BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Shannon News, 16 April 1926, Page 3

BOROUGH COUNCIL.

FORTNIGHTLY MEETING. 1 The above meeting was held in the Council Chambers on Tuesday evening. Present: His Worship .the Mayor (Mr E. Butt) and Crs. Curran, Roberts, Thwaites, Spencer, Richardson and Downes. CORRESPONDENCE. A resident of Stout Street wrote stating that the wooden culvert in front of her property was only four feet wide, and asked that the Council make it the required width to allow a cart to pass over it.—Left to the Road Committee to attend to. POSTAL MATTERS. The following unofficial letter received by the Shannon Chamber of Commerce, through Mr J. Linklater, M.P., from. Mr A,. Markman,'Chief of the Post and Telegraph Department, which deals with postal matters at Shannon, was submitted to the Borough Council. The letter states- that the position at Shannon is well knoiwn to the Department, Shannon receives daily two mails from Wellington and two from Palmerston North, and despatches an equal number of mails. For some time, when staffing permit-, ted it, the incoming mail from Wellington hy the late -evening- train was sorted • into the private boxes. But when it was necessary to extend the hours'-of attendance in the telephone exchange, the time of the officer who

previously sorted the mail was otherwise occupied; and it- was therefore decided not to deal with the mail arriving about 9 p.m. It is a fact,that this mail is carried to Palmerston North and arrives at .Shannon at 7.45 on the next' morning—in ample time, the Department feels to enable business people to deal with their correspondence. In offices much larger than Shannon, mails arriving in the evening are not sorted ait the time; arid,any proposal to re-open the Shannon office for the sorting of a few letters would mean the imposing on the staff of a hardship which would be hadly repaid .by the small amount of overtime "that would be earned. For the same reason, it is not considered that a. mail north to Palmerston North, should be despatched 'by the 9 o'clock train. Regarding the proposed delivery of'cor-respondence.-by postriien in -the afternoon,, he regretted that the work at Shannon does not warrant such an arangement being made. The business community at Shannon is so small that, if any member of it desires to obtain a letter in the afternoon, he can do so at the post office, without' much inconvenience. Concerning the allegation that prompt attention is not given, in the public office at mid-day, it must be remembered • that, with a small staff, full strength cannot be maintained during the lunch-eon hours; and he thought it was reasonable, to suggest 'that the public generally should, as much aspossible, transact, their business during the ordinary business hours, leaving only urgent matters to be transacted when the Postmaster is at lunch. While it is desired to give the public a good service, it is rather unreasonable to expect that, at small offices, a staff sufficient to, cope with casual rushes of business should be retained. He stated that he will take an early opportunity of having the Shannon office thoroughly inspected, with a view to seeing whether any improvement can be effected."—Gr. .Thwaites reported that he and MiHyde had interviewed Mr Linklater, when he was in Shannon last week in respect-to this letter and had thoroughly explained the position to, him. Mr Linklater had promised that on his next visit to Wellington he would wait on Mr Markman and put their explanation before him." ROADMAN'S REPORT.

•The roadman (F. Haley). reported as follows:—Ninety-four yards of metal'have been carted on to Stafford, Bryce, and Ballon ee Streets, Nathan and Plimmer Terrace, and the Main North road. Sixty chains of watertables have been cleaned out and had grader over Bryce street. Speed limit sign 'boards have been erected. Have put in two; foot bridges, one in Sit out Street, and the other,in Vance Street. Have inspected bridges crossing Stansell's drain and have found they all -want repairing, the handrails being loose and some of the decking wants replacing.—Report accepted. GENERALIn reply to ' Cr. Richardson, Cr. Spencer said that in company with the Mayor, he had made an inspection in regard to the water which comes down Stout Street and lies m ■front of Mr Gardner's property in Nathan Terrace. He was of opinion that the most satisfactory way of dealing with the trouble would be to cut a drain of an average depth of three feet in front of Mr Gardner's property and turn the water into the creek. * This would necessitate putting in concrete pipes and covering them, and would be an expensive job. They could not put in drains to run the water through neople's property. A number of suggestions were made to deal with the water, but finally, it was decided that the Road Committee inspect and take levels and report to the next meeting of the Council. It was decided that the Finance Committee meet on Tuesday evening next to bring down the estimates. Cr. Curran reported that the Horowhenua County Council had cleaned their drains on the Foxton road up to the borough boundary.—Cr. Curran was authorised to have the borough's share of the drains cleaned. Cr. Spencer agreed io submit an estimate of the cost of shifting the pavilion on'"the'-Domain back near the fence line. It was also decided to haye the partition in the pavilion boarded to the top.