PUKEKOHE BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 48, 22 June 1915, Page 4

PUKEKOHE BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Monthly Meeting.

The ordinary monthly meeting of the Pukekohe Borough Council was held on Wednesday evening last, His Worship the Mayor, Mr ti. G. R. Maßon and Crs Comrie, J. Beatty, K. Bilkey, C. Clarke, J. Patterson, I. Motion, A. B. Barter, F. Hubbard and the T u wn Clerk, Mr J. Deane, being present. FIRE BRIGADE EQUIPMENT.

Cr I. Motion reported that in accordance wiih the decision of the Council at the last meeting he visited Auckland in company with two members of the Pukekohe Fire Brigade and pu:eh3Bed the following equipment, viz., one hand hose rtel, 100'J ieet of boring, 20 couplings, two hydiar-t?, six branches and two fire btil?, all of which were in good order. As there Etill remained to be purchased an ac'ditiunsl 1000 feet of hose, the BUO feet of hose which was oo order at the time when he made the trip, was not caned!.d.

Cr Motion's action was confirmed acd t\* was thanked for the Irouble hj had taken in lh2 matter. HOCKEY GKOUNH.

Cr Motion further reported in connection wilh the proposal to reserve a po.tion of tue recreation ground for use by the Laoies' Hockey Club, that the lacies been given permission to play on the school grounds. The men had formed a hockev club acd asked for permission to play on the Domain ground . On Cr Hubbard's proposal the matter waß left to the Recreation Ground Committpe to deal with. PROPOSAL TO PLOUGH. With the idea of having the Recreation Ground ploughed, Cr Motion was empowered to make arrangements with the owner ct the motor plough, at pre : ent in the district, to give a trial exhibition on that ground. TRACTION ENuINE ROUTE. the rnat'er of traction engines being allowed access to Kir.g street came up for discussion as the result sit a letter frtm t! e Pukekohe Crumbir of Commerce erasing the Council's atte,.tijn t; a piomise made by the previous Council, that after King street had been metalled traction engines would be prohibited trom using tie a;nie. It was found that the Cuuncil had no by-law governing tne matter, but that the;e was an Act wtich allowed for measures being taken to prevent the practice.

Cr Hubbard thought it desirable to protect King Btrett from traction c gice*, and m.ved that that street from Dell's corner to the railway bridge be prohibited u.it'l further notice to the owners of traction enginep, urless they obtained special permission from the Town C'erk.— Carried. MAIN TRUNK TRAINS.

The Chamber ot Commerce wrote asking the Council's aseiotance towards gettirg the Main Trunk Express to stop at Pukekohe, and it was unanimously decided tbat the Finance Commitee should confer with the Franklin County Council aid the Chamber of Commerce with a view of joint a'.tion being tiken. A DANGEROUS BUILDING. A further emmunicatitn drawing the Council's attention to the dangercus state cf Mr Skinner's eld building, in East street, recently burnt by fire, was received from the Chamber of Commerce.

The Town Clek reported that instructions bal bun given the owner to avert the danger. A MUCH NEEDED CROSSING.

In regard to a suggestion from the Chamber of Commerce that an asphalted crossing should be confrom tne Preaier Hall across the road to the railway budge for the convei ience of people going to and from the station, the Woiks Committee were empowered to lay down such crossing and also to chtry cut other crossings in King street as approved of bj the ate Council. GAS SUPPLY. An offer was received from'Mr T. Butcher, of Wellington, to establish a gasworks in Pukekohe. Cr Hubbard mentioned that a similar offer had also been received from other source. The matter was referred to the Lijtting Committee, as were also Mr Blackman's recent proposals for the installation of a municipal gasworks. WALSH'S CORNEK. Mr Samuel McNally, Pukekohe, drew the Council's attention to the danger.us cooditiin of a piece of the ruad between Walsh's corner and bis property, and asked that a road be formed and a new culvert laid duwr, to take the place of the present one, which he considered required renewing. Tee letter was referred to the Works Commiitee with power to act. KAILWAY STATION APPOACH. The Piime Minister, Right Hon. W. F. Massey, acknowledged the receipt of the Council's request for suitable provision for an approach road t> the l'ukekohe railway Btaiion whsn the line was duplicated, and stated that he had torwarded it on to the Minister for Railways, with a request that he shculd give the matter careful consideration. OLD RAILWAY i'KACK. Messrs Endeau and Hclloway, the Council's solictiors notified the Council that they were now in possession of the necessary plan, tiacings and schedules, with reference to the old railway line, which the Railway Department had agreed to hand over to the Council in place of a portion of franklin road, which the Department took over during grading operations tlirec years ago.— I'fce Town CI rk was instructed to arrange for the necessary proclamation notice. NAIIONAL HIGHWAY. In regard to an invitation rece' ived lor a dciegate to attend the conference to be held at Taumarunui in connection witn the proposed naUinal highway between Auckland and Wcllinton, it was decided to a*K Mr B. H. Andrew to look alter the Council's i at the Conference, Mr Andrew havitg already been appointed to attend the Conference on hehall <>f the Pukekohe Chamfer of Commerce, OFF TO HIE WAK. Mr i.hat'. S. Chambers, who resigned his position ol t'action engine duv-.r to thi_ Council in J

