THAMES BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Thames Advertiser, Volume IX, Issue 2455, 27 October 1876, Page 3

THAMES BOROUGH COUNCIL.

The usual fortnightly meeting of tho Thames Borough Council was held last evening. Present-His Worship the Mayor, Councillors Macnab, Butt, Wilson, Eced, Gibbons. The minutes of last meeting were road over, also copies of correspondence sent since last meeting of the Council. Oobbbspondence.—A. letter from D. Kennedy was read stating that he found ho had given less than a fortnight's notice of the discontinuance of his contract and renewing the notice, and asking to have his deposit returned as he was leaving the district for Ohinemuri. It was agreed to advertise for tenders at once, and relieve Mr Kennedy as soon as his successor was appointed.—A letter was received from MrL.Ebrenfricd, asking for loave of absence from tho presont meeting. leave of absence was granted.—A letter .was read from James 1?. Lowe and other ratepayers on the Waiotahi hill requesting that a road might be made by which they could get firewood and necessaries to their dwellings. Eeferred to the Works Committee. —Letter from rcsidentsinßaillie,Mackay, Sealoy, and Kichmond streets, calling attention to the flooding of those stroets on account of the culverts being too high. It caused them great inconvqnienco, and, by creating miasma, eudalngered tho public health. It was signed by twentytwo residents. The report of the Works Committee, which came up at a later stage of tho meeting, referred to the matter in question. Division ot the Bobough into Wards. —The following letter from Dr Eilgour was read:-

To his Worship the Mayor of Thames, feeSir,—l beg to thank you for your reply to my letter of the 13th instant, conveyed in that of the Town Clerk to me of the 16th inst., and to point out to your Worship that, by section 43 of the M.C.A. of 1867, the Council, or, in their default, the Superintendent, must decide the preferable title of Councillors allotted to wards. I, therefore, respectfully renew the request coa< tained in my last to convene an early meeting of the Council to consider this question. It may be held, by section 20 of said Act, that the Superintendent's proclamation in invalid, and, if so, that the borough still remains undivided into wards, consequently that we must begin do novo; but it by no means follows that this view would be the right one, although it ia obviously tenable, and would probably bo the host opinion for the Couucil to adopt in view of the early abolition of the provinces, by which we should get rid of the proclamation, and come under ihe provisions of the now Municipal Act. Supposing, however, that the Council should sustain the validity of the proclamation, and proceed to allot Councillors to the several wards, iu that case I would call the attention of your Worship to sections 32, 41, 42, and 43 of j said Act, which provides for the allotment of Councillors to wards, 1, according to rating; 2, according to order of ward in proclamation; and, 3, when an excess of Councillors has Mien to one ward, As the last of these cases is the only one involving any difference of opinion, I shall quote the words of the sections bearing upon it. Section 32, line 16: "And tho Councillors so falling iu the first instance to any ward shall, if in excess of the number of three, rank for-the purposes of this section for preferable title to office for such ward according to tho scale herein elsewhere provided as to the retirement of Councillors, taking the first person liable to retire to be the lowest in such scale, Has., and all Councillors who shall for any ward form such excess, and shall not be so rated or liable ir, some other ward, shall ceaso to be Councillors, &c." Section 43: "In all cases iu which, upon the division or new division into wards of any borough, it shall bo needful, for the allotment of existing Councillors or their removal from office, that the Council proceed as in the last two sections mentioned for determining the preferable title to office of any Councillors being otherwise upon an equality, &c," Of the two sections last referred to, viz,, 41st and 42nd, the first of these alone relates to the point iu question, and reads thus: " 'i'hon such Councillors as to whom it shall not be so apparent (who shall go out of office) shall go out of office in the order of tho number of votes obtained by each at his election." This being the provision made by law for the determination of such cases, a

