CITY COUNCIL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5486, 11 February 1896, Page 1

CITY COUNCIL.

An ordinary meeting' of the Christchurch «>Citjr Council was held yesterday evening j . present-^-the Mayor and Councillors Gray, ; Widdowson, Samuels, Woods, Sariasftein, Sorensen, Bunting, Payling, Smithj Kincaid, Prudhoe, Connal and Stewart. : FINANCE. Items of finance were reported as follows : — Debit balance at the bank, .£2160 Os 9d. Eeceipts since last meeting — General account .£294 7s sd, cemetery account .£2B 15s 6d, suspense account .£33 17s Bd, interest account .£lO 6s. Expenditure — General account ,£1513 10s Id, cemetery account .£l7 6s 8d; interest ac^ count £1240 6s Id. Total of 1895-6 rates , collected '411,118 2s lOd, outstanding £166 7510d7 •' [■/-■; The accounts as presented were passed for payment. . *^ ' - , ; '"■'■■■ "THE MATOB. The Mayor stated that the Water Supply Committee expected to be able to bring up a report at next .meeting of the Council. The Government Inspector of Dairies, who waa now in Canterbury, had placed his services at the disposal of the Council, and, •with the Chairman of the Sanitary Committee, had visited several dairies, and would shortly visit others. The Sanitary Committee had inspected some of the slaughterhouses in the Christchurch district, and would report upon them when the inspection was completed.. CORRESPONDENCE. A letter was read from Mr D. Lumsden, stating that, the trees planted on the East Belt were overgrown with weeds, and that the artesian well in front of the bowling green in Worcester Street was in need of a small iron cup . ... ' ' The letter was. referred to the Works Committee with instructions to deal with the matters mentioned. CITY SURVEYOR'S REPORT. TheEeport of the .City Surveyor stated that:— (l) The Works Committee recommended that the tender of Mr Tucker, for shooing the Council's horses> should be accepted ; and that the deposit -sent in with the tender Bhould be. returned to the contractor after: the expirfetion of one month from the acceptance of the tender. (2) The Works Committee had purchased two more draught horses. (3) In consequence of a letter which had been sent in relating to timber and asphalt crossings, the City Surveyor had made a careful estimate of the cost of maintaining the asphalt crossings and found that they cost lad per, superficial yard per annum after they had been once, laid. The cost of. .making an. asphalt crossing was 3s 6d per " superficial yard. He could not tell how lonian asphalt .crossing would last, as no had ever been broken up until one. -,^^-m-Cashel Street .had been removed to make room for the wood paving. :He believed that one had been laid more than twenty years ago. (4) The Sanitary Committee had requested him to put on an extra cart and three men to clear the channels in the centre of the town every Saturday evening. - Several Councillors objected to the .return of the deposit of the successful tenderer for shoeing the Council's horses. Councillor Connal. moved, and Councillor Bunting seconded, as an amendment to the adoption of Clause 1— " That fresh tenders he invited." . ' - . . . The amendment was lost on the voices. The clause was. amended by striking out: the words providing for the return of the, ■ deposit, and inthat form was adopted: • The remaining clauses of the report were adopted/ ' ' THE .£6OOO LOAN. : The Finance Committee recommended that advertisements should be inserted in the Christchurch, Wellington, Dunedin and Auckland papers inviting tenders for the loan of ..£6OOO. The loan to be issued: in debentures of .£25 each, for a period often years, at 4 per cent interest per annum, : the interest to be payable half-yearly at the City Council office, Christchurch, the Tninimiim to be par/ Each tenderer to enclose with application 10 per cent of the amount applied for, the amount deposited ]by the successful tenderer to bear interest at 4 per cent until the issue of the debentures. The balance tendered for to be paid on Nov. 8, 1896, when the debentures will be issued. The deposits of unsuccessful tenderers will be returned. Tenders to Jbe sent in Vby July 1, 1896. Councillor J. T. Smith moved the adoption . of the tfepbrt. Councillor Samuels seconded "the motion. Councillor Gray thought that the debentures were fixed at too small an amount. He suggested that they should be for ,£IOO. He thought that persons who had saved up small sums would not be likely to invest in , the debentures. He moved as an amendment — "That the amount of the debentures be. fixed at £100." Councillor Andrews seconded the amendment. Councillor Sandstein thought that there were many persons who had saved up small sums or who had small sum? of trust money who would take up a .£25 debenture each. Persons who had more money could of course take up more debentures, which would be negotiable documents. I Councillors Connal, Sorensen and Kincaid spoke to similar effect. Councillor Gray withdrew the amendment, and the report was adopted. BY-LAW COMMITTEE. " The By-law Committee reported that it had considered the Inspector's report on the charge made by certain carriers and cabmen against Mr' Berry of standing in front of the railway parcels platform, instead of on the proper stand, and preventing others from getting a share of the work, and had directed a letter to be sent to Mr Berry to conform to the by-law. ■The committee recommended the granting of a number of cab licenses. The report was adopted. MISCELLANEOUS. Councillor J. T. Smith drew attention to the bad state of the side channels in Durham Street between Oxford Terrace and St Asaph Street. The Mayor said that the matter atouM be attended to. Councillor Connal moved — "That the Chairman of the Works Committee and the City Surveyor visit Cashel Street with the view of reporting on the condition of the roadway where the City and Suburban Tramway runs." Councillor ■ Kincaid seconded the motion, which was carried. On the motion of Councillor J. T. Smith, seconded by Councillor Prudhoe, the ■Finance Committee was authorised to carry out the proposals of its report with regard to the .£6OOO loan. The meeting then closed.