LOWER HUTT BOROUGH COUNCIL

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2446, 27 April 1915, Page 7

LOWER HUTT BOROUGH COUNCIL

The final meeting of the present Lower Hutt Borough Council was held last evening. There were present the Mayor (Mr. H. Baldwin), and Councillors Hodgins, Meldmm, Kempthorne, Brassel, Clendon, Parsonage, Ball, Hobbs, and Purdy.

An application for an increase in wages for street lighting was referred to the incoming council. The secretary of the St. Patrick's Day Sports Committee asked the council to agree to the whole of the gate receipts from the sports, meeting, amounting to £11 145,, being handed over to the Belgian Relief Fund. It was decided to accede to the request..

The secretary of the Hutt _ Bowling and Tennis Club wrote asking the council to fence the northern boundary of the road leading to the club property. An animated discussion followed the request, regarding the question as to whether the land was merely a "strip of land" or a road, and eventually the council decided to call on the owners to fence the land in the ordinary way. A Hutt resident (Mr. G. P. Hirschberg) waited on the council in respect to a scheme for raising a loan of £40,000 for the following purposes:— Belgian Fund, £15,000; Countess _ of Liverpool Fund, £15,000; Hospital, £5000; Hutt Library and Band, £1000; scholarships, £4000. After hearing Mr. Hirschberg, who expressed regret that he was unable to obtain an interview with the Prime Minister or Mr. Herries on the subject, the council decided to write the Prime Minister asking the reason why the applicant was not granted a hearing. An application from the council s latouring staff for an increase of wages to £3 per week for permanent men, and 47 hours to be paid as a. 48-hour week for casuals, was referred to the incoming council. * The secretary of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board gave notice of the receipts and expenditure of that institution for the year ended Maroh SI and the proposed apportionment of expenditure amongst the contributory local authorities. In tho discussion that ensued, several councillors expressed tha opinion that the concern would have to be nationalised, in order to enforce payments from many who under the present system evade hospital dues The Mayor of Wellington submitted to the council a circular letter advocating the quota system of contributing to" the Belgian Relief Fund. It was pointed out that the Lower Hutt borough would be expected to contribute £25 per month. The Mayor stated that several residents were alreadv pnyny? a regular sum monthly to the_ fund, and he purposed calling a meeting on Tuesday evening next to ascertain if these gentlemen would forward their donations through the council. Unless a special rat© was struck, the Mayor failed to see that tho council could do anv more than it was doing. The engineer's usual report was Mayor thanked the council and staff for the manner in which they had supported him during the year. On the whole he considered they had done very well, and the work accomplished appeared to be to the satisfaction of the ratepayers. He hoped to see them all back af.ain, and was sorry that Councillor' Kempthorne was unable to seek re-election.