MUNICIPAL MATTERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 March 1920, Page 6

MUNICIPAL MATTERS.

GENERAL MANAGER'S SURVEY. The general manager of the New Plymouth ißorough (AjJr. E. ;I<V Bellringer) reports as follows to the Council:— STREET WORKS. The Borough engineer's report will deal fuly with the works carried out during the month. The shortage of gravel for top dressing the tar sealed roads has caused Borne anxiety during the month, and there have been times when not more I than one day's supply lias been in hand.' The supply from the beach is very meagre, and while unlimited supplies are available at Napier difficulty has been experienced in obtaining trucks to bring the materials to New Plymouth. Owing to large quantities of coal arriving in Wellington for railage elsewhere, the Ralway Department experienced the greatest difficulty in providing truekß for gravel. Representations, however, were made to the District Traffic Manager, Napier, and lie has promised to provide aa many trucks as possible to keep us going. The stetioumastcr at New Plymouth has also arranged to provide a number of trucks to bring a smaller supply of gravel from Waitara. Every endeavor will be nj/ide to push on with the tar sealing work, but if unfortunately, (lie gravel supply should fail at any time arrangements are in hand whereby the whole of the men can be put on to lay tar macadam in Curnc Street, or to lay the carpet coat of tarred macadam on the uncompleted portion of Devon Street, from Gover to EP- Street. The question whether fit will be possible to substitute bitumen for tar in the streets carrying the heavier traffic i 3 receiving attention. There is no question but that bitumen is the better proposition as it is much more lasting, and maintenance ctste nro therefore much less, lho first cost and the difficulty of ol> taming regular supplies are, however against the use of this material for all the streets at present tar sealed, but it will probably be possible next season to use it m certain streets where the traffic w very heavy. However, the Horough engineer will submit a special report in re.rard to this matter at the earliest omwrtiinity. HYDRO ELECTRIC EXTENSIONS. It was intended to take the poll upon £$Z S&1 i,° raiS ° the »W loa/of i/2,000 on the same day as the poll in connection with the tVamwav extcn" weeks before the necessary inform*. S,tTY e availaWe in "«on w-th the tramway extensions, I recommend that the poll i„ connection wUh Hopaiateh- next month. The electrical showing the necessity for certain noror ? 9 v 1 t hydro elMt '' ic Plant beirg wlcred hlmost immediately, and fo? be le deS. the P °" Sh ° l,M in " «!■

JTTZROY POUND SITE: The proclamation, taking lands for i tudnLs tH Seary *° Bhift the P««"«« "uuuingb to the new site. The npw Streef T IP t°r nVW ' ° ff Norn ' a '"» h,,f • £. Position is fairly central

WIDENING ST. AUBYN AND QUEEN STREET CORNER

dJ h + e h neCeSS ? ry le S al ste l* to take under the provisions of the Public Work aSve a s or of ar ] r L f ° r ? *» "emo4t eS f a 7 -Povement, and whilst Joining properties. ° £ the ad " NGAiRB RKSERVE-CONVERSION OF LEASES.

Council underbool- <„ , " e mating of ail tit 1 ° T"S e for • it wufbe de ded , "T' 8 ' at whicl ' of the tenants feel that *k . are too high, butMlfcS e? other hand, „ sat i s f led tlmt tl /^'"- ons are very reasonable, and Zl SALTWATER BATHS.

Pmin-ii V undertakings of the Xr t J n P ?r e tliis month ming bathr t,on ° f the * ub)ic «wim--1 \o the bath, Past Siree thlh , aetory in thc mve bee, n„, f erect,on in 1903 they loss! nnlit Col ' sidera We annual nm ' ' '"•igmtude of which wi)l ~e 4 CeiJJut t t,v^nsr,rßond--91th,e *? ta, l ro " «>o expenditure for 71 S 3d ' whilst as follow" R ' f X a e , Per,od lms be e« tonance, ,«*t (ism a ; V n n P erest . onca P ital : .voar s , £24S i s 4 d . V a \T ' J° T U ' 1 *'"«; dedUint Vl ta ' 0f £s "l total los, for n>„ • , loav es a 0/ *«S 10,lfld g gee p e er lo a: n ; n m aCtUal Cas " above C£ n, l las , been .»adeinth; latter is r.VT depreciation. The ">gs have depreciated vert bath bl'ildduring the period A wl COnaider «°ly »°* is necessary "W <" into first el ass re Ll r P ™ '° I ? ,iWhl * B -orkisineonnTc 1 Proportion of the corrupted iron com etc, is in sneh a Lad condition as to

require immediate replacement. In addition the buildings require painting and a general overhaul. In regard to this matter 1 instructed the Borough inspector to submit a report us to the condition of the buildings when the baths were placed under hi 3 control a few mouths ago, and fuller details will be found in his report, a cop/ of whict is attached hereto It is regrettable, of course, that thle institution shows such a large annual loss, and that such a large amount ol expenditure is now necessary to put it into decent repair. The buildings, however, having been erected, it would be folly to allow them to gradually deteriorate until completely ruined. The only thing to do with an institution of tins kind is to keep the buildings and all the appointments iu first class order and condition, and to do everything possible to popularise the institution with the public in order to induce the-' to ■ attend in large numbers, thus increasing the revenue and keeping the annual loss as low as possible. An attempt has been made in this direction in a small way during the last few months and with encouraging success. The exceptional wet season has prevented any very largo increase in the annual revenue, but the attendance has certa-nly b«fi: very much better on the days w.'iuh vcre suitable for bathing If the piese.it policy be continued, therefore, one may expect that given a normal sea-ion next year the revenue should he much larger than in the past. 1 The suggestion made by the inspector tor the erection of a small destructor using the heat generated to provide for a tepid swimming pool is one which has engaged the attention of the Council at various times in past years, but there were several difficulties which could not then be overcome. There is a good deal in favor of the suggestion if a feasible scheme'could e to be gone into aga In the course of his report, Mr E. Day, Borough Inspector, says:—The uncertainty of the coal supply opens up the necessity of looking to another variety of fuel. If there was room for extension and the money available provision could easily be made to use a good deal of the waste of the town for this purpose. If this means of heaths" was adopted it might be extended to heat the swimming pool. This would at once remove any anxieties as to the financial success of the institution. The hot salt water baths are at present frequent] < wd, but their arrangement is quite unsuitable for the use of invalids, arid the surroundings are not what might he expected iu a place where invalids go for certain treatment. The whole question hangs upon money, but as the salt hot baths will require to be renewed in a very short [time the whole question of bringing them up to date should be seriously considered. WATERWORKS. The engineer (Mr. W. H. Cook) report*, inter alia:—The river has been in flood more or less during' the wholo month and r,^„v„n v abnormal weather has been experienced, causing considerable trouble through silting'at the intake. The highest flood recorded by the caretaker is seven feet, having a duration of 30 hours. Tiie filters have been repainted and general cleaning up work done on the Reserve ' ABATTOIR REPORT. Slaughtered for local consumption:— 186 .cattle, 2fl calves, 022 sheep, ]SC lambs, 87 pigs, and 175 tripes 'were cleaned. Compared with last, February they show an increase, of 24 cattle, l!i calves, 90 sheep. 70 lambs. 4 pigs, 'and 10 tripes. Condemned 3 cattle. 1 sheep and 1 pi ?i The fees collected were ?162 Ids 3d. and increase of £23 ISs