MATAURA NEWS

Southland Times, Issue 21911, 12 January 1933, Page 3

MATAURA NEWS

BOROUGH COUNCIL. (From Our Correspondent). The monthly meeting of the Mataura Borough Council was held on Tuesday evening, present:—His Worship the Mayor (Mr C. D. McConnell), Councillors J. J. Griffiths, J. H. Clark, G. Halliday, J. Ingram, J. W. Aitken, W. P. Thorn, C. E. Rowe, G. Beaumont. Prior to the ordinary meeting a special meeting was heli to decide the statutory half-holiday for the Borough for the ensuing twelve months, Wednesday being subsequently selected as formerly, several councillors expressing their opinion that Saturday should be declared a national half-holiday in lieu of the present different days held by various boroughs throughout the Dominion. Correspondence. The secretary of the Southland Motor Association wrote stating that at a meeting of that body he was instructed to point out that 15 miles an hour is an unreasonable speed limit for the main road through the borough. His association suggested that a speed limit for this road be 25 m.p.h. The grounds upon which the suggestion was made were: (1) Wideness of the road. (2) Length of road which comes under the speed limit being approximately 2J miles. (3) With the exception # of one street there were no cross streets over the section • referred to. The numerous prosecutions for exceeding the 15 m.p.h. along this stretch of road had of late occasioned much adverse comment by motorists. The association trusted that the council would agree to the suggestion.—Received. The secretary, Gala Committee of the Mataura Town Band, asked permission from the Domain Board to make a charge for admission to the Domain Ground on the occasion of a gala day, tentatively fixed for January 25. The proceeds would be devoted to a fund to send the band to the forthcoming contest at Dunedin. —Request granted. Collett and Weatherburn wrote applying for a 24ft crossing to their property in Main street. —Referred to Works Committee with power to act. Reports. H. Sleeman, Borough Electrician and Traffic Inspector, reported that each week he had inspected all lines and done the necessary repairs. He had encountered difficulty in locating the fault in one lighting circuit which had been out of commission for two nights. The fault was found in a lamp lead. He requested permission to meet the council in connection with the parking of cars and traffic regulations.—ln this connection objection was taken by several councillors to his being heard, he having not carried out the directions of the council given from the previous meeting, but on a vote being taken it was decided that Mr Sleeman be admitted. Mr Sleeman stated in his opinion that the instruction given at the previous meeting to delete the portion of the notice relating to parking of cars at 60 degrees was leaving it open for cars to be parked any way. If there were no definite directions given motor vehicles were required by the act to park parallel to the kerb. He had power as traffic inspector to demand that the cars should be parked in the best interests of the public.— After several questions had been answered satisfactorily the inspector retired. , The Foreman of Works reported that a 4 inch cut off valve had been installed in the water mains in Denbigh street near the boundary of the property of the Southland Frozen Meat Co. Ltd. The sewer in Bridge street became blocked opposite the Post Office and required to be opened and cleared. Six yards of gravel had been placed in Blampied street round the dome at the factory. Ten chains of fencing were put up on the river bank in River street and the posts for the work had been obtained from trees cut out of the Waikana channel. The footpaths in Kana had been patched, the channels in Wyndham road, Birdge street and Main street cleaned and the ash dump in River street cleared. Unemployed labour had been utilized in deepening the Waikana stream. Gorse and broom round the Domain had been cut.—Adopted. . Two estimates were received for cleaning and painting the south wall of the Fire Station and that of Mr Robert Reid was accepted, according to a recommendation put forward by the Works Committee.—Report adopte<The Work Committee recommended that the borough engineer be instructed to prepare specifications in accordance with the Main Highways Board’s requirements for the one-coat • tar-sealing of Bridge street, and that tenders for the work be called when the proposals had been approved by the board. The committee also recommended that the contract for the ash removal service be renewed with the present contractor for a further term of one year on the same terms and conditions.—Report adopted. The Finance and Lighting Committee recommended as follows:—That all electric light and power accounts now owing to the council be sued for if such accounts were not paid within 14 days from January 11, 1923.—Report adopted.

