BOROUGH AFFAIRS

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 384, 16 March 1937, Page 5

BOROUGH AFFAIRS

LIABILITY REFUSED. Work On Railway Station Entrance. The Stratford Borough Council met last night, the Deputy-Mayor, Councillor W. P. P. Gordon, presiding. Refusal to accept liability for an account of £3/14/- for tar-sealing at the entrance to the Stratford railway station was contained in a letter from Mr. W. T. Langbein, acting district engineer of railways, Wanganui. Inquiry was made as to the necessity for the work.

The account was for tar-patching, explained the Town Clerk, Mr. G. C. Grace. The council had been weeding and clearing free of charge, and the former charge of £l5 a year to look after the road had been dropped. The department queried every account and it was. desirable for the council to decide whether the Railway Department should be left to look after the maintenance.

The sum of £3/14/- was the actual cost of the work done, reported Mr. R. Richards, borough foreman. Work of that nature for the department had often been done at a loss, and as far as the council staff was concerned it would be better for the department to do its own work, the borough employees having enough to do with their own work.

“It seems to me that the only thing to do is to refuse to undertake further work until we have a definite contract,” said Councillor Gordon. The department is to be written to pointing out that the work was done on railway property and it was considered that the amount should be paid by the department. Sewer Connection Request. If sewer drainage were made available by the council free of cost, he would undertake to erect two or three houses in Cloton Road opposite the Stratford bowling green, to ease the housing shortage, advised Mr. R. Ramsbottom, Stratford. The extension of the sewer main would cost £55, reported the borough foreman, but the work could'not be done unless the sections were built up to footpath level. Mr. Ramsbottom is to be advised that the council cannot see its way to connect the sewerage to the section.

The parks caretaker is to be instructed not to drive the motor-mower on the roads but to engage transport at the council’s expense. The electricity committee reported that Mr. J. Morrison, representing the Stratford Primary School, waited on the committee and reported on the unsatisfactory heating of the .schoolrooms. A reduction in the cost of repairing the installation was requested. The electricity committee's suggestion to the council that they favour making the present installation right, and that if the school committee would supply the material the council would install it, was adopted.