BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCIII, Issue 14349, 15 November 1910, Page 6

BOROUGH COUNCIL.

FORTNIGHTLY MEETING-. . The fortnightly meeting, of the Tir.iaiu Borough Council was held last night. Present—Deputy-Mayor' Hawkey. Councillors Sealey, Oborn, Anglriiiti, Raymond, Watson, Beck, Gil-, christ, Porter, and Satterthwaite. The Deputy-Mayor said that since List meeting of the Council, one of the oldest and most highly esteemed Ycsidcnts of South Caikerbury had passed away in the person of Mr William Grant. Mr Grant was widely known and esteemed by all who knew him, and through his death South Canterbury would lose one of its foremost men. The sympathy of the Council would be extended to his tvife and family in their irreparable loss. Tho Council passed a motion of sympathy, and directed that a copy of it be sent to Mrs Grant. Continuing, tho Deputy-Mayor said the Council would do well to consider the advisableness of getting telephone communication with tho reservoir. Tliery were very important works goir; 011 there now, and oven after these I were complete tho telephone would bo very useful. The absence of sanitary in the town had often teen felt, and ho had been looking around lately with a view to finding a suitable place for them. He H-.d found what he thought a very suitable place in the brick tunnel near the foot of LeCren's Terrace just off Strathallan Street. This was 33 feet long by 12 feet wide, it was he believed the property of the Council., and it would cost very little to C'.nJu'ert it into a place suitable for the purpose. LOT OF THE INVENTOR. Air .Mark [Saunders wrote asking the Council to assist him by a financial contribution in ins work of harnessing liio sea. Councillor Watson thought there might be something more in the scheme winch Air Saunders had on hand than a good .many people seemed disposed to think. He vvoukl like to see the Couacil get an expert opinion on the project. Air Saunders was d-eserving of encouragement. He was a mechanical genius and it had often happened before that schemes which people poohpoohed afterwards turned out of enormous value. Councillor Beck thought they should assist Mr Saunders. It was just possible that he would harness the ocean and supply the town with electric light and power. Councillor Oborn spoke in similar strain. Councillor Raymond, Satterthwaite, c.thl the Deputy-Mayor did not think the Council had power to graxt money for such a purpose. Councillor Watson moved thai Mr ta mulcts be asked to get an engineer to report to the Council upon his tcheme, he to pay the engineer for reporting. If this report were of a satisfactory nature the Council could then assist him financially. Councillors Angland and Oborn moved an amendment that the Council ehould obtain expert advice as to the value of Air Saunders' scheme. Councillor Angland said he did not suppose tho scheme would be any good to the Council as they were tied down to Scott Bros., for electricity for ages. Councillor Satterthwaite _ said that Councillors should jnvt. their hands in their own pockets if they wanted to help Mr Saunders, and he was piepared to do that. Councillor Watson said lie would do likewise. Councillor Beck said he believed in practical sympathy, and he intended to show his sympathy with Mr Saunders (who was a very clever man) in a practical way. Councillor Pock here took a guinea from hl3 packet and handed it to the Town Clark to give to Mr Saunders. On the motion being put, the * oting was n to 5, and the Deputy-Mayor Tinid he must vote against •>., as the Council had no funds for E'ich a Turpose. The motion was therefore lest.

