MUNICIPAL COUNCIL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 341, 28 May 1877, Page 2

MUNICIPAL COUNCIL.

> A special meeting of the Council w,, ' held to-day at the Council Chamber;.. where there were present : —His Worst j ■ the Mayor, and Councillors, Mainlnm Gibbs, Headland, Booth, Scott, at. ? Grave. 1 DEPUTATION. A deputation, consisting of Messr ■ O'Meagher, Suinpter, Evans, Maude, Be and Brown, wailed upon the Council i; troduced by Mr. O'Meagher. Mr. O'Meaguer said the deputatii had been appointed by the Comniilii appointed in connection with the Railwa from Oamaru to Naseby, to ask tt Council to vote such a sum as they nnV), deem advisable towards the necessary ]ii\ liminany expenses in connection -witthe obtaining of data in regard to tl: proposed line of railway. Ho this was a matter in which the Corporate might well give assistance, as it was oi, of importance to the town. Mr. Evans said it was also proposedi wait upon tlio County Council with a vie of getting assistance from that bod; They also intended to ask the public I subscribe towards the expenses whk must be incurred in obtaining informutiu in connection with the proposed railway, Jn reply to Cr. Mainland, Mi O'Meaguer saih that they had not ye been able to ascertain what the probabl cost would be "of obtaining the neccssar information. Mr. J. Bee said it had been snggcslc at the meeting that L 250 or LoOO uoul be required, Mr. Sumptku said one of ihc reason

for asking the assistance was that tli matter was one in which the public wur very greatly interested. If the obtahiiii; of funds were left entirely to the publi the whole burden would fall upon a feu individuals. Mr. O'Mkacjiiki: took a .similar view i. the matter, and .said that if the raihwij were obtained the rateable value of pro perty in town would be greatly increased and the Corporation would thereby In greatly benefitted. Mr. A. 11. Maude said that the-setcuriiij of railway communication with Ihcr hi terior would be of great importance Ithe town, inasmuch as the rateable valm of property would be greatly increased Seeing that the Committee was backed ii| by the public in the matter, he though' the Council might accede to the rcquos! of the deputation. After some further remarks, the depu tation withdrew, the Council intimating that the matter would be t;U<en into consideration, and an answer given shortly. His Worship the Mayok said that lie had .spoken to one of the members of the County Council, who stated that he fol one would bo willing to vote a sum of money from the County funds in aid of the matter ; but he would be guided by the action taken by the Municipal Corporation. .Strictly speaking, he did not think that the Corporation had any legal right to vote money for such an object, but seeing that they had the general public at their backs they might with safety vote a sum of money. Mr. Heahlaxu certainly thought that the Council should give every assistance to the Committee, as the seeming of railway communication with the interior would be of great benefit to the town. Councillor Booth was in favor of voting a sum of money from the Corporation funds in aid of the expenses in connection with the obtaining of information about . J the railway line, and said he did not

Council for doing so. Councillor Gibbs said that so far as the public were concerned, lie did not think any objection would be raised to the Council giving a contribution from its funds. Since the public meeting was hold several persons had spoken to him on the subject, and had said that at that mooting* resolution should have been proposed, asking the Council to vote a sum of money in aid of the funds to be raised for carrying out the proposal. After some further discussion, the following resolution, moved by Councillor Gibes and seconded by Councillor Booth, was carried unanimously : —" That this Council will place LSO at the disposal of the Committee, and will, provided tho Waitaki County Council will contribute L2OO, give a further sum of LOO." The deputation was then recalled, and His Worship the Mayok intimated that the Council had taken its request into favorable consideration. He said that [ the Council was of opinion that, as the Waitaki County Council represented ft larger body of tho public, spread over a greater area of property likely to bo benefitted by the proposed railway than tho Corporation did, it might fairly be asked to contribute a larger sum than the Municipal Couucil could do. Henc£. the reason for the resolution being- -• " N - r-hi tho farm in which it had been; ' rJ^ ( ; o^';ncU

7 aJ;vO to suggest to the Committee \ •uni, iu:Vanv;i.=sing for subscriptions, it should confine itself to those of the public j v.-ho were likely to be benefitted to a great ; t-.-tent by tho i'.i: ,vay, ami that the sum j voted by the Council should be looked upon as a contribution from the general public. He then read over the resolution arrived at by the Council. Mr. O'Meagher, on behalf of the deputation, briefly thanked the Council for its handsome donation, and the deputation withdrew. WATERWORKS SCHEME. The tenders already published by us for the work of preparing the necessary property plans in connection with the Waterworks scheme, were then taken into consideration. After some discussion, it was resolved—"That, in consequence of their being in excess of the Engineer's estimate, resolved that none of the tenders be accepted ; that the work be clone in the Engineer's office, and a separate account be kept of the same, to be laid before the Council on. completion of the work." alteration of premises. Permission was given to Mr. Mainland to make certain alterations to his premises in Wansbeck-street, the alterations to be carried out under the supervision of the Engineer. TRANSFER OF LEASE. An application from the executors of the late John Martin to transfer the lease of Section 21, Block XX., to Mr. S. Gibbs was granted, provided all arrears of rent were paid. NEW BUILDING. Messrs. Brindley and Stewart wrote, submitting plans of a suite of offices about to be erected on the public reserve in front of the Bank of Xew Zealand, Tynestreet, for Mr. William Aitken.—The plans were approved of, and permission civen to erect the building. LEE.S AND MOORE'S PROPERTY. A lengthy discussion took placo upon a letter received from Messrs. L :cs and Moore, with reference to their filling up the south bank of the railway line, near their premises. It was eventually decided to acknowledge receipt of the letter. The Council then adjourned.