ST. KILDA BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17083, 15 August 1917, Page 9

ST. KILDA BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Tho ordinary meeting of the St. Kilda Borough Uouncil was held last evening; present—'l'no Mayor (Mr O. jNi. Scurr), Uis JMJgar, Kilpatricdc, 'loiter, Smeaton, Hall, Duiisurn, ititcliie Campbell, Gore, Allen.

l'iio Town Clerk (Dunedin) wrote stating that tho question of thq establishment of a pound at tlie soutli end of the city was under consideration. It had ibocn suggested tnat possibly the St. iCiida Council would join witti the city and agree upon a pound tliat would servo both bodies, 'ihe writer *uided t-liat tho Otago A. and P. Society was prepared to grant a site for a pound at ianuna Park und permit its groundsman to c 05 poiindkeeper for a yearly payment of £26, plus the pound fees.—Ono or two oounoillors thought the letter should bo merely received.—'lhe Mayor eaid the mattor was well worthy oi consideration, and it was oventually passed on to tho General Committee to discuss.

A circular letter was received from the Napiej." Borough Council forwarding a resolution urging tho Government to toko control of tlie food supply of tho dominion. —Cr Gore moved that tho matter be referred to tho General Committee.—Cr Smeaton: Tho Government has already taken over control of the foodstuffs of this country and put them 1 ' in cold storage.—Cr Allen: lhat applies only to chocso and buttea - . Cr Hall moved as ,an amendment that the matter be dealt with at once, and that tho council heartily approves of the resolution of tho Napier Borough Council. He strongly criticised the action of the Government in not regulating priccs a great deal earlier than it had done—in fact, trom tho inception of the war.—Cr Campbell seconded the amendment.—Qr Smeaton expressed the opinion that the manner in which fcno National Government was ruling this country was simply outrageous. The cost of living Had soared up in a disgraceful manner, and yet -the erection of iurther cool storage accommodation was contemplated.—The motion was withdrawn, and the amendment endorsing the resolution was carried unanimously. About 60 ratepayers forwarded a petition protesting against the action of the council dismissing Mr a surfaceman, who had been in the employ of the council f° l a considerable number of years, and who had always done his work thoroughly and conscientiously. If his dismissal was on account of old age, the writers wished *o testify that they were thoroughly satisfied with his work, and respectfully requested "his reinstatement.—Cr Ritchie moved that the petition be referred to the Works Committee to report.—Or Allen seconded the motion.—Cr Kilpatrick moved as an amendment that the request be declined, stating that the oouncil had gone very fully into t J*- 1 matter, and had decided to reorganise its staff, but this surfaceman had not been reappointed. Ho thought the people who had signed tho petition would have been well advised to have left things alone, as th<j council was endeavouring to run the affairs of the borough on business-like lines. The man concerned had not been by any means badly treated by tho council. —Cr Densem seconded the amendment.—The Mayor said the council had reorganised the whole of. its outside staff. All tho old members of the staff were given an opportunity to apply for the positions offered, but two of these applications had been declined, and tho result was that in respect of one case a certain amount of agitation had been set ou foot. The council had unanimously i agreed to the suggestion for the reorganisation of the rtaff, and it had also unanimously agreed to the new appointments that were - made. Personally, he was not ashamed to face any of the ratepayers upon tho stand the council had taken, and ho believed he had the bulk of the councillors behind him.—("Hear, hear.") —The amendment was carried. The Finance, General, Tramways, and Hall Committee recommended that the following accounts be passed for payment:— District fund account, £26 18s lid; special loan account No. 3. £185 6s 9d. Messrs Thomson and Co. were refused permission to keep petrol on their property, as the present building was not considered to be properly fireproof.—Adopted. Tho council decided to endorse tho action of the National vVelfaro Association in strongly protesting against any proposal on the part of the Government to reduce the present minimum age for military service, and to congratulate the association on bringing this matter forward. Cr Allen moved—"That the Borough of St. Kilda considers that the reserves department of the City Council should have control of the Ocean Beach , Domain Board." Hi stated that he saw no reason why the council should place any obstacle in the way. In the past and at present St. Kilda had had equal representation on the Domain Board, and, although a good deal of work had been done by that body, he doubted whether it had been done to the best advantage of the borough. -The course he proposed might perhaps be rather premature, but he thought the merger suggested would h® beneficial.—-Or Ritchie seconded the motion, which was lost after a good deal of discussion.