BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Kumara Times, Issue 2963, 1 May 1886, Page 2

BOROUGH COUNCIL.

The ordinary meeting of the Borough Council was held in the Town Hall on Thursday evening; present—His Worship the Mayor (H. Burger, Esq.), Councillors Maloney, Killeen, Olden, Fitzsimons, Jorgensen, Anderson, Mulvihill and MTlroy. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. The outward correspondence was read and approved of. The inward correspondence was read and received, and considered. HOSPITALS AND CHARITABLE AID MAINTENANCE. Mr John Peake, Secretary to the Westland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board wrote on the 16th nit., to his Worship the Mayor of Kuraara as follows : Sir—By direction of this Board and in accordance with sections 21 and 24 of the “ Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act” I have the honour to forward you statement showing the estimated amount of expenditure required by the Board for the maintenance of Hospitals and Charitable Institutions in this district, for the year ending 31st March, 1887, also the proportion required to he paid by each local contributing authority as follows: The estimated amount• required from local contributing bodies for the maintenance of Hospitals and Charitable Institutions for the year ending 31st March, 1887, is £1350. Proportion to be paid by each local contributing authority according to its rateable value of property : Total for Monthly Year. Payments. County Council £ s. cl. £ s. d. Westland ... 627 0 0 52 5 0 Borough Council Hokitika ... 448 10 0 37 7 G Kuraara ... 147 0 0 12 5 0 Boss 127 10 0 10 12 G £1350 0 0 £ll2 10 0 On the motion of Cr. Maloney, seconded by Cr. Anderson, the sum of £l2 ss, levy for the month of April to the Hospitals and Charitable Aid Board, was passed for payment. CORRESPONDENCE. A memorandum was recived from the Property Tax Commissioner, in reply to a demand by the Town Clerk for rates on Crown lands, stating that he was preparing a roll of lands rateable to the Crown in the Borough of Kutnara, which would shortly he forwarded. Telegram From R. J. Seddon, Esq., M.H.R., dated Hokitika, April 17, apprising the Mayor of the approach to Kumara of Mr Larnrch, Minister of Mines, with suggestions as to recept'On.—Received. Letters from Bank of Hew Zealand giving amount of gold purchased and stated by the sellers thereof to have been obtained within the borough, The amount from January 8 to April 2 was 20nz-n B'lwts Sets. The Town Clerk was cli> eated to call the attention of the Banks of New South Wales and National Bank of New Zealand to the legal enactments requiring similar declarations of the gold purchased by them. Mi Charles Reiha wrote sta ing that he was the on.|y resvlnnt m Main street whose frontage had not boon cleared j

of stumps and rushes, nor graveled, and soliciting attention.—On the motion of the Mayor, seconded by Cr. Mulvihill, the letter of Mr Reilia was referred to the Public Works Committee, with power to act.

Letter from Mr C. F. Holmes, soliciting the. patronage of the Council to a lecture he intends giving at the Theatre Royal, One (if tw i questions Mr Holmes pioposed to answer amon® other subjects of his lecture is—Was God justified, according to man's justice, in punishing Phavoah as he did ?”—After due consideration, it was tesolved that Mr Holmes be informed that the Council could not take any part in the management, |,ut t j,. councillors would do what they con'd privately. HALF-YEARLY AND YEARLY STATEMENTS OP ACCOUNTS. The Town Clerk laid upon the table the half-yearly and yearly balance-sheets and statements of accounts, and the Auditors’ reports, for the year ending March 31, 1886. They show the total an on a. I income of the boromdi to have been £lß2l 14s 10d. It was resolved that the attention of the Borough Inspector he directed to vaiiou.s remarks in the Auditor’s report. FINANCE. The. Town Clerk read the Finance Committee s report. It recommended the payment of monthly accounts amounting to £66 7s 6d; £23 10s to Mr J. Gilbert, contract account; and 10s to Mr Thomas, for coach-hire. These amounts were ail passed for payment. Mr J. Cairns applied for a progress payment of £95 on contract.—On” the motion of the Mayor, seconded by Cr. Killeen, this amount was passed for payment, subject to the work being approved and certified to by the Public Works Committee. [At 9.8 p.m. the Council adjourned m order to hold the special meeting for hearing and determining any objections there might be to the Burgess List, and for confirming the same.] NUISANCES. The report of the Inspector of Nuisances was read and received. TIMBER CUTTING LICENSES. Cr. Jorgensen now moved the resolution of which he had given notice, as follows: “ That sub-section 1 of Bye-law No. 5 ba repealed, and that the Town Clerk be instructed to publish the necessary notices of such repeal, in accordance with the “Municipal Corporations Act.”

The Mayor stated that a bye-law would have to be made to enable the Council to deal with this motion. The motion was therefore held in abeyance.

Or. Mulvihiil, by notice, then moved “That tln> rcsoutinn of this Council on the 28th May, 1884, ‘that all persons cutting timber for sale on the Borough deserve be charged the sum of £1 per annum,’ be rescinded ; and that the Council do now consider the propriety o{ .fixing the charges (if any) to be paid.” This was not a fair tax; only only a few hard-working men were paying a license who were making perhaps only 30s a week. ° Cr. Killeen seconded the motion, fie thought it a very unfair tax. Mr Burger said he could not agree with the mover of the resolution & for several reasons; first of all, as far as be knew, the complaint was more from people who held licenses, complaining that other people working on the Reserve were not made to take out licenses, but he thought if people who were cutting limber for themselves' were made (o take out licenses it would be veiy hard for the miners, who already had to pay <£l for a miner’s right. For instance, the"e aie already a good many miners working within the borough; we receive ail the revenue from them ; would it then be right to make them take out a license to cut timber ? He thought not ; in fact, the resolution which Cr. Mulvihiil tried to rescind was specially passed by the Council to bring the people who are cutting timber for sale and the miners on an equal Footing; and he thought the Council should think twice before thev acted too hastily. The Council had great expenses in keeping the road good, and as long as they did that he thought there would be no complaints. Crs. Olden and MTlroy spoke in favour of tbe motion. Cr. Mulvihiil, in replying, stated that he considered that it was unfair for poor men who were only making just a living by cutting timber (o be taxed, whilst well-to-do residents of Ivimiara can and do send men down to cut wood for their own use, without having to pay any tax at all. h was like taking Mm bread out of the poor men’s moirhs Th-m should be u > tax at all ; tin* Coir ci’ should encourage all labouring mm i • make the- licit living they can in tb,

A division was taken with the following result:—Ayes—Crs. Killeen, Olden, Mul vibill, MTlroy; Noes—The Mayor, Crs. Anderson, Fitzsimons, Jorgenson, Maloney, The motion was therefore declared lost.

This concluded the business of the Council.