THAMES BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Thames Star, Volume IIII, Issue 1698, 12 June 1874, Page 2

THAMES BOROUGH COUNCIL.

The weekly meeting of the above Council "was held last night, in tie office. Queen-street. Present —Crs. Ehrenfried, Butt, Anthony, Wilson and Kilgour, The latter gentleman was called to thJ3 chair. "-'] MINUTES. "i The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. ; COEBESPONDENCE. A letter from John McCabe was received, applying.for permiss'on, on behalf of the Queen of Beauty shareholders, to construct a branch" tramway from Bella-street' L to th.c hopper. Granted on condition] that it received no opposition from the Warden. Another communication from the same gentleman drew attention to the damage done to Bell a-street byl the drays. :It was der cided that the Council could not interfer* in thisinatter. ■'■'' ■••-i • ■ ' r ; '::. : Thdtattention ofthe.iCouncil; wasldrawn to the state of-Mackay-street footpath, about 100 yards, from Sealey-street, by Mr..- (3arrett.; - JReferred to WorkSiCom.mittee,-. \z-.'.\:h•,-■.■. ""'/■* :'': -^ -^vH i „■.* ■. : 1 In a, letter from M!r. French an application: was made for a recommendation:, for a kerosene license. Cr.' Ehrenfried would object to a. quantity of kerosene .being'kept in such.,a central position-r-; they required a,bonded;store.;! Gr- Butt considered it inadvisable to put restrictions on the trade, f The matter was'hauded over for consideration "of Works Com'mitte& s-:■'■■:'£ '^-■■■^i'" ■■.■^■^^!!■-!■':'■ ■

Mr Eichard Madden asked for permission to erect an ornamental signboard —referred to Works Committee

One from Messrs J. Brett, William -Vincent and another" was a request that the Council would l erect a tramway to' boundary creek at Tararu, the applicants being desirous to Work a quarry there. They would supply the Council with metal at-a .reasonable price, and they .could deduct a shilling- pcr t yard from, -the cost.' '_■ ~ ■ • 2 works. ' ' The report _ of the Foreman of Works; read stating that the streets were be-; coming very much,out of repair, and that there was no stone coming from the Hape; Creek, owing to some disagreement between the contractors and the'tramway holders. -The report also drew attention to a sample of "stone from boundarycreek, Tararu. Eeferred to Works Committee. BOROUGH BYE-LAWS., - The report of the Committee appointed to select-rules for the Council was read. GREY-STBEET BRIDGE. » A letter was received from the Parawai Board with reference to the Hape Creek Bridge which is in a dangerous condition. The Engineer was ordered to draw out plans and specifications of the, work and confer with the. Parawai -Engineer. „ XABABA CHEEK. , .. . With reference to' the letter of Mr ,Tyler, tho Works Committee, stated they could not suggest that Mr Tyler's application should be considered,; jbu'fr strongly recommended that- tho Council should take such steps as to induce the Pro,* yincjilpouncil to complete their with reference to straightening the course of the^EJaraka ereek.>^Theurep6rt. was adopted. V .■■r:--r:.;K-. :■ WJMIAMSON* STREET.;-";"^ 1 ■,■'- The Committee recommended that the culverts in Williamson-sti-eet should be raised and have V shaped bottoms. Assented to. QUEEN OP BEAUTY CASE. With reference to the falling in of the road running along the Queen of Beauty miue some discussion arose. The Queen of Beauty people said that the road was destroyed by the Bright Smile Company, but the Br.ght Surile manager denied this.

The 'Committee recommended that notice be given to the Queen of Beauty Company to repair the road. Cr. Anthony said the question, was, could they compel the Queen of Beauty to repair the damage. The Chairman thought so, decidedly. . Cr. Ehrenfried, thought it would be dangerous to meddle with the Queen of< Beauty men/ There, could be no *doubf that ihe Queen of Beauty drive had caused it. „ ■•'■■'- Or.' Krlgour said- it was desirable that they shouldiascertain the boundary, so as to,arrive at a conclusion as to the actual causei of the road's destruction. Having ascertained this, and. suppp ing r it,to be. jp'rbVed. tlia^rthe damage; to; the road was caused by the Queen of Beaiity Company, he had no doubt the shareholders .were reasonable men, and would see it would be their duty to repair the; dSmage^done: by their mining operations. Cr. Ehrenfried thought that it did not come well from;tbe Chairman to say that they (the QuecVof Bbauty'people)'were reasonable" men. There could bo .no, doubt that he (Cr. Ehrenfried) had been grossly insulted;, and thought it was th? .duty of the: Council,-to take steps as would effectually prevent the recurrence of such proceedings. Cr. Kilgour stated that lio> did-nbt refer' to the shareholders individually, Jbut ( as a body..-: .'.;, ]-<_ •"■• ;< -.],''■ . ■ U'^,;.-; \_.._ : ."-J;\.;'.-\ Cr. Ehrenfried thought that, since the question bad been raised, it would be-well for the protection: of the: Councillors if they were to consider measures, for the prevention ofJsuch unpleasantness. It was what they were all liable to at.any time supposing them toVmoYe a resolution which might not meet the approbation; of a certain person, or which personally = effected such person. He would riot have referred to the subject but for the re^ marks of thei Chairman; i ,1 ;; -; ; < Cr. Klilgour again asserted that he did not refer to thelnien/ihdiyiduallyi but, collectively, as shareholders in a. miae*,: and he was;.prepared to maintain that opinion; . But,with reference, to the suggestion of Cri Ehrenfried, lie thojight cer-' tamly that it was worthy of attention. '** ' The pay.-sheet was. read and. passed for,, payment. . : • <■•■>■ . j;

