BOROUGH AFFAIRS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1705, 19 December 1919, Page 3

BOROUGH AFFAIRS.

MEETING Oh" THE COUNCIL.

A fdrtniglltljr meeting of the Borough Council was field last night. Jfh'd Mayoi (-Mr ,}. A. Nash) presided and tilforo wen, iilko present Crs. E. IT. Crabh, S. R. Lancaster, J. 15. Beale, A, J. Graham, C. F. Spboncr, J. Uodgens and JVL A.'Eliott. CORRESPONDENCE. From L. Ilobman (a Bc-rOuglg employee). asking to be classed as a permanent hand, and stating that he had been- working foi the borough on and oil' tor the past eignteei. months.—the engineer to report to the Public Works Committee. .' ■ Frdin Kaii-qifga County Council, agreeing to meet the Borough tor the purpose Oi discussing m connection with tin control and distribution of electricity within tho' Borough and County.—Received. From' hospital Board, accepting estimate of the cost of extending the Borough water supply from College strceUwest to tlie 0:d People's Home.—Received, I From the Department of Lands and Sur ve.v, forwarding official notification that section 55 of the Reserves and Other Lands Disposal Act, 1919, has now been passed and empowers the Council to expend profits derived from its reserves in the improvement of any other public reserve either within or without the Borough.—Received.

From Pahiatua County Council, slating that the conference of the contributing and interested local bodies concerning the L'pper Gorge bridge and portion of tlie road would be held at Wobdvillo Borough Council Chambers on Tuesday, January 6, at noon, to consider the local Kill recently passed, and to take such steps as to fix the date to have the Hoard of Control set up in tlie I,lllls of the Hill, and asking Council to be iviiiccntul at the Conler.cnce.—Received-.

From I'nder-Secretary of Public Works Department, forwarding copy of'Alanawatu Gorge Road and Bridge Act, 1919. and pointing out that the Department had not Ik en advised of the appointment of any members of the Board of Control as provided for in the Act, and further stating that'it lias been suggested to the Pahiatua County Cotiifcil to arrange a conference of local bodies at an eqrly date.—Received.

From Department of Agriculture, stating that the plant known as " Latina " lias been added to the Noxious Weeds Act.—Received.

From State Advances Office: (1) With information that the precedent consent of the Governor in (ouncil has been obtained in connection with the proposed loans amounting to £126.275 and the abattoir loan of £5000; (2) regretting that the -Minister of Finance is not prepip'ed to recommend the Governor-General in Council to authorise tlie raising of any of the above loans- at a higher rate of interest than 5i per cent.; (3) advising that the State Advances Office had resolved to eutertuiii the Council's application lor- the loan of £IO,OOO for the purpose of erecting workers' dwellings, currency 36i years, at 4i per cent.; also forwarding final application form, tand asking that the prescribed steps to raiso the loan be taken forthwith.—Received. From District Health Officer, pointing out certain sanitary defects existing at houses Situated in Ashley street, ipid recommending improvements.—Received.

From local Deputy Public Trustee, forwarding a lettoi' stating that the late .Mrs M. A. Franco had sold lior interest in n plot in the cemetery to Mrs Bassett, and cnchwingthe lattor's receipt and asking that the, title he transferred to the purchaser.--Received.

