CITY COUNCIL REPORTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16433, 12 July 1915, Page 7

CITY COUNCIL REPORTS.

The following paragraphs are extracted from the oommittee reports to bo placed before the City Council at its meeting on Wednesdav:—

The Library Committee reports that paysheets and accounts amounting to £57 lbs Bcl have been recommended to the Finance Committee for payment. The Public Works Comtnitteo recommends that authority bo gTanted to construct 1056 ft of concrete kcrbing and gutter along the footway running irom the George street bridge to Great King street, opposite the entrance to the Botanic Gardens, at an estimated cost of £132. As the work is not provided for in the allocations, it is further recommended that the cost be provided by transferring £132 from tho amount provided for "earthworks" in the Leith Ward loan schedule. It recommends that authority be granted to construct six chains of concrete kcrbing and gutter on the northern side of Regent road, at an estimated cost of £34, to be provided by transfer from the sum set down for " earthworks " in the Leith Ward loan schedule. It also recommends that authority be granted to erect a public lamp on the through pathway in the Quean's Oardens. The Otago Harbour Board has now approved of tho draft agreement relating to tho construction ot ita portion of tlie Leith wall. Instructions have accordingly been given to the city engineer to proceed with the work of construction in terms of the agreement. Paysheets and accounts previously passed by the Finance Committee amounting to £1471 5s lid have been certified to. Accounts amounting to £1404- 9s 6d have been recommended to the Finance Committee for payment. The Water Committee recommends that authority he granted to extend tho four-inch main in Buccleugh street, Valley Ward, a distance of about six chains ny Barclay street, to serve four consumers, at an estimated cost of £70. Pay-sheets and accounts previously passed by the Finance Committee amounting to £3 lfs 6d on the waterworks loan account, and £2067 5s lid on tho revenue (No. 2) account, have been certified to. Accounts amounting to £4 14s 2d on tho loan account and £649 19s 6d on the revenue account have bocn recommended to tho Finance Committee for payment. The General Committee recommends that tenders be invited for supplying and installing a separate hot water service for the Jpurkish baths, consisting of an ordinary circulating boiler fitted in position and connected up. Ihe boiler is required to meet the need for a separate and plentiful supply of hot water for the Turkish baths. I.t recommended that tho necessary stens be takon to amend clauses 58 of by-law"No. 1 and 9 of by-law No. 4, relating to the driving of cattle through the cjty, so as to provide that the hours within which cattle may be driven to and from the saleyards at Burnside shall bo between 4 o'clock p.m. and 8.30 a.m.; also, that for the purpose of this clause, the definition of the word *' cattle" shall not include the word sheep." It is also recommended that the route along which cattle may be driven through the city shall be along Macandrew road to Surrey street, and thence along Main South road The tenant of the St. Clair Baths has been granted an extension of his tenancy, which expired on tho first instant, for a period of one voar, at the same rental, and on the same conditions as formerly. Pay-sheets and accounts amounting to £743 10s 6d have been recommended to the Finance Committee for payment. The Reserves Committee reports that it is co-operating with the Dunedin Amenities and Town Planning Society in representing to the Otago Harbour Board the need for setting apart an adequate open space on that portion of tho reclaimed land between Ward street and the foreshore which is now being subdivided for leasing. The Superintendent of Reserves has been instructed to record for consideration with the allocations for next year, the question of replacing the fence on the Cumberland street boundary of the Northern Recreation Reserve with a new fence of the same typo as the fence round the three other sides" of the reserve. Pay-sheets and accounts amounting to £171 2s 4d have been recommended to the Finance Committee for payment. Tho Electric Power and Lighting Committee reports having further considered the proposals submitted by the electrical engineer for fixing minimum and maximum wages and a scale of increments for the employees of the department. It is considered that the rates fixed for each, of the positions embraced in the proposals str« fair and eouitable, and the previous adoption of same has therefore been confirmed. Authority has been granted to erect a corrugated iron shed for storing oil and spares on the Halfway Bush sub-station site, at an estimated

cost of £19. An application has been rcceivcd from the Western Taieri Lane! Drainage Board for an extra 40 h.p. motor for driving their old pumping plant alongside their now centrifugal pumping station at Henley. This will necessitate the installation of higher capacity transformers, which, in terms of agreement, will be charged to •the Drainage Hoard. Pay-sheets and accounts amounting to tho sum of £ICO9 19s 2d have been recommended to the Finance Committee for payment. Tho Iramways Committee reports having offered the present contractors for advertising m tratnears a renewal of their contract on existing terms for a period of three years. In the event of the offer* not being accepted, tenders are to bo called for those rights. Pay-sheets anfl accounts amounting to £2180 13s 3d have been iccommencled to the Fiuance Comm'.ttoc for payment.

In view of a warning recently cabled from Sydney concerning requests for money wired from Cairo, it is interesting to (says the Westport Times) that the parents in Westport of a soldier now in Egypt a few days ago received a request for £10. The cablegram was signed in the name of their son. It is difficult to imagine any circumstances in which New Zealand boys should want cash beyond their pay. There is ground for suspicion that confidence tricksters arc at work. Dr G. G. Kenny, of Te Aroha, lias just received news from Home of the further loss of near relatives (says the Te Aroha correspondent of the New Zealand Herald'. His family has now lost seven members in the war, as follows:—Lieutenant-commander Henry Parny Rennick. who went down in 11.M.5. Ilogue when she was torpedoed in August t Captain Bertram Lawrcnce, West Yorkshire Regiment, killed in France; Captain Bertram Byers, badly wounded by a bursting bomb; Captain Stanhope Kenny, killed in action at Neuve Chapelle on March 10; Lieutenant. Hamish Pender, Gordon Highlanders, killed in action at Neuve Chapelle; Colonel Frank Rennick, 40th Pathans, killed in action in April; and Lieutenant Lester Wallaki, killed in action August 18. "You are up against a very big thing in the war," said Dr Martin, addressing the members of the New Zealand Club, Wellington, on Wednesday. "Anyone who has been at the front must realise the formidable nature of the task. But there s no doubt about our ■ultimate victory. At the front there is a spirit of profound optimism; that prevails right through France. The Gorman, the Prussian, element has to be crushed. To dream of neighbourhood with it, to dream of terms with it, to dream of compromise with it— well, you must roll up the scroll of history and burn the Book of Life."—(Land cheers.) The Council of the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association discussed the valiant act of Lieutenant-commander B. C. Frevberg, on account of which lie was awarded the D.5.0., for having swum ashore and towed rafts with flares. It was decided that the certificate of the Legion of Heroism be conferred _ on Lieutenant-commander Freybevg. This is a very handsome certificate of parchment, and is the first award made by the association for about 20 years.