AUKLAND CITY COUNCIL

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14327, 24 March 1910, Page 7

AUKLAND CITY COUNCIL

policy. IP . ' — ■ : ■ I illlli» ¥ 'UEORGANISING THE STAFFS. IBb-#"' — ' - Si .*>: Are Auckland City Council met la«t even- • s th<? members present being:—The |||gP (Mr. c. D. Grey), Messrs. L. J. fiJirtllt H. M. Smeeton, J. M * Ici *nie, :>|*j^Padeh°p» M. Casey, 11. T. Michaels, j> >f . Mackay, P. J- Ncrheny, W. A. Thomson, G. Read, J. Patterson, and G. ; ; Knight.' • The committee of the whole Council appointed 0 inquire into the duties of variofficials reported having held a series of feelings extending from September last till Friday last, with the result that the follow- ? 1 M Departments were :—' Town clerk's, city treasurer's, city valuer's, Waifrimele Cemetery, bathe, and electricity ind water. 'j.j r egard to the traffic inspector's deIptftment, the committee recommended SM That Mr. Turner be relieved of the du§t»6 c traffic inspector, but that he retain the office of dog registrar, and that there 1# added thereto the appointments of Isglndkecper and inspector of dangerous 3 jpods, and that his salary bo fixed at £130 per annum; (b) That the services of Mr. Tester as poundkeeper and dog ranger, be dispensed with, but that tho Works Committee be asked to see if he can bo em-, ployed in any capacity ill that department !{c) That applications be invited for the ap|J pointment of traffic inspector at a salary ?!of £200 per annum. Ml'JJn Nerhenv moved, as an amendment ■ to the motion for the adoption of the report, "That the duties of poundkeeper be jiot allotted to Mr. Turner, and that the gervi«s of Mr. Tester as poundkeeper and dog registrar bo retained, at a ea,lary of |£120 per annum." Mr. Read, in opposing -the amendment, t pointed out that it involved extra expenditure. J. The amendment- was carried by seven : totes to four. Several minor recommendations were aide regarding the librarian's department, fiatl the waterworks engineer's department. I.tjln respect to the city engineer's department, the committee recommended that as it Ms i the intention of the timekeeper and cwhiir to resign from March 31, 1910, the' post-ion. thus rendered vacant be not refilled, but- that in future the time of the irorkmen bo kept by the foreman in charge i/of[each gang; that Mr. H. Wrigg be reengaged as a temporary hand, at a salary ftt'lilS per month, to bring the city map ftp' to date by inserting the new additions | leceesitated by the erection of buildings I line# the map was compiled, and that the tity engineer report at the end of that time; and that- the existing method of district inspectors bo abolished, and that in future the several gangs be placed in charge of Working foremen, under the supervision .of the foreman of works. Other recommendations were made for retrenching and reducing the salaries of several men employed in the parks and other departments. * The committee reported having considered the position of the assistantengineer, and that it was of opinion that lis services could not be dispensed with, • teeing that half the services and time of tie city engineer were devoted to the ' work of the Drainage Board, for which. / that Board paid the Council £600 per an»Mm.' The committee called attention to the fact that the salary of the city engiaeer, paid by the Council, was the net lamount of. £600. .which,, -added to the assistant-engineer's salary of £500, made the cost of the civil engineering services rendered to the Council a total of £1100 j per annum, a sum which, considering the : important works in hand and to be car'lied out, did not seem extravagant. The report, as amended, was adopted. KYMONDS-STREBT CEMETERY. SijjMr.i? Thompson drew attention to the kiate of the late Mr. Costley's grave, in the Symonds-street Cemetery, .which he ■aid was in a deplorable condition. One could hardly read the inscription on the tombstone. He would like to know whetEer it was the duty .of the Council to attend to these graves. fe Mr. Tudehope pointed out that the | Finance Committee had recommended that |fix ; 'men; be employed for three months in f the Symonds-street cemeteries, to put them into - decent order, and that thereafter wo men be permanently employed to keep them in order. It was admitted |t^f something should be done. The duty of the Council in the matter, how*»r, could ? only be defined in a general *«y. They ought, however, to solicit the «d of the public in the matter, as a great many people in Auckland had relatives t»ho ivsre buried there. Besides the graves tiat should - be of interest to private Wople, there were graves of many of those who had - figured in the earlier history of the Dominion. . There was the • Plve of Governor HoKson, which was Ower attended, to, besides those of the jJJM/'who were drowned in the wreck of toe Orpheus. He suggested "tnat the boy |.*#utsjand cadets be invited to take the •alter in hand. further discussion took place, and we matter then dropped. A UNION'S COMPLAINT. .The secretary of the Auckland Iron and Brass Moulders' Union, wrote stating that I «e had recently noticed that tenders had teen called for water pipes and connections, and the accepted tenderer was an importer.,, He did not contend that we I •fluid claim to make pipes in the Dominion w compete with the foreign market; but P*f far as connections were concerned, we ? D I ?ht to compare favourably, as it was ;jobbing work, and. he asked the Council ® future to call for separate tenders, and give the local foundries an opportunity tendering. "It is a crying shame to Ml our local bodies," continued the letter, to see them sending so much work out llli! country to be paid for with the Money of the ratepayers, while the ratepayer walks I he street with his hands in & pockets, unable to find employment." ne .iron trade at present, it was added, *as in a deplorable state. . Jiie ; waterworks engineer (Mr. J. Car:w) reported that he had always en- # avoured to give the local ; industries a ' • are of the work, but only in the «ry small castings had he found the price near that of the imported goods, f M " unless instructed otherwise, he would iUi; the cheaper market. He would, i"tiirl' eVer '. when next calling for tenders ® specials, arrange for separate tenders: Ml MUSICAL COMPETITIONS. fr&P}*■"/Auckland- Musical and Literary |V?®petitions Society wrote soliciting the Pport of the Council in furthering the icffj a "d aims of the society. It was -ted that financial responsibilities that 6 executive had assumed were heavy, and Peetfully asked the Council to supthe movement by voting a sum of !»en to he society. In making the »quest the society were following the Dunedin and Christ church, ;it.- re m each case the Council had voted of fiinrt anc * ' n R'diarat the sum Vfn* *° their local competition socieriAk v executive of the Auckland sojy hoped the Council would be able to W? a like sum. ®°njm'tt att€l was referred to the Finance ammittee. SE : 'THE TRAMWAY SERVICE. I"he traffic inspector, in reporting with erence to the tramway service, stated that > all. renind were in very good order but out of 92 cars in regular impossible but that some cars |.»get oiit °f order. Twelve cars had I ~, cars all during the in very good order y ®®nditi°n. but out of 92 cars in regular was ' m P°ssibie but that some cars oula get out of order. Twelve cars had tiitr ' n during the past three weeks for JLjfS defects, which nad been rectified, l"?Jhree cars were sent in on Saturday as ""V* ..Several cases of overloading had "

