BALCLUTHA TOWN COUNCIL.

Clutha Leader, Volume IV, Issue 178, 7 December 1877, Page 6

BALCLUTHA TOWN COUNCIL.

The regular fortnightly meeting of the -above body was held on Tuesday evening' Present: Councillors Macdonald, Hogg, Cramond, Donll, Canning, and Dunne. Councillor Macdonald was voted to the tshair. The minutes of previous meeting were read and confirmed. engineer's report. The Clerk read a report from Mr Grigor "with reference to the Douglas-street and Gordon-street contracts, recommending that a progress payment of L3O be made. The report was adopted. THE NEW AOT. A letter was read and received from the Under-Secretary, Wellington, convoying ihe information that the Corporation had j now come under the new Municipal Corporations Act. PUBLIC WORKS REPORT. Councillor Dunne reported on behalf of the Public Works Committee, with reference to the Charlotte-street contract, that owing to an error having crept into ; the engineer's plans and specifications, it tvould be advisable to stop the contract at its present stage. The Committee had ] stopped the work in the meantime. ] A long and animated discussion ensued, : •which resulted in the matter, on the mo- I tion of Councillor Hogg, being referred back to the Public Works Committee "for j a final settlement." ! RENFREW-STREET FOOTPATH. j Councillor Dunne, in accordance with J notice of motion, moved that a footpath : be formed on the south side of Renfrewstreet from Clyde-street to John-street, and that the hole opposite Mr Henderson's house, on the other side of same stx'eet, be filled up. Councillor Canning seconded the motion. It was mentioned by the mover that the expense would likely be about Lls. Councillor Cramond objected to the work in the meantime. There were others more necessary, such as the re-formation of main road but the Council had no funds. He also referred to the motion ' passed some weeks ago, which affirmed the desirability of carrying out no new works. Councillor Dunne said the motion referred to did not exclude works of this nature : it allowed works of "an urgent nature/ and only debarred gigantic contracts. As for the main road, it had never been in better order than now for the lasb seven years, and he thought traffic would be greatly reduced or> it when the railway went through. Councillor Hogg drew attention to the fact that South Ward had had more than its fair share of expenditure in proportion to its rates, and objected to the work in the meantime. Councillor Canning thought even L3O would be money well spent to connect the post and telegraph offices with the railway station. He referred to the money thrown away on trees with the concurrence of Councillor Hogg. Councillor Doull reminded Councillor Hogg of the fact that he himself had proposed most of the works in South Ward. He also referred to the <( tree racket " and the well " nuisance." The motion was carried on the voices. THE BRIDGE. Councillor Canning drew attention to some small matters requiring to be attended to about the bridge ; and Councillor Doull thought it would be well to appoint some kind of an overseer to see that the works were propei'ly carried out on the bridge. THE EAST WAEI> 802S T E OV CONTENTION. Councillor Canning suggested that the earth now being taken from Stamfordstreet be used to form the footpaths in Cromar-street as far as Mr Ritchie's house, and that the contractor for the Stamfordstreet work be instructed to carry this out. This gave rise to another animated discussion about the utility of these works, and also about whether notice of motion should not have been given in the matter. Sundry compliments were interchanged. Councillor Cramond said the East Ward members had hoodwinked the other members all through this affair, andwonderedat their audacity in estimating the cost of the works at the low figure they did. Councillor Doull, by way of retort, informed the Council that Councillor Cramond " was deplorably ignorant of pick and shovel work," Eventually the Chairman decided that the matter could only be dealt with after notice of motion had been given, and accordingly Councillor Canning drew out and handed in notice of motion for next meeting. DISMISSAL. Some conversation took place about things necessary to be done under the new Act, it being concluded that the solicitor nad better be consulted ; and the Chairman then declared the Council adjourned.