Municipal Council, Queenstown.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 1832, 14 August 1891, Page 3

Municipal Council, Queenstown.

The following members of above body met in the Public Library on Tuesday evening:—The Mayor (Mr F. St. Omer), auil Crs R. Ross, W. J. Thomson, J. v.d. Waldo, F. T. B. Walker, and E T. Wing. The Mayor said that, before proceeding with the business of the ordinary meeting a Statutory Meeting, adjourned from May last, would have to be held to consider the balance-sheets, which could not be then dealt with in consequence of their not hav : n» beeu audited. His Worship read the clauses of the Act bearing on the subject. It was then resolved, on the motion of Or W T ilde and Wing—That the annual balance-sheet, as audited, be accepted and fina'lv settled. The Ordinary Meeting was then held, the same councillors being present. Minutes of previous meeting were read aud confirmed. Correspondence. •utward correspondence, read and approved, was of a routine character. Inward correspondence, read and received was as follows: From S. Dewar, chairman of School Committee, applying for assistance in celebration of Arbor Day ou Friday, and asking permission to fence in a small piece of ground, on the Eastern Terrace, to be planted by the children and citizens of the town ; also for the supply of sfum trees and the assistance of the dayman in erecting a fence, and any other aid the Corporation may feel disposed to give. The Committee propose spending about £l2 in tries and fencing. The Mayor had been consulted on the matter, and steps already takeu had met his approval. From Inspector J. Hickson, Dunedin, stating that, when application was made some time ago to appoiut the seigeaut in charges inspector of nuisances, the Government were averse to such appointments Iwing held by the police, but i ow they have decided to allow them to do so. Therefoie, if required, Sergt. Hugh Nickle will be prepared to act in the capacity stated. From F. W.ti. Geisow (9/7/91) stating that a fixed deposit receipt for £llß la 4d (with 12 months interest thereon, £5 18<) sinking fund of the waterworks had been lodged in the Bank of New Zealand for 12 months at 2j%. A petition from G. M'Kenzie, A. Mayne, L. Hotop, A. F«»rd, D. Price, H. Savill, and A. Boyne, owucrs or residents of property at south west end of Mann-street, calling attention to the steepness of Baid street, opposite blocks VIII. aud IX , especially before reaching the top of terrace, thereby preventing all dray traffic from coming up said street and causing a detour by the Oemete>-y road, adding to the expense of carriage of uoo Is, etc. The outlay on the road had been \ety limited and all now asked for was simply "to have a few yards takeu off the top of the hill, also t»o small hillocks a little down, aud the earth so removed to be deposited at the foot of the hill, which would enable a loaded dray to go right up on to the Terrace." The proposed alteration could be carried out for £l3.

Mr Wenkheim waited upon the Council. He ■aid he was sorry to trouble them on such a trivial matter, but that it was a matter of principle. At the last Assessment Court there were four unclaimed sections near his property, rated at 12s and •truck off. He expressed his willingness to Mr Boyes, the to vn clerk, to occupy them at a reasonable price au I his offer of 6s was accepted. He paid the money to the Clerk win, however, only gave a receipt up to March last, whereas his meaning was that the money was to lie for the current year, from the time of the signing of the roll. He returned the receipt as there was no chauce of getting a settlement out of Mr B>yes. His Worship, iu conversation afterwards, said a receipt could only be given for six months. His (the speaker's) distinct understanding was that the money was to be for the present financial year, and he contended that it could not be for less.

The Clerk said he gave Mr Wenkheim a receipt for the sec'ion up to the financial year ending March. 1891, the rates then owing, but Mr Wenkheim wauted the money to go fur the year 1892.

Mr Wenkeim retired, and after a shoit conversation the subject dropped without any further discision being come to.

