CITY COUNCIL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22070, 28 September 1933, Page 7

CITY COUNCIL

FORTNIGHTLY MEETING

The fortnightly meeting of the City Council was hold last night and was attended by the Mayor (the Rev. E. T. Gox)j and Crs Begg, Shepherd, Silverstone Allen, Scott, Al'lndoe, and Dr Borrie. Leave of absence was granted to Crs Munro' and Jones during the session of Parliament. CONCERTS IN SOUTH DUNEDIN. Mrs D. Ruth applied for permission to hold a concert in the South Dunedin Town Hall on Sunday, and to take up a silver coin collection. She also asked for the use of the hall at a reduced rate for a series of dances (in both cases proceeds to augment the hinds of the Sisters of Mercy, South Dunedin). Permission was granted to hold a concert as suggested. The second request was referred to the Finance Committee. SELLING OF NEWSPAPERS.

•i; A general discussion took place when a resolution dealing with the framing of a by-law in connection with the sale of newspapers in the streets came before the council for confirmation. Letters were read from two weekly newspapers ; protesting against the suggested by-law on the ground that it would-have the effect of restricting sales, and asking that the ’term "registered” newspaper should be substituted for “daily" newspaper. Cr M'lndoe said it was quite obvious ■ that an anomaly would be created if the '-by-law were allowed to stand as at pres- ' ent. The effect would be to discriminate /between two classes of newspapers, daily ; l and weekly, vhich was not intended. He -suggested that if the words “or weekly’ •*were added after “daily” that would ‘"meet the case, i and asked permission to add these woms. I.’, 1 Cr Allen referred to the clause dealing with the ages of girls selling papers on ■ ‘ the streets, and moved that the age should be 18 instead of 14, as in the by-law. He would like to see the selling of newspapers •by girls absolutely abolished, he said, but in ‘ certain cases this mighty cause hardship. '■ After some further discussion, the bylaw was passed with the amendments that 718 should be substituted for 14 and the words " or weekly ” added after “ daily. RESERVES COMMITTEE. Cr Borrie moved the adoption of the Reserve* Committee’s report. He said that there was no necessity for a concrete •kerbing along the Macandrew road boundary, and the committe could not, there- 1 fore, see its way to recommend the carry- . ing out of the work. The committee 1 would be pleased to repeive applications . for the position of honorary rangers, to watch the city reserves and parks. It - was regrettable that there was wanton destruction of native bush, and once it was destroyed it was impossible to replace it. The police could not possibly look after all the 'reserves. The report was adopted. , GENERAL COMMITTEE. The adoption of the General .Committee’s report was moved by Cr MTndoe, who said he would like to take the opportunity to bring before the notice ot : 1 the public some of the work which was carried out by the Sanitary Department. ' This went on without any fuss, but it was highly important in the interests of 7 the public. Dealing with the matter of ■ infectious diseases, Cr M'lndoe said that the following notifications of cases of infectious diseases ■ which had occurred j within the district were received ■ and • given the necessary attention: —PulmonI ary tuberculosis 3, diphtheria 1, erysipelas -2 scarlet fever 19. It was interesting ' to note that the last case of diphtheria ‘- in Dunedin was on July 30, 1932. As a //measure of prevention, 18 premises were .disinfected, and two swabs were taken ■*x from a contact with the diphtheria /."■ patient. During the month 38 samples of “ milk were taken from shops and dietnbuCtors. Of this number four failed to .