LAWRENCE TOWN COUNCIL.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 276, 15 May 1873, Page 5

LAWRENCE TOWN COUNCIL.

The usual fortnightly meeting of the Town Council, was held in the Council Chambers on Thursday evening last, at 7 o'clock. Present — The Mayor, and a full Council. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. The Mayor stated that in answer to several enquiries, Mr. Fraser had signed his contract, and expected to commence work to-morrow. COBRBSPONDEJSTCK. A letter from Mr. M'Leod Nicholson, offering the map of the Town of Lawrence to the Council, for the sum of £5, was received. On the motion of Cr. Hay, soconded by Cr. Hill it was agreed to purchase the map, the price being considered reasonable. In reply to a letter from the Town Clerk, Mr. J. F. Herbert, one of the Trustees of the Lawrence Cemetery, stated that as he had now left the Tuapeka district, it was his intention to resign his position as trustee. The letter was received. A letter from Ah Fue, for self and others, asking permission to work for gold on the Beaumont road, was received and discussed. Cr. Coverlid objected strongly against permission being given either to Chinamen or Europeans, to work the road. The road could not be worked without a race being brought in from the creek, which, in time of floods, might cause damage. As the ground would likely be taken up in allotments, he would decidedly be against granting permission for its being mined upon. Cr. Hay seconded the motion, which was carried. The report of the Inapeotor, Mr. D. Whittet, to the effect that the footpaths in Peel-street, Roas Place, and Wbite-haven-street, were completed according to the specifications, was read and received. ACCOUNTS. The following accounts were received and referred to the Publio Works and Finance Committees : — John Tuckey, fencing reservoir, £13 19s Od ; R. Andrews, truck and smith work, £3 18s 4d ; J. Nixon, pegs for survey, 15s ; Cormack and Nicoll, truck, £2 15s Od ; R. Nicholl, gravel, £ i ; R. Nicholl, contract for footpaths, £45 13s 9d. THB LOAN. Cr. Hay rose to propose the resolutions standing in his name. They were as follows :—": — " 1. That in the opinion of this Council, the time has now arrived when it is desirable to raise a loan ; 2. That fifty debentures of £JOO each be placed in the market, to be applied for by tender on or before the 31st day of June, 1873, to have a currency of twenty years from the date of issue, and to bear interest at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum, payable half-yeaily, at LawTence or Dunedin. ; 3. That the interest on the loan be a first charge upon the rates, and the debentures to be redeemed by a sinking fund invested by trustees appointed by the Superintendent ; 4. That the money be expended in water works, drainage, formation of new streets, the erection of a town hall, and the redeuip don of outstanding debentures." in speaking to the motion, Cr. Hay said the first expenditure would be to purify the water, and make it fit for domestic use, and then to extend the pipes. Until these objects were accomplished they could not levy a special rate. He hoped tho Council would pass this resolution, as the ratepayers had been paying for the present mud-hole long enough. Thenext expenditure would be that of drainage. Ik was, well known that a large portion of the town was in a low-lying position, and if some system of drainage were not seen to, it would become a complete quagmire. At the back of Peel-street aud Rosa Place, any quantity of filth wa3 allowed to accumulate, for which it would be absolutely necessary to have drainage provider! nooner or later. Tho severs 1-ini.i ho \\ >iikl propo&e, would bn snftiuiently I'Tii' 3 So fUot a nvtti'to fiuter tho«J ?

