BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 326, 13 June 1911, Page 8

BOROUGH COUNCIL.

MEETING. The ordinary monthly meeting of the New Plymouth Borough Council was held last night. Present: His Worship the Mayor (Mr. G. Tisch), and Councillors G. Hartnell, J. Buttimore, W. Ambtiry, 11. Stocker, J. Clarke, J. T. Mannix, J. C. Morey, G. W. Browne. An apology was received from Cr. Buxton, who was indisposed.

SUBURBAN WATER SUPPLY. Mr. Lobb applied to be allowed to connect with the private water-main laid down by Mr. E. Gilmour outside the borough, Mr. Gilmour consenting.— It was pointed out that the Old People's Home was connected with this main, and that any further connections might make the supply to the Home inadequate. The question was raised, though, that the Board had elected to put down merely an inch pipe, thus running a risk of a shortage of water, and was it fair that the Board should dictate to the Council as to whether con wt lons were to be allowed to a main with which the Board had nothing to do?— The question was too knotty for the Council, and it was referred to the Works Committee to report upon. BILLIARD SALOONS.'

Sergeant Dart, in charge of the local police, wrote: "Having noticed that the billiard saloon proprietors in the borough propose approaching your Council for permission to keep their rooms open till 11 p.m. (instead of 10 p.m., as in the past), I beg to offer the opinion that the good government of the town would not be furthered by granting such request. The police have invariably found it to be in the interests of law and order that the billiard saloons should close at the same time as the hotels in the district. When these rooms are open after the hotels thera is always a tendency after closing time at the latter place for men to adjourn to the billiard rooms and frequently take liquor there. I think the Legislature obviously recognised this when it expressly reserved to local bodies the right to compel the closing of these places at any hour before II p.m. BROUGHAM STREET LIGHTING.

Sergeant Dart also called attention to the lighting of the lower portion of Brougham street. He suggested that a light opposite the right-of-way running between the Taranaki Hotel and the grocer's shop would be a great improvement to the locality, the lighting of which is hardly in keeping with that of the rest of the ''irough, which is excellent.—Mr. J. A. Tuiliill, licensee of the hotel, also wrote in connection with this matter.—Councillors agreed that a lfght was needed there, and the matter was referred to the Mayor and the electrical engineer with (power to act.

WESTERN PARK. Mr. H. R. Cattley, secretary and treasurer of the Western Park Board, forwarded a copy of the Board's balancesheet, showing that the Teceipte had been: Borough subsidy, £SO; receipts from sports clubs, £l9 8s 6d; credit balance from last year, £1 8s) total, £92 8s Bd. Expenditure on labor, material, purchase of plant, etc., was £lO5 lis Id, leaving a debit balance of £l2 10s lid. There was an excess of £l4 5s 8d of liabilities over assets. WATERWORKS RESERVE, „

The borough engineer reported that the noxious weeds had been cut at the above reserve, which appeared to be now very much in the same condition as when taken over by Mr. Smith.—Cr. Browne stated that' the reserve had been let to Mr. Smith at a shilling a year, on the understanding that ho should clear it of weeds, and it ought to have improved.—The Mayor said it was too late to grumble now, for the lease had expired.

THE ABATTOIRS. Mr. A. L. Humphries, secretary of the Taranaki Master Butchers' Association, forwarded a request that a further loan of £ISOO be applied for from the Government to cover the permanent work which has been effected at the abattoirs out of ordinary revenue, the greater portion of which was paid by members 'of the association, who thought it unjust that they should be so taxed by

killing fees as to provide the whole of the capital for any permanent work so effected. Reference to the Council's balance-sheet would show that during the last six years there had been made a profit of £I9OO, and of this amount

£ISOO had been spent on permanent work, anil as the members of the association had paid in killing fees the greater portion of the above amount they felt justified in asking the Council to apply to the Government for another loan to cover the amount of the permanent work and that the butchers be refunded the £ISOO paid out of the abattoir account proportionately to-the amount paid by each butcher in killing fee?.