The Poundkeeper and Domain caretaker reported that he had detected no offences In connection with wandering stock during the month. He was encountering trouble with the wanton destruction of the council’s property on the Domain. Stone-throwing had resulted in damage to the pavilion and the switchbox, a notice board had been removed as well as other things. He had the names of the ringleaders and would submit them to the council should it desire to take action. Report received. The Town Clerk reported that the agreement for sale and purchase of the reticulation system had been completed on behalf of the Power Board and that the Electric Power Board had advised that approval of the transfer of loans had been received and that they were awaiting the order in council confirming purchase of system ana upon receipt of these the balance of purchase money would be paid over. At date the sum of £ll7 7/9 was outstanding for electric light accounts, £34 17/7 of which was probably nonrecoverable. The District Electors Roll would be made up by the end of the present month. As regard the library, 193 new books at a cost of £53 8/9 had been purchased so that the money allocated from the James Craig bequest had now been spent. The numbers of subscribers was now 72 as against 60 in October.—Report adopted. Councillors Aitken and Griffiths were appointed to assist the Town Clerk in compiling the District Electors Roll. Councillor Thorn brought up the matter of the deliveries of mail in the town. Previously there had been two deliveries but in recent months this had been cut down to one. Since this innovation letters received by the midday express from the north were not received till almost twenty-four hours after arrival which was an absurd state of affairs. He moved that the Town Clerk write to the Chief Postmaster to request that the old system should be reverted to.—Carried. Sale Of Lighting Reticulation.

At the usual meeting of the Mataura Borough Council the question of consideration of the disposal of moneys to be received from the Southland Electric Power Board for the sale of the reticulation system was introduced by Councillor J. J. Griffiths, who moved —“That all moneys received from the Southland Electric Power Board as

payment for the Council’s electric system be. immediately expended m the purchase of general purposes loan redemption debentures.” Speaking to his motion he said that be had been advised by the Town Clerk that it would be possible to redeem certain debentures that are at present car 22” g high rates of interest, the ones mentioned in his motion being 6 per cent, with a sinking fund of 11 per cent. The borough would shortly be receiving £l6OO from the Power Board, and ir this be applied to the redemption of a portion of these debentures it would mean a saving to the ratepayers of some £l2O per year. Another factor to be taken into consideration was that the valuation of the borough would, without doubt, in the near future be reduced and it would be natural presumption that the representatives of the ratepayers would apply business principles to meet the decreased valuation by taking every opportunity to decrease the liabilities of the borough. If the valuation be decreased, and the liabilities remained the same it must of necessity follow that ratepayers are still committed to high rates, but if the liabilities are decreased then there was a corresponding decrease rate. He believed it was a splendid opportunity to give the ratepayers some measure of relief and at the same time reduce the indebtedness of the borough and prepare for future eventualities. Seconded by Councillor Halliday. The chairman of the Finance Committee, Councillor J. W. Aitken, said this matter has been carefully observed by his committee although as yet they had not brought down a report. As the motion stood he could not support it. Councillor Clark considered the motion premature and he, too, indicated his decision to vote’ against it in its present form. Councillor Ingram stated that since receiving advice of the notice of motion he had ascertained from the Town Clerk what amount was received by the council for the extraordinary supply of water and had been informed that it was approximately £l4O. Now he hoped to retain that amount and at the same time get 4J per cent, of the £l6OO for the imperative work of additions to the water supply. When the present system was installed it was never intended or anticipated that the extraordinary supply would reach the dimensions it had done, and he felt convinced that the duplication of the reservoir would help to a great extent in that they would have something like 90,000 gallons of water in reserve for emergency. What sort of a position, asked the speaker, would we be in were a fire to occur in the middle of the town just at a time when the reservoir had been emptied for cleaning? He thought a couple of hours could be profitably spent discussing such an important subject and he therefore moved that consideration be deferred for a month, and this decision was subsequently agreed to. Tennis. Tennis enthusiasts at Mataura displayed keen interest in a friendly match against Byrdone club members played on the local courts on Tuesday evening. The contest can be described as being one of a series of friendly games against district clubs and competition was not lacking in all departments of the match. The more experienced Mataura players gained a fairly comfortable win, taking 16 sets (88 games) while the visitors’ score was 2 sets (44 games). At an appropriate interval compliments were exchanged by Mr J. Calder on behalf of the local club, and Mr Titchener on behalf of the Brydone contingent. Druids Lodge. The fortnightly meeting of the Pride of Mataura Druids Lodge was held on Tuesday evening, and in the absence of the Arch Druid the chair was occupied by J.P.A. Bro. H. A. Price. Routine business was transacted and visitors received. D.P. Bro. W. McLeod (of Dunedin), paid u visit to the Lodge and conveyed’heartiest greetings from Dunedin brethren. Bro. W. Paulen of this lodge who has just returned after three years absence in Canada and Britain gave an interesting address on his travels and was heartily thanked.