PETONE BOROUGH COUNCIL

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2321, 1 December 1914, Page 8

PETONE BOROUGH COUNCIL

* A' meeting , of-, the, Petone • Borough, Council . was-.held; last evening. The lliyor . (Mr. : ;J.W:. JlfEwan)' -,presided, arid there ..were also present Councillors List,', ;Cox, : /Brbcklebank,.' Anderson,. .Kndl'ay, Trueman,' Jonesl and Forsyth". The .Clerk.of Awards,, notified.that. the. Arbitration Court would hear the. gaflQtters' dispute" on; Thursday. Two cases :of infectious: diseases were notified by tho inspector. j.Tlie'opinion of the Municipal, Association'- solicitor (Mr. Mar-' tin), : -that the'- Hutt Park should be exempt from rates, was received, and g emission was given to tho Hutt Park qmniittee to use the information. Ail application for permission to establish a miniature rifle ranop in tho borough from .the District . Storekeeper, .N.Z. Railways,, was referred to tho engiuor, the., request" to .be granted if in compliance' with ;the by-laws. It'.was Cdecided' to;' lay water from SmitliVStreet to'-'Vpiite's Line, in reply to a> request from a. Cuba; Street resident/'to h'atfe the.:water .connected with his. property." • Tli<J Wellington,' Woollen Co; . stated they 'were-- erecting several Javatories at'-the-Petone.-.Mill, and as the sewerage ,works .now.beirig installed, in the.borough:necessitated..-a-'complete 'rearrangemiffit 'of ; the mill drainage, they 'asked, if. the; council would allow its sewerage' engineer (Mr. R. ,Fox) to supply' tho necessary levels and other data.,- The-council agreed to this request on'.the usual terms. A communication from Messrs.' Ballinger and Co. re the town clock,, in, .which, an estimate' was, submitted,;-for, supplying accumulator's, chargiiig. batteries, etc., to be used in connection with the current : sjipplied ;from'-.the- drain.agO. system,- the ; price of which was;£s3,los., 'was ioceivcd. ' - ' ■ " In ariswer'to.a question.by Councillor. •Cox as ,to 'how many- single men were employed on' the, sewerage' and foreshore improvement ..schemes, a - return was'read showing the number of men to W 4.7, 34' of whom .were married and ■13' single. :'Of the latter .four were assisting to keep.."tjjeir mothers. ' Councillor Cox stated that .there had been some dissatisfaction recently oyer four married men being discharged,' but he thought that the: return showed that preference was being .'given to married men. The Mayor stated-that the policy of the council was that married men should, have, preference' of ' employment provided, other ; conditions ; were ' equal pointed' out that he' nnderst-oiid' that' the Borough Enginer (Mr.' Cowie) needqd men, and those who' were -put! off the seHverage might be engaged with him. The engineer replied that he only wanted good men:. (Laughter.) • The Ooai - Committee recommended that after considering l the question of tho salo of .coal, that the council undertake'the delivery.of;coal to that portibn of the borough "upon the' flat" at the following prices State coal (unscreened) Is. Bd. per; cwt., £1 lis. per ton; screened is. lid. por cwt,,.£l 17s. per ton; Coalbrookdalo (unscreened) Is. 9d., per- cwt., £1 12s. per ton; serened 2s. per cwt., £1 18s. per ton. •That' the.;price; .of, coal '• be, if delivery is taken (it the • works State coal (unscrened) Is.. ,6d. iper-cwt., £1 Bs. per ton,, screened'ls.:Bd. per cwt., £1 lis. per ton; Cpalbrookdale (unscreened) la. 7d. per- cwt., £1 9s..per ton, screened Is: 9d;-; per, cwt., ,£.1.125. per ton. The report further .'recbmihended that tho executive .officers and tjie gas manager be instructed to, give effcot to thiß report. There was considerable discussion over the question p. ftho delivory of tho coal, as-to whether the council should purhase-a horse 'and cart or hire same, llie Mayor questioned if. it would be wise to make.the''purchase ; (which would .cost £100), -before the end of tho financial, year,-.,'and v'thought -if one was hired 'the ; council'after, a trial miglit then consider",the question; Other coui!cillors' gave their ;vie\vs, .and regarding the ;Coal Committee's- estimate that a nian ;sho.uld' screen and bag ten bags per. day, oner councillor made the stateniei'it" that it was,: a poor man who could'nt. weigh. bag, and screen 40 tons per day. -Eventually-it was decided that'a':man, horse, and dray bo engaged for'tho purpose of delivering the coal. Ilho report .of -the committee was adopted,'