CITY COUNCIL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5656, 16 May 1879, Page 3

CITY COUNCIL.

Tho ordinary fortnightly meeting of the City Council was held last evening.. Present—His Worship the acting-Maybr (Councillor Allen), Councillors Dixon, Diver, Maginnity, Hunter, Young, Thompson, Moss, Fisher, Logan, and Greenfield. MINUTES. The minutes of tho previous meeting were rend and confirmed. THE WATER SUPPLY. The report of Dr. Hector on the condition of the water supply was read. [ ''he gist of this was published in the Nhw Zealand Times yesterday.] Councillor DIXON : I would like to ask the Engineer if he is likely to take any action in regard to tho purification of the water supply, either by filter or otherwise ; or if there is any other suggestion from Dr.. Hector than that contained in the report t Tho City Engineer : I had intended as soon as wo bad sufficient heavy rain to run the water off, as suggested by Dr. Hector. Councillor Thompson: Can nothing be done with respect to the water as it comes from the reservoir to the distributing basin, at anything like a moderate cost?

The City Engineer ; I have not gone into that. In fact, the report is now to me.: Councillor Fisher said he had cleansed his filter after a fortnight’s use, and he found no more filth than could be borne upon the point of a penknife. The matter then dropped. ' KAEORI-ROAD. Petitions were received with regard to a road from To Aro to Karori, and were referred to the Public Works Committee. A NEW CROSSING. A petition for a wooden street crossing on Lambton-quay, opposite Brandon-street, was referred to the Public Works Committee to report.

A EIRE BRIGADE DISPUTE. . Tho following letter was read “ Central Volunteer Fire Brigade, “Wellington, May 15,1879. “ Sir,—l bavo the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of yesterday’s date requesting me to report upon statement which appeared'in the Evening Post of the 12th inst., reflecting on the conduct of certain firemen at Kaiwarra on the occasion of the late fire there. I have the honor to report for the information of the Council as follows :—About 1.30 a.m. on Sunday, the 11th lust., the firebells rang out an alarm. By the reflection on starting I was under the impression it was in Molesworth-street ; on reaching the Princess Hotel X found it to be at Kaiwarra. Knowing how useless our reel and hose would be without our manual engine I at once returned to the station for tho same, and reached the scene of the fire With very little delay,'and may state the Central Brigade was then the first on the ground. ' I at once placed the engine in position for working, when one of my men informed me there were not sufficient men on the engine to work her. I walked round the building when I saw Captain Whiteford with several of his men standing looking on. I went up to him and put the following question to him in as polite a manner os it was possible for mo to put it, Captain Whiteford, will you allow some of your men to go and assist at the pumps. ■He"replied by-saying sharply ‘ No! Ask tho bystanders.’ I replied, I considered it my duty to make application to firemen first, ■who were supported by the public, and who were then only looking on. H e further replied by saying it was out of the district, and he did not intend to allow his men to go on to the pumps. I must state this conversation took place in the presence of a number of the bystanders. Immediately after the above conversation, the Armed Constabulary came to our assistance, and we had a good stream of water playing on the fire, which no doubt was the means of preventing it spreading to the next building. I could not understand Captain Whiteford’s refusal, as. the appliances for extinguishing fires he and his men brought on tho ground were utterly useless without an engine, which they found they left behind. “ I have further to report that in every instance of fires where manual engines would be of great assistance and value in helping to stay the progress of a fire, the Wellington Fire Brigade have never brought the engines under their charge into use, and which iu every instance the Central Brigade have had them in use at a very great expense for labor, &0., to the Brigade.—l have, &c., ; “ Lewis Moss, “ Captain Central Volunteer Fire Brigade. “ Charles C. Graham, Esq., “ Town Clerk, Wellington.” Councillor Greenfield : Who asked for this report ? The Town Clerk ; I did. Councillor Greenfield : Why ?

The Town Clerk : Simply because I saw this statement in the papers, and I thought it necessary to get information tor the Council. Councillor Gbebnpieid ; Have you asked for a report from the captain of the other brigade! The Town Cleek : Net yet." Councillor Gheefield : I hope it will be done. '

The Acting-Match ; : Yes. CONFIRMATION OF HATES.

The general rate of Is. in the £Twas confirmed.

