NEW PLYMOUTH BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 February 1919, Page 3

NEW PLYMOUTH BOROUGH COUNCIL.

■ MONTHLY REPORTS. ' •' At )Oet evening's meeting of the Bor-? qugh Council the following reports werej adopted: ~ ! INSPECTOR'S REPORT. ! Mr. R. Day (inspector) reported: Tha month has been a very busy one, j there being a great variety of matters of minor importance to deal with. There hat been more than the uauiit amount of *&iain testing, some rery long drains at the Boys' High School taking some time, but upon these being tested they proved most satisfactory. Mr King has impounded 10 head of cattle and collected fees ( £1 7s 6d), and a prosecution under this lead is pending. Eight cases were taken to a court, while another twelve are being prepared. In this connection it might be well to mention that where boys of tender yews have been detected in riding on footpaths and without lights it has been the practice to warn them, but stronger means must be taken. In future I propose to take these offenders to the Juvenile Court. It is unfortunate that the costs in many cases fall on the parents, but these offender* are ou the increase. lam arranging to check the number and registration of cars visiting the races. At the Christmas meeting I took 15 numbers at random and since then eight of these have been registered, ho that if this is any indication of the state of affairs the motor census will find some unregistered cars. . TRAMWAY:" AND ELECTRIC LIGHT. Mr R. H. Bartley (tramways and electrical engineer) reported: I regret that I am unable to report the recovery of the tramways revenue to normal after the setback received in November last. There is certainly an improvement as compared with last month, but compared with January, 1918, there is a deficit of £4B 6s <Jd and 7153 passengers. "the records for January, 19)9, are:— Ti.-.mways.—Main route: passengers carried, 143,257; total fares, £1053 17a lis. Morley Street route: Passengers carired, 10,540; total fares, £01,3s 3d. Combined routes: Pasaengera carried, 153,803; total fares, £llls Is 2d. The service has been maintained without interruption and in accordance with the published time-table. The plant and equipment is operating satisfactorily and with normal repairs and maintenance. Electric Lighting Department.—During the month of January 17 applications have been received for the supply, 18 connections have been made to the supply mains and five additions made to existing installations. In addition to the above, one power connection for a 20 h.p. motor has been completed and one for a Gu h.p. commenced and will be finished and the motor running in a day or two. The whole of the plant at the power-house and distribution station Is operating satisfactorily and I have no irregularities to report re this plant. Matters at WaiwakstiLo River intake, etc., are not quite so satisfactory and have paused me a good deal of ani'iety during the last couple of months. The Waiwakaiho has beei. , subjected to many floods during t\o j winter and to date. It has been neces- j sliry since the latter part of December | to make half a dozen hurried trips to the intake with a gang of men to clear away sand, boulders and debris in order to get sufficient water through to keep running. On one occasion (January 17) we went very close to a shut down owing to the time necessary to remove the quantity of sand and stone deposited at the intake. Wo have never experienced this trouble so acutely before and I am inclined to think that there has been some alteration in the river course Kghcr up, which is responsible fw it. I have not yet had time to investigate this myself, although it is reported to me as being so. This continued sand trouble led to my mating an inspection of the storage at dam and I was not surprised to find that 50 per cent of the storage area between the dam and the intake race was occupied by sand deposit aud small shingle, also a quantity of mud, thus destroying the area as a means of storing water. The council will be relieved to know that ihis has now been practically all removed, and more so that it can be removed should it happen in the future. 'Sluice methods were adopted and on the first Sunday we succeeded in removing over POO toi:s and on the seeoßd approximately 000 tons (by measurement and allowing 30 cwt. per yard). ENGINEER'S REPORT. M* W. H. Cook (borough engineer), in his monthly report, stated: Outfield Road.—Twenty-four cubic yards of good gravel was used for repairs to enable cars to run to the Western Park. Vivian Street. —The roadway has been resurfaced from Mt. Edgecombe Street to Dawson Street. This portion is in good condition for the work. The length between Dawson Street and Robe Street is practically completed. Mt. Edgecombe Street.—Kerbing and channelling has been laid from Fuliord to Devon Street along the west side. Tukapa Street.—The tar-sealing has been completed to the boundary. Owing to weather delays the second coat will not be put on until other roads have received their first, coat. Deron Street.—Repairs are in hand and with fine weather a larger gang will be employed to push the work. Miscellaneous, Repairs, etc.—Repairs have been attended to in Devon Street, large holes or depressions being filhid in: similar work was done in Courtnay Street, gorse and fennel and pine trees cut down in Carrington Rond, alterations to crusher screens iinislicd, sand removed from Breakwater Road, Raines Terrace cleaned up, sand carted from river and metal to various streets, hay eart-d and other minor items. Tar Plant.—The above plant is working at its maximum. To put move men on the plant will have to be increased. A separate report upon the needs for fnr!ber plant will be prepared and submitted.