MUNICIPAL CONFERENCE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 75, 7 July 1910, Page 5

MUNICIPAL CONFERENCE

QUESTION OF STREI-.T WIDENING. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. . At the Municipal ( .lference to-day, as the outcome of a (lit ission on the question of street widi..mg, the following resolution., were passed: ' twelve months after legislation, each borough' to make a list of the arterial streets; on subdividing these the owner to set back his frontage to 33 feet from the middle of the street; (2) that the list of arterial roads be approved by the Government Engineer of lloads, and that he have power to add other streets to the list; (3) the Council alone to have power of exemption, under section 17 of the Public Works Act. If existing public street under CO feet wide is not exempted by the Council, owner to set back the front, with power to the council to allow merely a building line to be kept back; (4) no compensation for land dedicated under section 117 for ! widening public street; (5) that the ' Municipal Corporations and Public 1 Works Act be amended to give effect ! to the above resolutions, and that all necessary consequential amendments be likewise made. YESTERDAY'S PROCEEDINGS. Wellington, Last Night. The Municipal Association's Conference concluded its business to-day. The following resolutions were passed:— That section '23 of the Rating Act, 1908, be amended to provide for two assessors to sit with the Magistrate pre- ' siding over the Assessment Court. That the law be amended or modified t so that the rights-of-way may be left • open to river beds, where suita Die gravel ' or stone for road construction cuuld ! be procured, and the question of such amendment be referred to ti'.e Legislative Committee of the Association. That section 107 of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1908, be amended to allow charge to be made against owners of frontages where footways i'lul channels are constructed or reconstructed in any part of one or both sides of a street. That all charges on land for work done by council, such as drainage, should be registrable against land on certificate of town clerk, and that no such charge should be valid unless registered within six months of the work. That clause 9 of the sixth schedule to the Municipal Corporations Act be amended so as to provide that it snail not be compulsory, as at present, for contractor to execute a bond in respect of every contract with municipal corpoTation for less than £ 100. That provision be made in the Municipal Corporations Act to sXunipt councils from liability for damage to property caused through overflow irom water races into existing natural water courses' when races are- in danger through storm water. That whereas section 33 of the Rating Act, 1908, gives authority for alteration of valuation roll where the rateable value lias been affected by the addition of buildings, the Act be amended to provide necessary machinery to enuole boroughs to collect rates for the balance I of the year in which such valuation roll has been so amended. That local bodies be empowered to divert heavy traffic out of certain streets. iThat councils be authorised -o make a charge for admission to all sports jtowuLs, zoos and aquaria controlled by them. That power in section 345 of the Municipal Corporations Act to make bylaws defining licensing and controlling billiard rooms be extended to include power to feruse licenses to such rooms or to keepers thereof who may not be desirable persons for such positions. In paragraph c of section 3 of the Municipal Corporations Act, IAOB, provision is made in respect to constitution of boroughs—"That any part of New Zealand comprising in a continuous area not more than nine square miles, and having no points distant more than six miles from oe another, and having a population of not more than ii) 00, 1 may be constituted a borough." Tt was decided that the Act be amended by adding to the paragraph quoted a proviso that the section shall not apply to cases of amalgamation or extension of boroughs. _ The election of officers resulted: President, the Mayor of Wellington; vice-presidents, the Mayors of Auck- . laaid, Christchurch, Dunedin and NelI son; executive committee, thd Mayors of Petone, Lower Hutt, Palmerston North, Ivarori, Onslow, and Masterton, and the chairmen of the Upper Hutt and 'Tollnsonville Town B6ards; Legislative Committee, Executive Committee, and any other delegates resident in or near Wellington; legal adviser and treasurer, Mr. T. F. Martin (re-elected); auditor, Mr. A. S. Biss (re-elected). DEPUTATION TO THE PREMIER. A deputation from t.he Municipal Association waited on the Prime Minister this evening to lay before him the cisions arrived at during the conference. In reply, Sir Joseph Ward said the question of rating Government property in towns was important. There was a , good deal to be said for it. but the Government was paying a considerable sum of money to local bodies in subsidies. He knew of no country where the Government was rated as suggested. As to the broad question of franchise, he had 7io objection to the Parliamentary roll being used. Some people urged', the use of the same roll for loan polls . He did not infer that the deputation was as'ting for such a thins, but it was his duty to look at these questions from everv aspect. The anomaly in regard to hotel license fees in town board districts would be righted this session. He could not commit himself to a large finnn""'"' o"esM'on of extending the State Guaranteed Loans system to embrace! existing loans. During the short time | the Act had been in oiwation immense j advantages had been derived by many | ■ local Large sums of money were' j needed for public works and other un-i , dertakinsrs. and if the law was amended to undertake the responsibility of getting local bodies a lower rate of interest. it would seriously injure the "eneral rate on which te Government : now borrowed for the Dominion. He i howvl before very 1on« to forward the 1 dnWtni a r oT) T ' o' th<* Municipal Bill, ; '"•hip* he was anvious to see passed. It confer wider on mu-, Heinalities. which were undertaking, 7i:ov- so manv r.ew things compared with former days. A rninntp's deinv in treats? some cases of erouo—" ff en A he length of time it to Ires to <jo for n doctor—freonentlv proves fatal. T" w™ worrv Tceen a j bottle of Chamhorlnrn's Couqrh Remedy 11 in tfce house, and at, the. first indication., of croup srive ,the child a dose. PJejisnpt, tatyi a.nd Ahyavp cures. by all 1 demists and stohkeipdra-'--, '* ! : 7 ' JJtJ'"" I■ ■■