CITY COUNCIL.

Colonist, Volume LVII, Issue 13737, 27 March 1915, Page 2

CITY COUNCIL.

FORTNIGHTLY MEETING,

The fortnightly meeting of the City Council was held last evening, there being present: The Mayor (Mr. W. Lock), and Councillors Wilkens, Webley, Bishop, Adams, Piper, Robertson, and Mercer. FINANCE. The statement of bank balances was as follows:— Dr. Cb £ s. d. £ s. d. General A/o ... 20,798 17 6 Water „ ... 1,352 010 Gas „ ... 2,575 5 8 Interest „. ... 2,358 9 9 Abattoir „ ... 391 6 11 Hospital and Charitable Aid 349 18 2 Balance Dr • 21,892 13 8 £24,859 6 3 24,859 6 3 £ s. d. Cemeteries (Trust Account) 222 19 4 Contractors' Deposits (do ) 25 0 0 Trafalgar Park (do.) 53 16 3 Waterworks Land Purchase Loan Debenture Account 16 5 0 Amount owing to Bank on Overdraft 21,892 13 8 Amount of overdraft at preeent allowed by ♦ Bank 24,000 0 0 Present statutory limit of overdraft and temporary Loan 30,863 0 0 Payments were authorised as rol« lowa:— £. s. d General Account 867 13 7 Gas Account ] 286 17 7 Water Account 681 0 7 Abattoir Account 190 14 7 Cemeteries Account 19 7 7 Total , £3082 19 6i

CO tf DESPONDENCE

Correspondence was read and dealt! with as follows:— From the Town Clerk, Richmond, inquiring if the Council would allow Mr. Littlejohn to report on the borough's reservoir and water supply.—The request was granted. Fz-om Messrs. H. Saunders and T. Falvey, asking permission to give picture shows on Good Friday.-—The requests were granted. From Mr. H. Saunders, asking permission to use temporary hoarding yti Trafalgar street as an advertisement board.—-Granted. From the General Manager, Auckland Electric Tramways Co., Ltd., offering to sell the Council six motor 'bus chassis. —Referred to the Tramways Committee. From Mr. T. A. H. Field, M.P., acknowledging copy of Council's resolution ro price of foodstuffs, and stating that he had forwarded the resolution to the Prime Minister. From the stokers employed at die gasworks, asking that their wa;s 's '.c increased from 9s to" 10s a shift-

The Mayor expressed himself in favour of increasing the stokers' wages. The cost of living had risen considerably since the wages were fixed. The application was referred to the Gas Committee.

From Mr. S. Tyerman, Mount street, calling attention to bad state of footpath near top end of the street.—Referred to the Works Committee.

From the hon. secretary, Band of 12th Regiment, asking permission to give sacred concert on behalf of Belgian Relief and Red Cross Funds in the Theatre on Sunday evening.—Granted. From Johnston and Manssen, enclosing fee of £1 rent for use of footpath in Trafalgar street, and making application for use of half-width of same for screen under scaffolding,—(An attached memo, from the Engineer stated that the provision regarding a fee appeared to have fallen into disuse, and there was no mention of it in the building by-laws. He recommended that the fee should be waived until the new by-law is made.)— The application was granted, the fee to be returned. From nine householders and ratepayers, Maori road, petitioning that the road and Beachville Terrace East be repaired and gravelled; also that a lamp 'be erected at the corner of the road overlooking the gasworks yard.— Referred to t>he Works Committee. From Mr. John Robb, suggesting that the drainage at top of Maori road receive attention. From the secretary Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, notifying the Council that its share of the levy for the coming year was £993. From residents of Mount and Vanguard streets, drawing attention to the need of street lamps on the zig-zag path leading from Victory Square to the end of Mount street. The Gas Engineer reported that Jtie cost of erecting a lamp would bo £7, Referred to Committee. From Messrs. Neale <md Rackiow. on behalf of Messrs. Redpath and Sous, accepting contract to supply 1200 t'ns of Aberdare coal. From Messrs. J. C. Me .-..0r and Son, requesting permission v> crocs lamp and sign in Hardy street,--""-I *i ?-e juest was granted. From the managing director. Gol&e^ Bay Cement Company, Ltd:, suggesting that the Council should reconsider its decision to use English cement for the gas holder foundations. Practically all public bodies in New Zealand and the Government were using colonial cement, nnd he was satisfied that on reconsideration the Council would use only the local product, which was equal in quality and loss in price than the English cement. Cr. Piper advocated the local cement, and said he thought the Council had made a mistake in deciding to import cement.

It was decided to acknowledge the letter.

