GERALDINE COUNTY COUNCIL.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2695, 8 November 1881, Page 2

GERALDINE COUNTY COUNCIL.

A meeting of this Council was held to-day. Present —Mr E. Acton (in the chair), Messrs Mendelson, Wilson, and Hardcastle. A letter was read from Mr Tripp, Chairman of the Council, apologising for his absence. The minutes of the previous meeting having been read and confirmed, correspondence was read as follows : From Mr F. LeCren, accepting his appointment as representative of the Council on the Timaru High School Board. From the several gentlemen appointed as Returning Officers for the next election of Councillors, accepting the appointments. From the Colonial Secretary’s Office, re application of the Council for onethird of proceeds of land sold on deferred payments in the Geraldine and Temuka Road Districts. Mr Cooper wrote that the lands being in the Geraldine district, the one-third payable had been credited to the Geraldine Road Board. It was stated that the Geraldine Road Board had also applied to the Government for the money, and had been informed that the money must be paid to the County Council. It was resolved to send the letter from Wellington to the Geraldine Road Board. From the Public Works Office, claiming £32 2s, half the cost of Mr Higgenson’s services in testing the ground at the site of the. Rangitata traffic bridge extension, early in 1880, the Ashburton Council being charged with the other half. The amount was passed for payment. From Messrs White and Jameson, explaining the breaking down of the prosecution of S. Kirkpatrick for infringement of the Slaughterhouses Act. From Mr Durham, Inspector of Slaughterhouses, applying for three months leave of absence, he having gone to the front a a Volunteer. He expected to be back by February, and had arranged with the Secretary, Mr Stubbs, to perform the necessary part of his duties during his absence. Mr Mendelson strongly objected to so long leave being given. If Mr Durham could bo spared for three months he could be spared altogether. Leave of absence was granted for one month in the meantime, any extension required to be [considered at next meeting. OI’XHI BRIDGE. Mr J. Talbot, Chairman of the Temuka Rond Board, waited on the Council to confer with them relative to a claim for £6B 3s made by Mr Roberts, C.E., for commission on the Opilii Bridge works, which claim the Board thought out to be resisted. It was resolved to endorse the action af the Temuka Road Board in resisting Mr Roberts’ claim, except with respect to an item of three guineas, which the Council thought should be paid. Mr Talbot requested the Council to take into consideration the advisability of restricting the weight of loads passing over the bridge. On a recent occasion a traction engine drew an ordinary engine and combine over, the total weight being about twenty tons. That was too heavy a load to be on one span at once. Mr Acton said the Temuka and Levels Road Boards should take such steps as were necessan 7 . The bridge was now built and the Council would have no power over it. ACCOUNTS, It was resolved to write to the Government asking for subsidies due at end of half 3 7 ear, and to request that a detailed statement of how the sums to be paid in future to the Council’s credit are made up, Mr Acton pointed out that the Council had hitherto had no means of knowing whether they received all the moneys due to it or not. Accounts amounting to £ls 4s 8d were passed for payment. THE RETIRING COUNCIL. Mr Acton, as acting chairman, reviewed the doings of the Council during the past period of three years. He thought they had succeeded in a most important point they* had managed to work most amicably with the various Road Boards in the district. They had succeeded in building a bridge over the Opihi river without having recourse to a county rate, or in any way increasing the already heavy burdens of the ratepayers. The Council had had considerable difficulty in connection with the Rangitata traffic bridge extension. He hoped for the sake of the public and the Ashburton Council that the plan they were carrying out would prove successful, but if it did not, this Council would have somesatisfaction in recollecting that they had always protested strongly against being held either morally or legally liable for the cost of carrying out an inferior design. Some might have desired to see the Council rush into heavy expenditures, but he thought the moderate course they had adopted was the wisest, and he hoped the new Council would follow in their footsteps in this respect. A vote of thanks was passed to Mr Tripp for his conduct as Chairman of the Council for the past three years, and a similar one being passed to Mr Action the meeting terminated. The new Council will meet on the 23rd inst.