BOROUGH COUNCIL

Te Aroha News, Volume XLI, Issue 6544, 15 November 1924, Page 4

BOROUGH COUNCIL

i FORTNIGHTLY MEETING The ordinary meeting of the le 'Aroha Borough Council was held on Wednesday evening. Present: His Worship the Mayor (Mr R. Coulter), and Crs. Ada-; Gordon, Sellars, Ritchie, Nicol, McMahon, Hedge, Hamilton and Bruce. Mr Billing applied for permission to a selected picture, “The Village Blacksmith,” on Christmas Day. He offered to give a private screening of the picture for the benefit of the .Council on or after December 15th. The Mayor moved that the Council accept the invitatidn. This was seconded by Cr. Gordon and carried. Mr H. Nelson applied for an increase in his wages from 1/lOj* to 2/03 per hour. —Referred to the Quarry Committee with power to act. A quote for dog collars was received from an outside firm with a sample collar. —It was decided to hold the matter over till ■' local tenders had been invited. '

The clerk read the only applicaion he had received for the position of quarry faceman. This man asked for certain information, and if this was satisfactory he might come up and have a look at the job. Mr Geo. Toogood wrote stating that he was in touch with a sum of £300,000. Which was available for local body loans at a rate of interest equivalent to 6 per \cent. New Zealand money. The money would be available on January Ist, 1925. The Mayor said they had not yet received the consent of the Minister to raise the loan at 6 per cent, so they could take no . action 1 . He would move that the letter be referred to the finance Committee. —Carried. The Prime Minister acknowledged receipt of the Council's letter in reference to its application foi/ a loan of £BOO from the State Advances DeHe was arranging for the communication to have early Departmental attention. ' A •'letter, addressed to the Piako County Council by Mr A. Hannah (Auckland) was read. The writer stated that on behalf of the relatives of the ,late Sir William Herries he was arranging for the erection of a tombstone over the grave, but if the County Council and other local bodies desired to erect a monument' to Sir William it would perhaps be better to] have it erected on some prominent site in the township of Te Aroha. It was stated that a subsidy of £1 for £li up to £250 for a memorial oyer the grave of Sir William appeared on the estimates of the Department of Internal Affairs. / ; ,The Mayor said that a telegram had been sent to Mr Hannah‘that day informing him of the position. The Herries’ Memorial Committee were anxious to have Sir William* s memory commemorated with a suitable monument and they believed that it'could be done for a surti- of £SOO, including the £250 from the - Government. The tenders for the. sale of an Anderson engine to the Council for the bitumen sprayer «*vere received and were referred to the Wojks Committee, which was given power to ' purchase either a new or shcond-hand engine. - Two letters quoting prices for'' 'u starting equipment for the crusher were referred to the Quarry Committee with power to- act. The .Mayor reported that the Band Finance Committee had ordered a set of Boosey instruments on particularly favourable terms \and at a low figure. The price was £540 for 22 instruments. They were to have three years to pay anj for the first twelve months they would pay no interest, and they were to have a rebate of 10 per .cent.' if the whole amount is paid off within six months. Instruments were being lent to the Band in the meantime. The Mayor read from a small pamphlet particulars of a proposal that local bodies should -encourage tourists and motorists to visit towns by providing camping grounds. The Mayor thought this was a good idea and moved that the matter providing such grounds be referred to the Works Committee. Among the areas which might be considered were the Bridge and .Herriesville Domains. Cr. Gordon, in seconding, said that the proposal was part of a scheme for bringing 100,000 tourists to New Zealand during the next few years. The note struck at the Tourist Conference was: Firstly, what can be done to bring pressure to bear on the Tourist Department, arid secondly, what/were they , prepared to do to help themselves. At the Conference they had taken into account their own shortcomings. She hoped the matter before them would not be allowed to drop. The motion was carried and the committee is to report at the next

meeting of the Council. Cr. Bruce drew attention to the fact that no reply had yet been received from the Prime Minister in reference to the loan for Ruakaka drainage. He thought they should again communicate with Mr Massey. The Mayor said they had been trying to v get a l6an from the State Advances Office for many months. He suggested that they wait a few days for a reply from the Premier, and failing a reply before next Cobnciil meeting he would wire the 'Prime ister himself. Cr. Bruce' moved that the matter' be ret erred to the Legal and Finance 1 * Committee with a request that thej^ rt endeavour to reach some finality.— This was carried. Cr. Gordon then addressed the meeting on the Tourist Conference, a full report of which, is now appearing jn the News columns.