Motueka Borough Council.

Motueka Star, Volume I, Issue 14, 27 September 1901, Page 4

Motueka Borough Council.

The ordinary monthly meeting of the Council was held on Tuesday evening. Present: —Messrs Hursthouse (Mayor in the chair) Ryder, Knapp, Satherley, Tarrant, Simpson, Wratt, Thorpe and Rankin.

The minutes of last meeting were lead and confirmed.

His Worship the Mayor after thanking the Council for,its letter of sympathy in his recent bereavement, gave a detailed and interesting account of his mission to Wellingtnn to give evidence before the Petitions Committee, in connection with the. Harbor Board question. He expected to receive the report of the committee shortly, and although he could not say what the result would be, there was every reason to expect a favorable reply. The matter was in the hands of the member for the district who, no donbt, would look after their interests. Mr Hursthouse, in referring t:> the expenses incurred in connection with the visits, stated that the clerk Mr Otterson had prepared a. voucher for its payment but the Chairman of the Committee, Mr Symes,, had refused to sign it on the ground that he had no claim on. the Colony. He had attended at the suggestion of Mr-McKenzif, and on belialf of the parties interested, and though not summoned by- the Chairman of the Petitions Committee, that ger.tlenja.il knew he Ava.>: g..>ing to give evidence. He had honc.s chairman would eventually order the payment.

Cr Moffatt proposed that the sum of .£lO 10s be paid the Mayor to re-im-burse him for out of pocket expenses and for the trouble he had taken over the business.

Or Wratt seconded, and thought that even if the sum was'not obtained from the Government it would be money well spent. Cr Rankin considered the amount reasonable and supported the motion. Cr Tan-sunt whilst supporting the motion, thought the council should not abandon its claim against the Government. The motion vvas carried without dissent. The Mavor reported that during his visit be had made enquiries about wire netting, and had obtained a schedule of prices, which he read to the ineeting. Hursthouse also suggested I writing to Mr McKenzie asking him I to endeavor to obtain the use of the Sold post office for council purposes. The Works Committee's report was read as follows :

The Committee met on the 21st instant. Present: Messrs Ta rant, chairman, Ryder, Satherley, Moffatt, and Thorpe. The committee recommend payment of accounts placed before them. Cr Satherley expressed his dissatisfaction at the roads under lhs immediate control not bavins; been metalled, and move~d that as it was now so late iu the season, they be metalled next April. The Chairman pointed out that the works already authorised would take precedence "f other works when required to be done. it was resolved that all the work of rep liring with metal had been done, with the exception of the western part of the Swan road ; that the work on Wrattan's road be done by H Wrattan, if satisfactory arrangem.Tilscan be made with him, instead of by tender, as owing to the uneven state of the road the Committee considered there would be a difficulty in describing it. Cr Thorpe described what he had done, and what he proposed should be done to the stone crusher, but the Committee considered that it would be better if he reported to the Council in meeting. The following accounts were passed for payment: C. Tasker .£6 7s 6d, W. King £1 3 4s 6d, C. Boyes £5 6s 6d, J. Burnard 6s 6d, E. Goodman £2, G. Budden .£2 ss, G. Chapman .£5 9s 9d, J. Starnes 3s. Mr A. Miller applied for permission to erect a veranda for a building to

be erected next Brown and Kerr's, High Street. Granted. Mr E Goodman, inspector of null l sances, wrote complaining of the action of a councillor in allowing fluid manure to drain into a public ditch. The Waimea County Council wrote granting permission to go on with river protective works at Glover's .overflow. The Dunedin Engine'eringCo., wrote re jaws for stone-breaker, and Mr Girdley of Otago supplied certain infomation about a machine he had for sale.

The Town Clerk gave a concise estimate of the cost of the metal, since the new jaws were fixed in the stonebreaker. The total cost of filling, carting, and spreading, was slightly under 5s 2d per load ; the cost of breaking about 2s per yard. A long discussion on the subject took place, The Mayor stated that a lot of the stones put through the machine were of a slatey nature, the result being that it was useless for road making purposes. Possibly they would have to .consider the advisability of shifting the machine and getting heavier metal to manipulate. Cr Rankin urged that had an overseer been appointed at the start they would have saved money. They ought also to have imported English made jaws; then instead of the machine being looked upon as a white elephant it would now be considered the Council's pet lamb. They knew when purchasing the machine the jaws were useless, but they worked on instead of thoroughly overhauling the concern, lie suggested erecting screens and passing the gravel through them. Cr Ryder said that so far as he could see the broken metal had all been put on the Main street, none had been used for the bye roads.

