Te Aroha Borough Council.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 4379, 27 February 1909, Page 3

Te Aroha Borough Council.

The ordinary monthly meeting of the / above took place in the Council Chambers, “ Boundary-street, on Wednesday evening last. Present: —The Mayor (R. L. Somers, Esq.) and Crs. Annan, Devey, Hubbard, Spence, Rowe, and Jackson. Minutes read and confirmed. Inward and outward correspondence dealt with. —Fire Brigade Matters — , The secretary of the Te Aroha Fire Brigade wrote asking that the Brigade Station and Captain’s residence be connected by telephone. The Captain having removed to the far end of the town, and would probably not hear the fire-bell in the case of an alarm. Estimated cost of work, £6 10s complete, same to be guaranteed for 12 months.—Cr. Hubbard said it was very necessary that the Captain should be on the scene of a fire as soon as possible, and the letter was worth due consideration. A man sleeps at the Brigade Station.—Cr. Annan considered the matter of a telephone somewhat premature. They had a real good bell. By the time anyone was awakened by telephone the fire would have a good hold.—Or. Rowe contended the telephone was not required at the present time —Cr Spence : It is very advisable to have the connection made. The cost is not much, and it might be the means r f saving pounds and pounds worth of property Cr. Rowe moved that it be left to the new Council to decide. —Cr. Annan seconded. —Cr. Hubbard moved as an amendment that it be a irecommeudation to the new Council to have the matter attended to at its first meeting —Cr. Spence seconded. The voting resulted : For the motion : Crs. Devey. Annan, and Rowe. For the amendment: Crs. Hubbard, Spence, and Jackson.—The voting being equal the Mayor gave his casting vote in favour of motion, which was declared carried. The matter of furniture was left in the hands of the Fire Brigade Committee. The Borough foreman, who is also Captain of the Fire Brigade, applied for a week’s holiday, in order to attend as a delegate the Fire Brigade’s Conference to be opened on March 6th. - Cr. Hubbird •aid he understood that in addition to instruction, a certain amount of practise is contemplated, therefore the trip would undoubtedly prove beneficial.—Cr Rowe moved that the request be granted. —Seconded by Cr. Hubbard and earned. —Letter Received—vLetter from Mr Robt Mackie was read and received. —Wanted to Buy— It was resolved to inform theiMorrinsville Volunteer Fire Brigade that the Council had not a steel triangle for sal°. , —Maori Land Trouble — A lawyer’s letter was received from the native owners, objecting to the pipe track going through their property, unless they received compensation for the r same, —The Council failed to see the liability under the circumstances, and decided to hand the letter to Mr Gilchrist to deal with. —Extension of Time— An exteusiou of time for four months was applied for by Mr Murphy at the last Council meeting for h'B Kenrick-street j Bridge contract. The application was j forwarded to the Engineer, Mr H. H Metcalfe,, whose report was read.—Cr. Hubbard said that Mr Murphy should be advised of the gist of the Engineer’s report.—Several Councillors contended that the filling in had rot been pushed ahead. —Cr. Spence said the engineer was to blame for a good deal of the delay He (the engineer) had made the contractor go back over certain portions of the work aud put in, extra piles not mentioned in the contract, and the piles were not available. This meant delay. The work was hung up for some time in consequence. The engineer should have made himself acquainted with the ground before the contract was let.—lt was mentioned that before the work was finished it would cost £I,OOO more than the contract price.—The engineer in his report pointed out that wh-le the contract time expires this week, only half the earthwork had been done so far. - The Council were of opinion that while recognizing that the extra piles caused some delay, it does not regard the progress of the earthwork as satisfactory.— It was eventually decided on the motion of Cr. Jackson, seconded by Cr. Devey, that the extension asked for be granted, ) as from January 26th. , "*<>■ —The Sinking Fund— The Council expressed its disapproval of the provisions of the Local Bodies’ Loans Amendment Act of 1908, whereby local bodies shall in future appoint none but the Public Trustee to administer sinking funds. The Council decided to support the protest being entered against the |Act by the Dunedin, Waihi. and other Councils. —Street Name lPlates— The offer of J. Doyle, of Waihi, to provide street name plates at a certain sum was not entertained. —Brigade Hose— It was resolved to purchase an additional 300 feet of hose. —Electric Light Duplication— Cr. Devey said the electric light duplication should be pushed on. Consider ing the low state of the reservoir, at times, they were sailing very close to the wind.—lt was mentioned that Dudlev’s contract was not finished, although the time had expired. —Reports— The various reports were read. —Stone Crusher—•Mr D. McL. Wallace, who had been deputed to visit Raurimu and inspect the stone crushing machines for sale by the Public Works Department, sent in i his report.—lt was resolved to purchase the machine recommended by Mr Wallace. —Accounts — The account?, as read, were passed for payment.