the owner of the property to which the road gave access should himself do so.

Cr Broadfoot couldn’t see any reason why the cost of water'installation should be passed on to the public. The people selling the land should include the cost of water installation in their selling price. Cr Ferguson was sure the present supply didn’t go anywhere near the sections under discussion. Cr Boddie felt it would be blocking progress to compel a section subdivider to instal water. Cr Broadfoot thought it was about time the speculators cut out some of their profits to pay for the cost of water installation. Cr Morton: Nearly all Dominion boroughs now insist on a water service to sections about to be subdivided. Cr Peterson: ,We can’t give the people a sufficiently strong pressure now. How are you going to supply new householders? Cr O’Connell: How’s the hospital getting on for water? Cr Peterson said the point was, the borough couldn’t afford to pay for the necessary piping. Cr Broadfoot insisted that speculators about to sub-divide should be compelled to provide facilities for which they were charging.

The discussion terminated with a motion from Cr Broadfoot to the effect that Mr Gilbert be informed that his application would be granted, conditional on him laying down water mains to the satisfaction of the Council.—Carried. SOMETHING UNUSUAL. A letter of appreciation, signed by 14 ratepayers, was the next item on the correspondence list. The letter “thanked the Council for the kindly consideration given to a request to establish a light in Grey Street.”

The Mayor: That’s something unusual. A Councillor: I’d like the press to note this.” The Mayor: I wonder what’s coming next. £6OOO LOAN. The next communication was from the State Advances Department, advising- that the Governor-General’s consent to the raising of the £6OOO had been obtained.—Received. BOROUGH FOREMAN. The Mayor announced that the Works Committee had reduced the 22 applications for the above position to two—Messrs G. T. Canton (Morrinsville) and S. J. Clews (Pukekohe), who would appear before the Council to answer questions councillors might wish to ask. This was done, and resulted in the appointment of Mr Canton by 6 votes to 3.