SHANNON BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Shannon News, 24 December 1926, Page 3

SHANNON BOROUGH COUNCIL.

FORTNIGHTLY MEETING. The above meeting was held in the Council Chambers on Tuesday evening. Present: The Mayor (Mr E. Butt) and Crs. Thwaites, Downes, Richards, Spencer, Richardson and Hook. CORRESPONDENCE. A quotation was received from a ma chinery firm for a water ballast roller. -^-Received. A letter was received from a consulting engineer re the proposed sewerage schenie, offering to draft an interim .report and estimate of the work and. to the Council to discuss the effect on the Borough’s finances. The letter stated the writer understood the difficulty boroughs had in making payments out .of the general fund for special reports; therefore 210 charge would bomade. In, the events after due considoration by the Council of the interim, report that chey decide to put the matter bejfore the ratepayers he would submit an estimate of preparing the .plans and a full report, and if required’would address the ratepayers’ meeting and carry out the work. The letter was..-accompanied by several , testimonials.—Received. ■ .j . - From . the Libraries Association of -New Zealand, requesting that a : delegate from the Council-be appointed to attend a conference to be held at Wanganui on February 9th and 10th. —

To dealt with at a future meeting. I A complaint was received from a tenant of a Borough cottage that the cesspit was blocked, causing water to-flpw r under the house.—Left .to the Sanitaiy Committee to attend to.. ROADMAN’S REPORT.

The roadman (F. Haley) reported as follows:——Have carted, 124-| yards ,of metal, 79 yards to the dump in Sheehan - Street and the remainder on to Stafford, Graham and Margaret Streets and Nathan Terrace. Have had- the grader over of Sheehan, Stafford, Clapham, Margaret, Ballanqe,. and Stout Streets, and Main North Road. Have inspected the pipe line and / galleries and scoured the water mains. The grass on the cricket pitch at the Domain has been cut once, a week-arid the paddling pool has been‘ cleaned out. Have also 'collected and carted the .rubbish during the mouth.—Adopted. ■ ' ' FOXTON ROAD DRAIN.

Cr. Richardson reported inspected the drain on Foxton xoa,d, as requested by the Council. As a result he had engaged Mr W. Mason to : clean the sides and drag the drain. Mr. Ma- 1 son had started on the Borough portion

but Mr Bryant’s manager had ap-' preached the speaker, stating that there was an agreement between the Shannon Borough Council and Mr Bryant, for the former to keep the drain clear, which runs around the hill on Mr Bryant s property. ,He had got, into commurii- ’ cation with the Town Clerk at once, the latter stating that he did not know of any agreement, but this work, had been earned out by the Council on the last ' occasion the drain was cleaned. If therfe was such an agreement he did not •think it was right. The Mayor said that he did not kiiow of / any agreement. The Town Clerk said' the work was carried out last time under the direction of Mr Jas Curran/ who was then a member of the Road Committee. Cr. Richardson said the Council had * made an error. If the Codncil cleaned a drain on a private property, they; would have other property owners making similar demands. He recommended that/a sketch of all the Council’s drains' be drawn up./ This could be kept as a guidance for future Councils. At present they had no record of the drains in / the' Borough On Cr. Spencer’s recommendation it was,decided that in future the Council wilPconfine themselves to cleaning their own drains only. CEMETERY IMPROVEMENTS.

Cr. Richardson reported that the town -Water was now laid ,on to the cemetery*. He stated that to complete the concreting of the first footpath--inside the-entrance on the right, a further three yards of metal and eight bags of cement Were required. —He was authorised to obtain the necessary material 'to complete the footpath. THE WATERWORKS.

1 Since the previous meeting of the Council the Mayor and Councillors paid a* visit of inspection to the intake; Cr.: , Downes said they, would have, to decide 4to do something that night as , matters in connection with the waterworks were not satisfactory. The intake required attention and the influent chamber would have to be attended to immediately, otherwise they would have trouble. He did not know why, it was not put on a in the first- place. There •lias been an error of judgment. If anything should happen the whole scheme would be cut off. Also, the w;ater pipes -’should have been protected and covered. The Engineer had certainly told the Council to have this done. He £Ould not understand the .Engineer not Snaking this provision in his scheme. The Mayor: The trouble has been that we,parted with him hurriedly. , Cr. Downes: That is so, but not before this portion of the work was done. He went on to say that in his opinion the reservoir was leaking, although the ■Ehgiiieer states the water comes from a spring. He had seen for himself ' no sign of water coming through after the reservoir had been emptied. Cr. .Spencer said that since viewing the waterworks he had come to the conclusion that they should forward their full report in detail to Mr Edwards, of what they had seen collectively; also point, out that they were not satisfied with the galleries, that the influent chamber is weakening and that the reservoir is leaking. He moved-a motion to this effect which was carried. Edwards is also, to be asked to notify Ihe Council two days before his next Visit; so that the members of the waterworks committee can accompany him on his inspection. TllE LIBRARY. Cr. Thwaites, chairman of the Library Committee, reported that the library has to the new* room. To Jo. so, it had been necessary during the

removal to close the old room for a couple of days. He requested that catches be procured for clamping the newspapers on the benches.—Granted. BONUS SUGGESTED FOR STAFF. Cr. Richards moved that a bonus be granted to the Borough staff, also that they be paid a fortnight in advance on account of the Christmas holidays. He said they were efficient and toolt an interest in their work and were entitled to some recognition. He also thought they should receive 14 days’ holiday each year.' The Mayor replied that the Council cannot pay money in advance, and he did not think they were empowered to pay a bonus. As regards the holidays, these were given last year and the same will be- done this year. Crs. Spencer and Thwaites both stated that, much as they would like to pay a bonus to the employees, they did not thiiik they would be in order to do so. GENERAL. An application viras received from E. Nicol to rent the shop in the Municipal Building, which had been advertised to let.—Accepted. .. Resolved that Mr J. A. Swindlehurst be appointed dog tax collector for the year 1927, and that the registration fee: be as follow shillings per head for all dogs, - except those used exclusively for herding or driving sheep or cattle. For such dogs the tax to be 2/C per head, subject to the provisions of the Dog Registration Act, 1908. Owing to the Christmas and New Year holidays it was decided to hold the next meeting on January 11th. The accounts were then passed for payment.