Water rate, 5 per cent, and 2J per cent. Councillor Fisher moved, —That the rate so far as that for dolhestic 'services is concerned be 4 per.cent. instead.of 5 per cent. _ It was never contemplated that the Corporation should make a .profit out of the water it supplied to the, citizens. There, was no necessity’ to go over the old arguments again. ’ Councillor Maginnitt seconded.: On a’division the amendment was. negatived by eight to three. Ayes : Councillor , Fisher, Maginhity, and .the Acting-Mayor. Noes : Cotincillors Greenfield, Young, Hunter, Thompson, Logan, Dixon, Moss, and Diver. The rate therefore stands at 5 per cent, and 2i percent.. SCHOOLS AN® BATES. The Town Clerk brought under the notice of the Council the‘ question of rates upon schools. ’• A' number of schools had declined to pay rates because they considered they Were exempt as being public schools. , The Act was very plain, and defined public schools as schools conducted by the Government under the Education Act, 1877 ; but there seemed to be a feeling abroad that all schools were exempt. He asked the Council to decide the matter in some way so that arrears standing in the book might be reduced. He could find no resolution dealing with the matter generally, but there was a special arrangement that the Boul-cott-etreet school should not pay rates in consideration of the Council using the school tower as a watch tower. in connection with fire prevention. In all cases the ' water rate was remitted. Councillor Maginnitt said the Council had decided to remit the rates in schools, and if there were no minute of that there ought t j be. He remembered the discussion distinctly, because this point was taken : if the Act did not allow the Council to remit the rates it did not force them to, collect, and it was decided not to collect.

Councillor FISHEB corroborated the statement of Councillor Maginnity. and said it was the feeling of the Council that ail schools ought to be exempt.

In reply to questions, The Tow Clerk said the amount of the rates on'these properties was about £3O ay ear. Councillor Hunter suggested that as it would be unsafe for the Council to bind itself to remit rates when there was a doubt as to whether the Council had power to remit, it would be as well to follow the same course as appeared to have been followed on a previous occasion; Let the rates remain uncollected till they wiped themselves off by the effluxion of time—that would be in two years.. It was resolved that no action should be taken, it being understood that ho rates would be collected. PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE'S REPORT. Mr. Petheriok made a claim for compensation on'account of the lowering of Wiilisstreet, but the committee, on the advice of the City Solicitor, reported, that the claim ought not to be entertained, inasmuch as the Council had taken action in accordance with the Act. —Councillor Fisher observed that this was a very hard case. From the first Mr. Petherick protested.against the work, and now it had resulted ih ruining his business premises he was to receive nothing. The Council' adopted the lause.

Clause 4 : of the' report was as follows That the contractor for the formation of Laniel-street is unable to complete the same. It is therefore recommended that the City Surveyor ascertain the amount of wages due to the laborers on the said contract, and that they be paid in full, and that the balance due on the.contract. If any, together with the deposit, be paid to the contractor.—lt was explained that after repeated delays the contractor had reported himself unable to do the work, !He said he was ruined, and,had a wife and family and eight children to support; therefore he asked that he might be relieved from his contract^'the 25 per cent, detained oh progress payments to be distributed among bis laborers, and ho leaving it to the generosity of

the Council as to whether his deposit of £2O should ba returned.—Councillor FISHER spoke of the poor circumstances in which tho man was, and thought the Council might stretch a point.—Councillor; Greenfield objected to the clause being adopted. If men without experience took cheap contracts, they must expect' to suffer.—Councillor Fisher said what Councillor Greenfield had said was quite true ; but this man was quite penniless. Had he been a wealthy man it would have been very different. Councillors had not been so uncompromising in their views in time past when wealthy men had broken their contracts. Take the Waterworks contract, the wharf contract, and the contract for the municipal buildings as instances.—The Acting-Mayor said the difficulty was that in this case there were no sureties available. One had gone insolvent, and the other had never signed his bond. The fact was contractors should not be allowed to proceed until the bonds for due performance of their work were all signed.—CouncillorVouNG thoughtit would be well to take a course similar to that taken in regard to the school rates. It would be bad to form a dangerous precedent, and it was desirable to give the man relief if possible. Therefore the Council should let the thing slide as it were;— do nothing. — Councillor Diver doubted if that could be done, and ho entirely objected to the recommendation of the Public Works Committee, because if carried it would encourage meu.knowing nothing of. their business to put in cheap tenders, to the injury of those who did know their badness, and to the inconvenience and cost of the Council. Here they wore in the middle of winter, and the result would lie that the work would cost more than was originally intended, and the work would bo delayed to the prejudice of the interests in the locality of the work. At the time the tender - was let they knew it was far below tho Engineer’s estimate. —Councillor Dixon was opposed to the recommendation of the committee, but,supposed they must in all cases accept the lowest tender. —Councillor Moss moved as an amendment, and Councillor Thompson seconded, that the laborers employed by petitioner be paid out of the 25 per cent, retained in the hands of the Engineer.—Councillor Hunter objected to the proposition laid down by Councillor Dixon that the Council must always accept the lowest tender. That was a principle which the Council should not adopt, but should endeavor to accept the most eligible tender; and a tender was not eligible when so far below the Engineer’s estimate, because it was pretty certain the work would not be done. As to Councillor Fisher’s remarks regarding the wharf, waterworks, and municipal buildings contracts they were not iu point. In those cases the contractors first finished the works, and then made out a case to the satisfaction of the Council why the penalties incurred for delay should be remitted. In this case he was prepared to adopt an equitable view, and say that us the Council had received so much work it should pay for it, to such an extent that the Corporation would not ultimately be the loser that the original estimate of the cost of the work would not be exceeded. Councillor thought Councillor Hunter had : make a distinction without a difference in his comparison of the failure of the contract, with those of the wharf and waterworks contractors. In each case there had been a breach of contract—whether it was in tho form of stoppage of the work or delay. The contract was broken in both cases, but the treatment was different, Had councillors been so particular in the past as they seemed to be in this instance the city would have been saved hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pounds.—After farther discussion the amendment was agreed to. The fifth clause of the report related to a letter which had been addressed by an evening paper to the Council reflecting on the Town Clerk, amongst other matters. It was considered in committee.

