SHANNON BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Shannon News, 6 August 1926, Page 3

SHANNON BOROUGH COUNCIL.

FORTNIGHTLY MEETING

The above meeting was held in the Council Chambers on Tuesday evening Present: His Worship the Mayor (Mr E. But»t), and Crs. Thwaites, Watkins, Spencer, Richardson, Hook, Downes. ■ cbIIRESPOiNDENCE.

An 'application was received from Mrs A. Pratt for permission to fence the strip of ground on Nathan Terrace from Sheehan .Street on the railway side towards tire bridge.—Left to Road Committee to deal with. The Town Planning Ball proposes that every Borough with a population of not less than 1000 shall before January Ist, 1930, submit to*the Board set up under the Act a town-planning scheme in respect of all land within the Borough. When the Board approves of the scheme the Council shall require all new works to- he carried out in accordance therewith. Matters to be dealt with in a scheme are public and private roads and footways, buildings with regard to their position, character, height, harmony, in design, parks, gardens, and reserves for afforestation, sewage disposal, lighting and water-supply, and provision for amenities. The Board shall consist of the Minister for Internal Affairs, the Director of Town Planning, one representative each of the New Zealand 'Society of .Civil Engineers, the N.Z. Institute of Architects, the ,N.Z. Institute of Surveyors, and the Counties Association, two representatives of the Municipal Association, the Surveyor-General, Em-gineer-inrChief of Public Works, the Government. Architect and two Government representatives. The Hawera Borough Council forwarded a circular letter in connection with the Bill, stating that the writers had .passed the following rephatically .protests against the proposed Town Planning Bill in its present form, on the grounds that (a) No option is left to local todies in adopting a. scheme they being, in ' terms ,of the Bill; forced to submit a scheme withiri three yeans, whether they want it or not. . (b) Undue and unnecessary expense will be imposed on property owners at a time when strict economy is absolutely essential, arid that this Council requests the Government to refer the Bill .to the Municipal and Counties Association. (2) That the Council respectfully urges that copies of all Bills touching the affairs of local todies be circulated to all such todies in time to admit of the local bodies considering same and expressing their views thereon. (3) That copies of the above resolutions be forwarded to the Minister of Internal Affairs and to the member .for the district. (4) That copies of the foregoing resolutions be sent to the various boroughs and counties throughout New Zealand with a view to taking combined acttion to prevent. the passing of the Town Planning Bill in its present form.' The writers asked the Coun-. cil for its support. The letter was referred to the By-, laws Committee to report to the > Council at its next meeting. From John F. Riches, on behalf of the trustees of the Methodist Church, placing before the Council a proposal re water, which was passed at a meeting of the trustees: “That owing to financial stringency, they ask that the Church be allowed to reinstal a water tank to replace the tank which was destroyed in - the recent fire, as by doing so the initial outlay would be their last for some time to come. Secondly,' should the Council not ' sanction the first proposal, they would be desirous to connect up with the town supply, only if you could grant them a flat rate, as the water is only used once or twice per month.”—lt was resolved that a flat Tate of 5s per year be charged all churches for the BorOugh water. They to pay the connection fees. Application from E. Hensman for a load or two of fine metal for footpath in front of his property in Grey Street.—Left to Road Committee to deal with. - . . From Shannon Football Club, stating they do not desire the grass on the Domain to be fed off by sheep.— On the suggestion of the Mayor it was decided to have the ground rolled, the Reserves Committee to have 5 the work done immediately. Mrs' H. Aspin wrote asking if a person is allowed to dig a drain on the, inner edge of his property, without proper outlet for the water into a main drain. She stated a resident had dug a drain between his Ballance and Stout .Street properties and made a gully for the water to run directly on to her sections in Ballance street and although Mr Aspin made a dram along the lower side of the section, the sections do -not improve as the water is coming on from the acl!°aning section quicker than it can ■ away, as his (middle drain serves .both his Stout and Ballance Street properties.—On the surface th cil thought it was a private matter but they appointed the “ Cr. Richardson to make an msp An application for a permit for the erection, of the Masonic Temp . Stout Street was referred to Building Committee.