difficulty is at ouce perceived, viz., that of finding an authorised record of the votes given for any Councillor, because it appears by section 104 of said Act that the Town Clerk is not required to keep the voting papers used at elections for moro than six months after the election at which they were given. A record of; the voting at each election could doubtless be fouud in the newspapers, but those might be objected to, and no remedy for this state of things is apparent. This conclusion seems to strengthen the opinion expressed above, that the best course to adopt would be to ignore the proclamation dividing the borough into wards, and effeot I hat division by means of the new Municipal Act. If any ratepayer should choose to question the action of the Bjrougli in this matter, it would no doubt he open for hiin to do so by procedure in the Supreme Court —I am, kc, JamesKilGouk, —Mr Butt said that the proclamation not having been made at the proper time, according to the provisions ot the Act, it, in his opinion, fell to the ground. It was evident that it was the wish of the residents, or a sufficient number of_ them at least were in favour of this divisionof the borough into wards, but the Superintendent kept it for about four months without taking any action upon it, and then upset everything by this proclamation.—The Mayor said that he had his own opinion regarding the proclamation, but as he had got into warm water onoe before upon taking action at the request of one of the Councillors, on this occasion ho kopt his opinion to himself. As pointed out by Dr Kilgour, by section 43 of the Act, if the borough was divided into wards the duty devolved upon the Council to say who should remain members of the Council and who were not members. If thoy did not proceod, then the duty devolved on the Superintendent. Ho was sure that the Council would not shirk its duty if satisfied that the division had legally taken place. He had his own opinion regarding the proclamation, and it was that it was not effective. He had telographed to Mr Whitaker for his professional advice, and ho had shown the telegram to Dr Kilgour before he sontit, and ho approved of it, but as the telegram had only beon sent that day, he. had not yet received an answer. So far as he could judge, Mr Whitaker's opinion would agree with his, that the Borough was not divided into wards. But the Superintendent, even in Wellington, was surrounded by legal gentlemen well able to advise him, and they might seo thoir way through section 20, but it was quite possible that that section had been overlooked, While therefore, in his opinion, the proclamation was a nullity, it might bo a good proclamation. He would recommend that the matter should stand over until the receipt of Mr Whitaker's opinion, which would bo a sufficient guide for them, It would be idle for them to sit there and discuss whether the proclamation was good or bad. And there was the other knotty poiut as to who woro or woro not members, upon which they would haveto get legal advice. Ho would, of course, advise them to the bost of his power, but from his position in the Council it might be better-to have outside legal advice.—lt was agreed to approve of the Mayor's conduct in taking legal advice on this question, and in the event of Mr Whitaker declining to give an opinion he was instructed to procure the opinion of some other legal gentleman. In the meantime the consideration of Dr Kilgour's letter was postponed. Other Coeeespondence.—An application from Mr J. E. Smith, manager of the Waiotahi mine, asking permission to convey an inch-pipe along- the Waiotahi culvert, was granted.—A letter was received from the Secretary of the Grahamstown Fire Brigade, announcing that Mr Georgo Price had been elected Superintendent of the Brigade, instead of Mr Young, resigned. A motion was carried confirming his appointment.—A letter was received from Mr Eichard Eennan asking pcqmission to fill up holes and cesspools in the streets with garden refuse, which he had occasion to remove from his garden, The application was not entertained. Woeks Committee's Eepobt.—The report of the Works Committee was read as follows:—

Your committee have the honour to report that the only remedy for the evil complained of in thej letter of Mr A. Gillan is to lay down a wooden water-table in Brown-street, from Albert-street to the allotment of the Wcsleyan Church, the cost of wkich would be £40, and recommend the Council to sanction this work being done oa payment by the residents of the sum of £1310s,—The committee, in accordance with the instructions contained in the resolution of the Council, have sent the grey horse to grass, and recommend that it be sold in about two months' time, as its legs are in bad condition; after being at grass for eight or nine weeks it will have materially improved in condition, and bring a very much higher price than if sold now, Your committee request authority to at once purchase a young horse in Auckland.— In reference to the flooding of land behind the property of Mrs Coolahan, as mentioned by Councillor Kilgour, your committee have to report that, in company with Mr Heron, they inspected the lands bounded by Pollen, Rolleston, Sealey, and Richmond streets, and find it very liable to inundation, a liability arising on the one hand from the flatness and low level of the area as regards the sea level, and on the other hand from this flat and low-lying area having precipitated upon it down the Nokß Noke Creek and down Upper Richmond-street and Upper Sealey-street the water from the hills to the eastward of Rolleston-streot, To these causes of inundation is to be added the inadsquate drains (especially iu Sealey-street) between th? hills and the sea, there being the additional difficulty of the flatness of the level north and south. This liability to inundation is not confined to the particular area first referred to, but is shared by all the lands on the east si lo of Pollen-street, north of Richmond-street, taking as landmarks, or rather, watermarks, Cookhans, Evcritt's, Kcnnan's, Burton's, McFavland's, and Hog'an's, while on progressing northwards we find the flooding on the west as well as the east sido of Pollen-street from Km-ka to _ Moauataiavi, Your committee find that the entire means 'for the conduct of water across the flat between the ranges and the sea—making in some and different degrees exceptions in favour of Moanataiari and Waiotahi—is defective. Whether this difficulty should be dealt with as a whole or remedied piecemeal is not a matter for your committee to discuss, but if it be treated in detail your committee may say that the area first mentioned is as much in need of drainage as any other part of the flat. As to the question of cost, your committee arc not prepared with any report, as the details would require careful working out when the Council havo agreed upon undertaking any specific 'work, —The report was received. It was agreed to lay the water-lablo iu Brown-street provided tho inhabitants contributed JSI3 10s towards the expense.—Mr Butt suggested selling tho horses and letting the carting by contract. It would be found to bo much cheaper.—Mr Itead recommended keeping one horso for light work, and lotting all carting by contract.—Mr Macnab thought that having gone to tho expense of building stables, it became questionable whether it would be wise now to dispose of the horses.™Mr Butt ; suggested that they send both horses to grass for three months as an experiment, and ascertain in the meantime whether

they were losing money by keeping them. If they found that the horses were advantageous they would have their harness and stables, and could have their horses back. Ho moved that they call for tenders for carting at per load and per day, returnable by next meeting,—Mr Bead seconded this motion, which was carried, —It was agreed to call the attention of the officer of the Local Board of Health to the pools and water referred to in the letter of the residents. With regard to the latter part of the report, it was agreed that as it was beyond the means of the CounciUo drain the flat, the matter be allowed to drop for the present. Finance,—The pay-sheet and two bills for road metal were passed for payment,