Patea Town Board.

Patea Mail, 13 August 1881, Page 3

Patea Town Board.

Tho adjourned monthlj' meeting of the Board was held on Monday evening. Present, Messrs Milroy (in the chair), Sherwood, Taplin, Adams, Aitchison, and Dixon. WORKS REPORT. The Committee reported that ten loads of gravel have been deposited on York street (wharves) ; labor days spreading gravel and clearing out drains and waterways. Kerbing of footpath west side of Taranaki road is partly completed, and the gravelling on Bedford street is finished and taken over. Before ordering the drain tiles authorised, the Committee recommend that a competent engineer he employed to take the levels of Middlesex street main drain from the Lake to the upper end of the town, with a view to got possibly more fall, and a straight course from where it enters the Domain up to Victoria street; the Committee being of opinion that unless considerably more fall can be got, an open drain will have to be adopted, except at street crossings, as the tiles lately pnt in on a short piece of this drain are more than half filled with silt already, the remaining half being barely sufficient to take away all the water. Tho Committee farther recommend that the same drain above Victoria street be cleared out, considerable damage having been done to it lately by stray cattle and horses. The report was adopted, except the last recommendation. MAIN STREET. Mr Sherwood moved that the main street through the town known as Taranaki road bo for the future designated and known as Egmont Street. Agreed to. MR DALE’S CLAIM. Mr W. Dale sent in a claim for compensation as follows : *• Whereas certain public works, that is to say a drain running between blocks 42 and 43, town of Patea, and thence to the Patea Lake, has been executed by your authority, by which certain lands described below in which I have an interest as owner in fee simple, have been injuriously affected by the said roads by reason that the drain previously mentioned has not been kept in proper order, thereby causing the stormwater to overflow on to my property. This is to givo notice that I claim tho sum of £49 19 11 as compensation for all loss and damage done to me arising out of tho overflow of water from the said drain. Given under my hand at Patea this first day of August 1881.—Win. Dale, junr.—Description of lands injuriously affected : Allotment No 5, section 16, block 43, town of Patea (late Carlyle).” Mr Sherwood : That is about the most remarkable document I ever saw. I beg to move that this letter or demand be received. Mr Adams ; I second that. Letter received. Mr Adams : I propose that it lie on the table. Mr Sherwood moved that the demand be £aid. His motion appeared to be sarcastic. He said : When we get such a frightful thing as that put down before us, we should pay at once. This is a model. Law is being pnt into force in nearly every direction in this town. I want you to take particular notice that it is “ given under ray hand.” I tbrnk there is nothing for us but to pay that account. Mr Adams : He has been under Government tuition for a long wl’flc. I will second that pro forma. The Clerk, in answer to question, said the house Mr Dale claims for is not rated, as it was pnt up since the valuation list was made last year. Mr Aitchison ; There is an error in his letter. The Board has never done any work on that drain. . It is qu’te a mistake to say these works were executed by tho Board’s authority. Mr Sherwood: I believe Mr Dale applied to this Board to have a culvert put in to get into that drain. Mr Adams : What rig'ht have we to put a culvert in if a street is not taken over ? Chairman : Your memories are very defective if you don’t recollect the legal opinion of M r Hamerton on that question. That land was brought in under tho now Act, and ho told us that the streets were therefore public property. No other document was required. Mr Sherwood: I have a viv Id recollection of that legal opinion. The idea of a lawyer telling us that because a men cuts up his land we have to take it over as a matter of course. I only want to escape the terrible effects of the law in this case.

j Chairman : You will have to acknowledge that as a street. Mr Sherwood : The person owning property may have- it registered as a street, but it is Tor him to keep it in order, Mr Aitchison : I think yen will admit that the Board has never done any work in that direction. Chairman : Iho work he speaks of was not done by authority of the Board, but by a private individual. Mr Dixon moved and the Chairman seconded that Mr Dale’s letter lie on the table. Mr Sherwood : 1 beg to withdraw my proposition. Mr Adams : I object to that. I seconded it that it might be on record. Mr Dixon : It is evident that Mr Dale is making a bogus claim, and the less said about it the better. Mr Sherwood’s motion withdrawn by leave Mr Taplin asked how the Board stands regarding private property handed over as public streets. The question should be disposed of once for all, Mr Sherwood contended that streets which are not gazetted as public thoroughfares are still private property ; and said the questions submitted for Mr Hamerton’s opinion were not the questions that should have been put to get at the point desired. The Chairman contended that the questions submitted were properly worded. After some discussion this matter remained unsettled, the Board being divided in opinion as to whether the gazetting of a road is necessary to vest it in the Board. The motion aa to the letter lying on the table was agreed to. ROAD TO HOSPITAL. Mr Sherwood asked if notice had been received of a petition from the County Council opposing the road winch the Board had asked to have gazetted. Mr Dale had told the Council he look a petition to Wellington and laid it before the Colonial Secretary. It is a most extraordinary petition, of which the public knew nothing, and it appears the Council knew nothing. The chairman reads a petition at a meeting, and says he has laid it before the Colonial Secretary. After eight months, when everything required has been done bj T the Town Board, the Chairman of the County Council takes a petition to Wellington, and I cannot learn that he was authorise Ito do so. If that road had been opened, several buildings would have been put up by this time. The same underhand, insidious intermeddling prevails now that has prevailed all along. The Chairman said there had been no notice, but objection had been made to the plan, which reached him only that day, and would be finally forwarded to Wellington next day. Mr Sherwood: 1 am aware that Mr Dale has objected all along to the formation of this road, and I am equally aware that he has objected to the formation of a municipality. I suppose we shall have to fight against it, that is ail. GRAVELLING FOOTPATH. Agreed to put gravel on the footpath west side of Egmont-street, to be level with the kerbing. LEASES. ‘ Transfer granted for sub-lease of part of sections 1 nd 2, block 40, from T. Eylon to D. M. Warren and Robert Currie. INSPECTOR OF NUISANCE. Mr James Jackson resigned the office of mrsance inspector. HARBOR REPRESENTATION. Mr Sherwood sp : d ho had noticed a paragraph stating that if a certain member resigned his position at the Harbor Board, the Tow a Board would take a particular course. Had any authority been given for that statement, and how ? Chairman: The only communication that laached me was through the local paper. Mr Adams: In the event of there being a vacancy, would the Town Board carry out the suggestion that was in the local paper ? [Note. —The local paper mentioned a certain course as enabling Mr Sherwood to be elected to the Harbor Board. Suggestions made in the public interest should be interpreted accordingly. — Ed. Mail.] ACCOUNTS. £SO had been paid during the month to the credit of the Domain Board, as a loan for three years, free of interest, for tree planting purposes ; also £6 Os 6d paid to Mr Laird for planting trees in two streets leading to Domain. Receipts during month, £ll2 6s lOd ; total paid, £73 4s lOd ; month’s credit balance, £39 2s. Accounts passed for payment : Bowden and Clune, filling 19 loads gravel, £1 18s; Keys, carting 11 loads gravel from Green Island, £1 7s 6d ; labor, £2-ss6d; G. Sparks, repairing footpath, 7s.