TOWN BOARD.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 108, 30 October 1863, Page 3

TOWN BOARD.

The Bourd met at 3 o'clock. Pnaent— The Chairfcan. Messrs' Aggers, Hay, QrieV^G«thwifi(e;%ckh>rtand I M'lvor. ; The ihitiiites tif : tlui last meeting "wrereJ • ireafiy^eonfin^ • : ' ■ VbM ■ B>ii^A*iTjawttrGk : : jijrixtt isntiixEt. - -;• 1 Jifr;We9l6n 'informed i ihe^oar£ that in; accordance with their ."instructions; to fbe j informed as ; to • -,::Go*ernmem\•could carry the line 'of railway throtigh despite the H disapproval ; : of - •• tbie % h Board, he^ j rhaß >i ca*e- ; ■ Tulry^ Treafl >*he>\Act/ '■•and He not; Relieve -this -Board 'had 5 - 1 any Wi power, pi^ent tfte^^arx^ as "they proposed; "' ' '. V'" ! V "''"': ~' L: "'"'.''/ >■ ~^'j ■ ; Mr'Gafth'waite^ was one^6f; thej deputatioii'^hp *ad; viraited xin the Superrnten^ dent 'on this subject, and he had told thißm ihst Hih©! street unde>. the' •control of me Boaird, r; : ; : Mr Weslon was^tillttf opinion they "had •no i>ower; the streets were placed, under the contrbl'of the Board for formation ana Tepair, but the Board *had no power ito interfere wiili the prbgress ef pubHc wo&s sixth :is the tailway. ' Mr M*lvbr- believed the Board cotild take cognizance of the matter, in the case^ of •any resi'deht'in'or hear the street who, was ; interfered within the progress of the line. ; Mr. Weston tlrought the. Hoard should liave been communicated with by the 'Government, and its consent: obtained . %ut as a dry question of law, of which he had to give an opinion, he did not believe 'they had any power to interfere. HAWKE»S XICBPfSES. The subject of tbe imposing of the license 'fees on hawkers, according to the Ordinance, recently passed t»y the Council, was brought forward by the Chairman. H« stated that according to the Ordinance be •Teferred to the license fees were to be collected, and paid to the Provincial Treasurer, whereas *by the Town Board Ordinance, previously passed, the fees were to be collected by the Board. Mr Lockhart believed that, according to the Town Board Ordinance, which had received the* sanction of the Governor, the Board would still have the power, not•withstariding the subsequent passing of "the Ordinance by the Conncil. Mr M'lvor thought the Council should •have been aware of the previous existence of the Toxm Board Ordinance, when the new Ordinance, with reference to hawkers' licenses was under consideration. Mr Garthwafoe said he had spoken to Mr M' Donald shortly afterwards, and he had informed him he was not aware of the •existence of the clause in the Town Board 'Ordinance referred to, and added he was •under the impression that the Act being fpassed was simpiyfor the country districts, &nd not lor the 'town. Eventually, Mr Weston was instructed to draw up rules and regulations for the -guidance of the Board, particularly in reference to blatrses 4, &, and 12 of the Town, Board Ordinance referred to, and which would define the exact powers of ifche Board onthesuhjectstherein referred to, StPTtICHTTONS, &C. A.n application was received from Mr Edward Culnane, for permission to make opening in the footpath for a cellar attached to premises at the 'corner of Don and Kelvin streets. It appeared by the explanation of the Town Clerk, that tbe applicant had formed the excavation already, without waiting for the permission <of the Board, and that he had been fined at tike Police Conrt, on the information ■of 'the police for the offence. As a matter of form the application contained in tfie letter before the Board was grantedjthe Town Engineer being instructed to see that the applicant complied with llie usnal srequirements for tite safety of the footpath, in making the excavation. An application vi|> received from Mr : Puettelkow,- for permission to stack some timber in Conan street during the progress of bmlding his theatre. The Board could not grant permission on the street •applied for, but granted permission to stack the timber in the reserve opposite, for a period of one month. foothpath gratings in d©n street. A petition, framed in accordance with the requirements of the 52nd Clause in the Town Board Ordinance of 14th October, 1863, and signed by 48 residents in Don street, was received, requesting tire Board i to put down footpath gratings in that ' •street. '" i The Board agreed to have plans and specifications made for the proposed work, . which would be carried on as early as possible. METALMNG, PITCHING, &C, IN TAY STREET. The following report from the Town Engineer was read": — '*« invercaigill, 28tfe October, 3863. To tbe Chairman of the Town Board. Sir, — In accordance with a -resolution, passed at the last Board meeting, I have the honor to report that my estimate for the cost of pitching'3o feet in width of the roadway in the centre of Tay street, and of laying 4 incites of metalling on this pitching, and •over tbe whole width of the street for its i ■entire length, amounts to L 5,585. Also, that '< any estimate for laying a plank road of 20 ; feet in width, and meltalling for a depth of 4 inches •over it, and over the whole width of the street, for its entire length, amounts to L 5,790. "The time that will be occupied in the execution of either of these wbrks, necessarily depends on the rate at which the metalling and pitching could be delivered. "Your obedient servant, R. W. MakCHANT. Some misunderstanding appeared to arise with the membei-s as to whether the Engineer's report should have estimated for covering a plank road with metalling, Mr Marchant, i who wasn present made a calculation showing] that th 6 plank road alone, without -any'-'Cbvering of metal, would cost LB2y less? thus rieducing the coat of that wbrMb L4sb"S. " He, however, adiled that' the covering of metal would render the plank road much more efficient and durable, and instanced cases where the want of metalling caused the road to be soon destroyed. After some discussion, the report which was unideratbod to be merely for the guidance of the members, in considering the advisability of undertaking the work, was received. , FOOTPATH GRATINGS IN DEE STREET. A deputation, appointed at a meeting of the residents in- Dee street, waited on the. Board :v#th the following report :— ; " We, the undersigned, being a majorily of two-thirds of the ratepayer of Dee street,* Town of lnvercargill, in terms of clause 52nd of the Town, Board Ordinance, passed in the Provincial Council of South-, land, 18^, hereby request the Town Board of the' said Town of lnvercargill to have gratings at oriie'e prepared and placed on the pathways' on both, sides ot Dee street, from its junction with Tay street as far as the Town Belt, vVod we further hereby agree