Dealing with Correspondence.

rbcor Day.—With regard to application by the School Committee, the Council expre-syd their willingness to assist in carrying out proposed arrangement, and it was tesolved on the motion of Crs Winn and R ss—That the request of the School Committee he complied with. The Mayor in answer to Cr Ross said that £3 had been voted by the Council for trees but it was not theti me to get them yet. These tret s were to be planted in the park, where there was plenty of room for them. Cr Ross—l saw in the paper not long ago, some* tiling al>out «i>nie plan of the park, w Inch is said to be missing. Was there ever any such plan ? If so we could tell tatter where to plant the trees.

The Mayor—There is no plan of the park. The present trees are too close perhaps, hut, so far, that cannot uow be altered. Nevertheless we m ist not in future plant the trees s» far apart, as they would toon fill up the space available. JtfsPKcroß of Nuisancks.—The Mayor said he supposed the appointment of the p ilice, m-ant th« giving of a salary, which the Council cou'd not affml; and, besides the dayman was already paid for that as pirt of his duties. Cr Ross suggested that a letter should be written to Inspector Hickson asking what salary, if any, the jtnlice would require. He thought it very desirable to relieve the dayman of that duty, as he really had no time to attend to it in summer, and, besides, more attention would he paid by ratepayers to the police than to the dayman. It was r* solved accordingly that Inspector Hickson be written to. Mann Struct Improvements.— Cr Wing thought the petitioners already had a very good road on to the top of the terrace.

The Mayor—Yes, past Mrs Boyd's and along the Cemetery road. I think that answers all purposes at present very well. Cr Ross questioned whether the small amount of rates received from that locality would justify the Council in incurriug an expeuse of some £l3 for another road.

The Clerk—Only aliout £1 a year is received for rates for sections along the road. Cr Thomson thouwht the Council mk'ht take the gravel off the top of the hill and use it for repair of another street, but it seemed it was wanted to be placed at the bottom of the hill to improve the same road. At the sueuestinn of Cr Ross the matter was r«farred to the Works Committee to report on at next meeting. The Mayor said he had received a letter (which he foruot to bring) from the Manager of the Bank of New Zealand, offering to the Council, for 5s five loads of flags at house occupied by Mr Cochran and of no use to the owners. It was ordered that the offer be declined.

Sundry accounts amounting to £69 4s 6d were passed for payment, with the exception of one from Captain Dotine, being 8< 6d, for expenses incurred by *he Fire Brigade at'f. Spear's and 0. Wood row's fires. Some of the Council thought, in consideration of the honour and of recently getting a cheap trip to Auckland that the captain should be satisfied to forego the small claim now made. Cr Walde, as one of the fire inspectors, drew attention to the careless way in which the hose was kept. He thought it should be part of the duty of the dayman or some one connected with the Brigade to look after these things, instead of allowing the hose to lie about frozen up, and therefore useless in case of a fire.

The dayman said that the hose in question was lying alongside the reel, and was not put on till dry otherwise it would rot. Cr R)ss thought tlier* was some ground for the complaint, but the dayman should he allowed a little time to look after the >?ear. a 9 the Fire Brieade could not he expected to do the work. (MftValde—l think it should be part of the daymaiiTduty to see that the hose is always kept in readineaa.

The daym-ui said tliere was one hose over 300 feet Ions; on the ieel the night of lust hie. fhere were also: wo other hoses —one of ihem over 100 feet long, never yet used. After further discussion the subj-ct dropped. At the suggestion of (,'r W aide, it was ordered that the wJrka Committee either a little footp.itli of wooden kerbing over the hare pipes crossing Ballarat-street bridge, or take other steps to cover and protect them. Cr Wing drew attention to a cow grazing in the park the last few days, and also breaking dowu the young gum trees. The dayman said that cow belonged to Mrs Bissett. Some parties were repeated iy breaking down the park fence, so that animals got to. He repaired the fence about a month ago, and now it ag\in wanted repairing. A suggestion was made that owners of the animals should he made to pay damage done. The usual vote of thanks to the chair concluded proceedings