MUNICIPAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5550, 23 February 1886, Page 4

MUNICIPAL.

-• . City Council. ! An ordinary meeting of the Christchurch i City Council was held at 7 p.m. yesterday ; present — His Worship the Mayor, Couni cillor3 Vincent, Kiver, Gray, Crookß, : Hocking, Louisson, Grinsted, Prudhoe, [ Tait, Bowman, Manning and Andrews. 1 FINANCE. i Items of finance were reported as I follows : — Receipts since last meeting — l General account, £245 15s 7d; suspense ' account, £28 5s Gd ; cemetery account, I jfil9losGd. Expenditure — General account, i J64-75 193 lOd ; loan acsount, .£776 16s 7d ; ' suspense account, £141 os ; cemetery ' account, £7 13s -Ad. Credit balance at • Bank, £1384 5s 4d. i The asoounts were passed as read. ' CORRESPONDENCE. 1 The following were read : — ' Circular from the Waikato County 1 Council, asking the co-operation of the ' Council in drawing the attention of Go- > vernment to the immature and unwork- ' able character of the Hospitals and Charitfc able Institutions Act. '■ The circular was received, and ordered ' to be laid on the table for the inspection of ' Councillors. 1 From Mr T; S. Lambert, thanking the \ Council for tho unanimous acceptance of ' his design for the Market-place buildings. J The letter was received. ' CITY SURVEYOR'S REPORT. \ The City Surveyor's report wa« as follows :— 1 "1. The 6-inch well in Gloucester street * is now down 140 ft, and the flow of water is about the same as at Martin street, \ although the water has to rise sft higher, ! in consequence of the level of the former street being sft higher than | the latter one. The cost of the well s is as follows : — Cost of sinking, £70 ; cost : of pipes, £38; cost of tools, £20; total ! cost, £126. 2. It was found impracticable to sink the 4-inch well in St Asaph street ; it ' has, therefore, been abandoned, and a ' i 6-inch well will be sunk in its place. 3. | Tenders have been sent in for the addit ions to Chester street Fire Brigade 1 Station, and the Works Committee have ' accepted chat of Mr Gregg for £850 (being the lowest tender), Bubject to the approval of the Council. 4.- The Works Committee recommend that tenders be invited for ; 6000 cubic yards of broken metal and 3000 | cubic yards of blinding, to be used on the , streets during the ensuing 12 months." The report was adopted. QUESTION. Councillor Gray said that he had seen a letter in an evening paper stating that one of the designs for the Market place buildings which had been rejected had been awarded a second place, and the sealed envelope accompanying it opened, contrary to the conditions of the competition. He wished to know the facts of the case. The Mayor said that the father »f the young man who prepared the design, having heard that several of the Councillors considered the design worthy of a second place, had written asking that this should be notified, and the name attached to the drawing. His wish had been complied with, but the sealed envelope had not been opened, and there had been no breach of confidence. THE FIRE ALARM SYSTEM. Councillor Gray moved the following motion, of which he had given notice— "That the present electrical fire alarm system be modified and improved as follows—(a) That the annunciators at the Police Station, the Lichfield street Fire Brigade Station, and at Superintendent Ashley's house be dispensed with, (6) and that those places be connected with the Chester street Station by telephone ; (c) and further that the batteries and signal boxes be supervised weekly." He said that several electricians hacL. stated that one cause of the bad working of the system was the large number of annunciators. He pointed out that the cost of carrying out his j motion would be but small, I Councillor Crooks seconded the motion. Councillor Bowman moved — " That the matter be referred to the Fire Brigade | Committee." Councillor Prudhoe seconded the motion. \ Councillor Hosking opposed both motion i and amendment. He gave it as his opinion j that the removal of the Lichfield street I station would, by doing away with one of ! the two electrical circuits at present exist- j ing, remedy the defects in the working of the system. The Committee were taking active steps in the matter, and would continue to do so. It was their intention to ! provide for the better supervision of the batteries. Councillor Louisson suggested that, after the explanation of the Chairman of the Fire Brigade Committee, Councillor Gray should withdraw his motion. The Mayor and Councillor Andrewß concurred with Councillor Louisson, and Councillor Gray consented to withdraw his motion for the present, stating that his only object wbb the improvement of the fire-alarm system, and that if this did not soon take place he would bring for ward the matter again. TME TRASTVTAY. Councillor Louisson drew attention to the extremely bad state of the tramway rails in some parts of the city, especially in Tuam street. The City Surveyor was instructed to communicate with the Tramway Company on the subject at once. After transacting some routine business, and dealing with a number of applications for licenses, the Council adjourned.