MUNICIPAL MATTERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 March 1920, Page 5

MUNICIPAL MATTERS.

NEW PLYMOUTH BOROUGH . ' COUNCIL, ' GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE. The General Purposes Committee of the New Plymouth Borough Council met last night, there being present the Mayor (Mr. Jan. Clarke), Crs W. F. Short, W. A. Collis, A. S. Brooker, H. L. Parkin, A. E. Sykes, and V. Griffiths. SECEDING I'ROM THE BOROUGH, A letter was received from Mr. George Grey, solicitor, setting out that certain residents of the Wallath Road desired to secede from the liorough into the County, In giving the reasons it was stated that though they might seem inadequate to the Council they were very real grievances to the settlers concerned. In addition the question was raised as to whether, in view of the new system to be adopted, the. Borough was not too large and comprehended too many large;, area? which could not be built upori 1 at present. The particular reasons for the action were as follow: (1) The road which serves the land concerned is'-'largely "unmetalled' and broken into holes, and iiiuwet weather is almost impassable 5 (sj* This. defective' access depreciates the-'value of lands and puts the owners to much inconvcnl ence and actual loss; |J) The owners of the lands iconcerned are of opinion that the interests of their lands' woiM be bptter served by the County, on account of lying bo far from the' centre of the Borough; [4) The area of the land is projected into the county, and the cut-. ting off of the particular piece woiild at least make the line of the Borough cemetrical without in any way reducing the revenue; (5) From the look of the ground Mr. Grey suggested it would he cheaper to let the land be merged into the county than for tho borough to expend money in repairing Wallath Road. 1 .

Mr. flrey sought an expression of the Borough's attitude towards such' a proposal, which had to be placed' before the (■Jovwnor, in the form of a petition,' arid •-lie Borough's attitude would be an important, consideration. In a letter on the subject bv the Bormieh engineer, it was stated that the Council .recognised the claims of the residents, nn,l the road would be put in finod repair >hen tin* tarring work was completed. Mr. Cook also explained the position of the properties in regard to advantages of the- Boroimli conveniences and the liabilities in regard to special loans. ' It was deeidrd to send a copy of Mr Cook's letter to Mr. Grev, councillors expressing the opinion that there was probably some further reasons for the proposed action flian those which appeared on the surface. WORKS MASAGEMEN*T COMMITTEE

The Works Management Committee reported as fo!lows:-( a ) A letter from the Chief Surveyor requesting the Council to consent to the re-opening ns a roadway of a small portion of ttobs' Une, now a closed road, was referred to the Borough solicitors to advise as ,° . e Coun c'l's powers in the matter (This is a small piece of Crown land originally Nobs' Line, sold I>y the Crown to Mr. Blair Mason, to enable him to obtain a back entrance to his property in Himii Street), (b) That Mr F W Frcethy he informed that the by-laws provide for a half-inch water service to each dwelling house, and that tinder the circumstances his application for a ono-ineli service cannot be acceded to, (c) That Messrs H. Beale, I. T Cu-d and L. Hunt be informed that the est!-' mated cost, of extending the wateWins m Dorset Avenue to enable their properties to he connected is £l3l 4 S 4 ( i and that tinder the circumstances consideration of their applications ha R been deferred until after the new. loan for waterworks extensions has hee n m ,i,.' mitted to a pole of the ratepayers l«) I hat tho application of the ttow Plymouth Motor Car nnd Korse-drivws' Uion that the disunite between itseif and various New Plvmoiith firms be beard by the Conciliation Council on the Mb April next be referred' to the Labor Disputes Committee to deal with, (e) The Committee r-ommend that the claim for the erection by the Taranaki County Council of a wing wall on the lower side of the west end of the Waiwakaiho bridge be not pressed, hut that tho Borough engineer ho instructed to construct a temporary support to keep the footpath from breaking awaT and to submit an estimate of the cost of permaneiit.lv removing the difficulty. (J) That the attention of the Taranaki Countv, Council be, again called to the necessity of effecting immediate repairs to the weir in the Waiwnkaiho river, and also to the necessity of immediately extending the bastions on each side of the river on the lower side of the weir in order to prevent the serious erosion or the banks now taking place. That the County Council bo further informed that in tho event of damage being caused to adjoining properties, or the weir or river hanks being further damaged or washed away, owing to delav ' in effecting repairs, the Borough will not accept liability to contribute towards any compensation recovered by the owners of adjoining lands, nor will it contribute toward* the repair or replacement of the weir.

•"'*:-•;■ GENEEAL. A letter was received from the s<>eretary of the ftorth Tarauaki Cricket Association intimating that it was intended to bring under the notice of the Council at an early date proposals in regard' to provision of proper cricket grounds, embodying the laying of pitches at the Racecourse, Recreation Grounds and the Tukapa Reserve.—Received.

It was decided to inform Messrs Web.ster Bros, that the question of permanently laying down James Lane would be considered when the schedule tq the new loan was drawn up.