BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 11975, 19 September 1906, Page 6

BOROUGH COUNCIL.

The usiial fortnight^ meeting of the Borough Council was held last evening. Present. — llis Worship the Mayor, Cr.-,. L. N. Litfiton, li. Purser, F. A. llarknosM, T. 11. Battle, R. W. Green, G. Caiman, P. Bell. T. B. Williams, and L. Cohen.

MINUTES.— The minutes of , the last meeting were read and confirmed, as wen also the minutes of a special meeting to deal with the making of a special order in regard to roading the land leased by Mr A. Atkins.

WORKS COMMITTEE.— The following report was read from the Works Commit tee. — Steam Motor Waggon: The committee recommend that the Council take nc action at present in this mailer. — Smitbficld Street. We recommend that the Waitotara. County Council be. asked wliethe 1 ' they; desire to have the boundary road "leading to Smithfield" Street formed and metalled, as requested by the petitioners. — Girls' High School Drainage Aecoiuu : The School Committee made application to hav<* the stun of i' 2 5s Gd remitted, the cost of alteria^ a drain to carry_ off stirface water. The committee are of opinion that the application should not be granted, and would point out that a quantity of the materials used were supplied at a considerably reduced rate, also that 20 yards of clay were supplied, cartect, and 'levelled free of cost in" connection with this work. — Lease of Kaikokopu gravel pit: 1 his .pit being no longer required by the Council, the committee recommend that the necessary steps be taken to terminate this lease as soon as possible. — The report was adopted. WATER COMMITTEE.— The Water Committee reported as follows: — Re application from Girls' College Board of Governors tor permission to,- make a connection off the service that at present supplies the awimmwg baths in order to uso water Jo kitchen garden purposes, we, recommend that the permission .asked be given, -anti that water he supplied on the same tovir>as for the Baths. Re application from the School Committee for remission of aecoum for water used for garden purposes at Qlicen'.s Park .Scbaol, we recommend that one-half of the account be remitted, reducing the account to <£1 5s .Id.— The report was adopted. FINANCE COMMITTEE.— The Finnnco Committee recommended the payment of the following accounts' — District fmul (general), J£24B 2s sd; district fnnd (gas department). ,£ll4O 4s 10d;. special lorn of i 11 ,500, £93 17,s 9d; gasworks loan No. 2. iJ(>6 2s '.id. The committee recommend<d that the Mayor's action in accepting tho offer of the Ocean Accident Company of Wangaiini for accident business, anl that of tl)f> Standard Company of Wellington for fidelity guira-ntcc, be endorsed. — The report was adopted.

IJATUS COMM3TIEE.— TIio JJatJjs Comjvn'ttoe recommended that the Queen's Park School bo given the use of the Public "IhitK on days mentioned in Mr Payne's letter, the charge to be iil()..— The Mayo" moved the adoption of the report. — Cr Cohen, who dwelt on the advantages to the children in learning to swim, and the desirability of giving them as much encouragement as possible, moved that the nermi-,sion be grantfd without charge. — Seconded by Cr Bell.-^The Mayor said Mr Payre told him that he would be satisfied v. it b the reduction to i'1(). The school would get a grant from the Government, and had the services of the custodian. — Cr Caiman thought that thf* fee might be reduced to £5. — the other Councillors supported tho Baths Committee, and the report weis adopted.

RE MISSION.— Dean Grogan wroto asking for a remi---'ioa of rat^s on_ the Villa Maria School property. The Mayor said if there were loss than four acres in the school property, it was entitled to a remission, otherwise, it was not. — Some discussion ensued an to whether the school cauie within the jscope of the clause of the Act exempting schools "not carried on exclusively for profit," and fiua^Jy, on the motion of Cr Battle, it was resolved to ask Dean Grogan to state fully the grounds on which' he claimed exempt : on.

THANKS.— The Rev. J. G. Cl:apma>i wrote thanking the Council fo>' a rcrai.-.-lrmsion of rates granted to a reedy old couple. — Received.

