Levi Borough Council

Levin Daily Chronicle, 5 June 1917, Page 2

Levi Borough Council

« ORDINARY FORTXIG'HTLY MEETING. Levin Borough Council held its ordinary fortnightly meeting on Monday evening. The mayor (Mr O. Bleirkliorn) presided, and there .also we,re present: Councillors (D. W. Matheson, J5. S. Lancaster, E. JJryson, K. Aitken, W. Bull, W. R.yder, arid D. B'. Mackenzie. WAIOPEHU DOMAIN. Tile council first sat as a domain board. Regarding the proposal to eradicate fern frbm the Wiaiopehu Reserve (Queen-street), Councillors Lancaster and Ryder agreed that the best means to adopt would to run young stock on it. Councillor (Lancaster said that the planting of big trees to kill the fern would be a worse thing than the fern; the big trees would spoil the growth of more than the fern. Councillor Ryder supported the suggestion to preserve an open space in this hoserve for beneft of picnickers. A suggestion that the ' council make an inspection of the reserve before coming to a decision was unanimously agreed to. LEVIN DOMAIN BOARD. Sitting as the Levin Domain Board a short discusion was held concerning the proposal to establish golf links - on ■on the old racecourse reserve. Incidental t the discussion, Councillor Ha the.son asked where did the revenue come from. . Ho had understood hat the council supplied the money but he had been told that this was not so; that the board had revenues of its own. The mayor said that was so; tliere was £65 per annum coming in as rent from the reserve. Of course it must be remembered that Mr Kirkcaldie had a right to the grazing, and if this was interfered with lie might come to the board for a reduction, of rent Councillor Lancaster: Joist so, and he would be entitled to it, too. Councillor Mackenzie asked if all this revenue had to be spent on improving the reserve. The mayor said yies: the monev could not be used for expenditure off the, reserve. (Councillor (Rtycter remarked tliafl part of the researve was flood'ed occasionally in winter, and lie asked how would that affect golf. The town clerk remarked that he believed the art of golf partly consisted in safely negotiating difficult places. (Laughter). Eventually the matter of golf links was left in abeyance, pending the mayor interviewing .Mr Kirkcaldie as to whether .lie would take a crop oft the reserve in spring or not till summer. T'ifi iborough foreman reported tha.t some trees had been pulled up by young horses reaching over the fence and nibbling at them. He asked foi authority to procure more trees and

This authority was given by the plant them.. board. LEVIN- PARK DOMAIN, Slitting as Levin Park Diomain Board, the council received a report from the town clerk that £10 wa3 forthcoming as giazing rights for tho reserve; the reserve was self-support-ing. He asked the council for autli- » ority to have,the trees pruned and otherwise seen to by tho council's • staff (day labor). This authority was granted. BOROUGH COUNCIL BUSLNIESS. Lengthy correspondence ■■ was received from tho National Superannuation. Fund director concerning the council's enquiry as to "a superannuation scheme for the council's employees. It showed that the rates 'of premium would- run from 4 per cent to 5 and 6 per cent of the employees' wages. The mayor (by liis reckoning) said . that the contributions would inn from about 'Is 3d to 9d per week. So far as'he could see, the.-council, would not - s , benefit its ' .'employee® by -. requiring ■■ this; their ages. were, too , high ajid ... them to come under such . a scheme as - their length of service already . too long from an actuarial ..viewpoint. He suggested that the. matter be referred, to the finance committee. The mayor's swggSktipn was - adop-, . ted. . OXFORD STREET LIGHTING. Councillor (Lancaster introduced, a.,.... •deputation, comprised of Messrs Goldsmith , Robertson and Cork, bearing u petition signed by 111 ratepayers..., and burgesses, respectfully asking- the. council to reconsider its resolution. to . do away with the present system of lighting Oxford street.. Councillor Lancaster said that the . petitioners felt strongly), against the (proposed change, and he was thoroughly in ac- . cord with them, though he had had nothing to do with tlio promotion of the petition. He. understood' it ljad • been voluntarily signed ; if there had been canvassing many more sig- , , ~ natures would have .been obtained. r_ Che ratepayers whosignedthe peti- . fcion represented - a taxing value 0f..,, £107,049. ' . Y Mr Goldsmith, said that "the petitioners were of opinion that the pre- , sent system of lighting Oxford street 1 was good, and that what was proposed to take its place was not as good. The petition was signed by l people anxious to sign it; by people who ■ought the council had acted some- " , wjjiat hastily, and was proposing to do away with one of the town's chief i ornaments. To him the proposal' seemed to be one to put the town back to the level of some of the villages round about it. He feared too that if the sidelight scheme of lighting was adopted the" .street trees i would be found in the way and. even-... ~ tually would have to ; . come .out. Levin there were some citizens not very friendly to the trees,' and this new would give them a handle to'turn. The public, so far as it could judge of the case, found that the only reason for the change was on the score of expense." That,, he submitted, was not a sufficient reason; The mayor said that the council's gas manager had told the council that with the sidelight scheme '- he could illuminate the streets much Wetter than with the present system'. Por himself, the mayor Vid doubts as. to . the fate of the street, trees: that had . influenced him largely and ; in fact it was his chief reason for. being oh the. minority side. As to the scheme itself, he reallyl believed that,' if the , new scheme came in and .was ...found, as satisfactory as the ' gas manage*, had promised, the public would- won- : ~ der what all 'the trouble , had been about. ; ' Mr Robertson asked whether the proposed ecomomy contemplated by . • the gasworks manager included the extinguishment of l&nips at 10 .p.m. ■ The mayor said ■he did not think ; that was the scheme; at any rate, councillors had not attached special importance to that aspect. ( Councillor Matheson remarked that the gasworks manager had' pointed out that certain lights could be kept burning later than others, if needed, by using clocks to extinguish them. Councillor Lancaster challenged the statements ho had just listened to;' undoubtedly the proposal was to extinguish the lights at 10 p.m.; and further, the gas manager's chief point was in regard to economy. . Mr Goldsmith asked in what respect was the gas manager—who might ,be a' most excellent expert in his trade —an expert in regard-to, street lighting or ornament? If the question . was one of gas manufacture the case ivould be different; but surely the public, and the councillors, were as much experts as any, gas manager.. iDr Bryson remarked that' the sub- . urbs of London had alternate trees and lamps, and the trees were trimmed in such a way that the leaves were not in the way of the lamps". - ■Mr Cork suggested that in (Loudon they did not have telegraph wires in the way as they did here. Councillor Matheson asked the deputation where the new system ,of lighting would affect the trees. Mr Goldsmith said the trees on the northern corner of Oxford-street-Queeii-street was one "base. Councillor Matheson went on to say that tlife public jftbrary oo»rnetr was a case where the trees were an inter-

