THAMES BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Thames Star, Volume IIII, Issue 1764, 28 August 1874, Page 2

THAMES BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Tho weekly meeting of the Thames Borough Council was held last evening in the' Chambers, Qucgn-strecfc, at 7 o'clock. There were present: —His Worship the Mayor, Councillors Kilgour, Butt, Ehrenfried, Bensliaw, Anthony, Brown, Wilson, anil Kennan, , MINUTER. The minutes of the previous meeting were read over and confirmed. Letters during the week were afterwards read. COBEESPONDENCE. A communication from the Armed Constabulary office, Thames, asked for information respecting the pound question, as to who was" in charge'; as at present animals had continually escaped, and there was no means of abating the nuisance. '. Cr. Ehrenfreid, as the Councillor who had been entrusted with the appointment of a poundkeeper, stated that le had temporarily employed a man; Mr. Brown.: •' r;: ' \ ■'; ■ :-i. ■ ,-. ; ' ,-■ ■ : Cr. Kilgour thought they should . wait some little time, in order to see that the present man; performed the. duties satisfactorily; at the same time there could be no doubt as to tho necessity, of appointing some one as soon as possible, as there /was no one at the present time to appear in Court) whereby the fees were not recoverable. Cr. Eenshaw moved/and Cr. Kilgour seconded,.that Mr. Brown be formally appointed poundkeeper at a salary of 10s. per week, providing he was willing to undertake the duties pertaining to the office. A telegram from Mr.. Williamson, Superintendent, in regard to the Thames and Tauranga roads, read as follows : —ln reply to my question re Thames and Tauranga roads, the Hon. Mr. Bichardsoh says, "We cannot work this session; we shall have the survey made." ..... A letter was received from Mr. Henry Wise of Dunedin, asking for the old sheets of the valuation when completed, to facilitate his work iti compiling "the directory. It was decided that the clerk should reply to the letter stating that the 'Council woulds comply with the request, as soon as the roll was ready. i One from Mr. Graham was read, regretting,to hear that the -Council could not entertain his suggestion, and offering himself to plant a few specimen trees that the residents might have an idea as to what they would like next season. . The clerk was directed to acknowledge receipt of the letter and express the thanks of the Council for the kind offer. ' WAIO-KABAKA JtOAD. A letter from the City of York G.M.Co. drew attention to the urgent necessity for the immediate completion of the WaioKaraka Eoad, and offered to contribute £100. towards the work. This road (it is estimated) will cost about £700, and the claims are to pay half the money; , ;. •: ....: ■■ . Cr. Butt submitted that the Council should weigh well the! spending jof so much money, in view of the state of their finances. pi, Cr. Brown strongly urged the carrying on of thi^ work; it would benefit a number of mines, and was very much needed. :' The Mayor said it Was not desirable that they^should at once proceed with the work, as in the first place they scarcely knew as yet where the road was to go, or how much the land would cost. He believed the companies to be beriefitted would contribute more than half. But he thought the Council should ask the Government to contribute. In order to dp this, and to come to some arrangement, with the several companies, he thought the matter should be postponed. , Cr. Brown said in the face of the Mayor's suggestion, which if carried out, would be dilly-dallying with the matter, he, would move a resolution that the Council decide to vote:£3oo for proceeding . with the work at once. „Cr. Ehrenfried cordially seconded the motion. . .■■ ■■:■■': , :.\ Cr. Butt said it appeared that large matters were treated too hastily while smaller ones were referred to the Work's Committee. He thought this matter should be handed over to the Works Committee in order that they might come to some understanding as to terms with the companies. * Cr. Kennan, in view of the importance of the work would support the resolution. Cr. Kilgour considered the companies should pay: a contingent, otherwise the' request was perfectly reasonable ; it was their duty to do all that lay in their power towards the encouragement of mining operations. He would support the resolu- | tion if the bank increased the overdraft to the amount to be expended. Some further discussion took place, Cr. Brown eventually amending his resolution to the effect that the Council contribute £300, providing tho companies agree to pay the balance of £400, and that the road be'formed under the supervision of the Council. The motion was then put and carried. ; KEBOSEWE^STOKE. ; <■ The report of the Kerosene Committee ; was read,' from which it appeared that Mr. Nolan, who had applied to the Provincial Government for a site, would erect a kerosene store on suijh site, or any other, proving he was permitted to retain fees during two years, when he would hand over the store ato-three-fifths the -, original ca>st. It was decided that Mr. Nolan's offer be accepted, subject to his erecting the store on ground chosen fey tljie Council. ~ , ,i ': WOBKB COMMITTEE. The report of the Works Committee Was read and adopted—nothing of importance appeared in the reports ■';'. : ';- .•'.. "■':'...".' ACCOUNTS. , . ; Some accounts certified to by the engineer were passed for payment.

