NEW PLYMOUTH BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 June 1919, Page 5

NEW PLYMOUTH BOROUGH COUNCIL.

GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE. A meeting of the general purposes«cOJOmittee of the New Plymouth Borough Council was held lost night, there heitoj present his Worship the Mayor (Mr C. H. Burgess), Crs. Jas. Clarke, J. W t Hayden, F. J. Hill, W. A Collis, A. 8. Brooker, R. L. Parkin and H. V. S. Grif' fiths. STRAYING STOCK. Thirteen ratepayers and residents oi Fitzroy petitioned the council to consider the advisability of removing the pound from its present position to a less conspicuous site, on account of the impending erection of several residences in the vicinity, and of its being an eyesore in the locality.—Referred to the streets* subcommittee. The secretary of the Fitzroy Ratepayers' Association wrote calling the council's attention to the nuisance of wandering stock in the suburbs. In a report by the inspector it was stated that most of the ' wanderers" were accounted for by the poundkec-per, and the fact that 27 animals had been impounded since May 1 was some evidence of that. Residents could assist in the matter by communicating with the inspector when cattle are found wandering, and holding them until his arrival.—lt was decided to send a copy of the inspector's report to the association. OVERHANGING TREES AND NOXIOUS WEEDS. The inspector (Mr. R. Day) drew at-" tention to the roport of Cr Collis's remarks in regard to the necessity for the inspector paying more attention to hit work, especially in connection with the growth of noxious weeds. The inspector stated that he and his assistant WOTO doing their best to overtake their work, being on duty at all hours from 5.30 fun. till 11 p.m. One of the difficulties &, getting the notices uomplied with was the labor problem, it being almost impossible to get a man to do a small job of any description. The inspector stated that he had received the following in reply to one of the many notices he hail sent out in connection with the dealing of noxious weeds: "Might I draw your attention to the property at the back of the cemetery, and the furze growing on the Mangorei Eoad. Trusting thai: all will be served alike." He also quoted from the Municipal Corporations Act to show that before the council could enforce its provisions regarding noxious weeds it must eradicate such weeds from all streets, river beds, reserves and lands under the control of the council. It was, thereifore, useless to prosecute under the circumstances, and if a notice could not be enforced, it was useless to issue it. The result was that very little noxious weeds had beer, cut in the borough this year, though it was not the fault of tht inspector. He further pointed out thai inspectors could not be expected to set everything, but if councillors would menI tion these small matters to the inspecto'they could bo attended to at once. SUcil a course would tend to much smooth sv working. In regard to the matter of overhanging trees, tlie inspector said it would be necessary to have an understanding. The practice in force was to have trees and hedges trimmed so that people could walk along with umbrellas up, in comfort, and not to insist that every trea should be hacked into, regardless of it* height. He had always aimed to give the by-law a reasonable interpretation. Outside the notices now current, ten others could not reasonably be served in the borough. If the counci' decided to keep trees and fences back to the proper line, regardless of height, then a great many beautiful tvees would he mutilated. Cr. Collis said the newspaper referred to had misreported his statement. He did not at last meeting refer to noxious weeds, but to overhanging tvees, and he adhered to the statement made, naming several places at which trees were overhanging the footpaths, nnd were a menace and danger to pedestrians. The inspector stated that the point was that if such matters were referred to the inspector thov could possibly be accounted for. In at leas' one of the cases cited a notice to cut back tr• :3 had been served. The Mayor «aid that some time ago it had been decided that all trees and,fence* should be cut back tn the proper line, an \ it would mean that if they were not cut soon, when they w ere cut they woul 1 have to be so severely trimmed as to destroy them. ELECTRIC BUS SERVICE. The question of fares and time-tab .' on the bus service was raised by (>. Griffiths, and on. his it was decided tc refer the matter to the ilectric light committee to confer with representatives of the two districts served by the bus, and report again to the council. In a report on the running ot the b'i-s the electrical engineer stated that f;v u the date the service was comment', 1 (March 11) to May 31, the Ims lied i iia 4(1233 miles—'Vogeltown, 2'M2; Wcalov.'ti, 2241—and had carried 10,:;! iii —Vogeltown, 0102; Westown, 10,234--th'e feres collected being: Vogeltowi,, £73; Westown, £132. The expenditu/a had been £153 5s 7d. Nothing had been spent on manitenance.