BOROUGH COUNCIL.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2745, 10 January 1882, Page 2

BOROUGH COUNCIL.

The ordinary: adjourned_ meeting of | this Council was held last evening, i Present—-His Worship the Mayor, and j Councillors Jackson, Ross, Sherratt, Gabites, Cullman, Bush; Filmer, and | Gibson. LITIGATION. A letter was read ' from Mr J. W. White, solicitor for 1 Hugh Devine, enclosing summons to appear at the District Court" to nnswera- clatm-for-£2O and £1 18s costs,, for damages sustained by plaintiff, through alleged negligence of the Council. It was resolved that the Council’s solicitor be instructed to represent the Council in the action. Cr Cullman wanted to know if a fixed price could not be agreed upon with the solicitor for the work. Cr Ross said it was impossible for a lawyer to fix-a price in a .case like;, this. , •. '• ACCOUNTS, ‘5 ; V • '■ ; General accounts*araouut:ng to £156 12s 4d, and waterworks accounts amounting to £90135, were passed for payment. WATERWORKS. A letter, was read fro'm Mcaars Dobson: and Son, asking for payment of £275 ofthe balance due to them, leaviag £100; in the hands of the Council as a: guarantee for supervision to thfe end. of: •the Ui™ of their coDtrac.trd.e, tlie erid of February. According to the contract the Engineers agreed to allow., the suniii of. £{175,. of-the, whole contract price, to remain in the. hands of the Council till the full com-i pletion of their contract, but they now; asked the Council to pay the greater; portion of the balance, they having pressed satisfaction with thbi^ork/^nd 1 dhe necessity for a guaiantce admittedly; no longer existing, His Worship the Mayor considered; that.it would only be a faircpurlesy on; the part of the Council to accede to the' request. There was- no longer any; object in retaining the whole sum. He; and Councillor ‘Shepherd' had recently; been,along the race fro®'end to,end and! he. was confident that there would he no, demand for the Egineer’s services for maintenance during the remainder of their time. t ~, „ ~ .j, The Coundllors cphcorredj" and unanimously agreed’ to pay over the; amount as requested;' ■ ■ ■ The Caretaker submitted a list of; timber and other articles' fequifed to: construct a tool bouse over the valve i well, and it was resolved to obtain them abd send them up.: : 1 '■ The Caretaker was instructed to attend at the pipe head the next afternoon to watch thej aupply whilri the scour pipe is open. Offers from Mr McGill to . lay the mains required in Reid’s paddock for £20,. and to Mr A. Perry’s for £3O, were accepted. A letter was read form Mr Dobson Junr, stating that pursuant to request he called on Mr Rake, Chief Surveyor, and inquired what waal necessary Stdtbe done inorder to complete the transfer and exchange of land in connection with the race. The Chief surveyor informed him that a plan of the whole! of the waterworks lands would be necessary, which might be prepared in the Survey office at a cost of £4O. , ~ . Cr. Ross considered £4O tpo much for the work; a plan of the wliolri face was not necessary. It was resolved -to authorize the Borough Solicitor to obtain titles and exchange , of laqd, water race as' agreed to and' sinctidried by the Council, but before going to any expense for surveys the same be referred to the Council for approval.. /;; • :/, Mr James King wrote applying for special arrangements to be made respecting his stables. As his stalls were most of them empty the greater part of the year be thought 15 stalls would be:a fair average to j charge him - for. If the Council intended to charge him for more he would have to be .satisfied with his well.

;It was resolved on tho ..motion of Cr Shepherd, that; the Council would consider Mr King’s application fbra special arrangement if he would say 25 horses as a maximum.

It was remarked that it= wasVnot so much the horses that would consume the ;water, but the washing of the vehicles, Mr Fitzgerald waited on the Council ’to ask lor a reduction of tho; rat# charged him for water for his garden. ‘Ho had 'used 89,000 gallons in four .Weeks, for which be was charged 2s 6d per thousand !He could not afford to use what he required if.the rate were not reduced. . 'Cr Bush—That rate only makes the outside supply equal rn price to the inside.

