STRATFORD BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 23, 21 August 1917, Page 3

STRATFORD BOROUGH COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Stratford Borough Council last evening,was attended by the Mayor (Mr J. W. McMillan) and Councillors W.» McDonald, C. B. Walsh, S. B. Hunter, T. Lawson, C. Jackson, J. H. Inompson, D. J. Malone, J. Masters, and A. Coleman. i ■ ' ! C ORR ESPONDENCE. The Napier Borough Council wrote asking the co-operation of the Cou»i';il in urging "that the time has arrived when in the interests of the people the Government should take over the' control of the food supply.of the country, and this Council m:gos all other local hodies to endorse the resolution and djrect that copies of same be sent to all other borough and city councils throughout the Dominion, and that a copy of the resolution be also sent to every member of the Cabinet." —The Mayor, in moving that the resolution ■be supported; said it was about time the problem was grappled with by the Government.—Carried. T. I. Lamason, Stratford, wrote complaining of an order for horsefeed being placed outside the town in view of the prices placed before the* Council.—lt was stated that the oats were procured for Ijd per bushel less than the local price.—On the motion of Crs Coleman and Lawson, it was decided to inform Mr Lamason of the price paid by the council. R. McK. Morison, Stratford, wrote complaining that of the time taken to boil water in the electric kettle and of the delay in heating the electric jron ; also that the lighting accounts were excessive.-r-Referred to the Lighting Committee to report. taxi Telephone. The Postal Department wrote stating that the taxi's telephone in Broadwap had been installed by request and its upkeep was in the hands of the subscribers. .-' I Regarding the installation of a penuy-in-slot telephone, .the Departmont wrote pointing out that while Stratford had 273 subscribers, Haw r era had over 100 and New Plymouth over GOO. The Mayor said that i,n view of the correspondence he thought the proposal would have to be dropped in the meantime, and most likely until lafter the war. ,■. , THE AVAR LOANS. The Mayor said he would like to see public action taken to support the Government in obtaining money for the loan, as it was. everyone's duty to do his, or her bit. Perhaps a special day might be set apart to get. 'contributions in this district,, or a committee might be set np to do so. After discussion, Cr Thompson moved that the Mayor get in touch [ivjth Mr Wilkinson" and other speak,ers to address a public meeting on the j war loans and taxation proposals of ! the Government—Seconded by Cr * McDonald,' and carried. ; In regard to the floating of the ; council's £15.000 loan the replies from the various financial institutions in the Dominion were not considered satisfactory. The Mayor said that in view of the Government's V3v loans the council could not expect to get tneir loan floated.—" Hear, hears" from members. FIRE BRIGADE DEPUTATION. Captain Grubb av.d Lieutenant 'Davey waited upon the Council to support the Brigade's application that the Council divert £SO of the present year's estimates towards equipment, of motor chassis for fire purposes; the Brigade having obtained an offer of a suitable chassis on terms which,can be mot with funds at present in hand.

In speaking to the" matter, Captain Gnibb said the Brigade ; :'< were in a position to put down £IOO towards"the. 'cost and they could get: terms to pay ; ofF the balance of £SO. The question of getting to a iire quickly was an important one, but there was the. additional efficiency to he considered. The £SO from the Council could be saved by doing without hose this yeor, and the building of a body for the chassis could be done for the £SO from the council out of next year's vote In reply to questions, the Captain said, the motor would carry iiye men It would last the Brigade for years. A qualified man had practically guaranteed the chassis to be in good order. The' plant (hose, etc.) was in good condition. The hose distributed over the town could be concentrated and thus saye-additional hose,for this year. The Brigade. would be pleased to have the chassis inspected by :, a. representative of the Council.

Cr .Coleman .said it Wis advisable .that-some means of'transit to-, fires better than at. present Should be .obtained, and.he had no doubt tb*at.!the ehnsis would be the means of saving many buildings. He felt Hint if the Brigade was prepared to spend £IOO of their money, the Council should do their part, and he supported the request. The Mayor said he was p'nased to see that the Brigade was endeavoring to keep up-to-date. The Brigade was also willing to help themselves, and under the circumstances, he personally sympathised with them in their request, and would support the Brigade as far as possible. Cr Malone, in discussing the mattet at a later stage, faVored the request, and he moved the adoption of the clause in the committee's report. The clause was adopted with the addition that a sub-committee was ap-

pointed to confer with an expert in regard to the chassis and r«+W matters in connection therewith, with power to act', «>,; ' [i >•■ ■' '.!■ WORKS' COMMITTEE REPORT. The •vommittee reported as follows : Borough map.—That Mr Robinson's offer to Supply a map of the borough showing all the latest sub-divisions for £3l be accepted. By-laws.—That the Executive Committee be asked to undertake the revision of the By-laws, and on completion the rough drafts be referred to the different committees for approval of those portions in which they are chiefly interested. Borough Ranger, etc.—There were four applications for this position, and we recommend that Mr F. Lane's application be accepted. The report was adopted. ENGINEER'S REPORT. The Engineer (Mr T. D. Sullivan) reported on the progress of works for the past month as follows: Metal patchng has been done on various streets ; in s the Borough. Water tables have been cleaned out in the following streets: Regan Street West, Celia Street, Lear Street, Broadway South from Page Street to Opuijake Road. Footpaths have been .cleaned ,off in Romeo Street West, Celia Street, Regan Street West, .and, Page .Street.

