INSTALLATION OF MAYOR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 85, 6 May 1909, Page 4

INSTALLATION OF MAYOR.

•t THE PAST YKAK REVIEWED.

The statutory meeting of the Bor- ' ough Council for the installation ot "Major was held yesterday morning at * ten o'llocfc.- There were present tnc < Mayorlcct, Mr G. Tieeh. and Councillors. E. Dockrill, V. C. Bellriuger, F. h. VY - , son (east ward), A. £ VVatkms and 0. '• Bi hop (central ward), arid J. F. Hooker ; H. J. Gilbert, and G. W. Brovyne (west 1 W ard). An apology was received from i Cr. West, who was unable to be pre- ■" Be The usual declarations having been ■ , signed by the councillors, Mr Tiseft - wllcomed the old and new members to ! the council table, with an especial welcome to Mr, Dockrill, who, after having occupied the mayoral chair for seven aid' a half years, displayed his public gpiritedness by again coming forward to give the ratepayers the benefit of his I previous experience. Mr. Tisch then mat on to review the work of the past ' year; as follows: Gentlemen.-r-I take this opportunity of giving a brief summary of some of the work done by the Council during the past yeir. A number of new works were authorised before I took office, ' and (arried out; other new works have L also been carried out, bringing the actual expenditure, for streets, labour, ' and metal to £3OOO. The Estimates , Committee voted £2200 jor this work, ' hut more than one-half of the amount voted was spent during the first three months of the financial year, and » 1 large amount before I took office. Thi* is shown by the Town Clerk's letters " sent at the end of April to the then

chairman of Works.Committee and the .- Borough Engineer, calling attention to -the fact that the weekly pay-sheets . were double the amount authorised by .; the previous Estimates Committee. The *" following are some of the new works; - Vivian Street cutting £3OO, Buller .. Street £94, Pendarves Street £Bl, Gill ', Street between Hbbsoa and Browne Streets £143, Fulford Street culvert "' £7B, Waimanu Street £23, Devon

Street West culvert, draining swamps £222, filling and widening by S. Smithjs (Tc Henui) £35, Albert Road £39. The new by-pass was successfully carried out at a cost of £278 (the late engineer,, Mr. Gibbon, estimated this work would cost. £450), taking up and

re-laying the water pipes in Mill Road £Bl. These items amount to a total Of £1374. The Council secured the sole right to-remove the beach gravel. A Jarge quantity has been used in concrete kerbing and channelling, and there was on March 31 in the borough depot beach gravel valued at £lO5, 'boulders and broken metal £145, tar for asphalt £55, bringing the total of new works and stock in hand to £1734. In addition

to the above, new works the engineer reportg that the streets have received the same number of yards of metal as in ~ previous' years; and that the general upkeep and their present condition compares favourably with past years. Owing to the long spell of dry weather experienced last summer, the water-carts were kept in constant use. The Council y considered it preferable in some of the streets to allow the growth of grass to , > remain between the metal and channelling, because the removal of the grasss 'would have increased the dust nuisance. I mention this because the engineer has been blamed for not doing this work. Concrete Kerbing and Channelling. 1 —About 90 chains of new work has ■been laid down during the year at a cost of £323. Repairs have been made and gullies seen to, bringing the total

i amount expended to £355. This is' a '■ permanent work, and gives a good ap- . • pearance to the town. Drainage prior to March 31, 1909. There were seven miles of sewers laid i. and 2% miles of connections laid in the

i borough last year. The Council laid new sewers in Gill Street, Lemon Strett, Molceworth Street, Pendarves Street, Silver Street, and Weymouth Street. The amount expended on drainage was £735, of which £279 was received for connection fees, leaving £458 to be spent out of 'the ordinary revenue. A portion of this amount was spent in assisting indigent persons to i- connect with the sewers. The Council considered each case on its merits. It was willing to assist genuine eases, but considered that some of the applicants did not require the Council's assistance. At present there are about 500 sewer connnectiohs made 'and about 80 not connected (sewer stock in hand and paid for £sl). Town Hail.—Additional office aecom-

