BOROUGH COUNCIL

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 354, 15 October 1932, Page 2

BOROUGH COUNCIL

GENERAL BUSINESS AT THIS WEEK'S MEETING. At this week's meeting of the General P.urposes Committee of the. Opotiki Borough Council, a request was received from Mr.. S. NeiL that when the lease of a section of the sandhills belonging to the council ran out, tenders should he called for the new lease. It was decided to call for tenders. .The League in aid of the Hard of Hearing wrote asking .the council to do eyerything in its power to have all sections of the community well represented at the pnblic meeting arranged for Tu'esday, October 18. The matter was left in the hands of the Mayor and the clerk. The Cricket Association wrote asking if the council would effect repdirs to the present concrete cricket pitch in the Domain. Th'e clerk advised that after conferring with- the association he understood that they would be quite agreeable to tfying out a grass idtch instead. The grass pitch would cost less than the repairs to the concrete pitch, as it would be done by unemployed labour. 'It was decided to make a grass pitch. The clerk said that he had been approached by several carriers to know if the council would surface the gravel at the benzine drum ramp on the wharf. The gravel had now settled and the council had intended to do the work originally. It was resolved to surface the ramp as requested. The Mayor (Cr. J. T, Thompson) said that he had received a telephone request from the Rev.. Mead, at Whakatane, to know if the council would permit him to show the pictures of Oberammergau Passion Play in the Regent Theatre on Sunday next. He understood that it was a display of lantern slides and not a moving picture. He said he had communieated with the local Ministers' Association, and they had no objection. The council resolved to grant permission. The clerk advised that the suggested concreting work ,at the cemetery of which he had been instructed to fmd the approximate cost, could be done for something like £20. It was decided to carry out the work. Cr. J. T. Tabb asbed, the Mayor if he had gone into the question of the administration of the Relief Workers' Association's funds. His Worship replied that he had done so and that they appeared to be quite properly .administered. He had been asked by the unemployed if he could do anything to assist the single unemployed men who were really unfit to go into camp. The clerk pointed out that the reduction of the amount of relief allowed by the Unemployment Board had rendered the matter very difficult. Cr. J. J. Main remarked that he found it difficult to believe that the country was full of unemployed at the present time, when there were so many advertisements in the papers of farmers wanting men. Siveral other members quoted instances of farmers being unable to get men. In reply to a question by Cr. J. J. Moody as to how Volkner Park was progressing, Cr. Hitchens said that it was improving rapidly and he had recently been approached by a party of leading citizens who had looked over the park and expressed their approval of it, to know if the council would undertake to make a safe place for school children to b-athe. Ha went 011 to say that Mr. E. Seville had undertaken to teach the school children to swim, hut asked the council if th'ey would make certain improvements to the bank of the island where it had been undermined, fence off a section of water to make it safe for -the smaller children, and provide .a raft or punt for the bigger boys. Cr. Hitchens moved and Cr. Budd seconded that the work as suggested be carried out. The clerk advised that the raft or punt would cost approximately £9. A request from the Fire Brigade for financial assistance in sending a competing team to Rotorua w.as referred to the Fire Board. On the suggestion of Cr. Moody, it was resolved that the council meetings should start at 8 p.m. instead of 7.30 during the period of summer-time.