BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 16796, 21 July 1920, Page 3

BOROUGH COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING

The monthly meeting of the New Plymouth Borough Council was held at the Municipal Offices on Tuesday evening, the Mayor (Mr. J. Clarke) presiding. There, wore also present: Councillors J. W. Hayden, P. J. Hill, W. P. Short, W. A. v Colhs, A. S. Brooker, R. L. Parian, and A. E. Sykes. An apology was received from Councillor Griffiths. NEW HEALTH ACT, 'The Minister of Public Health (the Hon. C. J. Parr) forwarded copy of tho proposed new Health Bill to' be introduced into Parliament during the present session, and stating that, as it was his desire to secure the co-opera-tion and assistance of the local governing bodies in framing an Act winch would remove most of the existing difficulties and anomalies in public health administration, he asked for any comments or suggestions which the council might wish to make. _ The matter was referred to the Public Health, Welfare and Safety Committee to draft, a reply. REMOVAL OP BODLDERS. The borough engineer wrote drawing attention to the fact that carters were constantly taking away boulders and sand and so-called gravel from the East End beach and that the beach had lowered several feet during the last month, with the result that the river had a considerable spread, destroying what otherwise would at least become a fairly good beach for children. He suggested that the Harbour Board bo approached with a view to their stopping for all time tile taking away of any class of materials frgm the eastern boundary of part la, of sub _l, Purakau. Any accretion along this .portion of the section was of the utmost value iu preserving the coast line. It was decided to communicate with the Harbour Board in the matter.

UPKEEP OF BOUNDARY ROADS. The Taranaki County Council wrote that the present system of dual administration of boundary, roads was not ip. the interests of either council and s'uggostod that (a) each boundary road be measured off and half allocated to each council; (b) a concrete post be put in it this, point to determine the boundary; and (c) each council maintain its own half of the road so allocated.

The borough engineer reported that the present arrangement was arrived at, by agreement between the two bodies and he did not think it would work well to have local bodies having equal lengths of the same road to attend to. Engineers might adopt different grades and different methods, resulting in chaos more or less. It was decided to reply to the effect that the council was quite satisfied with the present arrangement, but desired to be notified of any contemplated expenditure on the boundary roads. A PROPOSED SUB-DIVISION. Mr. E. Griffiths wrote that, when applying for a permit to build on sections 61 and 62, Wiiiteley Street, the by-law regarding a 40ft. frontage was enforced, as was the custom at that time. He was now anxious to subdivide the sections witbj a view to sale and would like the council to agree to the sub-division in accordance with plan enclosed. The proposed sub-divi-sion provided for almost a J-acre going with each house and dwellings 1 and 4 got a frontage of 69ft. to Whiteley Street, while. dwellings 2 and 3 got a frontage of 12ft., making a very ample private entrance to ea'dh. Mr. Cook, borough engineer, said the sub-division of tiiis property had 'been before the council on several occasions; it was referred to the borough solicitors and the council’s committee visited the locality. He understood the matter had been finally dealt with by the council. Where it was possible to get the proper frontage without unduo hardship to the owner ho was of opinion the by-law, tiiich was a good one, should be upheld, and in this case it was an easy matter to so lay out the land that each house would have had such frontage. However, the matter having formed the basis for the coun j cil’s consideration in dealing with similar applications, which had been disallowed, the council was the only body to determine the question. It transpired, during a short discussion, that the four dwellings occupied an acre of ground and that, therefore, there was ample air space to each dwelling. The council was, however, reluctant to grant the request. It was eventually proposed that the application he granted, but a division showed the council to be equally divided, the “Ayes’’ being Councillors Short, Brooker, Parkin and Sykes, and the “Noes” Councillors Hayden, Hill, Collis and the Mayor

The Mayor gave his casting vote for things to remain as they are. It then transpired tltafc i this would prevent Mr. Griffiths disposing of any of his properties. Tlio Mayor said he had not foreseen ' this position. Ho did not wish to prevent anyone disposing of a property.

