THE BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 2998, 3 February 1881, Page 3

THE BOROUGH COUNCIL.

WEMtfESDAY, FEBRUARY 2

The Council met at 8 p.m. Present—Hia Worship the Mayor (in the chair), Councillors Monteith, Swan, M'Kay, de Lisle, M'Dougall, Ellis, and Cotton, CORRESPONDENCE, The following correspondence was read: — From Mr Robert Lamb, acknowledging receipt of notification of his appointment as engineer to the borough. From Mr A. Lascelles, as follows:— "I am instructed by Mr Thomas Connor to apply to you for payment of the sum of £5118 7s 9Jd, being amount due for filling in 59,947 yards of earth at Is B£d per yard, that being the quantity of extra work done by him on his late contract over and above the quantities Btated in the specifications prepared by your engineer. Mr Connor will be prepared to meet the convenience of the Corporation in the payment of this amount, but unless some arrangement is made for the ■ettlement I am instructed to issue writ for recovery of the amount."—Cr. Swan thought it would be quite sufficient if the Town Clerk simply acknowledged receipt of the letter.—The Mayor thought the better way would be to refer it to the Municipal Solicitor.—On the motion of Cr. Cotton, seconded by Cr. de Lisle, it was resolved that the letter be referred to the Municipal Solicitor. From Mr J. A. Smith, hon. secretary to the Napier Hospital, requesting that the sum of £200 voted by the Council be placed to the credit of the Hospital Committee, so that the Government subsidy of pound for pound may be applied for as speedily as possible.—lt was ordered that the £200 be paid. From Mr J. W. Home, secretary to the Eoyal Humane Society, forwarding four bronze medals awarded to Messrs Hindmarsh, Carter, Rich, and Begg, for their gallant exertions in attempting to save Mr J. H. Vautier'a life, and requesting that tbe medals be handed to the Mayor for presentation. Fnm Messrs Glendinning and Griffiths, in reference to sand required for contract No. 5. It was resolved that permission be granted to the contractors to take shingle from the beach at the distance of 120 yards from the sea wall. From Mr John Griffin, requesting that the penalties which he may have rendered himself liable to pay under No. 3 drainage and sewerage contract be not enforced. —The Town Clerk stated that the matter had been dealt with by the Public Works Committee. REPORT OP PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE. The report of the Public Works Committee as previously published was then read and passed clause by clause. MR PEPPEHCOHNE's RESIGNATION. Tbe following letter from Mr Peppercorne was read : — Mr Robert Lamb having received the ap- I pointment of municipal engineer to the Borough of Napier, hitherto held by me, I shall to-morrow, when his duties commence, hand over to him all tho plans, drawings, furniture, and other effects at present in my office, and belonging to the corporation. I hare now held the appointment o£ borough engineer for about six years, during ■which time great improvements have been effected in the borough under my supervision. Streets have been formed wnei*e formerly a fetid swamp existed ; the inner swamp has been reclaimed, and efficient waterworks have been established from my designs, giving a constant and ample supply to the houses on the flat part of the town, as well as to the residents of tho Shake-speare-road, Coote-road, part of Miltonroad, and Cameron-road. The inhabitants of the Spit, together with the shipping, aro also supplied from the reservoir with an abundance of pure water. The lower parts of Emerson - street, Dickens-street, and Dalton-streefc, which were formerly subject to inundation, have been raised above the highest flood iovel, and although some opposition was raised to this improvement by a few of tho townspeople, I believe that it is now generally admitted to have been a necessary work, and that it would have been an act of folly to have left this part of the borough in its former condition, so as to hare perpetuated a nuisance. For sanitary reasons alone this improvement was required —to say nothing of the increased fall thus obtained' for the main outfall sewer now in course of construction.

I beg to return my best thanks to yourself [the Mayor], and to the members of the Council generally, for your and their uniform courtesy extended towards me in my position as borough engineer, and to stato that as my presence in Sydney is urgently required on private matters, it is my intention to leave Napier by the first boat to Sydney, ■which will leave on Saturday next, February sth. —I have, Sec, Fbedk. S. Peppercorne, Municipal Engineer. Napier, January 31, 1881.