for the purpose of removing any obstruction. This he considered, should be one of the works first to be undertaken. The other portion of the loan would be devoted to lowering the level o" Pv« utieet < n the hill, feven or eight feet' Some thought that prison labor could be got to do that work ; but of this he was rery doubtful. He thought the Council would need to do it. Another portion of the loan would be devoted to the erection of a town hall. Some people might say they did not "want one — that sufficient accommodation of the kind was already in existence; but he was of opinion that this would be a thoroughly reproductive work, in evidence of which he instanced the case of the town hall of Queenstown, which was yielding a revenue of £350 a year. A sum like that would pay the interest on the outlay, and leave a margin of £50 for sinking fund, or any other purpose. The hall could be erected with shops and offices under it, which he felt certain would rent at a high premium ; and what with letting the hall for benefits, and various other purposes, he believed a revenue of £500 would be derived from this expenditure of the loan, The remaining portion of the loan could be applied to redeeming the outstanding debentures. He thought the debentures might be taken up at a less rate of interest than at present paid. In reply to Cr. Hill, Cr. Hay said the sums for the respective works he would put down as follows : — Sewerage, £1000 ; town hall, £1500 ; Peel-street cutting, £300 ; water works, LISOO. He wished it, however, to be understood that these sums would be left for the Council to decide. He merely wished the Council to affirm the principle of borrowing for the objects stated. When that was done, they could call for specifications, and obtain all the requisite information before proceeding with any of the works. Cr. Hay concluded by saying that these were his resolutions, which he hoped the Council would carry into effect. , Cr. Coverlid seconded the motion, as he wished to have it fully discussed. He j was quite in favor of the scheme so far as it applied to the extension of the water pipes, and purifying of the water. The cost for water the was at present very i grea' , and thebenefits derived from it were very small. He, therefore, quite approved of borrowing money to extend the works, so that the Council might be placed in a position to make them reproductive. If taken in hand in a proper manner, he saw no reason why they could not have as good water in Lawrence as was had in Dunedin. The question of drainage was also a most important one. If some scheme were not set on foot of j the kind embodied in Cr. Hay's resolution, they might be overtaken by some j epidemic, causing destruction to human j lives. He waa not so sure about the payable character of a town hall. Qneenatown might not be so well furnished with conveniences of the kind as waa Lawrence. He thought debentures of £50 would be better than those of £100. Cr. Hay said they could be made so if it was considered desirable. Cr. Hill had an amendment to propose. If the Council decided upon borrowing money, it would be well to borrow as much as would be required for the various works proposed. He did not think £5,000 sufficient. He wa* confident a town hall would pay well. The water scheme and i the question of sewerage, if gone into pro- j perly, would take a large sum — at least £3,000. The town hall would cost nay £1,000 ; and the cutting in Peel-street would cost more than Or. Hay suggests. He would move as &n amendment that a loan of £8,000 be raised by 100 deben- '. tures of £80 each. Cr. Hayes certainly agreed with Cr. Hill. If money was to be borrowed, let it be a decent sum. He put down the sums as follows :— Water, £2,500 ; Peelstreet cutting, £750 ; town hall, £1,250 ; sewerage, £1,850 ; making a total of £0,350. If a surplus of £1,500 or £1,600, it could be applied to advantage. Instead of issuine; 100 debentures at LBO, he would suggest 80 at LIOO. He thought it would be wise not to borrow until they were really prepared for spending, Cr. Walker fully agreed with other Ors. that the time had arrived when the Council should make some progress, and that public works should be taken in hand He thought the money could be used to good advantage. Cr. Meyer thought the scheme was rather extensive. He would be prepared to vote for a L 6,500 loan. Councillors should not forget' that LB,OOO at 6 per cent amounted to L4BO a year. This was a large sum, which would not be relieved for a considerable time, as the rates would not increase so rapidly as some might think. The Mayor said he would like to make a few remarks on the subject of the loan. I'efore going into the matter, he thought they should have better data to make their calculations upon than they had now before them. Some of the amounts stated might be greatly under or over estimated. For instance, in the matter of sewerage he thought L 750 was much leas than would require to be spent. He was fully satisfied the time had arrived for the erection of a town hall and a decent office for the Town Clerk. With regard to the wat9r debentures, he thought the interest, seven per cent, was excessively cheap at tho time the money was borrowed. These debentures would, not be matured for twelve months. He quite agreed with the Councillors as to the importance of some of the works spoken of ; but, he thought, the Council would do well to get plans submitted by a qualified person and estimates made before they fixed upon the exact sum to be borrowed. It was the opinion of some of the Councillors that money could be had at a very low rate of interest. in carrying out these lasting works, he thought the Council were quite justified in raising money by loan. He held the opinion to be a sound one that the payment of works like these, which were even more for the benefit of the future than the present, should be partly met by the coming generation. Some of Cr. Hay's strictures on the sanitary condition of the town, he (the M.iyor) thought too severe and uncalled for. Lawrence was always spoken of by visitors and others, as a clean looking y>laoe. With regard to the work in Poel-Rl-rout, he had ever}' confidence ihat pri-', £ > tabor r, v u\d be obtained to prosecute l'-..ii work.

