BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Thames Star, Volume VI, Issue 1779, 15 September 1874, Page 2

BOROUGH COUNCIL.

A special meeting of the Council, to confirm Bye-law No. 3, was heldlast night, m the Council Chamber, at 7 o'clock!." There were present :~Hi3 Worship the Mayor; Crs. Benshaw, .Butt, Brown, Bowo, Macnab, Ehrenfried, Wilson and Anthony. The minutes of the last special meeting were read and confirmed. The Clerk then read over the clauses of the Joye-law- seriatum. Clause 14,havingreference to verandahs, was amended, as it clashed with a clause m -Bye-law No. 1. Some discussion arose on Clause JSTo. 33, but it was ultimately passed without alteration. With regard to Clause JN To. 35, which provides for residents keeping in repair the footpath in front of their houses, the Mayor said this had caused considerable discussion ; and he had seen a leader in the Thames Advertiser about it. He (the Mayor/ considered that that was one of the best acts the Council had done, in introducing that clause, which did not make it necessary for residents to pay half of the construction of the footpaths, but merely provided that they should keep in repair the footpaths m front of their houses ; whereas according to the Municipal Police Act, though it might not be generally known, a man was liable to bo imprisoned for 24 hours for neglect of this, and the only remedy to be- obtained was to impose a fine of £10 if the individual was able to pay it. Clause 51 was struck out. With the exception of these amendments the Bye-law was passed and read. OBDINABY BUSINESS. Uhe ordinary business of the Council was then proceeded with, and the minutes ot the last, and adjourned meetings, wero read and confirmed. LETTS fiS SENT. t Copies of the various letters distributed since last meeting were then read. The Clerk stated that he had received no answer to his enquiries regarding the £500 for the cemetery road. Some discussion arose. Cr. i.hrenfried considered another letter should be sent asking the Superintendent finally whether or no he intended to give them the money; he would not do any more begging, as they had been treated with contempt. Mr. Kowe said he did not think it was advisable to carry their heads too high when money matters were concerned. It was sometimes necessary to stoop to conquer. Or. Brown proposed, and Cr. Butt seconded, that a letter bo sent to the Superintendent asking him if he intended, and when, expending the money on the Borough. ■. , LETTERS EECEIVED. A letter was read from the Town Clerk of Alexandra regarding the subject of local revenue ; it stated that the Council could not co-operate as they were already enjoying the powers mentioned. One from Mr. Henry Gillett, applied for a certificate that the Theatre Koyal had sufficient egress. It was ordered to stand over, as there was no Inspector appointed. One from the Collector of rates stated that he had collected rates to the amount of £60. A number of other letters of no public interest were read. WAIO-KAKAKA EOAD. ■Referring to this subject, and the less amount ife was proposed to construct it for, the Mayor said it appeared that without any material alteration, the road was estimated to cost only £700 instead of £900, and under those circumstances, he thought they might be justified in calling for tenders at once. Cr. Brown said they had beeu a long while over that road, and thought it high time that something definite should be decided upon. He moved that the engineer be instructed to prepare plans to be ready in a fortnight; and in the meantime tenders could be advertised for. Cr. Ehrenfreid seconded this motion, which was carried. The Clerk stated that he. had been requested to mention that-.it would be necessary to purchase a cottage on the line of road before it could be proceeded with. Mr. Brown explained that the owner of the cottage was an old man named Mr. McGregor, who had a large family, and it was understood that he would be willing to clear out for £20. He had obtained a sort of right to the place by being there so long. A committees was appointed, consisting of the Mayor, Crs. Uowe and Anthony, to deal with Mr. McGregor. ASSESSMENT. The Town Clerk submitted to the Council the valuation as completed ; and read a letter from himself calling the attention of the Council to the manner in which Messrs. Craig and Gudgeon had valued the mines, namely, under the surface. He referred specially to the Manukau and Bright Smile mines, and advised that legal opinion be taflen upon the point. In the preparation of the return he spent the following items :—Hopcraft andL Co., for printing, £6 ss; Mr. Home, clerical assistance, £20; Mr. Fleming, £11 ss; J. McNaughton, £9 10s ; E. L. Millett, £3—£so. Mr. Dean also stated in his letter that he had charged nothing for the three weeks of labor, anxiety, and care, connected with the work ; and he much doubted if the editor of the Advertiser or Mr. Gudgeon, who had written about the remunerative work given to the Town Clerk, would have' given themselves anxiety, care, and work for more than three weeks without remuneration. He specially asked the Council to award Messrs. Home and Fleming something extra over the sum charged against, and asked them for this, as he had made no charge for his own services. The Mayor said the advice of the Clerk regarding the valuation of mines was gratuitous and out of place : it was out of the province of the Clerk to give ad-

