MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21994, 1 July 1933, Page 2

MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS

CITY COUNCIL REPORTS At tho meeting of the City Council on Wednesday evening committee reports will be furnished as follows: — RESERVES COMMITTEE The Reserves Committee will report as follows: — TENDERS. In accordance with instructions from the council to act, the committee r has accepted the tender of the New Zealand Express Company, Ltd., lor the cartage of sand from Chisholm Park to Tonga Park at the price of Is 2id per cuoic yard.—The tender was tho lowest oi nine received. GARDENS NURSERY. In response to a communication from Mr Bryan O’Donnell, written on behalf of relief* workers employed at the Botanic Gardens afforestation nursery, m which the request is made that the council should subsidise the relief workers’ pay up to the full award wage as paid to all other municipal employees, the writer has been advised that, as there are no special features about the work at the nursery which could be regarded as taking such work out of the general category as relief operations, the request for a subsidy on wages from tho council cannot be acceded to. SIGNAL HILL RESERVE. Permission has been granted the West Harbour Borough Council to arrange tor relief workers in the district to obtain a •supply of firewood from the manuka in the Signal Hill scenic reserve. The operations of cutting are to be confined to the manuka over a width of had a chain on the line of the defined track leading from West Harbour to the top of the reserve. Under no circumstances is the native growth, apart from the manuka, to be damaged or destroyed m any way, and the work is to be earned out under the supervision of a competent man to be supplied by the West Harbour Council. The cutting out of the hadchain of manuka will serve as a fire belt, and to that extent the work will be of permanent value to the reserve. DAMAGE TO TREES. A number of complaints have recently been received of damage being done to trees on the city reserves by unauthorised persons who are apparently lopping limbs from the trees for the purpose of obtaining firewood. Specific instances of such damage being done quite recently are apparent in Jubilee Park and the Caversham reserve above the Cavergham railway station. Instructions have now been given the superintendent of reserves to take steps with a view to apprehending offenders, and the matter has also been placed in the hands of the police. It is intended that the depredations referred to, which are evidently on the increase, shall be nipped in the bud, and any person apprehended in the act of committing such damage will be prosecuted without exception and a substantial penalty asked for, GENERAL COMMITTEE The General Committee will recommend that the presence of the parking place on the southern side of Stafford street has thrown the “up ” traffic on to the roadway, with the result that horse-drawn vehicles arc finding a difficulty in negotiating the steeper portion of the grade, and the committee is of opinion that the matter calls for some attention, and thinks that, in the meantime, if the lower end of the park, which 'is on the steepest portion of the grade, were abolished, such action would materially assist by enabling the horse-drawn vehicles to negotiate that particular section of the grade on the unpaved part of tlie road. The alteration will involve the passing of the following formal resolution, and it is accordingly recommended that the same be adopted:— “ (a) That the parking place for private cars in Stafford street, on the southern side thereof, be and is hereby abolished. “ (b) That a parking place for private cars be and is hereby appointed in Stafford street, on the southern side thereof, such parking place to commence at a point indicated by an electric power pole situate immediately above Messrs Sew Hoy and Co.’s premises, being approximately a distance of 162 yards from the western building line in Princes street, such parity to extend generally in a westerly direction alongside the kerb to a point 30ft eastwards of the Hope street intersection, as the said parking place is more particularly defined by white lines drawn on the ground at each end thereof; all vehicles while using the park to face in a southwesterly direction, and to stand at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the kerb.” The committes_will report as follows: — TRAFFIC INSPECTORS. An offer which it has been decided to accept has been received from the Electric Power and Lighting Committee to hand over an Austin Seven ear, which is about to be replaced by a mew vehicle, for the use of the traffic inspection staff, subject to*’ the condition that the_ Electric Power’ and Lighting Department is to have the use of tho car for three or four days per month for reading meters. For some considerable time it has bean apparent that some means of transport is needed by the traffic inspection staff if their duties are to be efficiently carried out. This applies particularly to the licensing of motor vehicles under the heavy traffic regulations, where the conditions call for a good deal of travelling to prevent evasion of dues. TRAFFIC DOMES. Consideration has been given to a suggestion from the Otago Motor Club that the traffic domes in the centre of the street intersections be replaced by white circles painted on the roadway at the entrance to each intersection. These domes, of which there are now quite a number in the city, have involved a fair outlay, and it is estimated that an additional 10s per dome would be required to cover the cost of removing the domes and repairing the roadway surface. It is thought also that the proposal by the Motor Club would enable drivers to start to turn to the right much earlier than is permissible at present under the city by-laws, which require that a driver must proceed to the centre line of the street in which he is about to enter before making the turn. In order, however, to give the suggestion a trial the committee has given instructions for the painting of a white circle two feet in diameter on each of the four intersections of Lower Stuart street and Moray place, the circles to be in line with the building line. The intersections will be kept under special supervision for some time, and the matter will thereafter be further considered by the committee. LICENSES AND PERMITS. Applications for licenses and permits have been granted as under;—Bakehouse license (provisional only) one, meat hawker’s license one, procession (Arthur street to High School) one, trade sign one, second-hand dealers’ licenses six. One application for a motor van driver’s license, in respect of which adverse reports were received, was not granted. WORKS COMMITTEE | INSTRUCTIONS TO ENGINEER. The city engineer has been instructed as follows: (a) Act with respect to the undernoted matters: — 1. Constructing a crossing over the kerb and channel in Highgate and regrading the track down Littlebourne crescent to a property in that street. Estimated coat £l3. 2. Erecting two additional lights and shifting an existing light in Town Belt road between Ross street and Queen's drive. Estimated cost, £l2 4s. 3. Erecting three new lights and shifting two existing Hghts in North road to suit recent alterations to this road. Estimated cost, £l4 7g 6d. 4. Improving the bottom end of Lesncy street at its intersection with Crosby street, including the construction of a short flight of wooden steps. Estimated cost to the council, providing for relief labour, £2O. 5. Regrading portion of Newport street at iLi intersection with Ashley street. Estimated cost to the council, providing for relief labour, £SO. (b) Record for consideration with future allocations the matter of constructing k. and g. and tarred macadam footway along portion of Hunt street. Estimated cost to the council, providing for relief labour, £303. PAYMENTS. Paysheets and accounts totalling £23,401 6s 7d have been passed for payment, as follows: Municipal No. 1 Account .. £5688 9 7 Municipal No. 1 Account .. 5686 18 10 Water No. 2 Account ~ .. 2774 5 11 Gas No. 3 Account .. .. 3017 11 3 Tramways No. 4 Account .. 3660 14 11 E.P. and L. No. 5 Account 2573 6 1