THAMES BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Thames Star, Volume IIII, Issue 1704, 19 June 1874, Page 2

THAMES BOROUGH COUNCIL.

The weekly meeting of the above Council was held last night, in tho office, JQ,ueeu-street. Present—l he Mayor, Crs. Ehrenfried,' Rcnshaw,. Kilgour, Butt, Anthony, and Brown, minutes. . The minutes of the last meeting • were read and confirmed. „ ... ;' CORRESPONDENCE. A letter was received from the Resident Engineer* asking for the use of the footpath in Maclray-street to lay a wife ropo for the purpose,'. of cutting it into. lengths. Granted - -•• A letter from Mr rorhwell was road, stating that he was called upon- to pay tmoe for the rates of.ai. house ih ; this?; "■ w i se : _A Mr Crocker had occupied a i house of his on condition that the rai«should be paid out of the rent. The money so paid had been credited to Mr Crocker for rates duo by him on a house he formerly occupied, rand the rates for his (Mr,,Dprnwell's) house were, thus : still owing. He asked that he should be ■relieved from further liability—this was 'granted. One from Mr F. A. Pulleine, tendering on behalf of the beach: residents from Willoughby-street to Eichmond-street the halt of £20 for improvement of the road, which had been damaged by the continued encroachment of the sea was. r«ad, and was referred to the Works Committee. . . ,

A letter was read from Messrs Briton and Co. asking whether the safe lent by that firm to the Council—the price being £21—was suitable for the purposes of the Council. The question was .left in.the hands of the following gentlemen :—. Messrs llenshaw, Butt, and the Mayor.

: FOBEBHOBE. ''. . I A letter from Mr. Wm. Carpenter, M.P.C., was read, inclosing the message of His Honor the Superintendent to the Council with reference to municipal endowments for the: Thames; also the letter from the Hon. Daniel Pollen to the Superintendent stating; that the General : GovernrnenKnrould be.prepared next session to prepare a Bill by which the foreshore would be. handed over to the Thames Municipality, and waiting His Honor's, remarks.thereon. HAPE BBIDGE. "Withreference, to this work, it was : decided not to proceed in the matter until such time as a definite proposal had been received from/ the. Parawai. Board. with raference to their share of the payment. The Clerk was instructed, to write to the Board. .' MAEY-STBEET DEAINAGE. A letter received from the residents,on the south sidefofi;;Mary-street, relative to the defective' drainage, was referred to the Works' Committee. :■:■, . 0 1 r LANDING STAGE. '- '■;.'■' , A communication was read from ..Mr Maxwell applying for permission to construct a landing on the beach near Smale's Buildings for stacking: timber.' The 1 Council had-ib povFei'^o-g^aiifr-auclx'"ner-mission and the applicant was advised to communicate with the District Engineer. : *■..-.-•-. -ADDITIONAL P0WEB8; .;. ■ Therepbri of the Committee appointed :to inquire into the matter was read. The i Clerk read the Bill which had been prepared by -the -Committee—embracing; powers'to grant tramway, harbor control, , granting of sharebrokers' licenses, etcThe Mayor thoHght the. various itemß!as ; regard s< the harbor, tramways"-and. share- ! broker's licenses should form separate, Bills. They would not be passed in that comprehensive forms J-Jr. OSrpwn said they should ask as little, as possible. That portion with reference to the sharebrokers was out of their province. Thames matters would form a considerable portion of 1 the { Assembly- tbusinws. On the motibn of- Cr^ Jplgour it was decided to let the report lie on the table for a week.

