MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21710, 30 July 1932, Page 20

MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS

CITY COUNCIL REPORTS Reports will be furnished to the meeting of the City Council on Wednesday by the various committees as follows: RESERVES COMMITTEE. The Reserves Committee will report as follows: — An offer from the Otago Hockey Association to contribute the sum of £SO towards the cost of forming the two hockey playing areas at the Stadium ground has been accepted with thanks. Arrangements are now in train for proceeding with the work of filling and levelling the whole ground at an early date. In reply to a communication from the Morningtpn Ratepayers’ Association suggesting that the work of forming the recreation ground on the council’s property at Clydehill be with as an unemployment relief measure, the writers have been advised that the ground is at present being trenched for use as vegetable plots by relief workers. Paysheet* and accounts amounting to the sum of £1542 13s lid have been recommended to the Finance Committee for payment. GENERAL COMMITTEE. The General Committee will report as follows: Arrangements were made for the Tepid Baths to be closed for annual overhaul on the evening of Saturday, July 23. The estimated cost of the overhaul is given by the city engineer at £7O. The undernoted applications for licenses and permits have been granted:— Advertising signs (two)—one in Princes street South and one in Vogel Second-hand dealers’ licenses —four. Paysheets and accounts amounting to the sum of £1124 7s 3d have been recommended to the Finance Committee for payment. WORKS COMMITTEE. The Works Committee will report as follows: —That the town clerk be instructed to proceed with the legal formalities of acquiring the necessary strip of land fronting the property of Mr R. S. Black to widen Ross street to 33 feet from the centre line, such procedure to be taken under the Public Works Act, and payment of compensation involved to be held over until after April 1, 1033. That the offer of Mr 6. A. Lamb to dedicate to the council free of compensation a strip of land 30.6 links in width along the whole of the Maryhill terrace frontage of his property, being part ot allotments 67, 68, and 69, Glen Estate, and containing an area of 14.72 poles, for the purpose of widening this street, be and is hereby accepted. In return the council is to erect a wall and fence and remove his motor garage back to conform with the new alignment within a period of six months after acceptance. The estimated cost of carrying out the. necessary work in connection with this proposal, providing for relief labour, is £l9l. WOODHAUGH QUARRY. Further on the subject of the Woodhaugh quarry, the committee hag now approved of the erection of the crusher recently purchased from the E.P. and L. Department, and the shifting ot the present “Jacques” primary crusher and “ Hecla ” secondary crusher to a new site shown on the blue print No. 3502 laid on the table. The proposal also includes the erection of bins, screens, and elevators, and the formation ot approach roads. In this connection one new screen is required, and authority nas been granted for tenders to be called therefor. This has been allowed for in the estimated cost, which will be a charge on the special vote provided in this year s allocations for this purpose, ihe city engineer has been instructed to have the necessary work put in hand immediately, and the excavations, estimated to cost £127 10s, done with relief labour. STREET PAVING. The following schedule of _ streets lias been prepared for carriageway paving this financial year, if and when funds can be made available out ot the maintenance vote. ' Except where specially mentioned, these areas have not been approved for paving previously: Castle street—Anzac square to Albany street, surface sealing both sides, £320, Hanover street—Cumberland street to Castle street, tarred macadam full widtu, £126: Frederick street —Cumberland street to Castle street, tarred macadam full width, £126; Arthur street— Rattray street to Russell street, tarred macadam 20 feet wide, full width at intersections, £122; Dunbar street —Stuart street to Lower High street, tarred macadam full width, £73; Duchess avenue—Young s terrace to existing paving Town Belt road. Maori Hill bus route, tar macadam full width, £25; Corrie street —Royal terrace to Duchess avenue, tarred macadam, £l7; Young’s terrace—Henot row to Duchess avenue, tarred macadam, £25; Heriot row—Pitt street to Youngs terrace, 20 