A LEGAL OPINION. Messrs Porry, Perry and K-ir-ii'sruey (solicitors to tho Council) advipd as to tho position of tho Council (and liability if any) in varying the adopted levels in the permanent formation of streets, after obtaining a loan of £OOOO from tho Government lor the formation of streets. " The Coui :il would be. liable to frontager.-' lor varying tlie adopted levels to their i "■ '■■ O • but it would not necessarily in; ore frontagers if the streets vre not at present fully made up or :nt down to those levels, and in the of iii-jul-y there would, of co*ir.,e, lie i«i claim"for' compensation. As the implication to the State Advances B"":>id for. the. loan of £6OOO was for the formation of streets to adoptid- levels, and the loan was granted for that purpose, the adopted i< l els should be substantially adhered to. and the money expended for forming the streets accordingly, either completely or as far as the funds will allo\y. The Council having made that arrangement would be responsible for any material departure from it" Several Councillors said that what they particularly wanted to know was as to the liability of tl:e Council if it partly cut a street down one year, without doing any damage, and later on cut it down to the adopted levels, when damago resulted. It was considered bv some that it would be a farce to keep rigidly to the adopted levels, while others considered that the Council wcilci be breaking faith with the Government if it did not iN OOIS levels, having obtained the £6OOO loan on that understanding. A petition was received from a number or ratepayers in regard to the grading of Maltby Avenue. _ This letter was discussed at length n . .conjunction with the one from the 1 solicitors. It was eventually decided to refer the letter to the Borough engineer for report. The borough engineer was called iu, and a. long discussion ensued on the grading of Raymond and Oxford streets. The engineer considered that it would be unwise-. to cut down to the adopted levels at present/, and suggested a modified grade. Councillors Beck. Sealey, Satterthwaite, and .Watson contended that in view of the fact that the Council had raised a.loan on certain defined levels they must adhere to these, the original levels. On a motion of Councillors Raymond and Angland' it was decided to allow the work to be carried out according to the modified levels of the engineer. Mr William Gumi, proprietor of the OljTnpia, wrote in regard to the complaint by the Rev. J. 01 oh erf on account of work being done in the hall on a certain Sunday. Mr Gumi made it j clear that , he had nothing to do with the matter. He had not let the hall for use on a Sunday and nothing had been done in it on a Sunday with his knowledge or consent-. A permit was. granted to St. Mary's Sunday School to hamj; streamers to announce the Kent'sh Fair. Messrs Carlson and Whitman wrote a-sking to have the footwnv in Beverlev road asphalted and offered to pay /M towards, the cost of the work.— Referred to engineer. Mr Ballard applied '/or permission to erect an aerial flight on Caroline Bav. —Granted on condition that Mr Ballard takes out an accident insurance policy over his patrons. Mr F. W. Marchant, drainage engineer, wrote in regard to Mr Reilly's claim of £4 for disturbing tho right-' of-way at the back of his hotel in putting in the underground drainage. The right-of-way had been restored to its original state the same as the nr. in roads were, and Mr Reillv had no claim against the Council.—Received.

The South Canterbury Jockey Club made application for the loan of the -Borough water-cart (tin: old one), to lay tin; (lust prior to tho coming uiee- . meeting.—Cl ranted. . Tile Tiiiiani Garrison Shooting Committee wrote asking the Council for a contribution.—Received. The Borough engineer reported that .'it would cost 9s per chain to metal the channel in Craigie Avenue. Asphalting would cost £2 per chain. THE .SEPTIC TANK. A number of tenders were received for the supply of -a pump, for use,, principally in cleaning out the north" end .septic tank, and while tlieso were being considered, Mr F. W. Marchant. drainage engineer, was present. Mr Marohant recommended tho acceptance of the lowest tender, that Of Wallace and Cooper at £G7. This was for a second-hand engine of 10 h.p., nearly new and in good order. . Councillors Beck and Watson criticised the pump proposal in very adverse terms, and after answering one question for Councillor Beck, Mr Marchant took no notice of further assertions by this Councillor, while he rei used point blank to reply to Councillor Watson. Councillor AVatson wanted to know tlie reason tor this. ■ fr :« lcr : "If our good h i , C ; to ? ses to sit on his dignitv nluch fits turn well lie can do so, but him my friendshi P towards Councillor Satterthwaite