Cr. Hay, in reply, said that fn moving, the sum of LSOOO, he did not want to/ 1 cripple the. Council* He thought the far-,. terest on LBOOO would perhaps be^tbo/^heavy, He was glad to see the Council- t of one mind as regards borrowing for the /? works he had indicated. He bad-no ob- ' jection if they were all agreed to alter the sum, by substituting 80 for 50 debentures at LIOO. Cr. Hayes thought it would be ivell'td^, get the different works and plans _dfs- / cussed before deciding upon the amount to be borrowed — the amount named ' should not be mentioned in the resolution. Cr. Hill Baid the debentures , could be raised gradually, commencing for instance — first with the water scheme, as one of the most payable ; the same with the other works afterwards. Cr. Hayes thought his opinion that the amount be left blank would meet Cr. Hill's suggestion. The Mayor thoroughly approved of this course, att it would leave the Council open to act upon more definite knowledge. The resolutions as given above were unanimously passed, leaving the amount : blank. The Committees of Finance and Publio Works were requested to obtain information, and report thereon. A hot discussion then took place regarding the lamp posts authorised to be placed in the town. Cr. Hill thought the Public Works Committee had exceeded their duty in giving orders for these lamp poatß, before ! the matter was considered by the Oounicil. j The resolution on the subject passed at I a previous meeting, was referred to, from which it appeared the Committee had power to act. Cr. Coverlid strongly condemned any action of that description. He had seen I things of the kind done lately which he had not seen during his four years exI perience in tho Council. ; Cr. Hill moved that the Public Works Committee be, not empowered to» act further in the matter, but that the position of three lamps be decided upon by the whole Council. Cr. Hay stated for the information of the Council, that the Committee proposed placing the lamps as follows : — One at the corner of Colonsay and White-haven-streets ; one at the corner of Gabriels Gully ; one about Mr. Andrew's blacksmith shop ; and one nearly opposite Mr. Barnett's. The (Jouncil approved of all excepting the one near Mr. Andrew's shop, the position being so near several hotel lights, and agreed to place it at the culvert near the hospital. The position of the one opposite Mr. Barnett's to be a little higher up, nearly opposite the Courthouse to give light to the post-office. Cr. Hill enquired about the footpath at Mr. Humphrey's which had beep broken up. Cr. Hay said he had drawn the attention of the luspector to the matter, and told him to get the necessary pepajzs done, and charge them to Mr. Humphrey. Cr. Coverlid asi<ed if the Public Worka Committee had given O'Neill and party permission to dam «p the creek at -the mouth of Gabriels. Cr. Hay replied that permission was not given them. The Town Clerk was instructed to them to remove the obstruction. Or. Hay moved the following resolution regarding the Tuapeka cemetery : - "That in reference co the recent memorial of the. inhabitants of the town as to this Council taking steps to have the management of the cemetery vested in the Town Council, and that the Town Clerk having communicated with the trustees as to their willingness -to resign, and as there appears to be some doubt of one or two refusing to resign, and this Oounoil believing that the charge of the cemetery being vested in the corporation is for the welfare of the district in general : I therefore move that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the members of the Provincial Council for this district, respectfully requesting them to bring in an ordinance or bill at the present session of the Provincial Council, asking that all that parcel of land, containing ten aoraa, more or lews, and known as the Tuapoka cemetery, adjoining the tow.i boundary of the incorporated town of Lawrence, be part and parcel of the said town." In speaking to the resolution, Or. Hay said he was actuated to take this action on account of a letter which appeared fn the last " Tuapeka Times " from ono (4 the trustees— a letter which he considered most insulting to the Oounoil. He did not believe there was another man in th« place who would have written fiuch a letter. It is evident, from the tone of the letter referred to, that trustee has no intention of reaigniug ; and he considered the method he (Or. Hay) wm adopting would checkmate that individual and bring about the desired object. Cr. Hay then read the clause in the Ordinance which gave the Council power to have the town boundary extended so that the cemetery would be included iv it. Cr. Walker thought that a resolution of a majority of the trustees would be binding on the minority, and that the matter could be arranged in that way. j The Mayor said it would be beyond [ the power of a majority to oompell any one to resign. Cr. Hill, in seconding the motion, laid that the writer of the letter referred to | had suggested a transfer of the trust to clergymen of the district. He had spoken to two of the clergymen, both of whom refused to have anything to do with it. Cr. Coverlid had also spoken to one of them, who refused. The motion was carried unanimously, ! after which the Council adjourned for [ fourteen days. -