BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 December 1918, Page 3

BOROUGH COUNCIL.

.WORKS' OOMMIITJSB. :' - The Works Committee of the«Jfew~ Plymouth Borough Council met hist night. His Worship the Mayor (Mr. CH. Burgess) presided, and there. were ako present Crs. J. Clarke, J. W. Hayden, W. P. Short, W. A. Collis, G,M. Brofcne, E. Griffiths, R. J. Dearc. CONTROL OF SANITATION. The town clerk oi the city of Auckland vroie to the effect that ih connection -. .Ik the influenza, epidemic, the city solicitor had advised that, while tho powers of municipalities with regards to various aspects of sanitation appeared to be wide, thoy were, in reality, restricted toy necessity for continual reference to other authorities, especially the Public Health Department, and that in particular the whole structure of the Public Health Act wa.s based upon the paramountry of the Public Health Department. The council is of opinion that such dual control is undesirable, and that the powers of municipal' ■■•» should be enlarged to enaiile them to deal in a. more comprehensive way with dwellings. The council was asking the Government to widen the powers of municipalities by enforcing upon them tho authority contained in; section 111 of the Public Health Act, 1908, a3 amended bj ection 2of thePublic Health Ameiiunient Act, 1915. Such power would enable municipalities, to license all dwellings and ensure that they are fit for habitation, whether under structural or sanitary points of view. The amendment of the Act ibeing desirable in the present session of Parliament, the co-operation of other councils was sought in bringing the matter before members of Parliament as an urgent subject for legislation. It was decided to endorse the Auckland Council's proposal and to urge the matter upon .Parliament as an urgentnecessity. UNIFORM BY-LAWS. A copy of the abbreviated record of tho proceedings of the Counties Conference, held at Eltham on November 5, was received from tho secretary of the conference.

The chief question for consideration of the conference had been the matter of making uniform by-laws for tiie whole of Taranaki, and Eltham Council decided that as it had recently expended a large sum of money upon framing by-laws for the borough, it did not see its way to contribute towards the cast of framing by-laws that would be applicable to the whole of the Taranaki province. "CLEAN-UP DAY." Inspector Day, in a letter to the council, suggested that a "clean-up" day should be held. Residents could put any rubbish they wished taken away on the streets on the Thursday afternoon, to be taken away on the Friday. He also suggested that it would be a great assitance to the scheme if those who acted as Ijlock captains in the recent epidemic crisis would supervise their respective blocks on that afternoon. The council approved the proposal, and the date was left to the inspector to decide, the inspector suggesting that he could possibly do the work this week. GENERAL. Permission was granted for the removal of the caretaker's cottage from the racecourse, with the right to utilise the good timber therefrom in a cottage to he erected at Wliiteley. The inspector submitted proposals for the control of race traffic on December 26, and these were approved by the council. Cr. Browne suggested • that in view of the demolition of the building at the corner of Brougham and St. Aubyn Streets, it might be worth the council's while to consider acquiring a portion of the section for the purpose of straightening the portion of the roadway and also providing a suitable locality for the erection of public conveniences. The matter was held over in the meantime.