FINANCE COMMITTEE

The Finance Committee reported as follows:—On letter from Mr. L. Adams, as to water meter: That a separate half-inch servid© be put in to MrAdams's private house for domestic supply tinder the ordinary conditions. That the following charges for extraordinary supply be made: C. Horton, paddock, 110s per annum; H. Livick, tomato garden, 20s per annum, or by meter; Guglielmo Monopoli, tomato garden, 20s per |annum, or by meter; B. Housiaux, motor garage, 20s. All. the above charges to be in addition to the ordinary water rats. Water meters: That i persons using water meters ,be aliow|ed to purchase same at cost price m

lieu of paying rent if they so desire. ' The report was adopted. < I

CITY ENGINEER'S REPORT

Th© City Engineer (Mr. J. G. Littlejohn) reported as follows: —Streets and footways: Some patching has been done on Waimea road and Port road and work on the last mentioned is still going on. The cleaning up of streets has been proceeded with, practically the whole of the town east of Trafalgar streets now being completed, and the Port Hills now being attended to. The tarred macadam crossing at the junction of Hardy street and Waimea street has been put in. Unfortunately the rain came on the same day and may have softened the foundations before the work was properly set. In connection with this work the footpath on the south side of Hardy street has been graded and raised so that in time of flood it will not bo submerged as heretofore. Water: Nine broken services and three defective stop-cocks have been repaired. Seven defective fireplugs and two valves have been attended to and two extraordinary supplies have been metered. Five times during the past fortnight fireplugs havo become jambed with stones from the mains. The stmes- are all water-worn and apparently have been in the mains for a long time. Drainage : Routine work only lias been donei so far as the sewers are concerned Nine permits have been granted under the by-law. Two cases alleged to be blockages in the sewers proved on investigation to be in private drains. Places of public recreation: The ground at the old cemetery recently cleaned up is being prepared for sowing down. Milton's Acre has also been levelled, and is ready for sowing. Thanks are due to Mr. S. Bolton for a large quantity of bulbs donated for this ground. The works authorised on the Queen's Gardens will be started shortly. Tenders for the fencing on the Bridge street frontage of this giound have been called. •

ABATTOIR MANAGER'S REPORT. The abattoir manager (Mr. G. W. Mitchell) reported that the following stock had been slaughtered during the fortnight: Cattle 58, calves 7, sheep 526, lambs 287, pigs 43; total 021. Condemned during the period, one sheep.

THE GASWORKS

The Mayor said it had been said chat tlie new gasholder had been sprung on the ratepayers without notice. As a matter of fact* the gasholder had been discussed in open Council before he became Mayor, and it had been brought up time and again. The gas account was that night £2575 in credit, and they expected to pay for the holder out of profits. The Council had done wisely in deciding to erect the new holder, which would probably enable them to reduce the price of gas. The Gas Engineer had laid Kef ore him a scheme by Which the profits of the gas works could be increased by £1800 a year. To do this would entail an expenditure of sems £10,000 to install the vertical retort system. He quite agreed with everything that had foeon done in regard to the gasworks. The sum of £1000 had already been paid off the cost of the holder.

Civ Hampson said the gas account was the finest asset the city had, and expenditure on the gasworks simply meant that more money could be earned. The price of gas had been reduced already, and he hoped that when the present improvements were completed the price would be still further reduced. The idea that the present work had been done in anything like a hole and corner fashion was entirely incorrect. Only detail matters had been discussed in committee.

TENDERS

The following tenders were received for the erection of fence on the Bndgo street frontage of Queen's Gardens, viz., G. Miller £285 18s; E. A. Grimmett £378 10s. The tenders were referred to the Works Committee with power to act. Many tenders were received for various supplies and services, and were referred to a special committee consisting of the Mayor, and Crs.,Robertson, "Webley and Mercer, the City and Gas Engineers to report. , ,

GENERAL

. The usual Easter holidays wore granted to the staff.

Cr. Webley suggested that the City Engineer should be asked to prepare a report on the works carried out during the two years the Council had been in office. He thought some misapprehensions would thereby be removed.

The Mayor said the City Engineer would bring down a report on the Hues indicated. Cr. Piper referred to the scene which occurred after the close of the last meeting between tho City Engineer and himself, and demanded an apology from that< official. . . The Mayor ruled that as the incident did not occur during the meeting the matter was between Cr. Piper and the City Engineer, and the former's demand was out of order. Cr. Piper, after reiterating his demand several times without result, was called upon to resiune his seat, and eventually left the chamber.

under the by-laws was that gelignite was not included in the list of dangerous goods, The by-laws had not apparently been revised since its discovery. In reply to Mr. Hayes, the Magistrate said there' was no power to amend the information to bring it under the by-laws, even if he admitted the offence. It was a question of public'policy. A man should not be allowed to take dangerous goods on a, train, with the risk of blowing it up. Mr. Hayes said he was prepared to admit the facts. If the sergeant did not oifer any evidence, and brought the case under the by-laws, he would not raise the technical objection that gelignite was not included in the list of dangerous goods. He had another defence,. He understood that the Railway Department did not press for a heavy penalty, merely desiring to bring the case ais a warning. Th? Magistrate said the question of penalty was for the Court to decide. The statute provided a penalty of 2 years' imprisonment or a fine of £50. and the by-laws provided a penalty not exceeding £10. The by-law, however, did not override the statute. Sergeant Barrett said that in the circumstances he would not offer any evidence, but! would bring the case under the by-laws. The Magistrate said he could not consent to the withdrawal of the case, but he could not compel the prosecu- ; tion to offer evidence. The information was then dismissed.

ALLEGED WIFE DESERTION

James R. Staples was charged with deserting his wife at Sydney between February 27th, 1914 and March 29tb, 1914. On the application of Sergeant Barrett, the accused \v*as remanded to appear ati Wellington on March 31st, when application will be made for his extradition to Sydney.