BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Shannon News, 7 March 1924, Page 3

BOROUGH COUNCIL.

The fortnightly meeting of the Borough Council was held on luesday evening. Present: The Mayor iMr W. Murdoch) and Crs. uuunuig, Beard, Cumin, Butt, Gardner, Murray and Carter. CORRESPONDENCE. ,

From clerk off Horowhenua County Council re flood water on Foxton road, stating that no record can be found of an agreement between Mr Bryarit >ahd toe Council as to lim water running through Mr/Bryant's property.—Cr. Curran said Mr Pearce, when he owned the property, had given the Council permission to put the (drain through the property to take the water Irani Stahsell's drain tq the lake, and that Mr Bryant had put in the flood gate.—lt was resolved that Mr Pearce- and the Horowlienua County Council be written to asking for further particulars. From Park and Adams, solicitors, re outstanding- rates, forwarding statement of accounts handed to them for collection, which ■ showed that one or two were still outstanding.—l'Ue Town Clerk w.as instructed to take any extreme step ihe may think fit to recover same,

. • From Moynihan Bros, asking; for cost of laying water on to thjeiF property at East road.—Left to the Engineer to report to the next meeting of the Council. An application was received from the School Committee to the allowed to put in the water pipes before the footpaths are put down at the school. —Agreed to, S. Finlay applied for permission to fence the piece of land in front of his property in Graham street.—Left to Road Committee to deal with.

•D. O'Connor, Grey street, wrote asking the Council to sanction cleaning out the storm water channel going tlhrongh the school groundsLetter referred to the School Committee. ■..-,-.

From C. Hausmahn, Stansell St., complaining of the state of 'the road coming down the hill near his property, which, he stated was quite unsafe to bring a Ihorse and cart down. fPhe matai has been cashed away and left largie holes in the road. He asked that the cutting be metalled Cr. Butt said the .road' proper was no good and something should be done. —The writer to be informed the Roaa Committee havte the miatter in hand, which -will be attended to as soon as possible. , Mrs Nicol, the librarian, requested that & few new books be purchased for the library, as the subscribers were asking for them. The letter stated there were not many subscriptions coming in at present to help. New shelf room was also needed.—lt was resolved that the purchase of new books (be left oyer until next month. Also; that a number of old books be cleared out to make room for the new ones.—Mr Clutha Mackenzie and Mr R. Edwards to be thanked for donation Of books to» the library. ENGINEER'S REPORT. The 'Engineer (Mr Edwards), reported re the waterworks * that ttie contractor is making fair. progress with the work. He has commenced the work of laying in the concrete walls. Owing! to a.slight slip on the hill side of the dxcavation 'I have found it necessary to strengthen this wall by uidding 'five small piers, alsp to provide drainage by means of concrete pipes laid at" the back of the foot of the walls. The object of this is to prevent thle water being impounded behind the wall and keeping the loose filling alive, resulting in an undue pressure on the wall. I found that it was necessary to appoint a man to see ■ that the. metal and cement Was turned oyer the exact number of times, the question of mixing being a "sine qua oion" toi the strength of the concrete. The assistant lengineer is continuously with the men and of course cannot be in two places at once. For some considerable time the level of .water in the Mangaore stream has (been too high to allow, the men to work; in the meantime they have been working on the excavation i of th/e trenches which have now been opened up td the Borough boundary sections 693 and 693, the portion along the Shannon East road .has worked out at .a cost of 8s 6d per chain. Now that the level of the stream has lowered the men are (engaged at the head works. The ibridge over the Otauru cut is completed, the filling which is to be.done by the settlers, should be carried out at.once as without it the bridge is nftfas strong as it should be. I have examined the Otauru cut from the bridge to the concrete culvert. I notice that some more work has been done since I last made an inspection, (but the work is not nearly completed. The timber for the water galleries is Ibeing cut to lengths and bored to providte the infiltration. Mr Boyd, of Shannon, is doing the woFk. The 6-inch diameter pipes are being cut and bent to the necessary angles at Palmerston North, undejg my personal supervision. Referring to the additional work mentioned in the report, caused by a slight slip on the hill side of the excavation where it has been found necessary, to strengthen thle wall by adding five small piers, also to provide drainage by means of concrete pipes, laid at the iback of the foot of the wall and agreement has Ween entered into between the Council and the 1 contractor (Mr Raymond) to do .the extra work for £ls. ROADMAN'S REPORT.

The roadman, reported as follows: We have carted 74 yards of metal on, to Clapham, Vogel, Ballance and Vance streets, and Plimmer Terrace. Also carted material for concreting in the cemetery. "We have also put down concrete road in the cemetery. The drain that rjLgis ,■ from water trough in front of Club' Hotel to Stan sell's drain has been cleaned out. We. are now engaged in lopping trees at the Recreation Ground.

STANSELL'S DRAIN.

The Mayor stated that Mr \F. A. Swindlehiirst, the contractor for cleaning out Stanscll's drain, had been over the work again, bnf the Engineer said the work was still unsntisfariory, fns opinion -being endorsed by Crs. Gardner and Butt, who had inspected the work. Cr. Murray said the contractor had reported to

him they had done the work but were not ibeing) fairly treated. He said that was one side and 'he was pleased to Wear the opinion of experienced men for the other side. On the Mayor's suggestion the Engineer is to be instructed to go over the work' with thle contractor aim show .him what is required, and fail- < ing the work being completed, someone else to be put on to finish. GENERAL, The appointment of Mr Butler as dog tax collector to We revoked and Mr Symes be appointed. The Engineer submitted detail list' of cost of additions, inclusive of lab-. our, to Borough cottage in Stout Street, which' totalled £Bso.—Left to the Housing Committee to go on with the work. Cr. Carter asked if the depth of the water pipes on East' Road was the usual for 8-inch pipes. He was of opinion they were not far enough under the ground and were liable to be damaged' by ploughing, etc.—The Engineer said they were quite safe as they would be one foot four inches deep. The Town Clerk reported that a portion of the fenoe at the pound was down and the chains broken, and the whole plaice Wants repairing.—Left ! over till end of the month. > Accounts totalling £3B were passed for payment. NEWi BY-LAWS. The Mayor in referring to the fact thai, they wWuild shortly halve tq frame new by-laws, said he was in receipt of the by-laws from different towns and he had noticed that in, Invercargill private motor car owners had to pay a license; also if a person living out of the Borough came into town twice a day they had to take out a license. He thought this was an unfair by-law. . Cr. Murray said if the roads were kept in good order-, he thought car owners would be quite willing! to payer. Beard then drew the Council's attention to the unfairness of charges for billiard room) licenses, he pointed out that in Shannon the fee for five tahles was £l2 10s or £2 10s per table, while in other places the .charge was £3 10s per room. He hoped when the by-laws were being considered this would be reduced.