GISBORNE BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9101, 20 March 1901, Page 4

GISBORNE BOROUGH COUNCIL.

The usual fortnightly meeting of the Council was held last evening. Present : His Worship the Mayor (m the chair), Crs. Hepburn, Lewis, Joyce, Nolan, and Johnston. Correspondence was read : From H- Partington and others drawing attention to the state of the Kaiti Beach road towards the Gisborne Freezing Works, and the necessity for repairing the Bame, the. letter being supported by a petition (91 signatures) urging that the repairs be undertaken at the earliest possible date. — Cr. Nolan suggested that carters and those interested should subsidise the Council's grant to the extent of £ for £. It was more to their interest than to that of the Borough Council. The carters had always done something towards it m. the past; but whatever had been dope had been more patchwork than anything else. He thought tiat if the Council granted £50, and the carters and ratepayers interested found another £50, the road might be put' m proper" repair. He further pointed out r that there had been a lot of gravel carted there lately. That for the Post Office had been carted that way Cr. Hepburn : No, it came ; along the Kaiti beach. — Cr. Nolan, said a great deal of it went along that road for Kaiti and Whataupoko, and they (the Council) were bound to keep the road m order. He moved, m terms of his suggestion, -the work to be done under the i.supervision of the overseer,, and subject to the approval of the Public VVorks Committee. He had no doubt the Freezing Works would do something towards it, even to the extent of another £50, if it were ne--1 cessary. — Cr. Johnston seconded. He believed that, as the carters had, as mentioned m the petition, contributed to it before, they would do so again. — Cr Jones did not agree with the other speakers m I regard to this matter, and proposed an amendment that the' overseer be instmct■v.ed to inspect the road and report on the I probable cost of the work' required, with • a view to calling tenders. ' Either they I bad the liability for the work or they. ■ had not. If they had, they were bound :to maintain it, and he thought they should face the liability 'at once, and maintain it. It' was just possible, too, that the people interested, if the offer were made m this way, would not fall m with it. Had they made the suggestion m the petition, then the Council could have agreed to it. He could^see difficulties m the way, and the best way would be for the overseer to report. The work would not, he thought, cost £100, as the beach shingle was very handy. Had application been made for any special person, he thought the grant should be supplemented by that person. But, seeing that these people had to cart metal into town, he thought the Borough Council should maintain the road.— Cr. Joyce seconded the amendment, " but did not think that the work would take, anything, like the amount of money suggested. Seeing the names appended to the petition, they could hardly refuse to do the L/work, most of the signatories being ratepayers.— Cr.' Nolan agreed that perhaps less than £50 would be necessary for the work. The people interested, he believed, were perfectly willing to find half the amount required.— Cr. Hepburn said he had always maintained that, the Kaiti Road Board hud a good deal to, do with that road, it being the boundary between the Borough and the Kaiti Road Board district. Therefore, ib. watf only right that they should pay part of the cost. The last time the matter was before them they found that there' were no less than twelve drays carting on .' to the Kaiti district. — Cr. Lewis was inclined to favor Cr. Jones' amendment, the remarks that had fallen from Cr. Hepburn. The amendment was then put and carried on the casting vote of the Chairman. From the Department of Agriculture with reference to the establishment and inspection of abattoirs. — Received. From the Health Department concerning precautions to be takeu m view of the recrudescence of plague, the carrying out of the suggestions being left in\the hands of the Council's Inspector. The Cemetery Committee reported: The Committee appointed by the Council to /confer with the County Committee on the subject of obtaining a new site for a cemetery met the County Committee, and have to report as follows • '" After due consideration, it was decided to recommend that a new cemetery -site be procured, the Borough Council to pay twothirds and the County Council one-third of the cost. The most suitable site offering so far seems to be the Awapuui block, as suggested by Dr Williams. The Committee therefore suggest that the Council approves of this report that steps * be taken to secure a site as early as possible. Cr. Johnston asked was the proportion suggested a fair one.— The Mayor : That is for the Council to decide. The terms indicated are the best that could be arranged. He then went on to say that this referred only to the initial expense. The reason for the" terms being fixed as reported was that it. was held that the population of the borough would largely increase, much more largely than the county. All that the Council could do that evening was to approve ;of the report if it agreed to the proportion fixed. — Cr. Lewis considered that the proportion fixed on a population, basis was hardly fair. — The Mayor pointed ,put that the county already had three cemeteries, one each at Patutahi, Tolaga, and Ormond.—Cr Joyce said that, m view of this, he did not think the proportion unreasonable. The question was, should not Kaiti and Whataupoko contribute? — On the motion of Cr. Hepburn and the Mayor, the -report was approveTTT The Inspector of Nuisances reported : I have the honor to report to your Council that since the last meeting I have been engaged delivering certificates and inspecting the yards m the top end of the borough, and find them m satisfactory order. Mr Ormond has started to build the new uightsoil cart, and 1 expect it to be completed shortly. Captain "Sucker •'. offered to take over the old cart sheds on < liis property at the depot, belonging to : the borough, at fair valuation. I valued j the old place at £6, taking into < consideration the pulling them to pieces i md shifting same. I have got the ; material on the ground for building the!

new ones, and intend to have them I erected at once. I have to report seven I fresh cases of typhoid fever since your last meeting, four of the cases from the borough. The most of them are being attended to at the hospital. Cr. Joyce said that, m the event of fever cases occurring, lie presumed that the Inspector went to see if there was anything wrong with the drainage. — The Mayor said that lie went and saw to the removal of the stools.— Cr. Joyce moved the adoption of the report, and expressed himself m favor of the sale and removal of the old sheds mentioned. The overseer reported : — Pabnerston road footpath : On the north side of Palmerston road, between Derby street and Cobden street, is m. very bad repair, and requires about two yards of gravel to the chain to put. it m repair before the wet weather sets m, it being very low and holding water badly m places; distance 10 chains 20 cubic yards. The crossings m Gladstone road at the junction of Lowe street have got. into a very bad state, and I would, recommend that they be picked up and' laid down with broken metal, also . the crossings at Bright street, on the north side of Gladstone road. Footpath and water-table, Bead's quay : As requested by the Beautifying Association, I have inspected this work, as authorised, and am of the opinion that the water from the east side of Lowe street does not require any attention at present, beyond the present works; m future it can be dealt with as may be then required. The present pipe-drain on the west side of Lowe street will have to M extended, I should say, by a box 18ft long, to carry the water, into the river. A connection will also be required for Peel street end of the footpath to join the present drain from Peel street to the river. lam of the opinion that the water table may be formed with the centre of the road remaining as at present, two feet being the greatest depth from the centre of the road to the bottom of" the water table, with only an ordinary depth at each end of the road. It would not be advisable to touch the centre of the road unless the road is to be metalled ; the side can be sloped to an even grade to meet the water channel. I estimate the cost of the work required at £7 7s 6d. I have let No. 2 drain, Gladstone road, to James McLachlan at the former contract! price, Is 3d per chain, Mr Henry refusing to take it at that price. I would recommend that tenders t>e m by next meeting for- supply of ironwork, etc. Day labor, £18 18s. The first item discussed was the retarring of the footpath between Derby and Cobden streets, the Council deciding, on the motion of the Mayor, seconded by Cr/Eewis, to get the 20 yards required. —It was also agreed that the work of preparing the road crossing at Lowe street be done, and on the motion of the Mayor, seconded by Cr. Jones, it was decided to do the work reported on by the overseer m connection with toe B,eautifying Association's request.