CITY COUNCIL.

Evening Star, Issue 3765, 18 March 1875, Page 2

CITY COUNCIL.

At yesterday’s meeting there were present the Mayor and all the Councillors.

Among the miscellaneous business, a letter was received from the Superintendent, thankmg the Council for the respect which had been paid to his wife’s memory, and the expressions of kindly sympathy towards himself, of which he would always entertain a grateful remembrance. The Water Committee’s recommendation that, owing to the present short supply of water, no water-troughs should be supplied free, was, after some discussion, adopted. The following letter from the Inspector of Nuisances was referred to the Bye-laws Committee :

The Inspector of Nuisances would respectfully brmg under the notice of the City Council the sanitary state of the City, os described by seven 1 geutlemen—one terms it beastly, another dreadful, and a third something worse. If the City in general is m such a state the inspector must have grossly neglected his duty, and if so, why have there been so many complaints about his officiousness p The Inspector acmes that the City is in such a filthy state as regards private premises, but it is both beastly and dreadful as regards property under the control of the Government, City Council, and ahsentces. The Inspector will describe, in as few words as possible, the nuisances he refers to. viz Government land between Castle street and the railway—a swamp, now mode the receptacle for all manner of rubbish and filth—on authorised manure aepot; the watercourse from Keast and McCarthy's brewery to the beach, now an open sewer: the watercourse in Brown and Conongate streets; the watercourse from Dowling street via the Octagon baths; and the street channels, which receive all the slop water from the different dwelling-houses abutting thereon. The nuisances on sections owned by absentees are well-known, and need no description. If these nuisances are abated the City will be comparatively clean, hut strictly speaking it will never be clean under the present system, even were there fifty inspectors. Ono cause is that there is no regulation as to water-closets and the removal of nightso:u. . . . .There are other causes as great as that named, and, if the City is in the state described in the summary, it is not through his neglect, hut from causes over which he has no control, A few days ago the Inspector saw in one of the daily papcis a statement that eight persons were residing in a two-roomed house and that there was no closet attached to the bouse. The writer must be mistaken, as the Inspector is aware that there was a closet to the premises when the writer visited them. The Reserves Committee recommended that tfae Government be offered half the Pilleul street frontage of the Octagon Market Reserve in exchange for the present Supreme Court House site. .The Committee did not consider it advisable to alienate the land referred to in Mr Watt’s letter, but suggested that the Government and City Engineers should confer together, with a view to economising the available space, in order to accommodate a Town Hall as well as a Supreme Court House. That, without prenrL.lce ’ late annual tenants on the and Quays Reserve who may signify there desire, on or beforeTriday next, to accept half valuation for their buildings or the right of removal, be allowed the alternative; the City Surveyor’s valuation to be final. A letter was read from the Under-Secretary, requesting that sections 6 and 7, Wharves and Quays Reserve, Dunedin, portions of which it was proposed to lease, might be withdrawn, the whole of these sections being required for railway purposes; and the Government was not aware that the stipulation made on the 16th November, 1868, when the Government approved of the leasing of the Wharves and Quays Reserve,that sections 6,7, and 8 should be reserved, had ever been removed. Instructions had been given by the Committee to reserve part of section 7 and all section 8 from sale, as it appeared that the Government would require the land for railway extension purposes. The Committee resolved that section 6 be put up for leasing. It had been deter-

mmed to insert in the conditions of sale the usnal provuionß relative to renewal; to fix no apeoifie tune in which new tenants must build; mova 0 B? e i! t m?- auy °. u *? oin » tenant my remove his buildings within thirty days of the date ol .afe, Wlta, which the CSwcTlo ha“ Ktw T^ tll9baildin P within a further dilSi^lwi lI K r u^ ysj plso * to that any dilapidated buildings must be removed within b f S G Government relative to the ex change of the present Supreme Court House site for portion of the Octagon Reserve In the OiTfiu th f i° U ° W the roadingof tUs report Ora. Fish and Prosser expressed the opinion that it wtw the duty of the Council to resent the wl. r f erence i be Superintendent with fJIS^. V jv n u ,9 u ays Reserves, and the SSIl tat i-5 18^ 6llef that thtt Council were ausfni ly 3 T? fie i d m Wtobg the sections up to auction. The clause of the report referring to the reserve was negatived, Cr. Grant declining . ro 5 a °d consideration of the clause referS a fort Sighl 0r the Supreme Court adjourned Committee recommended that for the future cftedto°fl2“ Cl - ty>tbo newkm P Blatel y all °- prSls tbe . v ™» wards be net at present the SolnHnul h j? x? ye l lawß Committee that relative to giving twenty-four hours notice jprevious to summoning for nni(b» ! but thattt d ioetruotyPf \ ctoT of Nuiaancoa to give uonresident landlords notice in ordinary cases of sac to »—btbs th,%a ssns£'&ss*”ss* tr m n Engineer should show how he proposed to cross todiSted™ V?? foot P aths itt «»£ places A tramway across a road was very different to one along it, the channels being th^S° r£qUrt 5 enm< 5 heß helow the crown of the roadway, and provision had to be made for the channel water to pass. Now that CrawSul7jvr<f* rb ? d a u d duuMld led ) Messrs argill and M Lean s railway crossing made a Enef ly 3UnCtlofl with the footpath and F .ro ance Committee recommended that £ b^ cipal ra t« for the year 1876 be fixed at 15d ro the pound. That the United Fire Insurance Companies be informed that unless they raise their annual subscription in aid of supporting the Fire Brigade to L3OO per andiscontinue supporting R - Robertson (SngS keeper) be granted an increase of L 25 per anhouse accommodation beprortatbi T? a m the Proposed hew fire-engine station. The Town Clerk was instructed to write to the Dunedin Waterworks Company OUnC ? Was wiUin * *° "bitrate both the questions of account unsettled between the Conned and the Company. The committee F St ? b ’ s t ? nder for LBOO value of City 6 per cent, bonds at par. This was the J y £ d f accented. Hie report was adopted, ViL - b romarkmg that the committee were determined to carry out the clause referring to the insurance companies. be Public Works committee recommended S a J U TT ?£ mo ( aey j L4 > fo, rod on Mr Barnes’s desk at Union street quarry works be adverHj d ' }* upt claimed, be handed to the Benevolent Institution; that the Government Xfff t0 fouce'across the railway at Rattray street, and at two other adjacent crossing places m centre of city—at present the gates Pa^v 6 i Wltb J be railway and across the tw Si bl f b f ? u , nd tO , be objectionable; that all contract asphaltmg be discontinued for the present, except in very urgent cases, this step being recommended, as it appeared to be an absolute necessity to reduce the current outlay for the time being ; that screenings be used for repairs to asphalte footpaths, and that no new contracts or works be undertaken at present; r!f. n ° + . redu^ 10 " ba made in th e day the f Government be requested to extend the area for the proposed Municipal Gasworks site, by the extent of the area between the rear of sections 44 to 47, block 1, Quays Reserve, and railway line; that the clause of the surveyor s report, estimating the cost of extension of drainage and sewerage at L 4.000 he over for a time ; and that the crossing applied for by the Government at the old passenger station be declined. *