CITY COUNCIL REPORTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18466, 30 January 1922, Page 9

CITY COUNCIL REPORTS

¥ho following matters appear. in the. reports 'to be presented at the meeting of the City Council on Wodneeday evening: The Public Works and Water Committee recommends the grouting of authority to purchase the following areas of land which have been held under option to the council for some considerable time:—(a) Approximately two acres comprising the old quarry site in the Leith Valley road above the paper mills. The area contains about 100,000 cubic yards of blucatono of Woodhaugh quarry quality, and will be used when the present quarry is ' closed down; (b) a atrip of native bush overlooking the Woodhaugh Gardens, about three and one-half chains in length, and half a chain wide. It is included in the above; (c) part of the foreshore at Musselburgh Rise, how boirig Used for tipping purposes, The area is three-quarters of an acre and 5 A poles. The land has about five chains Irontng© to Musselburgh Rise, and wheh filled in will be of considerable value. Some slight chaises for out-of-pocket expenses and interest have accrued to the present holder, aud will be added to the purchase prices above quoted. It is further that an application from Messrs Adams Bros., on behalf of the housing department, for consent to a 40-feet roadway running off Corstorpine road and traversing the area acquired by the Government feu workers’ homes, be granted, and that the necessary steps be taken to ©obtain the consent of the Public Works Department to the laying off of such roadway. It is recommended that the applicants be informed that the council’s requirements in respect of the formation of such roadway shall be as set out in the city engineer’s report, which, summarised, provides for the owners carrying out the fo'lowing work at their own cost; —(a) Metalling carriage-way between kerbs with lim metal six inches thick; (b) standard k. and g.; (c) eight feet footway covered with half-inch screenings two inches thick; (d.) formation to extend inside building lines two feet in cuttings and three feet on embankments ; (e) ho grade to bo steeper thaJi one in eight; (f) no curve to be of leas radius than 50ft. Grades round curves not to bo steeper than cm© in eight; (g) culverts to be formed where necessary; (h) adequate provision to be matte for dealing with stormwater; (i) raw clay faces to be covered with four inches of good soil; (j) provision and construction of all necessary sowers- h. further recommendation is that resolutions exempting portions of the following streets from the provisions of section 117 of the Public Works Act, 1908, be adopted:—(a) Helensburgh Road, Shetland street, and Ethel street, where the same abut on to part of allotment 53, Wakaii Extension (this will involve the acquiring by the council of a strip of land seven feet wide on the Helen*, burgh road frontage); (b) Dean street, where this street abuts on to parts of sections 109 a and 110, Kirkland Hill Extension (the owners have already dedicated to the council free of cost, the land required for widening the street to 40ft); (c) Melbourne street, where it abuts on to allotment 22, block IX. For bury (this will involve the aoquiriug by the council of o strip seven feet wide along the frontage and the setting back of the building lino 83ft from the centre of the roadway). The committee recommends the granting of authority to effect necessary repairs to the temporary bridge for wheel traffic over the Leith in the vicinity of the Tttnna Hill quarry. The bridge has been much used for wheel tratlio since it was built, but cannot longer be used unless substantially repaired. The cost of the work is estimated at £llO 10s, chargeable to contingencies. The committee reports having instructed the city engineer to record the following matters for consideration with the estimates for next financial year:—(a) The lighting of Stuart street by electricity; (b) request from H. Marchant for improvements to Avoca street; (c) petition from residents of Lochend street for a street lamp; (d) petition from residents of Montague street far construction of a footway. 5 The water section of the Works Committee reports that tho transfer to the council of tho property at Whare Flat, purchased from Mr M’Quilkan, has now been completed, and the city engineer has been instructed to proceed with the erection of fencing ‘along" the boundaries of the creek to keep cattle away from tho water. The estimated coat is £137. It is proposed to invite tenders for the grazing lease of the balance of Mir M’Quilkan’s land, together with th« area adjoining known as M’Leod’a, nnd to let the cottage to a selected tenant. The week-end cribs at present standing by the creek are being taken down and removed The Trading Committee recommends that authority be granted to renew the agreement with the Postal Department for a further term of three years for the carriage of mails and letter carriers on the city tramways, exclusive of the Roslyn and Marnington lines, at the present contract rate. The committee reports that instructions have been given to the tramway manager to rearrange the running times for tlhe lost cots to the various -termini on -Sunday nights, so that all oars "will leave from the city as nearly as possible at the same time. The Meadowbank Company having completed their contract for car bodies authority ha® been granted to release the bonds deposited by' the company as eecxuu.y for the performance of tho contract. The General Committee reports that with the object of getting the grass eaten down, authority has been granted to arrange for grazing sheep in an open portion of the Gardens between the rock garden and the nursery. The area is already fenced on three sides and part of the fourth, and the cost of the additional fencing required will be more than saved the first season. The committee recommends that the offer from the Health Department to conduct, on bohalf of the council, the infections diseases work of the city for a further period of one year, at a charge of £SOO per annum, be accepted. This charge represents ®n increase of £l5O per annum in the charge for last year, tho Health Department having stipulated that a greater share of the cost of the work he paid by the council as compared 1 with last year. The amount of tho increase has been the subject of negotiation for some time. A draft by-law dealing "with the question of the., storage of dangerous goods been submitted by the town clerk, and is now under consideration. Copies will bo forwarded to councillors in due course. An application from the contractors for slaughtering at the city abattoirs for an increase in the contract rates of Id per bead for sheep and lambs has been declined. Two applications for billiard room licenses, to which tho police have no objection, have been granted. THE SALE OF DISEASED CATTLE. TO THS KDITOB. Sib,—A few days ago a paragraph appeared in your paper referring to a resolution passed by the Dunedin and Suburban Dairymen’s Association and supported by the Executive of the Otago branch of the Farmers’ Union, suggesting to the Minister of Agriculture that provision should be made for regulating the sale of abortive or contagiously diseased stock. The paragraph said the request was that the sale_ of such stock should be prohibited. That is not quite correct. The resolution asked only that it should be made an offehco to offer such stock for sale without giving notice at the time of such abortion or disease. It often happens that there is no opportunity or indication to enable a buyer to judge the condition, of stock under such circumstances, and he may possibly buy a cow and put her in a sound .herd and so infect half tho herd (as, I understand, happened to a returned soldier recently), while the selfish and unscrupulous seller wouldn’t care two straws what happened to the buyer so long as he got a good price for his stock, and did not run any risk of having to pay compensation. If notice was given a buyer would know the risk he was taking and would use all necessary care and precautions accordingly. The Minister, in his reply, says that, ns some cases of abortion are not contagious, it would be necessary, in case of a prosecution, to prove that the case in dispute was a contagious one, and that would create a serious difficulty. In that ho is mistaken, because the resolution asks that all cases of _ abortion should be included in the provision, whether corltagious or not, the buyer being left to form his own judgment of the risk he is taking. The Minister also says his responsible officers are of opinion that the only logical course which legislation could take would be to compel testing once a year, and that this would entail the appointment of a large number of expert officers. The Dairymen’s Association is not out for more taxation To provide for another army of inspectors, and would point out that if all abortion cases wore included in the provision, whether contagious or not. as suggested, no such army of experts would be required. If other farmers’ associations are in sympathy with the suggestion it would probably help the matter forward if they were to communicate ‘with the Minister in support of it.—l am, etc., Edgar S. Glares. Clarowood, January 27.