-ens ::', -ADMTOINAL :PQ'W;iBS; :'';;? On an inquiry from-Gr: Butt as jtq what had beon done in this matter-.-tiler Chair-' man said the Committee had not yet been able to report, bitf; hoped to at next meeting. The name of Cr. Renshawwas added to the Committee., .-.,■, ... -..,,.. ...; THE JOEESHOBE, ETC. Cr. Butt yagi&in jbrought forward his motion witn\re[eren'ce tojthe above subject as follows :—Thafe. the Mayor be re-, quested to take immecliate 1 steps to obtain all information anent the foreshore, wharves, tramways, &c.,of leases granted, rents on same, and whether such rents are or have been paid. . >.■■„- ;■:.'.: ■;. Cr. Anthony seconded; • Cr. Ehrehfried ' could not see O what good would accrue through such action. Cr. Butt said his only object in moving Cthi? proposition was torobtainanformation, and lie ldolied upon this as the duty of the Council. He had good reason to believe that there were back rents due-on the foreshore; the amount of which would J equal that which the Government had paid for acquiring the land. He saw by the Auckland papers that the Superintendent had given instructions by telegram to Mr McLaren to proceed wi'.h the reconstruction of the Tararu wharfs and ihat an answer was fecelved to state' tliat the work had been commenced. Now with reference to the Shortland wharjf the lessee of that wharf, Mr Onyorii, was called upon; peremptorily toy repair the damage doQe by.the gale. He then'drew* ( a comparison between the cases, and. said he should like to get at the bottom of-the matter. While Mr Onyon was called upon at once to proceed with the repairs, he (the speaker) knew that 'the(<|overnment derived an annual revenue from'the Shortland wharf of £150. Had the Mayor acted on his suggestion at last meetingthe matter might have been simplified. They should have got one of the Thames members to move; for, .a select Committee to inquire iiitd the matter.

Cr, Eilgour thought jfc was- a- subject of public interest. v „;;.:■

Cr. Ebrenfried snggested: that they might by stirring' the matter 1 UpT do their own interests serious harm. Before the foreshore was handed over hie thought it would be premature to take such action. Cr.ißutt toot a ditfereufc view. The Chairman mentioned.that when he was ijn : Auckland tli^Tbames members stated tbat the Courieil hadlrecbmniended that; no money should be expended on Tararu Wharf unless the lessees relinquished: all power over it. He'(the Qbairman) supposed the Superintendent had actffd -oji his i-wxin responsibility in the matter. The »iotion^3,s;theji pufcj'ao'd parried. FIJJE IKSPEpTO^V^ •/ !' r; CrrAEhrehMed proposed Mr. 1 @urtis as second Fire Inspector. Seconded by Ct*. Wilson, and carried, . „ r •.•;-;fi ;,.•■. J-:^-r\B'ATE^' r .: °;."',V. J /'",';: '„/' THe report of the Collector was deferred at last '"meeting 1 for consideration of a question with reference to householders' liability. Cr. Ehrenfried though!) it was desirable; that the Collector should be instructed to accept that part of the rate for which the occupier of a house was liable. I He-c:-'" sidtred it was in'a manner unjust to make a man liable for rotes which were owed by another man nine months back:Cr. Anthony said such a course was liable to creep- into an abuse, as a man could put the house in another man's name and thus evade the rate. : r Cr. Butt thought it was putting too much power into the.Collector's hands.

Gr.,Eilgbur considered With: Or. Butt that to adopt an uniform law of that kind would involve an annual loss to the Gouu*

cil, but that an exception might bo made, in these special cases. The circumstances were peculiar, as those rates had been struck under the Highwnys Act; now they would bo struck under a different Act. Cr. Butt said it was d. aling -with a great question, and that, four members ' being absent, it\ would be well to postpone its consideration. Cr. Eh: enfried here repeated his proposition .... .. „,....,,.., - -, Cr. Anthony would suggest that the Collector prepare for the Council an approximate statement as to, what thedifr, ference in-the whole amount would be. pr. Ehrenfried thought- that to goto! laHv would create "greater expense than the whole business was worth. The tenants were not on the assessment roll and were not liable. : , Cr. Wilson seconded Mr Ehrcnfricd's motion. i Cr.Bult moye.cV au ; amendment to the effect that the question should.stand over until next meeting, and that in the meantime the Collector should be instructed (o give a Jist of those persons' names and the amount of the rates. The amendment was carried.