BIRKENHEAD BOROUGH

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 350, 10 May 1928, Page 2

BIRKENHEAD BOROUGH

COUNCIL DELIBERATIONS Permits for buildings valued at £1,359 were granted at the meeting of the Birkenhead Borough Council last evening. The Devonport Ferry Company wrote in answer to the council’s complaint regarding boats leaving late in the morning, that every endeavour is made to keep the steamers up to time and special effort will be made to keep the 5.30 a.m. up to time. A protest is to be sent to the Auckland Hospital Board with respect to the increased levy. The town clerk reported that the levy for 1926-27 was £SOS 14s 4d, and for 1927-28 £ 542 16s. while that now demanded for 1928-29 was £1,050 9s 2d, an increase of £207 13s 2d. The Mayor stated that the Hospital Board was in the fortunate position of being able to ask for whatever it wanted, and could spend it as it wished. A protest against the increase is to be sent to the board. Mr. L. Purdy and Mr. L. Donohue were granted an omnibus licence for their seven-seater cars subject to cancellation at any time if they did not run in accordance with their licence. Crs. Hewson, Moller and Jasper opposed the applictions, the latter saying that the council was only playing with this question of licensing taxis, as the traffic report at each council meeting complained of these cars being overloaded. The council had sent three warnings to each driver, but still overloading went on, and yet the council was issuing them another licence. Crs. Moller and Hewson spoke on similar lines, and said overcrowding was dangerous to the travelling public and a serious accident would occur if it was not stopped. A message of sympathy is to be sent to the relatives of the late Mr. Thompson, one of the oldest residents of the district. For some years an annual subsidy of £lO has been granted to the Borough Band. The amount was raised to £2O this year, on condition that the band gave double the number of outdoor concerts.