i modation was required, in the town clerk's and engineer's offices. These ' alterations, and a much-needed strongis room in the engineer's office for the safe !■" custody or the borough street plans, have been completed. ,- Dust Nuisance.—With a view of r i minimising the dust nuisance, an experiment on a small scale was tried by coating a portion of Brougham street with crude petroleum, and a similar piece of street with tar. , The crude petroleum >. seemed to absorb the dust and did not i require the water-cart. I shall recom- !»' mend the Council, when finishing a new i metalled street, to dress it with crude petroleum. The thanks of the Council arc due'to .Mr. J. G. Arthur for donating a supply of tar for the experiment, also to tlrti Taranaki Petroleum Company for supplying crude petroleum at a trilling cost. Asphalting.—Very little tarring and asphalting has been done. The Estimates Committee only voted sufficient to carry out the work previously authorised. Electric Light.—Councillor Browne, chairman Of the Electric Light Committee, delivered a careful and comprehensi\e report to the Council at its last meeting. A copy will be supplied to the new Council. 1 shall only reicr to an otersight of a previous Council in erecting the sub-station on the street. Recently the land fronting the old railway line wis offered for sale.and in view oi the probability of having to remove the building the Council considered it desirable to purchase a half-acre adjoining on which the building can be erected when it becomes necessary. The site acquired is in every way very suitable for a tram substation, and is a valuable asset. There are still £2500 unsold debentures against this. The bank has advanced £I2OO. The financial institutions will be approached with a view- of of the debentures. Abattoirs. —An up-to-date chillingroom and refrigerating plant have been installed at the abattoirs, which is now __ one of the most up-to-dale in the Dominion. Owing to the large number of stotk slaughtered tor export it became nccci-nry to increase the boniiig-rooin accommodation. Owing to the prohibition of this class of export beef by the Home authorities several improvements ' then made are at present not required. There were slaughtered for local consumption: Cows 1054, bullocks' 387, calves j 224, sheep 6200, lambs 1107, and pigs' 1733 Stock condemned included cattle ] 44. calves 1, sheep 10\ pigs 30. There weres laughtered for export, cows, bullock", bulls, calves. 2025. The condemned totalled Iflll. Fees and rents received > amounted to £1945. Although the Council is paying more than the union rate of wages for killing, yet it was cil ed by the Auckland Slaughtermen's I Union to appear before the Arbitration j Court held in Auckland on April 19. The j Council appointed Mr. Win. Prior to act for the Council. The cas e was thrown out, and will probably be taken before the Conciliation Court at New Plymouth. Old Railway Line and Bridge.—The , Railway Department was on the point ot removing the railway bridge over the Tc Henui river, and in view of the in- , creased traffic on Devon Street East and the prospective tramways, the Council r. considered it desirable to purchase the « railway line continuing from the end of Leach (street to Bnrring Terrace, includr ing the railway bridge, for a sum of i* £095; one-half of the purchase money _- to be paid in 1909. and the balance in , 1911. Th e Fitzroy Town Board lias , purchased the portion of the line in - their district and "has also agreed to contribute £SO towards ilcckina the _ bridge This wijl give another fine street to the borough, and relieve the stock traffic from Devon street. Gill Street Extension.—A deputation from the Council waited oh the Premier :and the Hon. Mr. McNah, th e then MinMter for Rajlways'. The Minister gave

I very little of his originalproniuo 01 the extension of Molc&worth street, but pronged to assist m every means ... his power to relieve the congestion of the traffic in Devon street, caused by Ih,. increased business at the railway viids Recently the Harbor Board dedicated a strip of land two feet wide for the purpose of widening liill street fronting Kawau I'ah and had also dedicated a "triangular piece of land 35 feet wide at the "corner oi Kawau Pah fronting the lluatoki stream. The Railway Department gave to the Council, free of cost for the purpose of a street, that piece of line immediately behrad Mr. Nolan's hide market. I suggest that tins Council acquire such hinds as may be required to connect <iill street and St. Aubyn street. 1 have'had this matter in hand and fuller particulars will be laid before the Council.

The year's receipts and expenditure have already been published by the Pre*. There was a small credit balance at the end of th e financial year which must be considered satisfactory, in view of the large amount of new work carried out during the year out of ordinary r evcnue.