feronce with light under the present central system. Tie deputation then withdrew. Tho mayor said tike council and himself were in office to carry out • the express wishes of burgesses. Councillor Bull: The petitioners total only one-eighteen/th of the borough population. / Councillor Lancaster: That's not so you must estimate it on the number of ratepayers, not the number of men, women and children. The mayor, afer reading the petition, said the petitioner® represented eighty ratepayers and twentiy)-six householders, and £107,000 in ratable value. - Councillor Lancaster said the petition wag thoroughly representative of the town; and seeing that the mater , could easily he got over without removing the central pedestals, it wa: the council's duty to reconsider the ■ matter. He (believed the council could get the lights extinguished i'ot £10 a year, and thus the difficulty of the ""boosting" troubles could b$ overcome. iHe was sure,' from personal knowledge, that the gas man* djgers main object in advocating the change was to enable the whole of the lamps to fee extinguished from the gasworks, and at the same time minimiisfel the "boosting" trouble. By extinguishing the Oxford-street lamps by hand this trouble could be overcome. Dr Bryson asked' would not the tar around the roots of the trees (as at present) help to ikill the trees, and would not the proposed change help to let air into the trees and so tend to preserve them. . Councillor Lancaster: I have travelled the world, too, and I have seen trees giwing well that had been established for one hundred years, with alspbalt all over them. , Councillor Aitken challenged the assertions that Oxford'-st/reet was well lit at present. It was far from well li. He did not believe that the ' new system woul imperil the trees at all. Councillor Bull remarked that if the gas manager's report had been published in the newspaper (the public Would have 'been better informed. Since Councillor Bull had explained the position to two people who had signed the petition they had changed their opinions. ', / Councillor Matheson said 'that he would guarantee that a petition cou'd foe taken around and it would Ibe as well signed as the one now before < he oouncil. If anyone could show him a ."better sytem than the present one he would be prepared to back down (hear, hearl) But could they do it? The gas manager recommended the present system, and was prepared' to ' bao kthe gas manager; he should know more than the councillors. It had to be admitted that the present system was unsatisfactory, and that it could not be made to 'anWer as well as the new one. _As to the contention that the town still should be lit all night, that was absurd ; the practice had come in' only to protect the council flgains risk of accident arising from the central pillars. The new scheme, he said, would save the borough £131 in five years'; - Councillor Mackenzie said it had been said in the press that these central lamps had been erected on the advice of an eminent expert. He would like to know if the "booster" system was recommended by the same expert. Councillor Lancaster: Mr Blackman suggested the system' of lighting ' the streets; the booster system was recommended Iby, Mr Shaw. The mayor: Mr Blackman ireoommended: the booster, too, didn't lie? The town, clerk: He. had another scheme;/ not the present "booster" one. ■Councillor Mackenzie: Who are we to look for advice P There aTe two doors now gasworks, and I am told by psr presest manager that these cost £32 10s and yet were not to his liking; that he could get better service from cither door obtainable for £20. The presen manager was not responsible for the purchase at £32 10By (Councillor Maokenze /tooik it th'ajt the present manager should be baoked against the experts who had preceded him. (He was, however, thoroughly of opinon that the petition presented that night was representative and he would not object to the scheme being referred back to committee for furthej- yoonsideratilon, though personally he had heard Nothing so far to change his attitude; though he would gve fair consideration to any alternative scheme that might be submitted. The town olerk read a minute to show that the doors spoken of by Councillor Mackenzie had been secured by Mr Blackman on mn instruction gjrrcp by the council on the recommendation of Mr Burrell, the present gas manager. The mayor said he would put it to the* council as a straight-out opinion I tha the council resolve yea or nay 1 wliether the pedestals would have to

be removed. He would take any amendment. Councilor Lancaster moved that the resolution now vstanciifig i«i jclve booKs of the council ("that the lamps in tlie centre of Oxford street be removed ') be rescinued; the motion to come on for discussion at next; meeting of the council; meanwhile the gas emmiUeo to farther consider tho matter, and a decisive rote to be taken at next council meeting. Councillor M f itheson suggested that the mattei* be referred direct to the lighting committee; if there was to be any recission, the intiative should oome from the gas lighting committee, in the form of a suggestion. lEventnally - Councillor Lancaster's was agreed to. The balance of the report will appear in our next issue.