CATTLE DRIVING.— Messrs F. E. Jackson and Co. and Nixon, Uaddeley, and Forlong brought under the Council's nolice the disadvantages they were under in regard to the by-laws limiting the hours of driving across the bridge and along Taupo Quay. This necessitated considerable expense to the firms, who asked it the Council could see iis way to alter the hours when driving was prohibited, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on sale days. — Referred to the Works Committee. SALEYARDS.— Messrs F. R. Jackson and Co. applied for. the lease of a small strip of land adjoining their yaa'ds for convenience of loading and unloading .stock on the Castlecliff railway line. — Referred to the Reserves Committee. COMPLAINT.— Mr G. Ball wrote stating that the house and fence on Block 4, Town Belt, »a« pa->t repair, and he could not renew his lease of the section on the old conditions. Ho offered to lease the section for grazing at a reasonable rent. — Referred to the Reserves Committee. - SUPERANNUATION.— A circular re superannuation for Borough Council employees was received from the Municipal Association, which asked for payment of 16s, the Council's share towards cost of' an actuarial investigation. — Resolved to pay the amount. GONVILLE.— Mr F. Webb Jones wrote on behalf of a number of Gon villa residents asking on wliat terms the Council could supply. them with a water service. 'Mains were laid to near the Hospital, so that i ho cost of continuing the s,an:e should not be jjroat. 110 asked to he >,nppliod with estimates of the cost, (1) il connections and mains are put down by the J'orough, and (2) of the cost per gallon if the district undertakes all expenditure, in wbich case Alma Road would be included. At lnst 30 persons would take 1 water at Gonville, and as many at Alma Road, and there was a prospect of this number being largely inceascrl. The letter stated that a meeting of the re i lents interested would shortly be called to consider the formation of a now town district. — On the motion of the Mayor, the, matter was referred to the Waterworks Committee. OKKIIU WATER.— Mr J. H. Biynct forwarded snm" barnptes of Qkphu water, asking if such a "pea soupy" article was v.orth 2s per 1O')O gallons, „'lje co»f. : dercd Hie water dangerous to high prpssure hot' water services, and that users of it should be put on their guard. — The Mayor .said the position w&s that Mr Burnct got his j supply from the Ifair Estate pipe. Fincc Ihc water had been run into the Virginia Lake pn getting dirty, it ha-c^ been kepi faiijy clean for town cpiisuicers, but the Hair Estate pipe tapped the main above the lake, and must necessarily be dirty when the dam was. , Had Mr Burnet notified the Council's o/Jicers, his pipes could have been "blown out." — Resolved to explain to Mr Buruct that it was fin exceptional occurrence, and that in future ovory effort would be made to minimi.c the dirtiness of the water.

SUCTION GAS.— Mr N. Andrews wrpto lengthily, giving details in regard to suction gas engines. — The Mayor haid he had had a copy sent to the Tramways Consulting Engineer. — The letter was referred to the Tramways Coinmiltco. GAS MAIN'S.— The Di^tiict Railway Engineer forwarded, for witnessing and scaling, deed re the Council's right to

lay gas mains under the Railway Department's property on Taupo Quay. — Referred .to the Vvorks Committee.

BATHS. — The newly-formed Christ Church Swimming Club wrote asking for the same concessions as granted the Wanganui Swimming Club, and also tor the uae of the Bath-, for a sports meeting on Boxiug Night. — Referred to the Baths Committee.

CONSENT. — Letters were received fj;om the Borough Solicitor in regard to consent ol rights oi way, which \v\» given. MOWEK. — Ihe Borough Gaideucr wrote stating that he had gone into the matter of a hiwu mower for the reserve-., and ic•oinmcndcd one of Green and Son's (London) 24-inch motor lawn mowers. — Ileferred to the Reserves Committee.

LICENSE.— An application, from Mr John Darby for a billiard room license in respect of premises iv Abbot's Buildings, Avenue, was granted. GAS OFFICE.— T'iie Mayor's action in appointing Mr S. Quinn as junior clerk in tii3 Gas Oftcc'-: was endorsed.

THE FOUNTAIN.— Cr Purser moved that the Reserves Committee be authorised to select a, site in Cook's Gardens, for the re-eroction of the Watt Memorial Fountain,* pointing out the danger it constituted to vehicles in the increased state of the traffic. — Ihe Mayor seconded the motion, which wad cariied.