rio'meetsucfi^^demato(ls ; aß,may t ,be mad«,in.j virtua'piTj^ajfidJin terms :!of tneiaboye-merir- (- tidne.d clause, paled at Inyercargill this 1 th^ Chairmari^sai^ 'ilie Town Board i^oiildKayer' undertaken: ths' work^ before,' biii that they ; were^'unS^'tKe-" imp ressfibjij the Govern m§rit was' goingtd do it.7 ? f - j ; ; bompllaihed of the undue ' 'laa^te-^hichvhail/^a'sli^.wn' by the residerits^of l)e'e^sftreet" in igettfrig tipi; the ViiSUeiy aHfl "mr the deputation requesting i . the ?Bbaira ! to y undertake 'the; work at once; ■ they 'cddld riot under- : take immediately without; proper h consideratibnV'arid'^h'avin^ r tb' ; 'conißnlt ; ' thei^ Engineer with reference to plans and sped- ■. ■f&Baticinß.|.-,v''L ; l i'" ;f -"' f •' ' ; ;:l .:, ■'■ ; : -' : ,-i-V.Qne of; the members of 'the deputation • •thought "there 'had Jbeen no ; " undue haste - shown at afl in the matter, seeing fh at the winter had. passed, and the resi-' dents "had ahready suffered all kinds of ißConTemence. They merely wanted to have the answer of the Board on the subject, ias it "woujd 'pay tfeje residents better to form the gratings at ibeii own cost. More j "money had already been* lost by the want of them- taan if tfoey nad paid for their formation. The residents had now taken : the' only tiburse they could adopt— that prescribed by the Act. The enly thing (hey now wanted to know, was whether; tbe Board would undertake the work orthe inhabitants were to do it themselves. Business was completely at a stand-still hi the street at -present for the want of a^ footpath. ... ; Mr LotJkhait said the Board had no unwillingness to go on wirh the work, but "only new to consider the best 'metfeed of carrying it out. The Chairman^answe'red' the deputation by saying that, on the part. of the Board, he woxild have plans and specifications prepared as soon as possible. The wort would be done on the same system as that adopted towards the residents of Tay- < street, a special rate for defraying the ex- \ penditure having to be levied. ' In answer to a question by one of the: deputation, the Chairman said that persons having unoccupied land in the street , would be rated according to its value. In: answer to another query, he replied that lamps would be erected in the street on « similar principle to that adopted In Tay street, if the inhabitants requested it "being carried out. It appeared that the original width -of the footpath was twenty-two feet, while the width, of the proposed grating would only be sixteen. Some discussion arose as to making the gratings the extended width or only sixteen feet, when it was agreed to leave the question to be decided after the reception of the plans and specifications which the Engineer was instructed to prepare as soon as possible. FOOTPATH GRATINGS IN ESK STREET. A petition was received ftom a portion of the residents in Esk-street, for an alteration to be made in laying down the gratings in that portion of Esk-strtet from ; Dee-street to Kelvin-street, Block 9. Ac- ! eompanying the application was a pten for laying down the gratings diagonally, instead of dtrect]y across the footpath, the former plan being that which tbe appliI cants wished^ substituted for the original plan of the Town Engineer. Mr Lockhart deprecated the idea of the Board being dictated to by any section of the ■residents of a street. He believed they should adopt the plans and specifications of their own engineer — than whom there was not a better in the province,—and did not agree with being told what to do by any other engineer. The 'Chairman said the applicants were not dictating to the- Board. If they wanted any alteration, which they sajd they were willing to pay for, he did not see why they should not be gratified. The Board agreed to allow tke appli- ; cants to make any private arrangement they thought fit with the contractors for putting down the gratings, the former paying any extra expense that might be incurred by any deviation from the Town Engineer's plan. PROPOSED ALTERATION OF THE PUNI CREEK. Mr Jaggers called the attention of the Board to this subject. He said that although two years ago the money had been voted by tbe Government for this work, nothing mere had been heard about undertaking it. Whenever there was a flood in the creek, the consequence was, that one half the town was under water, and parties being on the other side could only get to their premises by a boat. He proposed a resolution, which was seconded by Mr Hay and agreed to, that the Clerk should wait on his Honor the Superintentent, and learn the intention of the Government in respect to the work. Some other business in connection with payment of accounts, and other matters of an unimportant nature having been transacted, the sitting was adjourned.