Cr Thorpe had no idea at the time such a quantity of metal would be put through the machine, or he would have advocated getting new jaws at the commencement.

After further discussion re carting stones etc., it was resolved on the motion of Cr Wratt, seconded by Cr Moffatt, that Messrs Thorpe, Tarrant and Satherley be a Committee to endeavor to devise means to reduce the cost of broken metal.

As requested by the Y7orks Committee, Cr Thorpe described fully what was necessary to be done to the stone breaker. On the motion of Cr Tarrant J.t was decided to communicate with. Mr Mclvenzie asking him to secure the use of the old post office for a Council chamber. It was resolved that the Clerk write to the Government Engineer at Kaikourarequesting information about the surplus wire netting imported into that district.

Cr Thorpe referred to the gorse growing on the roads in certain parts of the borough. He mentioned several places where the roads were in a bad state through the nuisance.

The Town Clerk stated that notices had been served on the offenders. A notice was ordered to be served on another person who had started clearing some months ago, and had done nothing of late. It was reported that the guarantee given to the Bank of New Zealand on behalf of the Corporation had been cancelled.

Resolved, that the repairs necessary at the pound be effected at a cost not exceeding 20s.

In reply to Cr Thorpe,- the Mayor said the overdraft stood at =£2o2 Is 3d.

Cr Moffatt brought up the question of having standing orders for the guidance of the Council in its deliberations. So far, they had got along very well, although at the last ineeting of the Works Committee there had been

a little friction. He thought it would be advisable to have some orders to regulate the debates that would take place. The Mayor disagreed with the last speaker. The Chairman has power to give such rulings as w,ere necessary, outside of the standing orders, in Partiamentary proceedure ; he had every confidence in the body over which he presided and thought they could get along as smoothly in the future as they had done in the past. Cr Moffatt must expect friction occasionally as he jour.neyed through this vale of tears. Cr Satherley, referring to Cr Moffatt's reference to the trouble at the Works Committee's meeting, complained that Messrs Moffatt and Rydre were always doing their best to hinder the work ordered to be done in his locality. He had been told that the crusher would be working on a certain date, when Mr King had previously been told that such would not be the case.

Cr Moffatt denied that he had intended to mislead Cr Satherley, whom he had always supported. The mistake arose through Mr King being instructed by another member. Cr Ryder confirmed the explanation of the last speaker. .... ._.„ The Mayor said there had evidently been a misunderstanding, and it was best to let the matter drop. In reply to a complaint by Cr Satherley that work had been done without being sanctioned, Cr Moffat explained that he was the offender. Surplus gravel had been taken from the footpath near the post office and placed on the road.

Cr Ryder said he also was to blame, but thev had acted for the best.

The Mayor thought, to save unpleasantness on the Works Coirmittee, members should keep to their own sections, and not interfere with the work in other Councillors' territory.

It was resolved on the motion of Cr Simpson, that .£5 be spent on bird's eggs, Mr Charles Boyce to be collecter,

with a remuneration of ten percent. The tariff to be twopence per dozen for blackbird's and thrush's eggs.

The Council then adjourned

We congratulate the proprietors of the Wanganui Herald on the excellent appearance of the paper, which has lately been enlarged, and is now a decided credit to the rising town in which it is published. The news of the day is presented to its readers in a readable fashion, and the editorial columns contain, as usual, sound, common sense views on current topics. The hide bound conservatism and somnolence which affects the Nelson newspaper people in journalistic matters will prevent them from appreciating the forward step of our big brother in Wanganui. Our readers will call to mind the silk purse and hog's lug simile.

Several tons of Willows for basket and chair-making have been cut this season; and patches of osier willows are now to be cultivated on some of the waste lauds near the Canterbury rivers. Mr G. A. Stone, canvassing agent for Stone's Directory, was in Motueka last week and -we once more had the pleasure of a conversation with him. He informed us that the Directory had been enlarged; for years past, the volume appertaining to this locality was issued as the "Nelson, Marlborough and Westland Directory". The next issue, to be published in April 1902, will include Canterbury and will be more bulky. There are Directories and Directories ; Stone's has been published about 21 years - a conclusive proof that it is valuable to the public and especially to business men who largely use it as an advertising medium. Mr G. Budden has been appointed local agent.