PATMENTS. ' With reference to payment of accounts it was decided as proposed by Cr. Ehrejafried that the general accounts should be paid fortnightly, and that contractor's accounts, should be paid weekly. Several accounts were then passed for payment. ■ . • TENDEJBS. : > Tenders for the culverts in Abraham and Williamson-streets were then opened, that of Mr. Cqiebrook being accepted for £51, being the lowest. •'..*, < : ' ■ ' " BATES. . ;.' - \ ..,.- \ In accordance with instructions given at last meeting the Collector had prepared a list of the names of persons. who objected to paying the full amount, for which they were called upon.: In most of the cases the Collector was instructed to obtain so much of the rate as the parties were liable for by actual occupancy of the premises. TAEABU. Thef question of attention to the Tararu culverts was referred to the Works ComjnitteeV CAPTAIN BUTT AND THE FOBESHOKE. »

Cr. Butt gave notice of motion as follows -.—"That this Council requests the Mayor to forward the following to some member of the General Assembly and ask his cooperation in the House, at the next session—l. To obtain a select committee to inquire into the title of the foreshore at th# Thames, whether General or Provincial Government, private or native. 2. At whose request the existing wharves were built, at whose expense, to whom they now belong, and particulars of titles ■and " responsibility in connection, with each. -; 3. "If any grants > or'permissionhave been given on the foreshore for battery sites, for mining or other purposes,: and particulars of same; also to impress' pa. the General Government of the colony the urgent necessity of at once.appointiiig iin engineer to report on :4he whole matter of Thames hai'bor accommodation -with'a Hew to providing permanent harbor accommodation for the Thame«." I • The^ Mayor /considered the raking up of this matter inadvisable. He was aur-

prised at the action which the press had taken, in commenting on the matter, and stating that the agitation with reference to the foreshore would insure it transfer. Cr. Ehrenfried coincided with the Mayor, and considered that our intelligent press had shewn themselves most indiscreet in tho remarks.they had made. He did not think Cr. Butt's motion would conduce to obtain the endowments. He considered the" press-took a wroug view of the matter. It would be best to let the. matter go on quietly. - - ~ > -.. Cr. Butt did not care much so long as they got it, but would not crawl to any set of men. He believed in a straightforward course ; would ask respectfully for what thej^wanted, but no further. ? ; Cr. Brown said hei i^^;ht Explain matters regarding tbe motion of Cr. Butt. He. had seen all papers in connection with the" subject. With respect to the first item j almost the whole of the foreshore was in the hands of the General <3ov«rnment, very little remaining in the hands of the natives.^Secondly, as-to the wharves, the Tararu wharf was private property—one third belonging to Mr. Graham, aud two-thirds to the Steamship Company. The Thames members waited on the Executive with reference to repairing the wharf, and they had expressed themselves reluctant to expend money on those very grounds-^----that it was private property. Cr. Butt : How did they get the site originally ?

Cr. Bro.wn: Took it, I suppose. He ih.cn proceeded to explain how tho Goods Wharf was placed in its present position. It had been originally intended to run it out in a line with Williamson-street, but upon the representation of parties interested the position had been changed to that which it occupied now, A party of gentleman,—the speaker among the number—-had offered to build the wharf, on condition that they received ' the l'evenuei derived from it for a certain term, but the Government had then stepped in. He (Cry Brown) agreed that Cr. {Butt was: right in wishing to have these things made clear, r •

'_ Cr. Elirerifried submitted that this explanation was sufficient. - Cr. Butt' contended that this information coming from Mr.. Brown was different to a statement coming from the Government. It would disclose a T«ry different mode of., government. With reference to what had been, said about the Press he apprehended the press were long-sighted enough to see thai the Superintendent and.themselves were working separately for one object. Cr. Brown- thought they would accomplish little unless they worked in harmony with the; Superintendent. .Cr- Kilgour made a proposition to this effect—That it is desirable to adopt an address to be presented to the General Government with a view of obtaining the foreshore direct.without the intervention of the Superintendent. : Seconded by Cr Butt. : <^-Gfr:ißirayrn^aid;i<riVie>ttlti"be iujudicldas" to take this action. Th y had asked the Superintendent's cooperation, and by taking this action they would be pror ceeding contrary to the action -taken by them through the deputation. ■; Cr. Kiigour, as one of that deputation, explained the tenor of the request made to the Superintendent and his Honor's reply thereto. He thought they were justified in taking the course he proposed. The discussion; was adjourned-for a week, and the Council then rose.