SHANNON BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Shannon News, 2 May 1924, Page 3

SHANNON BOROUGH COUNCIL.

The usuial fortnightly meeting of the Shannon' Council. Was held in the Gouinoil Chambers on Tuesday evening. Present—His Worship the Mayor (Mr W. Murdoch), arid CJiis. Gunning;, Hiyde, Curran, Mur-' ray, Butt, Gardner, Beard,- Carter and the Engineer. correspondence!

A circular was received from the Palmerston North Hospital Board setting out the financial estimates of the Board for the year 1924-25; also showing the comparative statement of levies and valuations in j respeqt of those years. It showed that; tine levies against Shannon would not be greater, although there was an increase of patients from 93 to 103. . A wire was received from Palmerston North deputation asking the Council to suspend the heavy traffic hy-laws during the railway strike.— It was decided to accede to the request and that Mr J. Linklater, M.P., !be asked to request the Government to provide some/ financial assistance towards damage suffered. - , ENGINEER’S REPORT. The Engineer, (Mr. R. Edwards) re-, ported as follows The contractor for the reservoir is making good head-

way with the work.' The walls are

within about sft from the top level. . All the difficulties owing to the caving in' of two sides of the earthwork have (been overcome, and this part is now as strong as any other part of the work. The concrete portion ofthe tool house and revetments are now complete; and the contractor has made a good job at this point. The water gallery is .now in position and covered with metal ready to connect up with the 'influent chamber. At the point the whole Mangapre stream had to be diverted to the apposite, side to allow the gallery to be put below the minimum summer level of the w ater. .Owing to the railway strike I have had to get one load of 8-inch pipes and fittings from Wanganui iby moltor transport, so as not to delay the work up stream. Respecting the men’s 1 wages, the men claim under the! award "Is IOJd per hour. Mr Gun-; ning pointed this fact out at last j meeting. This sum should be paid, j The men I have now are well worth j their money; theirwork is hard, very rough and wet, with a lot of broken time. I have at present sufficient material in hand to ..keep the work going for some considerable time. I have not yet been able to inspect all the vehicles, chiefly because of the railway strike. All oars and lorries are kept hard-at work; T expect, however, to satisfactorily complete this work in a little while. The question, however, of lorries carrying passengers is still unsettled. . The owners freely admit they are charging fares. I would like some direction in this matter by resolution. In Tespect to the latter part of tihe .report the Council resolved that the owners of the lorries concerned be written to that they must discontinue carrying'passengers on their motor lorries unless licensed by the. Biorough.** ROADMAN’S REPO JIT. The roadman (Mr F. Haley) reported 'as follows: —I have carted ’96 yards of metal on v 't6 the" following- streets: Stafford aricl Stout, Main North' road and Foxton road; also on to two roads at Newtown. Have practically cleaned out all the watertables in Newtown; the rubbish tip lias been attended to; also culvert, in Nathan Terrace that has been broken ,by (heavy traffic. PROGRESS OF WORK AT RESERVOIR. Cr. Hyde said he Was not satisfied with the progress of the work of erecting the reservoir. Gould the Engineer assure the Council thiajt the work will be expedited as he believed the completion, of the contract was. now' two months’ overdue.

Tlie Engineer explained- that the heavy slips on two sides of the excavation had necessitated cOncretej crib work being put in to strengthen the weak sides and that about 100 tons of earth work had fallen in which the contractor at his own expense had to take out.

The wtark was now at that point as strong as any other portion of the concrete work. This extra work had delayed the contractor, but he Was making satisfactory progress with the work.

Mr Gunning, chairman of the Waterworks Committee, said he was in close touch with- the works, having Visited them frequently. He supportfed the Engineer completely and was satisfied that a thoroughly good job . Was being carried ouit and the progress was quite satisfactory. He had also .visited head works, and he found that a lot of very heavy work had been done and that everything was proceeding quite satisfactorily. When the men were ready with the pipes the reservoir will be ready. If more money had been available more' men could have been put on to expedit the work.

The councillors were , generally satisfied with the progress being made.