BOROUGH FOREMAN’S REPORT. The foreman fF. Haley) reported as follows:—Sixty yards of metal have been carted on to Ballanoe, Ctapham East and Margaret Streets, and the Main North Road. Brains have been cleaned in Margaret, Ballanoe and Whittaker 'Streets. During month ♦wo days have been spent at the head of the water works clearing rocks and

timber. Have been over the pipe line and galleries and found them alright. The inetal has been trimmed) in Clapham Street. Collected and carted rubbish during the month. Have put in 7-foot culvert in iStout Street. RUBBISH DUMP.

Mr Burling wrote asking the Coon-; cil to fence the present dump, situated on his property. The Mayor said that in company with the Health Officer and TownClerk, an inspection had been made of the site on Brown Street known as the cemetery road, situated next to Cr. Richardson’s property. The Health Officer had favoured the site as being an ideal one, provided it was not affected 'by running water, which if such was the case, would flood adjoining property. Cr. Richardson assured the Council that the site was free from running water.

On the motion of Cr. Watkins, it was’ resolved that the Council use this site, which was their own property, as the 1 Borough dump. BRIDGE OVER STAN'SELL’S DRAIN. Crs. Spencer and Richardson reported that they had inspected the bridge over iStanseli’s drain in front of Mr Wilkinson’s property, which was damaged during the recent flood. They stated the bridge was in a very bad state and it would be necessary for it to be taken to pieces and re-erected. The only way to make /the job permanent would be to erect a cable bridge, as the bank was falling away and any excavating will only tend to make it worse. Cr. Spen- [ cer said the cable would reqiiire to ; be 30 feet- from the creek bank on either side. Be suggested using a H-inoh cable, which could be made perfectly rigid and the bridge would then be fit for any traffic. He; did not think there was any other way out of the difficulty. On Qr.. Downes’ [recommendation the Town*Clerk was instructed to get in touch with' the management of the Whitanui and iPoplar mills with a view to securing the necessary cable. The matter was left ,to the Road Committee to act as soon as possible. APPROVAL OF £7OO LOAN.

The raising of the £7OO loan to be spent ofi renovating and making additions to the Council Chambers was approved by the Council, also the. plans and specifications for sauto submitted by the Building Committee. The Housing JCommittee Jrepoirted that they had decided to have the work done by day labour, the Council to purchase their own material. Cr. Spencer stated that he had interviewed Mr Laurvdg, asking him to take over the supervision of the work, but the latter had declined. He now thought It would be necessary tol go outside the town to- secure the services of a man who would be capable of carrying out the work. To do the work by day labour, lie said, everything hinged on the Council being able to secure the services of a capable overseer. If tenders were called there would be the expense of having a plan and specifications drawn up. He maintained day labour was the best if they could Secure the services of a conscientious and capable foreman. ft was resolved that the work be done by day labour arid the Council purchase all material, the work to be under the supervision of the Building Committee, whoi will have full power to act in all matters in connection with the scheme. Cr. Thwaites: name was added to the Committee.. ' . It was decided to advertise m the Palmerston North and Levin newspapers for a man to supervise and carry out the work. In reply to a question as to \\llien the work could be started, tlie 1 11 Clerk stated that nothing could be done until the necessary Order-m-Council notice authorising the raising of the loan has been received. This had been applied for and notice should be received any day that it had been sanctioned. footpaths. The Mayor asked if the Road Committee intended going on with the work of forming and kerbing the footpaths decided on at the last inee - ing. Cr. Spencer said it had been decided to have, this work done by local residents who >vere out of employment; but evidently there wag not .-the number of unemployed they were given to believe, as only one man had come forward, although a couple of others had enquired about work, but had failed to turn up. The Mavor: If the Road Committee are ready to go on, there is no need to wait for men who are un employ - Cr. Spencer said their idea had been to do the preparatory work no\v. But to make a job of the footpath t ie time for starting would be more suitable in a month’s time. The. Mayor: Well, if there is itot the unemployed, the work could be lelt for a m'onth. Cr Thwaites said he understood ti e scheme as set out was estimated to C °Gr. Spencer: Oh, no! It was said the scheme set out would absorb the £IOO on the estimates for footpaths It was never estimated the work could be done for that, amount, as it would ""crDownes said that as there were no unemployed coming forward he would ISove that the motion m the mSnte !*><* re footpaths be .rescind- ' T Down2 torn moved and Cr. Richardson seconded that tenders be footpathTn Stoufftreet from the Post

Office to Venn Street. Labour only. —Carried. The accounts were then passed for payment.