The Mayor—Mr Fitzgerald’s supply may be considered, a.. inapufpoturerV supply. Cr Cullman said he' doubted if Mr Fitzgerald would have complained if Mr Harney had been, charged at the same rate. The Mayor—Mr Harney only applied for domestic; supply, and if hp used the water for his garden he was liable to be punished for it./ i : ; ■ '/, .' oy . ; •; It was resolved after a long discussion on the motion of Cr Gibson,’ that Mr Fitzgerald be charged 2s 6d per thousand upon a minimum of 80 thousand gallons per annum,, and la 3d per thousand for any. quantity in 'excess of thousand;-' Ail “ opmion- , ‘ : was read the Council’s solicitor as to the supplying of surburban residents. Mr Perry was “ of opinion that under the powers conferred by the Municipal Corporations Act 1876, ! especially section 257, the Council may supply water,-to places outside the Borough at such charges, and for such times and on such terms and conditions. as tho Council from time to time determines, subjeict'tdrthe right of the Council to discontinue the supply on giving three months noti.ee of their intention to do so. The agree'meats for outside supply should be in writing under seal and contain a clause, giving the Council power to jmt an end to them on three months’ notice.” Cr Gibson—-We know now just as much wo; did . before*. simply quotes the Act. Wo knew our own position and powers, what we wanted to know was how to bind the outsiders to maintain their bargains. ' The Mayor—l believe the Council will be perfectly safei ■ Our security is the need of the people for water. That is bond enough. ' Cr Cullman asked how outsiders were supplied in other places. ’ The Mayor stated that inOamaru the Council made bargains with the outaiders.. as was spoken of ; here. The supplying of, one outside: street at Oamaru was undertaken by a private, individual, who paid the> Council £so,a, year for the water for fitvo years, and the Pquhoil fopndf they had made a very bad‘bargain. •' Thai Dunedin Corporation supplied resi dents at Ocean Beach on a guairanteet’aat they would take the water, and pa y so much for it. In all other cases, so far as he was aware, outsiders. not , being corporate bodies, were supplied', by agreement with the Council. Cr Boss considered i the bonds that would be entered in) xt would be potr fectly binding upon b oth parties. Or Bush objected to any extension of the mains to th ,e suburbs unless the Waterworks (dommitteee could guarantee that tb \ere would be no

great incidental expenses during the next twelve months; that the money I in hand would not be wanted to cpmj plete the Borough supply. The race 1 might break out and require two'; or ! three thousand to repair it, and two or three thousands might be wanted to I construct filter beds. If they spent; j all their money they could borrow no more.

Cr Jackson—We cannot afford- to allow the balance to lie idle.

: The Mayor—There is no chance of thousands being.requiredior repairs to. the race, and filter beds would not cost much. The Codhcil would be careful not to spend all the balance, as they could not borrow any more for the town supply, ' They could borrow for the outside supply, however. If they could show any capitalists that they had a revenue from "the outside they could borrow on that. Messrs Walcot and Hall waited on the.Councilas a deputation from the Timaru School committee to ask.; the Council to suppply the public schools on liberal terms. :

It was resolved tb r supply the main school for £2 and the side school for £l. per auburn for.the ’first year, payable naif yearly in advance. Messrs Archer, Howley, Plante, and: Ziesler waited upon the Board to second' the requisition sent in by them to the previous meeting, -for - a . supply.-of water along the Lower Otipua road. Mr Archer acted as spokesman arid - pressed the Council to accede to the prayer of their requisition and lose no time in getting the pipes laid. 'ln the course of a long discussion on this application, and another from residents on the Woi-iti road, the Mayor said there Was only one mile Of fourinch pipes on hand, and if the Council were going to extend the -, mains /they; would need to send . Home for,.more, Four-inch:pipes, landed here, cost about £3BO per mile; laying about Is 3d- per yard op £llO per mile, and fire plugs, castings, and other things, brought the! total up to about £660 per mile for pipes of that size. V ! j Couricillor Ross moved that ah order' be sent Home for four-inch pipes and; appurtenances sufficient to lay four; miles, and spoke at some length, quoting estimates, in favpr.of his motion. . 5 , The Council'declined t to entertain It, waver,, until theyhad more information as to the probable cost and the revenue" derivable from the proposed extensions, which the Waterworks Committee were to report upon, and Cr Ross withdrew his motion, giving notice that he would bring it forward’again at next meeting. Cr Gibson would not 'agree to any extension unless it would return ten per cent upon the, outlay. . ' Or. Bush thought they were in a greaters hurry, to supply the suburbs than , the, Borough. He wanted plenty of, time to consider the matter. , ’lt was finally decided to adjourn the discussion and the meeting till ' next Thursday evening, when the Waterworks Committee, will submit a general report bn the applications received from the -residents on Waiiti and Lower Otipua roads., ■ . . .