CITY COUNCIL.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2158, 25 January 1881, Page 3

CITY COUNCIL.

The Council met at 7 p.m. Preserit —His Worship the Mayor, Crs. Lambert, England, Hulbert, Cuff, King, Vincent, Oherrill, Treleaven, Bishop.

The debit balance at the Bank was stated as being £953 16s 9d. The receipts for the two weeks were announoed as £474 18s 4d. Accounts to the amount of £35614s lOd were passed and ordered to be paid. The Mayor brought under the notioe of the Council the bursting up of the asphalt© by the roots of trees, which was becoming a very serious matter.

Or. Lambert said that the works oommittee had studied this matter immediately on their assuming office, but up to the present had been unable to suggest any remedy, as they found that when the trees were cut down the growth came up through the pavement as bad as ever.

Or. Hulbert said that the surveyor was considering what remedy should be adopted. Or. King suggested that trenches should be cut between the fenoe and the asphalte. The matter then dropped. On the motion of Or. King, the sum of £lO was passed to be' paid for the guarantee policy of the new rate collector. Or. Lambert apologised for the absence of Crs. Thomson and Ayers. A letter was read from Mr Wilkinson, asking for a refund of the fine in a case of a breach of the building by-law, the person fined being an old woman whose means of support weresomewhat precarious. Crs. Cuff and England thought that it would be a bad precedent if they remitted this fine.

The application was refused. A letter was read from Mr J. Forbes Smith, rate collector, forwarding his guarantee polioy for £SOO. A letter was read from the Cricket Association, asking the Mayor to request the citizens to close their places of business at noon on the Monday and Tuesday of the match with the Australian Eleven.

Or. Cuff moved that the request be granted. Or. Hulbert seconded the motion, whioh was agreed to. A letter was read from Ching Wong and others, pointing out that they were injured in their business as market gardeners by unlicensed vendors of vegetables, and asking that the Council would pass a by-law preventing the hawking of vegetables unless by licensed persons. The letter was referred to the by-law oommittee.

A letter was read from the city valuer, forwarding the assessment for the year 1881. The valuations in the various wards, as compared with last year, were stated as follows: North-west ward, £48,655, or £1646 increase; north-east do, £52,538, increase €958; southwest, £43,937, increase £804; south-east, £79,464, inorease £2201; or a grand total valuation of £224,594, being a total increase of £5609.

A deputation from the Cabmen's Society, comprising Mr Lamb and two others, waited on the Council to ask them to grant a reduction of licenses to £1 per oab and 10s per driver, and that there should be no reduction in case of a license being taken out for six months, because in the latter case men came in just when the summer season was in swing to the detriment of those who stuck to the business during the whole year. The deputation then retired. The following return of the amounts re* ceived for licenses from January Ist to June 30th, was laid on the table :—Drivers, 120 at 20s, £120; oab owners, 89 at 40s, £l7B ; borough stage, 16 at 40s, £32 ; carriers, 81 at 30s, £l2l 10s; hawkers, 21 at 20«, £2l; kerosene, 38 at 20j, £3B ; public amusements, 4at 20s and 1 at 10s, £4 10s. Total, £515. Amounts received for licenses from July Ist to Deoember 31st:—Drivers, 16 at 20s, £l6 ; owners, 2at 40s, £4; borough stage, lat£2 j carriers, 10 at 15s, £7los ; hawkers, 4at 10s, £2. Total, £3l 10s. Cr. Hulbert moved that the former resolution respecting the half-yearly license fees of cabmen be resoinded.

Cr. Cuff seconded the motion, which was agreed to. Cr. Bishop moved a resolution that the fees be—owners* licenses, £1 10s; drivers' ditto, 15s per annum. This was seconded by Cr. Cuff, and agreed to. Messrs B. Cass, J. V. Ross, and F. A. Bishop attended as a deputation on the part of the residents in the Market place to request the removal of the stonebreaking depot and the urinal in the Market square, and presented a memorial to that effect, signed by twenty-seven householders and owners of property in the locality. Crs. Lambert and Bishop pointed out that it was the intention of the Council not to allow the stonebreaking in the Market square to go on. Messrs Bishop and Ross spoke strongly on the question of the removal of the urinal. Cr. Bishop moved— " That the matter of the urinal be referred to the sanitary committee to report." Or. Cherrill seoonded the motion, which was agreed to. After some remarks from Crs. King and Bishop as to the necessity of establishing a stone breaking depot outside the city, it was resolved that the works oommittee be requestel to take into their consideration the advisableness of establishing a permanent stonebreaking depot. Adeputation wasintrodueed from the stonebreakers, stating that if they were employed again they would like to have a division of stomo, so that the old men might have a chance of earning a little. They did not wish to eat the bread of oharity, asd, therefore, they asked the Oounoil to give them work if it were possible. In reply to questions, the city surveyor said that he was unable to see how he could utilise these men. He had not the work to give them. After a lengthened disoussion, the matter was referred to the works oommittee to see if any employment could be given to these men. The report of the city surveyor was read as follows t—--1. The contract for two water carts was given to Messrs Anderson and Son. 2. An application I has been made for a lamp in Cathedral square, and the applicants propose to erect it at their I own coßt if the Council will light it. The works committee recommended that the application bo

