TAIHAPE BOROUGH COUNCIL

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3343, 22 November 1919, Page 4

TAIHAPE BOROUGH COUNCIL

The ordinary mollthly ;.'let‘:‘_‘l.’£ig of the Council was held last night. Present: His Worship the Mayor (A. J. Jdblin, E.sq.), Crs. Turnbull, Davies, Eteveneaux, Cunningham, Timbs, Reid‘. and Fookes. A letter was received from Rev. \“J'.. F. Stent, stating that the Citizens’ Committee had taken over the library on the 15th, asking that the £lO subsidy be paid over as soon as possible. and, that the Borough representative be appointed. -Cr. Fookes was appointed to represent the borough, and‘ the Town Clerk reported that the subsidy had been passed by the FinanceCommittee. A letter was received from the Departmnt of Internal Affairs stating that the distribution of war trophies» was under consideration, and that -the Council could‘ retain the machine gun [until the final distritbvution was made.

The Rangitikei County Council" iwrote inquiring how mucii rental per jyear the Borough Council required ifox; Section 10, Block 1, on which it was intended to erect County oflices. i Cr. Fookes moved that the amount lof rental be fixed at £8 15/ per annum, as at present.‘ the term to be till 1935. In doing so he thought. the rental was a very reasonable one. If the. lease was put up to auction it would probably bring three or four times that amount . The motion was carried after some further discussion. , ' Cr. Davies moved that the Borough Council will give such right of renewal, as provided in terms of the Act, as‘ will meet with the approval of the Rangitiki County Council. Seconded by the Mayor and canied. Mr R. W. Smith, M.P., wrote with‘ reference to the substitution of‘ asphalt for concrete in the loan. proposal which it was proposed to include in the Wash—ing Up Bill, stating that the Minister held that the second poll taken wasr informal, as it was not taken in a constitutional manner. Mr Smith said he‘had seen the ‘Minister, who had stated that his’('thc 'Minist_ei*’s’) decision was. finaL §'h4 ' V,‘ '

M b The "IjoV\3vr;',,L C,lerk._ said .A the engineer was waitirig for instructions with reference to the fizdnstruction. of the footpaths, which it would be ncéessary. to give in the _face of the Minister-’s o_pini:on'., . _

' Mr Fookes gnoved that the plans and ~ specifications for concrete paths as originally outlined by the engineer--be proceeded with. Cr. Reid sccondcd,. and the motion was carried. It was.also suggested rtha.t't.le en--gineer be requested to proceed with» the preparation of the plans and specifications without ‘delay. V ' ' This ‘brought. up the question. of‘ drainage and the necessity of making the necessary connections before the loans Work was proceeded with. A reportswas read‘ from the Health Inspector-,. in which he pointed out‘ that there was in several instances of‘ more than one connection to one drain in the borough, which was not desirable for various reasons. He also” pointed out -several others matters =. which needed rectification, and laid" down the proper Steps that should be~ taken.

Cr.“ Reid said several of those connections came before the Council, and he had asked Mr Swindells to bring in a report, which he nad done. He moved that the suggestions contained in the report be endorsed by -the Council. ‘This was seconded by Cr. Fookes and carried. '“' A letter was received from the Taihape Chamber of Commerce with reference to the use by the public of the conveniences at the Town Hall The Mayor said the hotel and railway station had public-conveniences. The conveniences at the back of the Town Hall had been misused, and Were closed, except for those who used the Theatre.‘ ‘ - The Town Clerk explained that the Town Hall conveniences were not for the general public, but for patrons of the hall. He bore testimony to the disgraceful manner in which these conveniences had been abused in the P354?’ and which led to them being locked up. They were so %bad that the borough workmen had refused to clean them out. Cr. Davies said he had sympathy with ‘rho borough workmen. He suggested that some method should be devised to meet the diificulty. Cr. Timbs considered something in the way of convniene-es should "'6B pm‘ vided in the centre of the toW'n;“l’-hey were absolutely necessary. The Mayor "said councillors Would all admit that some public COllV9lli‘ ences were absolutely neeessarY- P 91" sonally he was not in favour of throwing open the Town Hall conveniences to the general public. Cr. Davies moved that :1 I€ttCl' be sent to the Chamber 0? Colllmßl‘oe pointing out that the conveniences at the rear of the Town Hall were for the use of patrons of the Town Hall; but that the Council would take thefirst opportunity of providing convenes iences for the publie.——Carrie§i,é V‘

A further letter was I‘ecei’ved' from the Chambe,-Vol: Commerce Pointing C out the necesgi-t? Of :3. building or magazine for the Stdrage of explosives and dangerous goods, and contending that if a proper building W 33 Pl'°Vided- it V would be iresfienue producing. . CL Cunninghame said this was a most important matter, which had been y before the Council a- few years ago. A site had been selected and prices had been obtained. Cr. Fookes inquired if the Council had areserve near a quarry or somewhere else where a building cotlld be erected. ' Cr. Cunningham said Ndbels’ repre sentative when he was here had given all particulars as to the size of the building and necessary requirements. " Cr. Reid said certain regulations had heendrawn up with regard to the storage of dangerous goods, but those had been absolutely disregarded. There were only two or three firms in the town who were observing the regulations. He went round the town some weeks ago, and in a wooden building in a central portion of the town there were no less than four tons of hen-zine——-and some of the tins were leaking. - » ' Cr. Fookes: Has not the Fire Inspecter authority to prosecute? The Mayor: Yes. V Cr. Reid said there was a building in the borough on the other side of the railway line that would answer the‘ purpose until the Council could see its Way to ‘build a proper magazine. The matter was referred to the Works Committee. WORKS COi\Ii\II'TTEE’S REPORT. . The above conlmittee’s report was read as follows:

Your committee recommends: That new culverts be constructed in Goldfinch Street -opposite sections 28 and 23, as recommended by the foreman of works. That the Town Clerk be authorised to procure the necessary three feet pipes for diverting streams in Goldfinch Street (i.e., from‘ behind Mrs L_vson’s property to outlet of; culvert: at section 9, block XVI., and from the Manse corner, straight across "the road to Mr Aldridgeis property.) That‘ Mr Conchie be requested topmake certain structural alterations to the’, house’ occupied by Mr Hooker, as recommended by the Health Inspector.’ Thiat Mr E. McGroWan_ be informed thatthe Council h'a.'s'°‘ "no. recommendation to make in respect of his application to fence 4?; chains along the Otaihape stream. * Recommend ‘that an Acme 12in by 9in stone crusher and screen be purchased from Messrs Booth, Meadonald, at .a cost of £560. as per their tender of 15th, October, 1919. That the turnstiles recently erected on steps leading to Mr R. W.“Smi4th’s_ property, and from Ellis Road -to" rrailivay, be painted white. That Messl‘s'Dalgety and ,Co..be‘requested to re-lay the drain in front of their premises in Main Street. Having again informed Inspector ‘Swindells that he "hits full authority to serve such noticfis to connect to the sewers as he"-thinks‘: fit. Having the matter of fresh arrangements for sanit'ar'_v cnnt.!'aCf- under consideration. ' Cr. Cunninghame said some time ago authority had been given to lay cinders -on Kaka Road. This had not been done yet. He noticed cinders were being stored in the Borough yards, and he suggested the spreading: of a few drayloads on Kaku road‘ would obviate the necessity of storingi some of it. 1 Cr, Reid said an attempt had been‘ made by a. certain gentleman to corner 1 the future supply of cinders in the} town, and he had instructedthe fore-j man to store itin -the yards..lf thc* attempted corner had eventuated the Borough would have had to pay’ 25/ a 1 load for its cinders, instead of 10/. ‘ The Mayor said if Kaloa Road was not getting its ashes the -attention of the chairman of the Works Commit-‘ tee should be drawn to it. Cr. Reid said lots of roads were re? quiring ashes besides Kakaa. Road. The report was adopted‘.

ELECTRIC -LIGHT AND -WATER V’ COMMITTEE’S REPORTThe above committee’s T€Pol‘t was read as under and adopted?-' _ That the Council inform Messrs ‘Abel and Pickering that no vorbjection’ will be made to their ‘entering into competition with the Council in electrical wiring of buildings. That ‘DII9 District Engineer, New Zealand Railways, Ohakune, be informed that the pumps new-being in order, no further trouble should occur in connection With water supply to railwzay cottages, etc. Your committee repo”rts:—-Having‘ been informed by the Engineer that Messrs Niven and Co. have made 23, sfitisfactory job of the repairs to the highslift. mmnp__. consequentby recom--mend that the account rendered (£7O) be paid. That the Engineer be in‘atructed to report on the cost of putting a. weir in the tail race, as recommcndedlhy Mr Toogood. hydraulic engineer. Recommend that the baths be filled as required by the Swiming” Club} but not more frequent. than twice :-.a} week. Rocommencl that the '.Electrical Engineer be directed not to Aveifi}l_jireSe.rvoir to a. greaterei depth than :§€l§t'en—_=;:feet. t 1 ’ . "

-'ro'wN I-1.-SLI. COM.MITTEE’S REPORT. The committee repaorted as fol} lows:—— After going thoroughly into the position with_ Mr Carr, your Committee recommends: That the -agreement be altered to secure" for the use of the lessee every Saturday night in each year of the present term of lease. That with referenceito Mr Ca.rr’s request to the Council to definitely book to him all public. holidays, recommend -that the Council retain the right to select three public holiday nights in each year for the use «of local institutions which have established a precedent in respect of certain fixed dates in each year. That Mr Reid be released from becoming a party to the agreement, as requested by him and Mr Harold Carr be accepted as sole lessee. That the agreement be completed in other respects, as preyiously drafted.———Adopted. WELCOME HOME TO RETURNED SOLDIERS. Cr. Cuiininghame said the time had come, now that nearly all the soldiers had returned that some official public rtaception or welcome home should be tendered to them, and he suggested that the preliminary steps. in that direction should be taken. " The Mayor said he had not lost sight of -the matter, and he had discussed the question with the soldiers themselves. Now .*.ha.t practically all‘ the men had returned home it was time“ to be up and doing. 4 _