A special report from the Public Works Committee with reference to Mr Pepperfcori&s'a totter vt as r«ad m follows ;—

Your oommitteo wonld wish, in addition to their usual report, to convoy to the Municipal Council this expression of their rogret at tho departure of Mr F. S. Peppercorne from this borough. During the six years that gentleman held the office of municipal engineer, works of the greatest public importance have been initiatod and completed under his supervision, and tho thanks of the Council aro duo to him for the able and zealous manner in which they have been carriod out. Your oommitteo, in saying good-byo, wish him health, prosperity, and professional success in the country he intends to reside in. GtF.o.' Hr/ Swan, Chairman. In moving the adoption of the report Or. Swan said he felt sure the report echoed the sentiments of every Councillor present. He bad, as Chairman of the Public Works Committee, to be in constant communication with Mr Peppercorne, and a more straightforward upright man, or one better fitted by his professional abilities for the office he occupied, could scarcely be found. By the strictest integrity in all matters he had proved himself a most trustworty servant. It was with extreme regret that he now wished him good-bye, and he felt sure that the feeliog was shared by all the Councillors. The Mayor said that he endorse everything that had fallen from Cr. Swan. During the six years that Mr Peppercorne had occupied tbe office of municipal engineer he had served the borough faithfully. The permanent levels were not fixed during the early portion of Mr Peppercorn's term office, and his work in connection with street formation was a difficult one. During the progress of the water works scheme it had been constantly said that there would never be any |. water in the reservoir, but these works had been a decided success, and reflected the greatest credit upon their late engineer. Mr Pepper* come would carry away with him the respect and regard of the whole borough, and he (the Mayor) wished him happiness and success wherever he went. He seconded the adoption of the report. The report was adopted unanimously. WOHKS PROGRESS REPORT. The works progress report was then read, and ordered to be received. INSPECTOR OF NUISANCE REPORT. A report was read from the Inspectoi of Nuisances, stating that during the month of January various nuisances had been remedied, but none of them was of such importance as to necessitate legal proceedings against the offenders. Complaints had been made by many persons that they could not use the sewerage pipes to carry oft the surplus water from their yards, but in most cases he found that their yards were lower than the pipes, During January he had caused a number of dead dogs to be buried, but he had been unable to discover the names of the owners of the animals. FINANCE COMMITTEE. On the motion of Or. de Lisle, Cr. Monteith was appointed to fill the vacancy in the Finance Committee caused by the resignation of Cr. McVay. Cr. Monteith was also appointed to sign cheques. PERMANENT LEVELS. Cr. Ellis moved, by leave without notice, " That the engineer be instructed to prepare plans showing the permanent levels on tbe flat parts of the borough — the work to be done at the engineer's earliest convenience." He said he had heard several complaints that people erecting buildings in some parts of tbe borough had no plans of the levels to go by. An instance had occurred the other day in connection with the erection of the infant school, the contractor for which had been told that the level of the street could not be given to him within one or two feet. In the streets where there were no drainage works the levels were not known. He did not wish the Council to go to any expense. What he wished was that the engineer should do the plans during his leisure. Cr. M'Kay seconded the motion, and said if the municipal engineer had leisure to do the work there could be no objection to his taking it in hand. Cr. M'Dougall could not support the motion. If the work was done well it would be one of great magnitude, and if not done thoroughly it would be time wasted. He did not see that the engineer would have time at his disposal for Buch work.

After further discussion the motion was withdrawn.

This concluded the business of the ordinary meeting.

SPECIAL MEETING.

BYE LAWS,

The business of tbe meeting was to confirm bye laws 19 and 20, passed by the Council on the sth of January. On the motion of Cr. Ellis, seconded by Cr. De Lisle, these bye-laws were confirmed. The Council then adjourned.