Foxton Borough Council.

Manawatu Herald, 11 April 1899, Page 2

Foxton Borough Council.

The ordinary monthly meeting was held at the Library Buildings last night

at 7.30 o'clock. Present— The Mayor (Cr Alf Fraser), and Crs J. W. Walsh, P. Hennessy, W. Purcell, W. B. Rhodes and A. S. Easton. "*

The minutes of previous meetings were read and confirmed.

The inward and outward correspondence was read. Proposed by the Mayor, seconded by Cr Purcell, That the flaxmill site applied for by P. Hennessy be granted upon the usual terms. Carried. Proposed by the Mayor seconded by Cr Purcell, That the Town Clerk be

appointed to value the land offered for sale to A. S. Easton in accordance

with section 256 of "The Municipal Corporations Act, 1886." Carried. Proposed by the' Mayor, seconded by Cr Walsh, That the clerk write to the Department of Agriculture and state that in the opinion of this Council the proposed change will be for the advantage of the public, and will relieve the local bodies of an irksome re-

sponsibility. Carried. Proposed by Cr Purcell, seconded by Cr A. S. Easton, That the name of Austin Bros, be inserted on the rate

roll in place of.Gamman & Co. ; and that the name of Daniel Drake be

placed on the roll as owner and occupier of section No. 79, Robinson .street ; John James Kruse as owner of Lot 4, part section 492 ; R. H. Barber, as owner of section No. 102, Main-street,

in place of George Nye. Carried. Proposed by the Mayor, seconded by Cr Easton, That the resignation of Mr T. Chamberlain as lamp-lighter be accepted as from the 10th April, and that any expense incurred by the Borough in keeping lamps lighted be deducted from money due to the contractor, Mr Chamberlain. Carried. Proposed by Cr Rhodes, seconded by Cr Walsh, That tenders be called for widening and cleaning out the Avenue Drain from Spring-street to the bridge, Johnston-street. Carried. Proposed by the Mayor, seconded by Cr Hennessy, That this Council are willing to act as trustees of the Foxton Public Cemetery, and that the clerk write to the Under-secretary of Lands to that effect. Carried.

Proposed by Cr Purcell, seconded byCr Hennessy, That a meeting of the Library Committee be held at an early date to procure new books. Carried.

Proposed by the Mayor, seconded by Cr Rhodes^ That this Council approve of the private streets, aa shown on plan exhibited by Mr John Davies, being originally a part of T. U. Cook's children's estate, but do not bind themselves to take over the said streets until properly formed and metalled. Proposed by Cr Hennessy, as an amendment, seconded by Cr Purcell, That the motion just read in reference to Cook's estate private streets be forwarded to the Council's solicitor before being passed by this Council, also that the clerk be instructed to lay the position clearly before him (the solicitor), and request his opinion as to Council's standing. On being put to the meeting the" motion was lost, and the amendment carried.

Cr Walsh presented a petition signed by 20 ratepayers asking that Duncan street be metalled.

Proposed by the Mayor, seconded by Cr Purcell, that the Council undertake to make the formation and metalling of Duncan street one of the first • roads to be done. Carried, on the casting vote of the Mayor. . . The Borough Treasurer's report was v read as follows : —General account (debit), £gS 3s gd; Public Library (debit), £<j 18s 6d ; Public Reserves (debit), £41 7s 8d ; total, £149 gs iid ; Public Cemetery (credit), £i 8 149 id ; debit balance, £ xao 15s iod.

Poundkeeper' s Report*

To His Worship the Mayor. Sir, — Enclosed I forward you report of stock impounded in the public pound, and cheque for amount of driving fees. I would thank yon to draw attention to the small amount of stock impounded by the ranger for the quarter. In February there are only six head, and in March 16 head, and there would not have been so many if the roadman had not told him the cows were oa the road. I might state that the ranger has eight bead of cattle and they are mostly on the roads, and it takes most of his time to look after them and to milk, and it looks as though an agreement is made with others that have cows " keep yours from my ground and I won't trouble yon." As there are frequently cattle on the other roads it is not fair to me, as I understood the ranger's duty was to keep the roads clear of stock and bring 'them to the pound if possible. The last quarter for the last ranger was 52, and the roads open for two months during the day, and the other quarter's are much higher. There is nothing yet for this month. Report of stock impounded in the public pound, Foxton, for the quarter ending March 31st, 1899 :— January, by the ranger, 17 cattle 11 horses; February, 2 cattle 4 horses ; March, 9 cattle 7 horses ; total driving fees, £1 7s. Impounded by settlers, January, 6 horses, 2 bulls, 1 steer ; Febru-

ary, 9 cows ; March, nil.

J. Hillary, Poundkeeper. Surveyors Report.

His Worship the Mayor. Sir, — The men have been engaged during the month cleaning out drains on Russell-street, Norbiton Road, Walker-street, Nye-street, Coley-street, The Avenue, Howan-strect, Bakerstreet and Stewart-street. . Cleaning weeds off Cycling track and filling in ruts No. 1 Line.

Contractors have been at work cleaning out Government and Symons' and No. 2 Line drains, and Guerins outlet.

Fifteen lamp containers and burners are needed for street lamps as the old^. ones are nearly all worn ont and hav^been repaired repeatedly. Proposed byCr Purcell, seconded by Cr Hennessy, That the report of various . Committees as read be adopted. Carried.

The accounts, amounting to £73 183 3d. were passed for payment.

Proposed by Cr Hennessy, seconded by Cr Purcell, That provided the opinion ofthe Council's solicitor be favourable to the Council's seal being attached to the plans of Cook's Estate, and .that His Worship ihe Mayor, Crs Rhodes and Walsh affix the Council's Baal. Carried. Proposed by the Mayor, seconded 4!ry Cr Hennessy, That this Council accepted the tender of Mr Maurice O'Connor for building the traffic bridge over the Manawatu River at Wirokino on the Main Road between Foxton and Levin for the sum of £4352 1 6s. Bd. and that the common seal be affixed to the contract in the presence of the Council. Carried. Proposed by the Mayor, seconded by Cr Rhodes, That the Town Clerk write to the Surveyor General and inform him that the Council has

accepted the tender of Mr Maurice O'Connor at £4352 16s. Bd. for erection of the traffic bridge over the Manawatu River at Wirokino, and request that copy of the agreement * signed by Minister of Lands may be forwarded as soon as possible. Carried. Proposed by the Mayor, seconded by Cr Purcell that the Town Clerk write to the Manawatu and Horowhenua

County Council's and intimate that this Council has let the contract for .J. uilding Wirikino bridge to Mr Maurice "O'Connor for the sum of £4352 16s Bd, and ask that they will kindly make pro vision for part payment of their proportion ot the cost as soon as possible, and that it is now possible the bridge may not cost more than £5000. The Council went into Committee and passed the following motion : — Proposed by Cr Fraser, seconded by Cr Hennessy, That this Council agrees to pay James E. Fulton the sum of £310 as per his letter of March 10th, and that this amount shall cover all charges in connection with the designing aud engineering supervision of ,the traffic bridge at Wirokino, also cost ot extra drawing and printing, and of any extras that may arise in connection with the contract. Carried. On resuming, tenders for streetlighting were opened. Proposed by Cr Rhodes, seconded by Cr Purcell, That the tender of Hans Andresen be accepted for streetlighting.