moved-that Uie recommendation of Mr Marchant he adopted and the tender of Wallace ami Cooper accepted. Councillors Angland and Raymond moved tnsit tli© tenders l>e referred to a committee consisting of the DeputyMayor, Coimcillons Watson, Beet, Üboru, Porter and the drainage enginThis was carried, Mr Ma reliant stating that he did not care a "dump'' whether the Council procured a pump or not. So far as he was concerned the work was finished and out of liis bands and in advising the Council to get tin's pump he was acting in a purely gratuitous way. •Councillor Beck said that if this were so, he would sooner see the matter of procuring a pump left to the borough engineer. TENDERS. For grubbing gorse on the Town Belt, and broom on Raituweka jroad several tenders were received and those of E. Stromdalil and AY. Cook at £8 los. and £3 5s respectively, were -n. cept-ed. THE PARK LAVATORIES.Before tenders wero opened for the erection of a lavatory at the Park Councillor Angland moved the motion of which he had given notice, this being "That the motion agreed to adopting plans and specifications for park lavatory and dressing rooms, be rescinded." After a discussion extending over an hour the motion was lost, only Councillors Angland., Watson, Beck, and Satterthwaite voting for it. Tenders were then opened for the work—J. Donald £285, ifiller Bros. £249, Preen and Batters% £3lO, Spavin and Tliyne £285. The lowest tender was not in order in that the rate of wages to be paid was not stated, so it was decided to accept no tender, but to arrange privately with the lowest tenderer to do the v work. tascHirJSJSitfSi SJS&tta/v, The borough engineer reported as follows: — Avenue Road and Lougli Street. — The present adopted levels lor parts of Avenue Road were very bad, and he suggested that new levels be taken where required. The worst section was from Roslyn to Cullmann Street. It would be a very easy matter to readjust the levels in this section to the satisfaction of all parties concerned. Kerbing and channelling west side of Craigie Avenue from Hassall Street to College Read.—Ho had inspected the route of this channel, and found from Hassall Street going south to Babingtou Street the grade was sufficently steep to recommend the putttng in of a kerb and channel. Repairs were required to the bridge on tho road to the reservoir. - The foundation of the east wall required pinning up and part of the south side wall would liavo to be taken down and rebuilt. Specifications for clearing gorse' in various parts of the borough had been prepared, and i tenders invited for the work. The diver had been out to the reservoir, and was successful in clearing the bead pipe so that a full supply of water now finds it way into the screening well and main pipe line. The diver (Sir McLean), of the Timaru Harbour Board carried out his work in a very expeditious and satisfactory manner. The two rafts were moored in position at Caroline Bay, and the extension of the concrete inverts was being earned out and would be completed at an early date. As soon as the new supply of tar came to hand a tarring team would be started to top-dress all the now asphalt footnaths and other footways that required" attention. The Century Baths were now open for the season. The caretaker, Mr Langrish, had lime-washed the whole of the concrete work with white lime wash, giving it a clean and wholesome appearance. Dur.ng the past week or two lie had .been cleaning off the . weeds in various streets with a grader A month or two- back he was requested by Councillor Beck to give something more up to date in the way of street cleaning during summer months. The question was asked would not a grader be suitable? After a fair trial he was of opinion that the grader was the only method of street cleaning that could bo adopted with success. Mr W. J. Black was good enough to lend h's grader for a few days, with the result that in two days before the Show 3 miles 5 chains of streets were cleaned off, and all material carted away at a •total cost of Is per chain. During the past week 4J miles of various streets had been donned with the erader in less tlian 3 day?.' actual grading time. The cost of this lot will be quite as low as the first section. GENERAL COMMITTEE). The General Committee of the Council made the following recommendations—(l) That 12 wooden bench seats be placed in suitable positions in Park. (2) That pricc3 be obtained for a suitaole drinking fountain for the Park (3) That Messrs D. Stuart, R. R. Taylor, J. Hardcastlo, the Deputy Mayor, Councillors Porter, Beck sid Angland, be appointed a Library Book Selection Committee. (4) That tho advisability of regmding Avenue Road and Lough Street ba held over until the nerfc

