TIMARU BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Timaru Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 1838, 13 August 1895, Page 3

TIMARU BOROUGH COUNCIL.

An ordinary meeting of the Timaru Borough Council was held last evening. Present— Mr J. Hill (Mayor), Councillors Mair, Bennett, Owers, Delaney, McQueen, Sherratt, Grandi, Stumbles, Burford, Houston and O'Bryan. Apology was made for Councillor Crannitch.

CORRESPONDENCE

Among the correspondence outward was the following :— To Mr Hall-Jones. M.H.R., forwarding copy of Bill for amalgamation of the two domains. . '

To Mr Perry, asking for advice how to collect the rent for a certain municipal reserve, the ownership of which is complicated. The Town Clerk stated that the rent due, £24 15s, had . been paid , but he wished to learn how to avoid difficulty m future.

To the Charitable Aid Board, requesting them to obtain subsidy on the YVairarapa relief fund and the Council's vote for "work for the unemployed- — The Mayor said Mr Orwin had told him that day that the subsidy had been passed.

THE DOG TAX.

The Town Clerk stated that he had received replies from a dozen other boroughs to inquiries as to the practice of appointing police officers to act as collectors of dog tax. Only two of them had adopted this system.. Constable Beddek had written offering to act as collector. Councillors Houston and Burford moved that Constable Beddek be appointed assistant collector for one year from date at 9d per head. Councillors Sherratt and Mair moved as an Amendment that he be offered appointment for the remainder of the present year at Is per head, and 2s for each conviction secured. Councillor Burford urged that if the police were made collectors the owners of dogs would be saved from persecution and unnecessary fines, as the collector must give them a chance to register before i summoning them. After a long discussion the amendment was withdrawn and the motion carried,— the 9d to be paid only for each dog registered by the assistant.

DOMAIN,

The Council sat as the Domain Board. The ranger reported that the work for the month had been thinning and trimming trees as recommended by the visiting committee ; digging borders, etc. He had received from Mr A. Beswick a parcel of flower seeds, on condition that he received a few seedling plants when they came up. The Mayor said the committee considered that the thinning had been very satisfactorily done, and had improved the appparance of the park very much. Councillor Mair suggested that the Council should do something to get the triangle let, and it was agreed that the ranger should ascertain the cost of fencing the triangle. On the suggestion of Councillor Burford it was agreed that the tenders for leasing the park be called a couple of months before the lease expires, to give the present tenant an opportunity to make arrangements re cross fences. STREET WORK. Mr Ballantyne and Mr E. Tipping (for W; Bush) applied for leave to put down plain, instead of asphalted, broken metal footpath crossings for carts. — Agreed to. The Mayor stated that this was the hind of crossing usedin Lyttelton. Mr T. Wagstaff, for himself and others, ' asked for. the formation of Hewling •street and shingling of footpath.— The foreman stated that the street is not half width all through, but the south end is a good width, and an old trench needed filling first. He had told the' contractors to put any stuff down thnt they had. The footpath could be formed along^that part.— Road and path to be made passable as far as the buildings from the south.

The foreman reported on the work done by the contractors since last meet' ing : 96 chains of streets had been shingled, 121A chains of footpath gravelled, 188 chains of channelled and 52 chains of street aides cleane.d. Good work; had been done m Theodocia, Sophia and Cannon streets. He had delivered 34 notices to people who had nat proper crossings over footpaths, and there were-, others to be notified. There were 164 yards of metal broken ; did the Council wish any more material to be got? Works m hand were enumerated. Thfe pipes being -laid at the brewery were not being laid m cement; Sir. Annetts objecting to cementing them. It should be sufficient if he " saw that pipes laid m the streets were, cemented. — Councillors agreed that pipes on private ground should be puddled, go that they can be taken up, if necessary, to clear them ; if cemented they could not be taken up. The foreman was instructed to use his discretion m enforcing the making of hard crossings over - footpaths. Councillor Stumbles suggested that the rule should be to demand a proper crossing if the footpath was being visibly damaged. It was resolved that the amount placed on the estimates for broken metal be expended if necessary to provide work. An inquiry was made why A nian named Whelan was refused work, and Mr Dale said he was not'refuaed work ; he refused to break the stone given him, and had a quarrel with the carter about it. He (Mr Dale) got another breaker to try the stone Whelan refused, and he broke it quite easily. Councillor Bennett asked that a channel crossing be put down at the SophiaGeorge street coiner. — Agreed to. :

Councillor Stumbles recommended that the pitched crossing at the north end of Gain's Terrace be removed as useless and now dangerous, and this was agreed. Councillor McQueen mentioned that the channel from the Royal was, leaking, and the foreman was instructed to see to it. ■ V < WATER SUPPLY. ! Mr Toner, J«eCren street, waited on the Council to protest against the increase of his charge for domestic water supply from 42s to 48s.— The Town Clerk explained that the property had been improved m value by improvement of the dwelling. The applicant denied this. Councillor Delaney said that Mr Toner had horses formerly and now he had none. He moved that the water be supplied at the former rate. Councillor Mair supported the borough officer. Councillor O'Bryan ascertained that the account sent to Mr Toner was £2 2s only, and that the extra 6s was, demanded when he came to pay the bill. Councillor O'Bryan and Councillor Bennett expressed surprise at this as unbusinesslike. The Town Clerk defended it as a correction of an erroneous account. Councillor Delaney's motiou was carried, Councillors Mair and McQueen dissenting. Messrs Lister and Barrie asked what would be charged for a special supply of water merely to wash a hearse with.— Temporary taps are charged £2 each.

Mr M. Jonas asked to have the minimum supply of water to Saltwater Creek works increased from nine to eleven million gallons a year, at the same rate as at present, £50 a year. , When he got the water he was required to guarantee to take it for two years. He purposed to extend the works, and thus provide more employment. It was an out of the borough affair, but he submitted that he paid a good price for the supply.— The Inspector explained Mr Jouas's proposal,* and stated that if Mr Jonas carried- f outj his proposals he would use nearly twice the minimum and have two meters to pay for. It was resolved to increase the minimum as requested. .

Mr Bowie wrote complaining of the valuation placed upon his new building; at Waimataitai for water purposes as ex-[ cessiye.-- After inquiry the council unanimously upheld the valuation. ;, S| The Inspector reported on the repairs 1 one to the race. Some of the earthwork done had been carried away, and there was no alternative but to run up a stone wall, as had been done m several other places. There was plenty of stone close by. MrsSiederman complained, of leakage on to her land. Nothing could be done until they got better weather. The heavy gate on reservoir road hadbroken down and should be replaed bY a pair of light ones. He had arrange^ to have a few loads of pipes brought down for use m Rose street drainage.— The report was adopted. Tenders for supplies of 1000 ft of i-inch and 500 ft 1 inch galvanised iron * pipes, and six dozen each i-inch brass angle cocks and stop-cocks were received from A. Mills, Priest and Holdgate, D. J. Caldwell, A. and T. Burt, and Morrison and Co. The tenders were' all m different terms, and took some time to compare. The tender of Priest and Holdgate was accepted as the lowest. Only one tender was received for '50 cast iron stopcock boxes, J. Hatton, 17s 6d per cwt., and this was-accepted..

ACCOUNTS,

Accounts were passed for payment, general £807 7s Id (including £599 6s Harbour Board levy), waterworks maintenance £66 14s sd ; loan account, £1 14a 6d ; Domain, £9 6s Bd. The net debit balance yesterday was £820 11s 3d. The Council rose at 10.20 p.m.