DEVONPORT BOROUGH

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 339, 26 April 1928, Page 13

DEVONPORT BOROUGH

MEETING OF COUNCIL The Devonport Borough Council last evening received an offer to sell a section of land at the corner of Victoria Road* and Kerr Street from an absentee owner, who considered that the land would be a fine place to build municipal offices. The price asked was £2,500 and no cash was wanted, the owner being willing to take bonds at 6 per cent. The council declined the proposal. A grant of £3 3s was made the W.E.A., but the appeal of the New Zealand Institute of Horticulture for help in purchasing a piece of bush at Waimauku " The highways Board forwarded £163 as the borough’s share of the petrol tax for one Quarter. The Mayor stated that the Poppy Bay appeal had raised £7l 9s in Bevonport and Stanley Bay; the usual application for a grant from the R.S.A. would be made; if acceded to, the money would be subsidised £1 for £1 and employed in giving work to R.S.A. men. Estimates for reconstructing Jubilee Avenue and for forming a 10ft. carriageway at the rear of leasehold sections owned by the council at Narrow Neck are to be supplied by the engineer. The financial statement to March 31 showed that the general account was in debit £6,205, slightly less than last year: the water account was in credit £2,450; refuse and) sanitation account had a debit of £266; the hospital rate a credit of £130; lighting rate a credit of £387, and interest rate a credit of £248. The bank overdraft was £2,920, compared with £4,848 last year, and the council had cash credits due to the general account of £3,288; a sum of £8,016 had been spent on roads and footpaths. Work on the Queen’s Parade is well advanced, and the Stanley Park area is nearing completion, the sowing of grass seed on the •football field being in hand. In order to frame the estimates for the year the engineer was instructed to get out plans and costs for Lake Road paths; the completing of the haunches on Victoria Road; Malvern Road formation: clearing Lake Road culvert; storm-water drainage at St. Leonards Road; Mozeley Avenue corner improvements; Melrose Park play area; and a number of other important works. The council, in view of the setting up of a commission on drainage into the harbour, was not inclined to attempt anything in the way of spending money at Narrow N3ck on bettering the drainage outfall. BUS LICENSING A meeting of No. 2 Omnibus Licensing Authority was held at Bevonport last evening. The Northcote and Birkenhead Borough Councils intima t d that they were prepared to assist in enforcing the regulations. The traffic inspector at Bevonport was instructed ,to see that the provisions regarding overcrowding were strictly enforced. In reply to a question, the clerk stated that the number of pfessengers that each bus was permitted to carry was fixed by the inspecting engineer and has to be shown in a prominent place in the bus. The number of standing passengers. which could not exceed onethird of the seats in number, had to be definitely stated also. The Brown’s Bay service was granted a licence for one bus. A service licence at Birkenhead held by Messrs. Lynch and Watson was transferred to Messrs. Lynch and Hallidav with the proviso that all tickets issued by the former proprietors were to be honoured.