meeting.. (5) .That the bridge on the road leading to the reservoir be re-paired-by the horougli engineer at a cost of about. £25. f.(\> That the borough engineer be authorised to.hire a grader. (7) That Councillors Beck, Angland ariti' Gilchrist, be authorised to purchase a "draught- horse. SANITARY. The Sanitary Inspector reported on a. house-to-licuse inspection he had made iii ten streets, and gave details of notices served to abate nuisances. Since last reporting ho had inspected and tested 35 sewer connections. One case of infectious disease (diptheria), on Wai-iti. Road, had been notified since last rei>ort. On the 24th of last month a room in a dwelling on Avenue Road, which had been occupied by a ssnrlet fever patient, was disinfected, and on the sth inst. a room in a dwelling on Rhodes Street, which had been similarly occupied was also disinfected. CURATOR'S REPORT. The Park Curator reported that the continued dry weather had been favourable for weed-killing, and had enabled him to get through all the borders. With the advent of more favourable weather, he would he able to get right through with the bedding out, as the plants were well forward. All the reserves had been .hoed and tidied up excepting Craigie Avenue, which was now in hand. The rainfall for the month was very light, only IIJl l J points. The lowest temperature was 33 degrees. He suggested that a few moro seats be fixed under shady tress through the Park, also that a drinking fountain. be placed in the vicinity of the playgrounds. THE ABATTOIR. ' During t-lie month of October 154 cattle, 1770 sheep and lambs, 6 pigs, and 6 calves, were slaughtered at the borough abattoirs. Of these 3 cattle [ and 3 sheep were condemned for disease. As compared with October of last year there had been a. considerable drop in the number of cattle handled, but an increase in the number of sheep. THE LIBRARY. The Librarian reported that the attendance in tlie reading room for IU--montli of October was sons had signed the reference book during tlie month. 12U3 borrowers' tickets had been issued to date. JiooKs have been issued as under: —Fiction 32<J7, other works 423. The reoe.pts J for tho uiionth ending October oist ■ were:—Fined £1 10s, old sales os, sub- j scriptions 14s. He supplied a list of books touching all round subjects : which he suggested should be procured. ! The 10th edition of the Encyclopaedia • Brittannica should also be procured. ! He mentioned this work because such articles -as "Radium," "Aeroplanes." "Electricity," "AVireless Telegraphy, /'Photography," and so on, were obsolete in the present edition (the 9th). 1 j The old set could be sold in the • auction Mart, or perhaps privately, the . new edition i>:iuld be had at a cheap ; rate. NORTH END PARK. The Committee reported as follows: Mrs AYoollcombe's land. Mr Knuh. ley stated that Mrs Woollcombs would ■ accept payment of the purchase money ■ in four instalments m June and Dec., 1911 and 1912, with interest payable . half-yearly at the rate of o per cent, j per aunum from date of acceptance on | unpaid purchase money. Mrs Wooli- j combe was unable to give access by j road from the Main North road. It : was resolved to recommend the Conn- | c-il to accept Mrs AYoollcombe's offer j of I'OJ ac-res with nine chains frontage j to Te Rautaweka road, at tho price j submitted by her. j Mrs Monro's land. —It was resolved to recommend the Council to purchase j five acres (instead of 4J) from Mi's , Munro, at £BO ner acre cash, and Mr J Knubley promised to see if Mrs Munro was prepared to accept that price in lieu of £IOO per acre. TENDERS FOR PIPES. The following is a- summary of the lowest tenders for water pipes, and ihe total estimated cost laid in open trench: — Spiral Pipe Coy. (one tender) laid in open trenches £5900 14s 7d; Clerk of AVorks, £SO; total, £5950 14s 7d. Steel Spigot and Faucett (one ten-d----,er), duty and wharfage paid £5991 os; I haulage from wharf 240 tons at Is 6d, I £IS; cartage, jointing, and lead, £190; ; total, £6199 os. Wood Pipes (one tender), laid in open trenches £6361 15s: Clerk of Works, £SO; total, £6411 15s. Cast Iron (lowest quotation) Barrow- I 'field Iron Works, c.i.f. and duty paid, i wharfage, haulage and exchange £6184 , Is lOd; lead for jointing £240; cartage ' to trenches and jointing, etc., £240; j total, £6664 Is 10d. I It was estimated that about £3OO j may he saved on the freight of the cast iron pipes which -would reduce the bove total accordingly. ACCOUNTS. Accounts were passed for payment as follows:—General £571 7s lOd, waterworks £66 2s lOd, Caroline Bay • £7 16s 9d, park and reserves £32 lis |4d, abattoir £62 Is lid. library £9 3s 4d, drainage £847 7s 6d, a total of £1596 lis 6d. ADJOURNMENT. Shortly before midnight the Council, | seeing that it was impossible to finish i the business until well on this morning, adjourned to meet again at 8 o'clock . to-night.