CITY COUNCIL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12687, 8 July 1919, Page 8

CITY COUNCIL.

FORTNIGHTLY MEETING. • The ordinary; fortnightly meeting of the City Council was held last evening; present—The Mayor (Dr. Thacker) and Councillors J. W. Beanland. E. H. Andrews, E. Peek, D. G. Sullivan, E. E. Langley, H. Hunter, H- T. Armstrong, F Dnrgoyne, J. O. Jameson, O. S. Harper C P. Agar, A. AFlesher, H. F. Herbert and A. Williams.

The Minister of Public Works wrote concerning the erection of a building r?J' , °’ od at . tlle reav.of the Public Trust Utncc, stating that in the-case of auv permanent Government buildings beinol- - within tlie city the council was no doubt, aware that the Government standard of construction was quite up to the standard required by the bynv' VS ’ probably in advance of it. I.ie building in question was being erected to meet an emergency. The letter was received^

A Communication _ was received from ■Brigadier-General Richardson regarding tlie proposed tour of the Dominion o'? tlie i\ew Zealand Divisional “ Digger ” , rou .P e > 60 per cent of the receipts to he given for the benefit of disabled Soldiers.

Tta'Christchurch Fire Board advised tnat it had passed its estimates of cxtooo U l£ for % Year ending June 30. IJ_O. The estimates as approved hv the Minister of Internal Affairs to the sum of £B-5-50. less -—-00 to be paid by the Government, leimng £8350 to be paid in equal parts 2fY ra® insurance companies and the Council- The amount was passed. Ihe Baths and Entertainments Committee reported that the net takings at the baths for the year ended March 31, 1919, had amouned to £922 3s 9d. One hundred and six season tickets had been issued for men and emhtveight for women and children. Unfortunately the -hath was closed for a month during the influenza epidemic, and the effect was felt throughout the remainder of the season, TVelve public schools and three private schools sent squads of children to the baths, in addition to fonr squads from the Bov fecouts and one from the Telegraph 3>epartment._ It was estimated that. 2000 free admissions had been granted to returned soldiers during the year to use the swimming pool and ’ private baths. YVith a view to encouraging sports clubs to use the'baths on a Saturday afternoon after their matches, the committee had circularised football and hockey clubs with the lesult that these chibs were enthusiastically taking up the question and securing concession tickets for their members. The committee recommended

th-at the tvro season tickets issued to councillors bo available for use by any /*'o members of the councillor’s family. (The'previous arrangement was that the tickets were available for the councillor, his wife and members of his family under school age.) The report was adopted. The By-laws and Finance Committee reported that tho tender of Fraser’s, Btd,, fqr printing tho balance-sheet, had been accepted. Messrs Hall and Hudson had applied for consent to the erection of an office. in Devonporb Lane, which would stand within 6ft of the building line. The committee recommended that permission should he granted on condition that tho owners gave an undertaking that, in tho event of the lane being widened, they would move the building hack and would not claim any compensation therefor. Messrs A. and T. Burt, litd., had applied for permission to erect a. building up to the boundary line of the north side of Mollett Street. As there were a number of buildings

already erected up to the street lino on this side the committee recommended that consent should he granted. The committee recommended that the tender of Messrs Whitcomb© and Tombs, Ltd., be accepted for printing tbc rate demand forms. The report was adopted. Ih© Electricity Committee reported that the electrical engineer bad drawn the attention of the committee to the fact that rounded comers, if carried out to any extent in tho citv, would cause a very unsightly number of poles to be placed at these corners, and the committee recommended that it should be consulted before any kerbing was rounded- The committee recommended that the tender, of Messrs Richardson, M’Cahe and Co. (American cable), at r* 1 ”1 i r\ o <i - . .

£llo2 10s, for the supply of thirty miles of aerial cable should be accepted. The applications for ciutchs made during the. fortnight ended July 1 totalled seventy-three, and the connections made seventy-two. The report was adopted. The Water Supply Committee reported that Messrs Brown Bros- had intimated that they could not supply the two motors which they tendered for the St Albans sub-station unless the price was raised by £B7 10s for each machine. The committee therefore recommended that Messrs Brown Bros. 5 contract should be cancelled and' that the next lowest tender, viz., that of Messrs Turnbull and Jones, at. £.568, should be accepted. Messrs Brown Bros.' tender was £549. Good progress was being mad© with the works at the St Albans sub-station.

The report was adopted. The Works and Sanitary Committee reported that the question of providing additional sanitary conveniences for males in the central portion of the city had received careful consideration, and the committee suggested that, provided the District Health Officer recommended the work and the Minister of Public Health approved of it, further work should be carried on in Cathedral Square, in Cashel and High Streets, and the iron conveniences at a total cost of £3652. Two tenders had been received for the erection ol fences where the council had recently widened "Retreat Hoad, mid Mr M’Gillivray’s tender at £llß had been accepted. Two tenders had been re- , ceived for tho supply of one tip-dray and one spring dray, and the committee recommended that tho tender oi P. and D. Duncan, Ltd., at £7B 10s, be accepted. The architectural work in connection with the new garage building in Manchester Street was carried out by Mr Da we, assistant ch-v surveyor, the electricity department being charged the sum of £l3l 12s for his services. As most of tie work of preparing the plans and specification was done in Mr Dawe’s own time the committee recommended that be should be granted a bonus of ten guineas. The report was adopted.