The Mayor said that £7OO of the revenue came from Mr. Murtagh's slaughtering for export, and £383 from the royalty on gravel. Cr. Mannix said that of course if the killing fees were reduced the butchers would promptly reduce the price of meat. (Laughter.) The Mayor read a statement prepared by the abattoir manager, comparing thr local charges with those at Feildinp "

,-o-- ■•- 6 , the only other abattoir so situated, and the comparison was in favor of New Plymouth,

The Mayor considered the proposal was quite unbusinesslike, and the butchers had not liked the manner in which he had told them .so at a recent meeting.

Cr. Ambury: Where does Murtagh come in? He'll get the bigger share won't .he? The speaker reckoned the councillors would look very foolish if they had to tell the Department that they wanted to borrow money to replace the butchers for monev paid out of pocket.

Or. Morey saw no objection to the Council applying for the loan, but there was no chance of getting it. Cr. Clarke: The butchers wouldn't «et any if we did get a loai. He pointed out that had the Council had to borrow the £ISOO spent out there the butchers would have had to pav interest on the loan in tile shape of higher fees The Mayor also read from the statement by the abattoir manager, showing that last year the butchers' killing fees did not piy the working expenses, and it all the work authorised bv the Coun-

cil had been done there would have been a debit instead of a credit balance. Tlio matter was referred back to the Abattoirs Committee to confer with the association.

Mr. T. J. Reakes, abattoir manager, wrote that the butchers having bought 200 pigs from the Waitara Freezing Works, and having to lift them at the end of this month, they were anxious to liave the chilling room run next month. The Council only received sixpence per head for these pigs, they having been slaughtered at a meat export works, so these fees would not pay for the expense of running the chiller.—Referred to the Abattoirs Cov.imittee. CONCRETE CHANNELLING.

Or. Hartnell suggested the advisability of having concrete channelling done by contract instead of by day labor. This cost the Council £4 12s a chain under I the present system, but he had been told by a reliable man, with considerable experience in this work, that he could do it for £3 a chain. More channelling tfas required than the Council proposed to do, and if there were such a saving as this to be effected it should be don<4 Ha had also learned that the gaol gravel made excellent concrete, at a far less cost than that of the beach shingle. Could the engineer make a test? The Mayor said that the work had been done by contract a few years ago, but the contractors had taken a lot ol watching. He had no objection to allowing some of these smart fellows to teach the Council how to do this work se cheaply. The engineer said that the monumental masons had tried the gaol gravel for concrete, but had discarded it.

The engineer was instructed to prepare plans and specifications and to call tenders for kerbing on one side and kerbing and channelling on the other side of Gilbert street. TENDERS.

The tender of Messrs. Walker and Son at £147 10s was accepted for tlie Hobson street earthwork contract. Plans and specifications for re-deck-ing the Henui railway bridge were referred to a sub-committee consisting of Crs. Hartnell, Browne, and Mannix for a report. GENERAL BUSINESS.

Mr. Geo. Pott asked for two street lights to be erected in Hobson street aouth of Lemon street.—Referred to the electrical engineer for an estimate of the cost.

The electrical engineer was instructed to supply an estimate of the cost of installing electric light in the cemetery cottage.

Some discussion took place concerning a letter forwarded from the town clc-k'a office to the borough engineer asking for information concerning certain properties in the drainage area, which it appeared had not yet been connected with the sewers.—The engineer will report fully to next meeting of the Council as to what properties were within 100 ft of the sewers, and whether there were any special reasons why these properties were not connected.

Mr. B. Tippins asked for extra pay or for "time off" in respect of his work during the Easter holidays in burying grub-infected potatoes at the .request of the Agricultural Department.—Cr. Ambury objected to the Sunday work mentioned as having been carried out.—The inspector will have three days off. The electrical engineer reported that it .would cost £8 to connect the head slaughterman's cottage at the abattoir with the electrical system.—To be done. •*r ■

Mr. M. Jones wrote In reference to a petition urging the completion o'f the kerbing and channelling oil the north side of King street.—To be considered when all kerbing and channelling already authorised had been completed.