order to join the reinforcements, later applied that his position should be again granted to him when he returned.—The request was unanimously acceded to. HOSPITAL KATES. Notice was received from the Auckland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board thai the Council's apportionment of Hospital and Charitable Aid ratea for the present year was £249 6s 10d. A BOUNDARY KOAD. A communication was received from the Franklin County Council stating that they could not accede to the Council's request to contribute towards the cost of repairing the piece of road between the Dairy Association'* Factory and Hart's corner.

COMBATTING BLACKBERRIES. An application was rectived from Mr Geo. Reynolds, Paerata, for permission to remove his fence on to the road fronting hii property so that he cculd deal with blackberries growing on the present fence line.

L'r Patterson proposed that permission as applied for be granted. and that a minute brok to .contain particulars of similar transactions ne kept. It was decided tt grant the permisson ss applied for, on condition that the fence be shifted back wten the owner was requested to do so by the Council. It was fuitner decided that the latter portion of the proposal should rdfer to all similar transactions. CEMEiERY FEES.

In accordance with notice of motion Cr Bilkey moved and it was BRreed th t the tax on tombstones erected in the Cemetery should be rescinded. The Cemetery Committee recommended tbat instead of the tombstone tax the charge lor enclosing graves should be £2 instead of £1 as previously, and the recommendation was adopted, as was also a motion by Cr Comrie that the Cemetery Committee should have power to remit the whole cr any part of Cemetery fee?. ROAD IMPROVEMENTS. In a somewhat lentghy report, the Foreman of Works, dealt with proposed i.nprovments of side streets. He suggested that the rcadway should be formed to a width of 30 feet witi two footpaths each 18 feet wide, with a fall of eight inches, to water-tabl; or kerb. The roadways, when finished, to have not lees than a fall of 15 inches from the centre of the road to the channel: the roads to be thoroubgly rolled before placing ccoria on them, and the scoria to be placed on the load to a depth of eight icches in the centie of road and tapering away to six inches on the sides; to be will rolled and two inches of clean shell spread evenly over them and again rolled to a smooth, even surface. The concrtte kerb to be six inchts by four inches deep and the channel to ba 12 inches wide, by four inches deep. He strongly recommended that all footpaths within a reasonable distance should be tarred and shelled and rolled. He considered it was also economy to place chips or other loose material on the paths. A good tarred path would mean less upkeep and in addition the comfort to pedestrians would be greater. He estimated the coat of the foregoing at £24 10s per rhain without labour.

tie fun her report .d that he was experiencing difficulty in coping with the enoimous amount of silt that was being continually filling up the water-tables almost to the level of footpaths and causing trouble to culvert.-. The sample road, as mentioned, he stated, would minimise that to a minimum, as the road would be covtred frcm Bide to side and bo prevent the Bilting. Consideration of the report was deferred until the next meeting. A PETITON. A petition was received from Meisrs C. McCormick, J. Keidy, J. Harper, P. McSheen and J. H. Webb, calling attention to the ttate cf the lower end of Quarry road and asking that it should be attended ti, tor wbict purpose the petitioners would be prepared to lend assistance with a team of horses and men.— Left to the Woiks Committee to take action. SCHEMES IN VIEW. On the motion of the Mayor, the Works Committee were requested in view of the striking of the rate for the current year at the next meeting to tinmit a report as to roads thev considered should be dealt with out of loan or out or the general rate. SLEDGING BUILDINGS. Cr Patterson proposed that the sledding if buildings should be prohibited through the main street, urging that buildings, if they had to be removed, should be fitted on wheels.

Ct Clarke thought likewise and seconded the motion, whila Cr Hubbard said that if the buildings had to ba shifted they should be Bhifted during the night-time, and not during the day-time. If this policy was adopted the traffic of the day would not be held up. Cr Comrie was of the opinion that the sledging of buildings on the streets did not damage them. The motion, on being put to the meeting, was lost by one vote.

FINANCE. A credit at the bank of £2lB 7s lOd on the District Fund account was reported, and accounts totalling £2A2 Is 4d were passed for payment.