The Council also gave an increased subsidy of £IOO to the Recreation Ground, and had to pay £SO for land dedicated by the trustees of the late Major Parns' estate. The new Council starts with scarcely any authorised works, and has a large supply of boulders and broken metal and beach gravel ready for immediate use. The Council has authorised tire temporary removal of the 20 horse-power electric motor from the abattoirs to the stone-crusher. The steam traction engine will then lin available for hauling in metai and scarifying the streets, saving a considerable amount of labor in lieifof hand-picking the streets. 1 trust the Council will continue a progressive policy, laying down concrete kerbing and channelling. I suggest that the ratepayers be asked to carry a loan for the purpose of acquiring the land required to connect Gill street with St. Aubyn street; and should a poll be taken I strongly recommend that the ratepayers be given an opportunity to vote for a sum sufficient to erect a "concrete culvert to replace the present l'owderhani street bridge; also i'o r forming and metalling Leach street from Liardet street to Eliot street, and the extension of the drainage scheme in the borough. To do these new works out of ordinary revenue and continue paying the present subsidies simply means' starving the streets and footpaths. In conclusion, I thank the burgesses for again returning me to the Mayoral chair. I consider the office should be a rolling one, and therefore shall not again accept the position. I have endeavored to carry out the duties of the office with credit to the borough, and have with the assistance of some public-spirited burgesses, done a little' towaroU bringing our seaside town more prominently under the notice of the travelling public. Having concluded his speech, Mr. Tisch signed the usual formal declaration in the presence of Crs. Bellringcr and Browne, and was duly installed. tlr. Dockriil, on bvhalf of the newlyelected councillors, thanked his Worship for the welcome extended. Whilst on •his feet he would like to place his views on nnajice before the Council, and sound a note of warning before they acted upon the report just presented by the I Mayor. He quoted extensively ftom a mass of figures to show that the Council last year over-spent its revenue by £2221. In support of this he stated that when he ieft the mayoral chair the district fund account was worth £22 S.i 19s Td, whilst at the end of tire year ther e was only £O4 in it. Xliere was going to he no £2221 for the Council to play with this year. Last year the revenue was £2085 above the estimated, and from this the Council would see that there had been about £4OOO expended above what had been estimated, without going into debt. The Mayor had spoken oi £I7OO spent in new works last year. As there had been £2221 taken from the district fund account, and the electric light department had earned £034 more than estimated, it was plain that £2855 had been expended which would not be available fo r expenditure in the coming year. He was glad to see that the electric light department had announced its intention of starting a renewal fund. That was running the department on business lines', so that the committee would not need to go to the ratepayers for a loan when the time came for renewal of the plant. ■ The Mayor interrupted, informing Or. Dockriil, that this meeting was called together for the purpose of electing the Council's standing committees, not for general business such as was now being introduced.

Cr. Doekrill said he was merely drawing the Council's attention Ho a comparison between the Mayor's figures and his own (the Speaker's), with a view of emphasising the need for economy. He intended to move later for a return, which would .show that the work of the borough bad not been attended to in the past year as it should have been, and as it had been in the year preceding Mr. Tisch's first term of office.. STANDING COMMITTEES.

The following standing committees were elected:—

Works—The whole Council (with the Mayor as chairman), Crs. Bellringer, Browne, Watkins and the Mayor to be an executive committee.

Estimates—The whole Council, with the Mayor as chairman.

Finance—The Mayor (chairman). Crs. Doekrill, Wilson, Browne and Watkins. " Abattoir—The Mavor (chairman), Crs. Doekrill, Bishop, Browne and Bellringer.

Drainage —The Mayor (chairman), Crs. Hooker, Brown and Gilbert.

Reserves and fjometcry—Crs. West, Bellringer (chairman), Doekrill and Browne.

Encroachment—Crs. Browne (chair man), West and Bishop.

Electric Light The Mayor. Crs. Browne (chairman), Wilson, Bishop and Bellringer. Representatives on the Recreation Grounds Board—Crs. Bellringer, Watkins and the Mayor.

Library—The Mayor, Crs. Bellringer,, Browne and Wilson, with four members elected by the annual meeting of the library.

Baths and Kawaroa Park—The Mayor, Crs. Watkins, Gilbert and Hookers. Messrs H. Stockcr and W. L. Newman. Western Park—Crs. Gilbert, Browne, Watkins and Hooker, and Messrs F. Newell. T. Francis, and J. Johnstone.

By-laws—The Mayor (chairman), Crs Wilson and Doekrill. Tramways—The Mayor, Crs. Browne Doekrill and Wilson.

Bands-iCrs. Wilson, Watkins and .Doekrill.

Representatives on the New Plymouth Fire Board. Crs. Doekrill. Wilson and Watkins.

In setting up the committees Cr. Doekrill objected to tiie proposal to elect, the whole Council a works committee. He thought it would be better to have n smaller committee composed of the new members, for the old members had trot into the habit of playing a "flush hand." and would lie difficult to restrain. In answer to Cr. Wilson, th ( . Mayor -aid the executive was not intended' to h:iv" powers to inaugurate works. Iml to deal wifirciises of emergency, and to those details which in the past had been left in the hand- of the chairman of the Works Committee. Upon the motion of Crs. Wilson and Bellringer. it was derided not to reappoint the East Kntl Haths Committee, the mover stating the bathing shed was no longer used as such.