Concrete ehannells and- kerbing in Broadway Central ,liave been cleaned of .where required.. . Entrances have been .made to ; Mr B. Rawles' property (Orlando Street) and Mr. Bowers' property ,(Cordelia. Street. North). Culverts have been inserted across footpaths at Mr Cecil Wright's property (Cordelia Street) and Mr Porter' s house (Boar dway, South). Concrete crossings have been made to the following properties in Juliet Street Ceutal, Symes and Co.'s timber, yard one, Co-operative Bakery one, Co-operative motor shed one, B. Harkness two, Melrose Boarding House one, and Mr T. Richardson one. A. gate has been erected .between the holding yard and the pound. Sixty sacks of oats have been carted to the Borough stables. A truck of coal has been carted to the coal sheds. The crusher has been erected at the ford site and 305 cubic yards of metal have been crushed. The work of refacing Broadway South from top of hill to Page. Street is in hand. About .Ai chains oM-wjre fence has been erected on the new crushing site. The ground has been prepared for hedge planting. A well has ,been sunk at the Diesel station and drains cut therefrom to prevent water from accumulating in the concrete well in the power house, .The water main in Miranda Street Has-been extended and connected to the 3-inch, main in Portia Street via Seyton Street; the cost of labour on this work exceeded the estimated cost, owing to the bad weather experienced while .the work was in hand. One water service has been laid to Mr Zimmerman's property '(Warwick Road). I. have inspected several premises during the month and had five pigs removed.

In company with Mr Masters and Mr Jackson I have passed posts split by Mr Volzke on the York Road but as far as I know the posts have not yet been delivered. The report was received. LIGHTING COMMITTEE REPORT. The Committee reported as follows: — Special report re additions to plant, arid extensio of area of supply.—We are of opinion that the time is inopportune to report on these matters. A discussion followed Cr. Coleman's remarks regarding Cr. Hunter's reference. to the possibility of increasing the demands for lighting and power from their plant to such an extent as to endanger.the supply as a whole. Cr. Coleman,enquired,as to this, stating -that a. very serious - contingency might arise, seriously affecting the present consumers of electricity. . Th Electrical 'Engineer, in reply, said there -was a balance of power supplied by the Deisel of over 20-horse-power. There need be no doubt that the Diesel station could take the whole load. The only tiling that could happen to put the weir out of commission would die the river undermining it and not the feight on top.

The Mayor .said he believed that they should' not take it upon -. themselves to supply more current than the Diesel alone could supply. He thought the weir, like all'others, was liable to go at any time. Cr. Hunter said they never got the whole load at one time. There was the night and day load alternately, ft would be some 'time before the Diesel-woitld-'he''.overloaded at the present rate of "increased, power. Cr. Ma lone, inquired if the,weir or dam hijid ever been inspected,lately. '.Cr said that'as long as .the timber was kept in repair the weir would he all right, \ He thought) they ware very fortunate to have two plants. Cr. Jackson did not think there was

any possible chance of the weir going. The clause was adopted. ABATTOIR MANAGER'S REPORT. The Abattoir manager (Mr Kinnear Ross) submitted the following report on the working of the Abattoir for the month of July: Stock slaughtered— Cows 68; heifers 28; bullock 1; sheep 185; pigs 45; tripes prepared 49. The total fees earned for the month were £47 Is PJ. The following stock were condemned : 1 cow and 1 pig. GENERAL. It was agreefl to increase the salary of -Miss Laverty, librarian, to £65 per annum. Cr. J. Masters said he wished to resign his position as a member of the Lighting Committee. His time was fully occupied, and he could not give adequate attention to the work. He thought that he would be doing his share of the Council's business as Chairman of the Works Committee.— The Council decided not to fill the vacancy till next meeting. The action of the Mayor in appointing a returned soldier as an assistant in the town Clerk's office for four hours daily without salary was confirmed. The Mayor explained that the soldier was not strong, and the Patriotic Committee had voted him a small sum weekly to build up his pension and put him in tb 0 way of learning office methods which might stand him in good stead in the future.