‘.comply with the required standard, three being deficient in milk fat and the other - being deficient in solids other than fat. Warnings had been issued by the Health ■Department where the sample was de.'fioient in solids and where one_of the samples was deficient in fat. The- tak- . ing of legal proceedings with respect to ■ the other two was under consideration. Four 'samples of beer were taken irom hotels! On being analysed one was found to contain lead, and the hotel proprietor ..concerned had been notified that the •' source of the lead must be discovered and ' remedied. From this it would be seen, said Cr MTndoe, how important to the public was the work of the department., The adoption was seconded by Cr Silver- . stone, who asked the chairman whether the report in ■ connection with the milk tests was available, for inspection. Cr MTndoe replied that the report was not yet ready. It was at present in the ' hand* of the Health Department. WORKS COMMITTEE. Gr Silverstone* moved the adoption of the Works Committee’s report. He asked that the following section relating to> instructions to the city engineer to act be referred back to the committee: “Widening the corner of Maori road and Serpentine avenue. ‘ Estimated cost to the council, providing for relief labour and allowing for stone walling, culvert and new chain netting fence, £2B. Permission was granted, . Cr Silverstone said that the widening - at Highgate and Heriot row would be an improvement. As opportunity offered the council acquired areas to permit of its ■ being widened to their proper distance. The committee found it impracticable in the meantime to grant the request of eight ratepayers and residents of Burke street for improvements to the street, owing to lack of funds. Cr Silverstone said that the matter: of street widening would have to’ receive the serious consideration of the council. Under the existing conditions the council was involved in a very heavy expenditure in taking land for street widening purposes and the city had no opportunity of re- . cuperating itself. The widening was done at the expense of. the private citizen. He thought the existing Jaw covering the matter required amending; The Mayor said he would move as an amendment that consideration of clause I be deferred until the next meeting of the council. They would then have a fuller meeting of the council. The clause read as follows: —“ Highgate widening: The committee recommends that the offer of Messrs N. and E. S. Paterson, Ltd., on behalf of the owner, to sell to the corporation, for the sum of £IOO, a portion of land, being part of allotment 6, Township of Linden, containing an area of approximately 3.26 poles, for the purpose of widening Highgate at this part to 33 feet from the centre line, be and is hereby accepted. In addition, the council is to erect on the new boundary a low wall and fence, the total estimated cost of which is £34.” The Mayor said he would like the council to debate the question of paying those concerned for the land taken. There were three reasons in his mind. The first was that when a property was improved by , street widening, it was wrong to improve the property and also pay for it at the same time. Secondly, that the rate of compensation was too high. In this case it meant approximately £SOOO per acre, and suburban land was not ■ worth this amount.. Thirdly, that they were continually being offered land free and were not able to accept it on account of lack of funds to carry out the requisite work. The Mayor said that during the past 10 years £40,000 had been paid by the corporation for acquiring land in the city and that probably £25,000 had been paid in excess of the true value. , Cr MTndoe said he would second the amendment, though he was not in agreement with it. He would, however, like to debate the .matter. Cr Begg pointed out that these works were forced on them by the Government Public Works Department, and their own Works Department had taken the opportunity, when land was being subdivided, or an alteration in ownership was being made, to negotiate. It was just possible that owners might erect buildings right on to their frontages, and they might be compelled bv the. Government Public Works Department to take over the property, and then they would also have to buy the buildings. It was a debatable point whether the sums paid by the corporation were excessive. There were two sides to every question. The present offer, based on the values of the adjoining properties, was a very reasonable offer indeed. Personally, he thought the council should accept the offer. The Mayor said that people were not allowed to build within a certain distance from a street.. _ _ Cr Shepherd said that Cr Begg’s remarks gave food for thought. Had the council got a fair offer for the section? Cr Yes. The Mayor said that at any rate they could not purchase until the end of their financial year, because they had not sufficient funds.