feet tarred macadam, £57; iennyson street —Smith street to V°rk place, surface sealing 20 feet wide, £SO; Stafford street—From existing paving to west side of William street, 20 feet surface sealing, £116; Scotland street—From existing paving on Cargill street to London street, 20 feet tarred macadam, £171; London street —Scotland street to Royal terrace tarred macadam 20 feet wide, £193; High street —From two chains east of Maitland street to Alva street, tarred macadam full width, £160; Cumberland street—• Frederick street to Union street, tarred macadam 20 feet wide, £219; Manor place —Princes street to Melville street, tarred macadam 20 feet wide, £158; Hope street —Princes street to Carroll street, surface sealing 20 feet wide, £33; Carroll StreetPrinces street to . H°P e street, surface sealing 20 feet wide, £37; Warrender street—George street, via Queen street, to Dundas street, surface sealing 21 teet wide, £65; Park street—George street to Heriot row, surface sealing 20 feet wide, £126; Queen street—High level carriageway between Duke street and Warrender street, £32; David street—Forbury road to South road, tarred macadam both sides full width, £280; Forbury road—End of present paving to Bay View road, tarred macadam both sides full width, £230; Caversham Valley road —Tram terminus to Lookout Point, surface seal 20 feet wide, £484; Mailer street Lawrence street to Kenmure road, tarred macadam 20 feet wide for six chains, from Lawrence street, balance of surface sealing 20 feet wide, £177; Jubilee street, Hawthorne avenue to Mailer street, tarred macadam 20 feet wide, £44; Elgin road, Mailer street to Mitchell avenue, tarred macadam average 20 feet wide, £615; Highgate, Drivers road to Lynn street, centre strip 24 feet wide, tarred macadam, £400; Littlebonrne road, Queen’s drive to track from Kaikorai Tram Company’s cable car, surface sealing, £127; Signal Hill road, Opoho road to Roxburgh street, paving full width adjoining tramway on each side, £212. . . . 4 . . The following portions of streets have already been paved during the current financial year —viz., (a) Duke street, George street to King street. £6O: (b) Tnieri road, near Nairn street, £52; (c) Highgate, Fifield street to Pacific street, £146. Grand total, £5092. It is not at all likely that there will be sufficient funds available to do the whole of these streets, but it is proposed that they be paved in the order given for the district as far ns circumstances and funds available for each district will permit. GROSVENOR STREET. A proposal forwarded by Mr P. IV. Shaddock regarding the proposed widening of Grosvenor street, Kensington, has been considered. The proposal is that the street be widened from its present width of 33l't to 50ft from the school property at the Anderson’s Bay road entrance to the terrace of brick houses at the King Edward street end, and that the work should be done under the 'relief work schemes. In addition to acquiring 17ft of land to widen the street, the scheme would embrace the shifting of or alteration to some 25 or 20 dwellings, and Mr Shaddock offers to contribute the sum of £SOO towards this latter cost. Six of the 26 property owners on the south side of the street have intimated their willingness to sell to the council the 17ft of land for the sum of £SO, “ the council to shift and renovate the house to the approval of the owner.” The land to bo acquired in each case is approximately two poles. The price asked is consequently at the rate of about £IOOO per quarter-acre. If the whole of the 26 sections were acquired at the price named the total, witli legal costs, would amount to about £I4OO, The committee is unable to recommend the proposal. From a traffic and general planning point of view the widening of Grosvenor street, even if the proposal did not leave a “bottle neck” still restricted to 33ft at each end, would not, in the

opinion of the committee, be justified. Apart from the cost of the land, the shifting and renovation of some’ 25 or 26 dwellings “ to the approval of the owner " would entail an expenditure that is out of the question in view of the present position of the council’s finances. To spend any considerable portion of the City Council’s limited funds set apart to meet the council’s contributions to the relief workers would be very substantially to reduce the number of men for whom the council could provide work. The alternative would bo vastly to increase the demand on the city ratepayer for such purpose. Tlie committee declines to entertain either of these alternatives.