lately occurred, notwithstanding extra cars put on. The manager of the Tramways Company applied for the Council's permission to entirely suspend the tramcar service to-morrow (Good Friday), so as to enable all the company s employees to be present at their annual picnic. It- was decided'that the Council would offer no objection to tho suspension of the service but tho Tramways Company must understand that they suspend tho service at their own risk. THE WATERWORKS SCHEME. 1 The waterworks engineer reported that by n^t.' a series of tunnels aggregating «678 ft the Nihotupu pipe line could be shortened by 6798 ft and some dangerous trestV, 1 3S_z one away with. By this a saving of £1777 would be made, exclusive of tho cost of renewing and maintaining trestles, the estimated cost of the tunnels being £5700, against £7477 for new pipes ; £1000 would be required for general work on the road. He asked authority, as the life of the existing pipes was nearly gone, to place £7000 on the estimates and to proceed with the tunnels forthwith. Ihe Waterworks Committee recommended that the amount involved be placed on the estimates. The recommendation was adopted. Ihe Mount Eden Borough Council wrote requesting that the charges made by the City Council for water supplies be reduced from the present charge of Is per 1000 gallons from Khyber reservoir to 9d per 1000, and the charge of Is 3d per 1000 gallons from Mount Eden to Is per 1000 gallons. This matter was referred to the Waterworks Committee. MISCELLANEOUS. The successful tenderers for yearly supplies were announced as follows; —Shingle, sand and shells, coal, and lime and cement, J. J. Craig; bricks and team labour, instone and Co., Ltd. ; oil and engineers' and pumping station stores, J. Burns and Co. Mr. John A. Beale, as executor of the estates of J. H. and M. E. Beale, applied for permission to erect a dwelling of over 16ft in width on a portion of an allotment in Grafton Road. ' The piece of land on which it was proposed to erect the building would have a frontage to Grafton Road of 15ft. The city engineer reported that the application could only be granted by special permission under the modification clause, and it would be necessary that a plan showing position of the site, etc., should be submitted. The application was referred to the Works Committee. The manager of Millar's West Australian Hardwoods Company wrote complaining of an intolerable stench arising from lie sewer which discharged at the foot of.Stanley street. They advised the Council that unless steps were at once taken to mitigate the nuisance, they would rbe compelled to take action to compel a cessation of the nuisance. The engineer reported that this work could only be carried out at certain states of the tides, and owing to the long prevalence of north-easterly weather, a supply of the proper kind of shingle could not be obtained. The work was now, however being resumed. H The city engineer reported that in consequence of the work of laying new kerbing and channelling in Hobson and Pitt Streets, the footpaths throughout the greater portion of their length would require* to be raised. He also asked whether the work of excavating for, and putting down, a proper foundation in the carriage-way should be proceeded with, as a recommendation to this effect was deferred six months ago, for that period of time. The six months were up on February 27. . If the work of putting in the foundation was not carried out, filling to make up the footpaths would have to be obtained from other sources, and would lead to delay. The question was referred to the Works Committee. The electrical engineer reported that 31,677 units had been generated at the Council electric power-house during the past fortnight, and that six new consumers had been added, bringing the total number to 392. It;was decided that in future deposits be held for 12 months, and that the repayment be made at the end of that time, provided the customer was not then in arrears. The city engineer reported the collapse of Haydn-street' sewer, and that he had commenced its reconstruction, as the collapse showed evidence of faulty condition throughout. He also reported the collapse of the sewer in Cook-street west of Hobson-street, which he feared would have to be renewed for a good portion of its length.