j vice upon such matters; tl.i_ Counf-ii: couM diK'Juss the question, and ap;;Jy toj lej.s_il op:: ionif nccessnry. ' * I C-. Hou-haw thought what had beonS j said by the Mayor was scarcely xight: ■'■h\ ! was calculated to limit the value'of $ this '\ Town Clerk's services to the Council. '. He was supposed to study the Act inoro closely than the Councillors, and was in consequence better able to judge. Or. Brown considered that Mr. Dean was not deserving of the rap over the , knuckles administered by the Mayor. Mr. Dean's advice was valuable; he was \ the first gentleman who had drawn their i attention to the fact of the valuation being illegal. He would suggest that tho Council obtain legal advice upon the subject. Cr. Ehreiifried thought that in the case of the matter coming into Court, tho . question as to how the valur> was arrived at would not be raised. -JgCr. Butt pro-; posed that Mr. WhitakeiT should be ap-7 plied to upon the subject. Cr. Brown; seconded. Cr. Ehventried would move! an amendment that iheir own solicitor be ■ consulted. Cr. Butt agreed •to embody this. Cr. Rowe said there were one o"r tnmgs in the report of Mr. Dean which i he would wish to omit, and one was the j reference to the Advertiser. He did not I think that was advisable. Free discussion in tho press should be courted—it was better for the press to go to an extreme in the matter than to be subservient. He also objected to the reference to the £50. He (tip. Sowe) did not consider that Mr. Dean nsed have employed Messrs Home and Fleming, as he could have obtained the services of Messrs. Gudgeon and Craig, and he need not himself have gone without remuneration. He moved that the reference to the Advertiser be struck out. Cr. Brown seconded the motion cf Cr. Howe as to erasing the portion .making reference to the Advertiser, but thought Mr Dean had been perfectly justified in procuring assistance ; and considered the roll had been completed with great despatch. '■■■.' Cr. I'enshaw agreed with the last speaker, and the motion was carried. The Mayor then said, with reference to Mr. Dean's report, that they should be satisfied as.to whether it was correct— this was only fair to the valuators, one of whom was present. He called upon Mr. Craig. Mr. Craig said he had, according to instructions, assessed the mines according to their market value, though at the v time he had not agreed with that mode. (The letter instructing the valuators, , dated 29th of August, was then read.) . \ Cr. Brown said the Manukau mine was valued at £100, and asked .whether there was anything on the surface of that mine to value that. He thought they would never be able to recover ; and Cr. Butt's motion was with the,- object of preventing after litigation. / •,..-., Cr. Howe said they would never be able to tax the underground of mines ; aud were Mr. Whitaker to say to-morrow that it was legal, he would not do it, simply because it wa3 unjust. • Scrip value was no value. Cr. Benshaw said they had never intended to tax the mines underground, but it would be manifestly unfair to tax a mine such as the Vanguard, at as high a rate as they would the Bird in Hand, Queen of Beauty, and others, which were more valuable. , The position of the mine had a great deal to do with the establishment of its value. , Cr. Butt mentioned that they could not tax any property twice; and with reference to mines; having once imposed a tax on what was on the surface, they could not tax the mine again for what was underneath. The Mayor called attention to the fact that there were only fourteen days to complete the work in. They would have . to talce some immediate steps. In answer to His Worship Mr. Craig said they (the [valuators) would be able to take the valuation of the mines again, so as to include only the surface value within the time. - Cr. Butt then withdrew N his motion as to seeking legal opinion, as this would do away with the necessity. •Cr. Benshaw moved that the valuators be instructed to amend their assessment so as to include only the surface. Cr. Anthony seconded, and the motion was carried. Mr. Craig said ho had rated the minei according to their >real value, although that was contrary to his opinion, as he believed the mines should be assessed according to their surface value only. This was the subject upon which he and Mr. Gudgeon had disagreed, and induce them to apply to the Council for advice, WATEK RACE. The report of the Engineer regarding the Boundary Creek water race was read. A petition was read from the residents between Shellback and Boundarjttrreek, asking that standpipes be erecrld, to provide for a domestic supply. Cr. Brown stated that in summer time, there was very little water in the creek, and the residents depended upon it for their supply. He remarked that the residents did not object to the battery using the water, but asked that provision might be made for domestic purposes. He moved that the petition be received, which was agreed to. KEBOSENE LICENSES. ' Applications for licenses were received, and a committee was appointed to inspect the premises of the applicants. ACCOUNTS. . The accounts of expenses of the late Borough Council election were put in, amounting to £22 12s 6d. Accounts certified to be correct by the Engineer were laid on the table, amounting to £60; also one from Mr. Curtis for iron rails, £270. XEBOSENE STOBE. The Committee appointed to select a site for a kerwiene store stated in their

report that, having carefully studied the whole line of the foreshore, they had determined upon a spot at the corner of Kyre ( and Itichmand-streets, as the most suitable, and recommended that application should be made to the Provincial Government for the site. The report was ordered to, stand over for future consideration. Some other matters were disposed of, and the Council then rose.