If and when a scheme of the nature put forward by Mr Shacklock is ever undertaken, when any benefit is limited to so restricted an area and devoid of any general community advantages such ns traffic requirements, then in our opinion the major part of the cost should be borne on the “betterment” or “special assessment ” plans by the property owners on each side of the street concerned, and not as a charge on the general community. Payments.—Pay sheets and accounts amounting to the sum of £6425 10s 8d have been recommended to the Finance Committee for payment. WATER COMMITTEE. The Water Committee will report that two applications which have t been received to cut manuka on portion of the water reserves have been declined. It is considered inadvisable to allow such operations on the reserve* owing to the risk of contamination of the creeks which drain the land and which are taken into the Silverstream race. Pay sheets and accounts amounting to the sum of £1059 Is 4d have been recommended to the Finance Committee for payment. ELECTRIC POWER AND LIGHTING COMMITTEE. The Electric Power and Lighting Committee will report: In response to a communication from the Dunedin Wholesale Electrical Merchants’ Association on the subject of the _ sale of electrical appliances by organisations other than recognised electrical dealers, the writers have been informed that the committee is of the opinion that it is desirable that electrical apparatus and fittings should be subject to some form of prior inspection and approval, and that the committee would favour the inauguration of a reasonable system of control by the proper authorities to ensure that any apparatus offered for sale should be free from defects and of a standard quality. Pay sheets and accounts amounting to the sum of £4196 lls 6d have > been recommended to the Finance Committee for payment. TRAMWAYS COMMITTEE, The Tramways Committee will report that authority has been granted to makte available to the Works Department for street widening purposes a strip of land along the frontage Of the Tramway Departments land fronting Kaikorai Valley road. The strip is of irregular width, as shown on plan laid on the table, and contains approximately 14.46 pole*. The strip is not now used or required by the Tramways Department. In conference with representatives of the Cable Tramway Employees’ Union a complete settlement was arrived at as to terms and conditions of a new award between the union and the council and Kaikorai Tram Company. The employers agreed to an increase of id per hour to motornlen and gripmen with over two years’ service in order to bring the Roslyn employees up to the same rate of pay as motormen in the city service and gripmen on the Mornington line. On the other hand the union agreed to the undermentioned modifications of the existing agreement:—(a) Time and a-quarter for the first hour’s overtime for traffic employees in lieu of time and a-half as at present. (b) Times allowances not to be included in the computation of overtime. (c) Time and a-half for Sunday work instead of double time. The agreement will be for a period of 12 months dated from August 1, 1932. . Authority has been granted to invite tenders by public advertisement for the supply and delivery of 60 tons of tramway rails, with necessary fishplates and bolts, ■which are required for ordinary renewal purposes. Tenders close at noon on Friday, November 11, 1932. The traffic return for the past fortnightly period as prepared by the tramway manager are laid on the table for the information of the council. The returns indicate a decrease on all lines and buses for the period, as compared with the same period of last year, of £262. The total decrease from April 1 to the date of the returns is £1344 —equal to 2.61 per cent. . . ■ Pay sheets and account amounting to the sum of £4612 Os lOd have been recommended to the Finance Committee for payment. THE FINANCE COMMITTEE. The Finance Committee will report as follows: — In view of the unsatisfactory position regarding the tenancies of the Bethune’s Gully property, it has been found necessary to review the whole matter. It Is considered that results more satisfactory to the council may be obtained by putting up the property to lease in one lot, and instructions have accordingly been issued to that effect. The area is divided into three lots for letting purposes at present. . Authority has been, granted for the installation of nine aditional electric lights for illuminating the stairs of the upper gallery of the Town Hall. The lights are required for emergency purposes, and will run off a battery which will be charged from the city power supply. The cost of the installation complete with five amp. battery charger and plug is £2l. Instructions have been given to record for consideration with next year’s estimates a proposal submitted by the Art Gallery Society for the construction of an entrance porch at the Art Gallery building. The estimated cost is £2B 4s 6d. In response to a communication from the Commissioner of Transport asking for views as to a proposal that has been put forward for relieving farmers using heavy motor ' vehicles for transport ot produce and supplies from payment ot heavy traffic fees, a reply has been forwarded to the effect that such a proposal would be strongly opposed, as it is regarded as entirely wrong in principle and unjust to the general body of ratepayers. An application from the lessee of the Caversham Gasworks building for permission to sub-let portion of the premises and to make certain structural alterations to the premises has been granted. It has also been decided to extend the term ot the lease for a year, making a term ot five years from date, with a right of renewal for a further term, subject ,to review of rental for such additional period. Paysheets and account® totalling £29,902 Is 6d have been passed for .payment.