SHOETLAND FIEB BELL. Tenders for the erection of this bell wore opened. That of Messrs Macandrew and West, for £34 10a was accepted. JIBE BBIGADE MATTKBS. Mr. Thackeray put in a tender for making fire plug casings ; amount £1 10s. A. this i*i- rtov'-mr rt#mffifr**mi decided to extend the time, m order to procure greater competition. VALUATION OF MINES. The consideration of this important question was resumed last night. - Cr. Ehrenfreid, who had moved tha adjournment at last meeting, drew attentionto tho fact that»a great quantity of money was expended in the interest of mines. He instanced the Waib-Karaki roads, upon which a good deal of moiicy had been already spent, and for which, they had voted more that night, and if would be unfair not to value these mines accordingly. ■• The valuation should^ proceeded with according to the actual value of the mines* having no respect to the question of how that value was arrived at. If: this were not done a great injustice would be imposed upon those.mines least, able to bear it. Cr. Butt said he still held the opinion, expressed by him at .last meeting. He could not see the consistency of rating mines below the surface. The value of a mine, as they had experienced in the old days, might materially alter in one shift. Cr. Kennan directed tho attention of the Council to clause 17, by which valuers are sworn to value the mines according to their conscience; and contended that the Council had n6 right to interfere in any way until the roll was furnished. Cr. Benshaw proposed—Tliat tie valuers having asked the opinion of the Council as to the basis upon which mining property • should be,valued, we recommend that all mines be rated at £2 per man's ground, and a regular valuation of property on the surface to be added; : ■ Cr. Kilgour considered this an irregular mode of procedure. The Subject had been adjourned. for, the continuance of the debate, and, as he had initiatedthe subject, he thought he should have the right of reply before the latter motion was put. Cr. Eenshaw withdrew his proposition to be in order. 1 i Cr. Brown said he would second .Cr. Benshaw's motion, and considered they were perfectly in order, f A great deal of discussion arose as to the order of the motion,, and the Mayor finally ruled that Cr. Kilgour should speak to the question first. Fpori this Cr. Kilgour waited his right in favor of Cr. Brown:';< /■; .■ 7- <: ; '^;;; -": « Cr. Brown then said he would support Cr. Eenshaw's suggestion. He maintained there would be difficulty in taxing mines, as the value was continually changing ; it was ridiculous to attempt to assess miners at the fictitious value they often possessed in the market. * Very often when a mine was quoted at-a high figure it was not worth a cent, '-He contended that the 2s per ounce duty on every ounce coming I out of gold producing mines was-quite ! sufficient taxation. J. Cr. Kilgour said the questioD, actually was whether n-ines were to be rated according to the value. With regard to rating them at so much per man's'ground, he explained that those v^ry mines which sometimes used the roads the least were those in which there were the,greater number of men. With regard to the gold duty, with that they, as a< Municipality, had nothing to do. They received little more than a hundredth part of the gold regularly sent from the field; thus the fractional portion contributed by each mine would be; rery small; ],The Prqvincial Government undoubtedly reaped benefit, but that did not effect them. } Cr. Kennan agreed with ; what 1 Cr. Brown had said* Ho would askwhy the mines had come forward with contribtt-. tions to make the roads? Simply,to enhance the value of the. mines in. the market. Did they not do this,, he would agree in their being taxed. But mines of great value were already taxed heavily for the property which they had on the surface, and it would be unfair to impose a further.tax. ..,< ; , : The Mayor apprehended that in making out a valuation, they-should, take into consideration the expenditure incurred in getting the gold, as well as the; quantity of gold got. As to Ci*. Eenshaw's motion regarding the £2 per man, he would sooner the mines went free altogether; they might as well impose, a stated tax on every man in the town as a valuation of his particular business. Hfe thought moreover, apart from the subject in discussion that the Council could not enter into the matter. He read the clause in the act imposing a penalty on councillors taking part in discussion of I a question in which they were directly or indirectly interested. i Cr. Brown said in that case they were all interested. Cr. Kilgour submitted that this was a different case. The' Councillors were asked for advice, and ho thought there was no harm in assisting those who had asked such advice. Discussion then arose as to 'whethers the Council could tender their advice without coming to a resolution, which would be contrary to the terms laid down in tho Act. Cr. Eenshaw then moved that all mines be rated at £2 per man's ground. - Cr. Brown seconded, and remarked, as to what Cr. Kilgour had said regarding the gold received back by the Council, that they would not have obtained that £1500 from tho Provincial Government had it not been for the gold revenue. Cr. Kilgour moved as an amendment that the mines be taxed at their real value, with the property thereon. > x Cr. Ehrenfried seconded the amendment. Thoso who voted for the amendment i were—the Mayor, Crs. Kilgour, Anthony,

i I Wilson and Ehrenfried; against— Crßt Kennan, Brown find Kcnshavr. Cr. ! J3utt did not rote. FIKTS KATE ACT. Cr. Brown introduced ihe question of the dangor in case of firo to persons in I some places of amusement. The' Act provided that these houses should be so thii respect the Thfiitre\ Efy^fwl'' .A cademy of Music paled to^wmpljj'Jlnt'k^ the Act—there wjis no proper^me^is of escape in ''these Rouses in; «a 9e voY-»'.fire .occurring. In order to give'e&eot U>'Hum ho would r more a rioiice of- rnofidn '^fte" the appointment of' Inspectors Tftidtr the Firo Bate Act. ' . V 7 The Council then rose.