BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 November 1918, Page 3

BOROUGH COUNCIL.

MEETING OF WORKS COMMITTEE. A meeting of the Works Committee ot tlii' }>cw Plymouth Borough Council was held last night. His Worship the Mayor (ilr. 0. 11. Jiurgess) presided, and there were present: Cm- J. Clarke, J. Vv. Hayde!i, W. F. Short, E. Griffiths, \V. A Collis, Iv- J. Deare, and G. W. Browne STREETS SUB-COMMITTEE. Tho Streets Sub-committee rwomineuded as follows: That no action be taken in regard to the inspector's recommendation to put up notices on race days warning pedestrians to look out for motors; that r.u action be taken in regard to tae inspei, tor's recommendation to prevent iieavy voiuclM ana also funeral* and procea sions from passing through Devon Street central; that the principal palimg booth at the forthcoming polls be held at th« old Drill Hall; that tho borough engineai bo authorised to lay down in tar mas adf.m about taree chain;; of the roadway, south side of Devon Street, near the Henui bridge; that the borough engineer be authorised to purchase a horse and Rig lor the use of tho foreman; that the borough engineer bo authorised to kerb and channel the footpath on the east side of Robe Street, from Vivian Street to Fulford Street-, to be charged to £42,000 loan; that the borough engineer be authorised to kerb and channel the footpath on the eastern side of Carrington Road, between the 3ood Templar Hall and Leach Street, to be charged to £42.000 loan; that no action be taken at present in regard to the [lagging of the foootpath in Devon Street from the Po-t Office to Silver Street; that the borough engineer he authorised to tarpaint the following streets:—Courtenav Street (from Liardet to Currie Street, extra- width to that authorisc-d), Dawson Street (from Powderham to Fulford St'eet). and Carrington Road (from Courtenav to Vivian Street): that the borough engineer be authorised to construct a further tar storage tank. The report was adopted.

ORDER OF STREETS' WORK. The engineer submitted a report on liifc progress i>i streets' worK as iroui April 1 to uetooer xi, in 18, dealing wan juiu woriii and »puciat votes, general •iohv, and works uutucrised uut not jet compiled, and inamiiy U.a iecouiiiieuua lions as to tlio order in winch cue works should be earned out:—• The works inu«t be put into four classea—(i) Xarrmg, *2) metalling, \-j) concrete, (4 1 earthwork aud general small jobs. ,n tarring work it is wise to save tne loads already tarred, ana lirst in importance Js Devon Street, or >vnst is gnerally called the tram route. A separate report upon this street will Tat; laid bo r ore voi» Gill, St. Aubyn, ar.d parts o£ brougham and Currie Streets mas? aiso bo repaired as soon as possible, to prevent further damage being done. Csurtenay, Dawson, part of Carringcon, and Avenue and Ehot Jhll saoiucl w; considered of first importance. The saving ol metal is so vital that it is difficult to «?.y which roads are most important. Tukapa and Fraukley are of importance, c'Ting to the heavy cost of re-inetailing v. !:cn broken through. I nrtei mciiiliiTig, itll roads now open to tarilie aro important, but Vivian Street should take preceuenee- Queen Street will aiso be urgent, as it is to be tarred. Concrete work is chiefly kerb and channelling, and is being worked out in blocks, to avoid the of plant and material. Earthwork, etc.—The re-formation of Outfield Road is the work, and I cannot promise to put this in hand for some time for want of laborIn making suggestions for carrying on vorks in priority, no hard-and-fast rule can be adopted Labor and weather condition* tend to alter programmes. One thing seems certain: many small vorks which crop up, as is seen in the schedule given above, must, perforce, be set aside, attention beinjj riveted to more urgent .md permanent work. fn conclusion! following ray previously<vpressed intention to do so, the patching of roads has been kept down to a minimum, and right through the winter the bu]l- of the work hrfc berii ol a permanent nature. That this has paid is i'Pitainly shown by the long length of roads metalled. To continue the old and co=tly business of patchwork wotilfl give no one satisfaction, and seriously disorganise ths working of the staff.

. AN I EMPLOYEE'S COMPLAINT. William Evetts wrote with regard to the matter of his disniii/u j;i>m tlie councils employment. He said, in tiie lirst place, Mr Blanchard had no authority to write to the council on his behalf. He said the engine's statement that he had not dismissed was contrary to fact, lie was given a fortnight's notice as fron\ October 2, being told tltat it was the intention of the council to reorganise the staff. He approached the engineer at the end of the fortnight, and asked where he (the writer) caraa in in the reorganisation, and was told it had not come to that yet. "The truth is," continued the writer, "the council is short of money, and has decided to reduce iSie surfacemen." He had no offer of employment from the council, either heavy or light, since that time. With reference to the suggestion that the writer was not able to stand the strain of some of the service, he pointed out. that that was not because of his ina.t)il',ti to di a good day's work, but because the length of which he had charge—from Morley Street to the breakwater—was too large for one man to keep in order. ' Til* engineer, in * tetter on She sul> jeet, said the facts were as set out at. the previous meeting. Kvetts was nearly 03 years of age. and when it was decided to take hiui «1V the permanent hf was informed that light work would be found for him.

It was decided to replv that worl; was available for Mr. Evetts if he applied for it. G ENTER AH Te secretary of the Xjramotu Peaside Improvement Committee wrote Riskin™ that, as no water charge?, were levied, on the East Knd or Kawnroa Park committees, the same consideration should be shown to the Xgamoti: committee. The comicil decided to place the X,?aof.u committee on the same footing as tlis other «ita«ids committers. A letter, with which was et!tki?c<! voluminous" memoranda, was rwclveil from the secretary of the Hnnf-dm Ski Cloh, with reference to the proposals o£ the Mayor of Auckland for the improvement of the Tongariro Nation*: i ■g(k ly (1) the erection of suitable huts on the Mountain, (2) the formation of certain necessary roads, and (3) the erejlion of a Government accommodation-house at j Wnimarino- The correspondence stated j that there wftfi opposition <o the accom-modation-house proposal at Waiuuu-Jao.

the opinion being that it should bi erected on the slopes of the mountain, and the club sought an expression of opinion the eotmt;\ on tKo matter. It was decided to reply that the council Wfta of opinion thst so fur as the experience ot' Taranaki, was concerned, such accommodation-houses should be ou the mountains which they were intended to serve. A report, of the proceedings of the Hrdro-elfc-trie Conference held at Stratford on October IT was received from the town clerk of Stratford (Mr. P. Skoglund). H wa* decided fo join the league which was formed at the conference. . T-it secretary of the Municipal Association of JJew Zealand wrote in respect to the proposed conference, stating that the Minister of Internal Affairs intended holding a conference of local bodies in t'JO early part of next year, and that the Municipal Canference would probably be held at that time- —Received. A*. TT- Real, chairman of the Kawaroa Park wrote protesting against the action of the council in deciding to curtail the lighting of the Park without first conferrjng with tho Park" Committer. The matter was referred to the Heserves Committee