No further action was taken, but it was understood that tiio question would bo brought forward for further consideration at a future meeting. TECHNICAL COLLEGE. A letter was received from Mr. A. L. Moore, director of the New Plymouth Technical College, advising the council that it would be necessary for it to elect a representative on the Advisory Board for the ensuing year. Advantage was also taken of this opportunity of appealing to the council for more generous support for tho school. The annual .contribution of £25 made by the council was very small. Councillor Short was re-elected tho council’s, representative. With- reference to the question of subsidy, it was decided to notify Mr. Mooro that the council could not see its way to grant any increase this year. VALUATION ■DIFFICULTIES. The Valuation Department, wrote acknowledging receipt of a resolution passed at a conference of delegates from the coiUributing local authorities of the Taranaki Hospital District and urging that the lands comprised in each hospital district bo revalued simultaneously and stating {hat equality of values in hospital districts could'not bo attained, even if the numerical strength of the field staff of tho department • were greatly increased, as hospital districts comprised several counties and boroughs that were not last revalued the same year. The aim of tho department wat to establish and maintain, as far as was .practicable, relative uniformity of'values, not only between counties'and boroughs and hospital districts, but also between all the counties and boroughs in the Dominion.

The practice was to select for revaluation each year counties and boroughs which were most in need of revaluation, irrespective of considerations relating to the requirements of hospital districts. It might bo pointed out that the request of the conference really implied that lauds comprised in hospital districts throughout the Dominion should be revalued in the same year, unless this particular case was regarded as an exceptional one. It had, however, no feature justifying special consideration. To make all the, revaluations i.i the same year wouldbe a task impossible of< accomplishment. Tho work had to be done by degrees and, as a period of about five years elapsed between one general revision of a district and the next, all districts were practically on the same footing. It was added that arrangements had been made for the revaluation of_ the borough of New Plymouth and Clifton County. Inglewood County was now being revised and probably Taranaki and Egmont Counties would be revised next year. CONTROL OP CEMENT.

The Department, of Industries and Commerce acknowledged receipt of the council’s letter conveying the acceptance of the council-of the delegation of power from the Board of Trade in connection with dwellings' and essential farm buildings for which permits might.be applied under the Building Regulations. It was noted that the council suggested that an allowance should be made for the additional work necessitated by the operation of this delegation. It did not appear l that any considerable expense or additional work would be involved, but the board would be glad of further information on this point. The process proposed with respect to buildings other than dwellings was that in all cases the application for permit to proceed with the work should be dealt with by the board prior to the consideration by the local body of the application for a permit under the bylaws. The effect of this would be to reduce the work of the local bodies with regard to the inspection of plans, and dealing with applications for permits to erect buildings for which the necessary approval under the Building Regulation of the Bqard of Trade had not been obtained. It was suggested that all local authorities should decline to consider applications for permits under the t - -laws unless the permit to proceed with the work under the building regulations was produced. GENERAL. >

An invitation was extended .to the council to be represented at a conference to he held at Stratford with, the object of forming a Taranaki Progressive League.—The Mayor and Councillor Short were appointed the council’s representatives. ' The Pukekura Park Board will be formed that the question of remitting the cost of a special lighting scheme at the Coronation Kail on the occasion of ' its effort on behalf of the £IOOO effort will be considered at a later date ; also that the question qf. remitting the usual charge for advertising privileges on the front of cars in connection with this effort will be considered at a later date. '

The,New Plyftouth Lawn Tennis'and Croquet Club was granted permission to transfer its pavilion to a new site. ' '

The North Taranaki Hunt was grant- . ed permission to make a charge at the gates of the Taranaki Jockey Club's course on the occasion of the club’s annual race meeting. „ ■Mr. D.. Charteris wrote dfatving attention. to the state of Newton Street, Eitzroy, and pointing out that until something was done it was impossible v to get timber on a number of on which it was proposed to,erect dwellings.—Mr. Cook suggested that Mr. Charteris be informed that the lupins growing on the road would he cut down when he had taken, out building permits.—This course was-agreed to. Mr. Charteris was granted permission to leave existing fence across Richmond Street, Eitzroy, subject to certain specified conditions. ; The Pukekura Park Board wrote asking the council to tar the floor of-the band rotunda at the park.—The council agreed to the request, the cost to he paid by the board. The Eitzroy Ratepayers’. Association wrote again asking the council to proceed with the erection of the tram shelter shed at Strandon as soon as possilo.—lt was decided to notify, the ■ association that the tramways engineer had been authorised to prepare plans and specifications, but, owing to pressure of other work, it would be some little timo before these were submitted.

The Fitzroy Ratepayers’ Association also wrote that it' had no objection to the proposal to subdivide the_ Ktzroy Hall into tenements on condition that proper supervision be exercised as regards sanitation, etc.—ln view of tbis letter the. council decided to carry out the proposal. The General Purposes Committee reported that the superintendent of the advances office had intimated that the council would be granted permission to pay 5i per cent, interest on the £72,000 and £57,000 loans. ’