Of Allen said that a good many years ago a by-law had, been passed authorising the corporation to widen Highgate and also set back the building line with that object in - view. Highgate was a very dangerous road, and its state should not be tolerated longer than, was necessary. He felt that the widening of Highgate was absolutely . necessary—it was almost a main arterial road. It was far too narrow for modern-day. traffic. If a property owner made a fair offer to them he thought they should, accept it. He was not in favour of taking any part of a man’s property without the payment of compensation. It had been the policy of the council for. many years to pay adequate compensation. They had only to look at the improvement made m Cargill road and King Edward road by the council taking land and buildings for street widening and paying, compensation. As regarded councillors being away from the meeting, some of them were members of the Works Committee, and he knew their,minds had been made up on the matter and that they considered it was a desirable move. He did not think these councillors would change their minds if the matter were deferred. He felt inclined to support the recommendation. Cr Scott said that the council had laid down the policy for many years of purchasing land. The acting chairman of the committee had not asked that the matter should be referred back. If the council considered too much was being asked for the land it had authority under the Public Works Act. He thought, however, that in only one instance had they not fallen in" when they had taken land under the Public Works Act. He thought they might adopt the recommendation, and they could then give the principle further consideration later. The Mayor’s amendment wae put ana lost on the voices.

The report was then adopted. WATER COMMITTEE.

The report of the Water Committee was adopted without discussion. TRAMWAYS COMMITTEE.

Cr Shepherd moved the adoption of the Tramways Committee’s report. The committee regretted that it could not place wipers on the tram car windows to clear the vision on wet days. The committee was not able to recommend a special concession for apprentices journeying on the Leith Valley bus route. The Mayor asked how many care were in commission.

Cr Scott: Seventy. The Mayor: Three pounds per car for wipers does not seem an excessive charge if they are go'ing to be of such great service. , . Councillors: That is the point. Cr Shepherd said he had never seen cars in other centres with wipers. • Cr Silverstone said that a good many of the tram cars could do with a cleanup generally. He had no objection to putting nice seats in the buses,' but he thought some attention should be given to the tram cars. , . . .. The Mayor said the touring bus paid, and by reseating the No. 2 bus it was hoped to make it pay also- . Cr Silverstone reiterated that some oi the trams were not in the best of order. Cr MTndoe: No. 1 looks as if it came out of an old scrap yard. ’ The report was adopted. GAS COMMITTEE.

Or Scott moved the adoption of the Gas Committee’s report. He said that a number of years ago representations had been made to the Gas Committee, and since that time it had not entered into open competition with the plumbing business. Or Scott explained the practice of the department in installing meters, and said that the amount of work that they had done last year, which was probably their biggest, had only amounted to £2o9—this was work which would have, under ordinary circumstances, gone to the Pl C™ b MTndoe raised the question of making an arrangement with purchasers of gas appliances under which they would be called on to pay only a small amount down and then weekly instalments. One model sold at £lB ss, and the purchaser was. .asked to pay £5 7s 9d down and then instalments of 10s. In Christchurch 6s was paid down and 6s per week. Cr -Silverstone said that Cr Scott had stated that the Gas, Department took over the liability when people bought gas cookers from other sellers than the City Corporation. W as that so. That’s generosity You’ve no fault to find with that’ , Cr Silverstone said he did not see why the council should take over other people s liabilities. These people paid the price or accepted the terms. If they wanted the council to stand by them they should purchase the council s goods. There was no justification for the City Council financing private people who were buying from private institutions. t , Cr Begg said he was surprised at tae trend of the discussion. The City Council had been financing consumers for the riant 25 or 30 years. At the present moment the EJ. and L. Department was working on that policy, and was finding it a very profitable one indeed. Cr Scott, in reply, referred to a statement by Cr Begg that a consumer had complained to him that he bad used only Is 6d worth of gas, but had been charged '3s He said that the minimum charge was 3s, and a solution of the complaint would be for'the consumer to use 3s worth. These consumers were trying to make q convenience of the department. The report was adopted. FINANCE COMMITTEE. Cr Allen moved the adoption of the Finance Committee’s report. In seconding the motion, Cr Silverstone said a clause had been inserted in the Municipal Corporations Act some years ago to give local authorities some protection in the matter of the continual widening of streets. Hardly any local authonties, however, had been able to take an* vantage of that clause because it was not wide enough in its scope. Similarly the Town Planning Act failed to meet the case unless the whole of the city were declared a town planning area. Thousands of pounds had already been spent in Dunedin in street widening and thousands more would have to be spent, it seemed necessary to have the existing legislation amended in order to give renet to cities in this matter of street wideninpj. The Mayor commented that this was a matter to bring before the Municipal Conference. The report was adopted without further discussion. • \ SPECIAL MEETING.

The council held a special meeting to consider the balance sheet and statement of accounts for the year ended March 31, 1933. , ... , . Cr Allen moved that the balance sheet and statement should be adopted and this was carried.

Cr Allen added that the balance sheet had come back from the Audit Department absolutely clean. There was no tag whatever, and this was a compliment to the staff and its efficient work.