After a. short discussion the Town Clerk detailed the circumstances which led up to the letter. ' He drew attention to articles and a letter which ;had appeared in the paper in question which reflected strongly on the Corporation officials, and said he thought it his -duty, in loyalty to his brother officials, to act as he had done, in declining to hold any communication with the paper unless the statement in the articles he had referred to were withdrawn. As for the : accusations against himself he could, while he had the support of the Council, treat them with contempt. A somewhat desultory discussion followed the Town Clerk’s statement. The Town Clerk was generally sympathised with in resenting reflections on the character of officers of the Council, who. Councillor DIXON said, were men of very good character indeed.— Councillor Fisheh, while agreeing that Mr. Graham had reason to complain of the articles in question, and to resent them, was of opinion that he had gone too far in threatening to withhold advertisements from the paper. This view was endorsed by other Councillors, it being suggested that the advertisements should be confined to one,morning and one evening paper.—Councillor Moss suggested that the letter should be simply received, and was supported in his ; suggestion by the Acting-Mayor, who warmly supported the Town Clerk. Finally, on the motion of Councillor Fisher, the Council resumed, and the matter thus dropped. Clause 6.—An application by the Gas Company for leave to erect : a chimney-shaft was agreed to, as was the Bth, 9th, and 10th, for minor works ; the ;7th, for a'drain in Bowenstreet, being postponed. On clause 11—That the matter of the award in the case of Mr. B. W. Watson be left in the hands of theiCity Solicitor—there was considerable discussion, it being ultimately agreed that the subject should be further considered at next meeting, when the City Solicitor would be present. ■ : The i remaining clauses, of minor interest, were agreed to, and, accounts amounting to £1414 10s. 3d. were passed for payment. ' MEW BUILDING REGULATIONS. These were referred to a ,committee, consisting of—Councillors Moss, Young, Hunter, Maginnity, and Greenfield ; :the committee to report at next meeting. THE HOSPITAL. ; Councillor Maginnity, referring to the hospital, said the Council had decided on taking oyer the management of that institution, and he would like to; propose the names of four doctors to be added to the committee already in existence.: -He asked the permission of the Council ,to move, without -notice, that four doctors, viz., Doctors Grace, Harding, Kemp, and Johnston, be requested to confer with the committee already in existence as to the future management of the hospital. . The name of Dr. Diver to be added to the Council’s committee. —The motion was agreed to after a sharp passage of arms between Councillors Fisher and Diver. ; ’ WHARF COMMITTEE. The Acting-Mayor brought under the notice of the- Council the fact that Messrs. Johnston and Co. sought to recover from the Corporation the value of ten tons of flour, delivered from the wharf to Messrs. Kreeft, who had since failed. The flour had been delivered without any order from Johnston and Co., who now sought to make the Council responsible, , It was agreed that the matter should be referred to a sub-committee to ebtain evidence and report. HARBOR BOARD. A letter was read from the Chamber of Commerce on this matter. As the subject was of great importance, and there was no mention of the matter in the order paper, consideration of the letter was postponed. the £150,000 LOAN. This subject was referred to; but no definite resolution was submitted, and the matter dropped. ■ THE LATE MAYOR, ' Councillor Maginnity suggested that the Council express their iregret at the loss of the valuable services of the late Mayor, Mr. Dransfield.

The Council agreed with Councillor Maginnity, and the Town Clerk was instructed to convey the feeling of the' Council to Mr. Dransfield. '

The notices of motion on the paper were postponed, and the Council adjourned at 11.20 p.m. - ''' ~~ ■ : :