granted. The application is annexed hereto. 3. The sections and specifications for the work on the South belts have been ssnt in by the Sydenham Council' for approval. On the 3rd of tbia month I reported to the on this ratject aH follows : 1 have Tf.mvcd from Dobson and- Son a section skewiae tun propped 'ovels of tho n-rath eido of thrt Ooutb hot, wtijjh Ihave approved of. I asked Mr Oobjon if he had received any i »h"nt the concreio "bunncls, atd he ' informed mo thnt he fcad not. It appears, howera', th'ot to iiirn and Fhinglß tho road is to i begin at iho wrung: end of the work, an it is uot the shape of tho road that has always been complained of bnt the want of means for carrying off the drainage, and if it is again formed with earth channels it will soon get into as had a state again as it now is, and the offensive smells complained of will still exist. I find the shingle for the road : specified by the Sydenham Conncil is less than my estimate by three yards per I lineal chain', and the culverts are specified to be built of timber. The works committee recom • mend that the proposed work be not approved of unless the concrete channels are first constructed. 4 Information- concerning the lighting of other towns has been received and it has been pnt in a tabulated form and laid on the table. 5. I have received instructions from the works committee to have repaired the worst of the bad places in the asphalt footpaths. C. One case heard last Monday in the Resident Magistrate's Conn, for breach of building by-law, was decided in favour of the Council, .'.ast week eight informations were laid for breach of building by-law, some of which were withdrawn, as the parties have since complied with the bylaw, and the others were decided in the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning in favour of the Council. 7. The works committee have purchased a horse, which has baen tried and found to be in every way suitable for the Council's works. A number of building licenses have been granted during the month of December.— C. Walkden, City Surveyor. Tho report was considered seriatim with respect to the question of the lamp at the corner of the newly formed right-of-way from Cathedral square to Gloucester street. Or. Cherrill moved—" That the matter be referred to tho works committee, with power to grant the request if it is proposod to erect a lamp-post." Or. Yincent seconded the motion, which was agreed to. Tho remainder of the report was approved. Cr. Lambert asked how it was that there was a sacred concert given on Sunday evening in the Theatre Royal, when the building had only a temporary permit for Saturday and Monday. The Mayor replied that there was an application for a license before the Oounoil. Or. Lambert called attention to the fact that the old Post-Office was open on Sundays for the sale of tea and coffee. Now they had prevented a man named Benoit from gelling tea and coffee on the Market square, and ho thought it was hardly fair to make a difference between the places. He should move—- •' That the tenant of the old Post-Office be informed that he must close his premises on Sunday night." : Or. England seconded the motion. Or. Cherrill moved "That the matter be referred to tho reserves committee to report npon." Or. Treleaven seconded the amendment. The amendment was then put and carried. An application was received from Mr Oh Beatty asking for a lioense for the Theatre Royal. The Mayor said that he had had several letters and a number of gentlemen had also waited upon him with reference to the Council interfering so as to prevent any repetition of such exhibitions as had been given recently. The lioense, tberefore, came before them that evening. Or. Cherrill moved " That the license he granted as before for all week days, except Christmas Say and Good Friday." Or. Lambert seoonded the motion, and commented upon the fact that the by-laws now revealed that their powers were very much larger than was stated to them some time back by the late Mayor. ' Or. Vincent asked whether there was any report as to the means of egress from the theatre in case of fire.

The town clerk said the surveyor would examine the building and report upon it, as he deeired to examine the theatre minutely.

The resolution was then put, and agreed to. The licences to both of the Oddfellows' Halls were then granted on the same terms. Or. Oherrill remarked that there were some exhibitions given under the name of religious services, which were most objectionable, and over which they ought to have a hold, [Hear, hear.] Several other licenses were granted.

Or. Treleaven was elected as a member of the sanitary committee in place of the Mayor. The Council then adjourned.