, From \V. Trass, College street west, making application for water conned ion , ley main wlien same is oxteiulcfl past his property ami agreeing tp .epniply with the tumid I Conditions governing supply outside Bor-ough.--.lt was resolved to notify the applicant that his request could not lie acceded to sat, present. From S. Tremaine, asking that the footpath on the npi;th-wps'l isicle of [Kjlowfuif 'street lie tarred and-' sanded'.—Rcfpftrst asceded to. . From- secretary West End School (,‘nininittcc, 'applying for use of Council'*, grader for the'purpose of levelling and grading a portion of the school ground. —Referred to the engineer. 1 ■ 1 ' From Mrs Lyons,, advising* that the. trustees of the estate are unable to accept loss i Imn £3 10s per foot for section adjacent to gravel pit.—Received. ENGINEER’S REPORT.. The Borough engineer reported as follows Street repairs. Tuc following streets have been patched with metal: Rangitikei line, .Main street East, Church street. Wateriables: mitortables have been cleaned in, Alain street East both sides from Duke street to railway crossing at Cemetery, Seandi.a street horn Alain street to Ferguson street, both sides, Edyeware road, Welisbonrnc 'street, Ivanhoo Terrace, Railgitikei street, from Featherston street to is a.\vau bridge, King street, both sides, and Queen sweet, botii sides. Tarring: Road shrfates have been renewed with asphalt in Main street West and FoXton line, and gas, sewer, and water main trenches in Ferguson, Oxford, Juiuhino, I tread, Grey, Massey, and Ward streets, Weston avenue, and Rangitikei line. Tho road through tlio Square from Coles’ buildings to Watson Bros, lias received its second coat on that portion carrying tho traffic. The outer roads of the Square from Coleman Place to Broad street, and from Itroad street to the railway.crossing at Post Ollice, bavi. been'tar painted and sanded, A commencement iias been made with the-tuning of the footpaths in Martin street, 1 jncrete work: The concrete gang nave constructed eight now (adverts ind crossings, and have been ■ingaged in addition on the making of slabs. Tho extension of the culvert, Gillespie's lino has,been gonijiloted in accordance with instructions'.' Grading: The grader lias been in use on Cliureii street from Cook street to Botanical.,road, West'street, Gruv street from Victoria street to Russell street. Road Roller: A flaw in the casting of the boiler of the road roller developed some time ago and was temporarily patched, but lias now shown up again and has become so bad that more permanent repairs were necessary; 1 threforo gave instructions for tho work to be carried out with (he acetone process. This has boon done, and was examined to-day by the Inspector of. Machinery, who expressed himself as satisfied with the repairs, but proposes to carry mil a further examination to-morrow with the boiler under pressure. .Surface. V\ liter Drain. Main street. East: The results of mvj investigation of tho surlaeo water _ drain across Main street East from took s premises through the Defence Department s grounds to Church street, reveal' d tne existence of a wooden box culvert under both roads connected to a stoneware pipe drain passing under the railway. I he wooden portion had completely rotted away and collapsed in several places. L.havq renewed this work with stoneware pipes,yimi have built a concrete stormwater gully at the watcrtablo on Cook’s side; this will intercept tho water passing down Ms in street from the direction of Terrace End, thereby relieving tho watcrtablcs between Cook’s ■ premises and the Post Office of a largo I quantity of water. Tho watortablc from tins.point can now be regraded with more fall, but to do this satisfactorily a concrete channel should bo constructed. This I know is out of tho question meantime, so I propose to make up the depressions with metal well rammed dow.u. , Removal of sijt_ at Reservoir: Tho new intake on tho Tiritea stream above the present reservoir and the new jfipe lino being sufficiently advanced to ho brought into use, I tested theywork on Saturday, tho 6th inst.. and found tilings finite satisfactory. On the following Monday the water level in the mail; reservoir was lowered sufficiently to enable the submerged dam to bo cleared of silt, and access was obtained to the old scour pipe. The work of removing the silt from the upper portion of tho reservoir has progressed very satisfactorily indeed throughout tho past week. By adopting-a scouring process a largo quantity of debris lias been removed. I propose stopping the works on 1 uosday, tho 16Ui inst, and allowing the reservoir to fill up before the holidays. No further operations should bo undertaken uj-itil after tho dry season, when the main reservoir can bo lowered and the remainder of (ho silt removed. Laying Water Mains: The mains in .Moore, Thomson, and Douglas streets have now been laid, aiul work has boon commenced on tho 4-in.eh main in College street to supply the Old People’s Dome and abattoir. REPORT OF RESERVES COMM IT’TEK. Tho icport of the Reserves (.'ora(pittee as follows was adopted That the application from the Miinawaln Croquet Club for the use of the Sports Ground from January 26th to February Ist, -inclusive, be granted provided their tournament in no way interferes with the cricket matches on the Saturday: that tire Methodist Bible Class bo notified that they must make arrangements

with the Curator regarding their>.apmcdRon for tin; uscj of the Snorts Ground on Rbxinsj Dav ; that a« no te'ndi rs were reyoivod for'the tea kiojik. thci Council do isked to ijioko arrangements for the open: in ff of tin: premises at its own expense: that a copy of tho ogrocffi'pnt li«twu:-ii tin ConiK'il and the lu buTOplumJ \o the Bulls Town Hoard, as applied for; • hat tlie in;;tier of constructing:.a pathway in Anzac Park leading to tlie river beach ])■■-, referred to the Council; that the Council be recommended not to acquire the 5 2 icres of -Mr O'H. itlv's hind at Terrace Lnd is suggested by the Terrace End School vomnuMee; that the Borough engineer and Cv HodgOUS be authorised to inteive-w All Manning, the builder of the Government houses now in course of construction m Web linston. for the purpose of gathering all particulars and to supply a report as to his method of building; that the Council tie also recommended to include iti its housing scheme tlie advisabilitv of establishing dwellings for the hoads of its departments; that the'action of Cr Lancaster and the Curator in disposing of one acre of oats for the sum of £lO he confirmed.