THAMES BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Thames Star, Volume IIII, Issue 1758, 21 August 1874, Page 2

THAMES BOROUGH COUNCIL.

The weekly meeting of the Borough. Council was held last evening, at the offices,. Queen-street, and letters sent since last meeting'were then read. Present—The Mayor, Crs.Kilgour, Anthony, Benshaw, Butt, Ehrerifried. MINUTES. The minutes' of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. COBEESPONDENCE. Communcations which had been received, by the. Clerk,: during the week were then opened.' A letter from the Superintendent's office enclosed a Gazette," in which appeared the notification of the Fire Kate Act having come into force within?the Borough. ;, ; . 4li ', A nbtherfrom the s&me source 1 enclosed a Gazette in which the proclamation appeared that the Dog Nuisance Act had" been brought into force within the Borough.; 4 ; ;, Letters were read from Clerks of the various Councils to whom circulars Lad been sent with reference to increasing the revenue of the Municipalities.,: OnSfipm Mr; George Gordon, of: Christch'urcn, expressed the opinion of the Council qs being against th.€> proposal, thinking it premature:dtf' prekentr One-from the Town Clerk of Auckland, while acknowleding the desirability of the suggestion, thought,the present time would be inopportune, owing to the.political crisis. One from the Clerk of Lyttelton stated the opinion of the Council that the course was not desirable. Others) were received expressing the willingness of ttie different corporations to cooperate. THE VALUATION QUESTION. This matter had been adjourned from last meeting in order to procure legal opinion. Apt opinion from Mr. *J. E. Macdonald was read, stating that the cost of completing the roll would amount to £50 ; and that it was not in the form laid down in the schedule of the Municipal Corporation Act. He said that giving particulars which were necessary according teethe schedule appeared to be the exception rather than the rule. An opinion; was also read from Mr.-JEfIK. Tyler which agreed with that given "by Mr Macdonald. Mr Benshaw suggested that the Council form a committee to make arrangements for the completion of the valuation. Mr. Thomas Wayth Gudgeon (one of th» valuators) said that lie had notfunderstobd when referring to the schedule; that they were to copy the form word for word; and had thought to make it more complete. He had put down "Valuation and Description" instead of "Valuation and how let," and he had conceived that it was quite sufficient to put the initial of a man's Christian name if they hadn't r it in full. He was not aware they were to ascertain; ■ at what time the property had been let. Cr. Butt thought the valuators should complete the work, with some assistance from the Council. The Mayor said there could be no doubt but that to get the ; roll perfect according to the Act would be next to impossible, especially as property on the Thames was nearly all leasehold; but they must complete it as nearly in the form laid down as possible. 1 iln answer to Cr. Ehrenfried, the Clerk said he was reluctant to Ho the work of revision, because it would be as easy for the Valuators to make another house-to-house canvass, and they could be of no assistance to him. Besides there was attached to the work a great amount of trouble, and no little expense—that probably would/not satisfy tae;; Councillors. < ; i. : . ,■.. .._. iV . „.,„ .;;: ..;• > A discussion then arose as to the beat manner of completing the assessment. .'. Cr. Ehrenfried had not, at the time of the Valuators' appointment, considered that making out the roll was so heavy or attended with so much difficulty.; .and lie considered, in siieh circumstances, that the valuators woiild not be sufficiently remuneratedby £100. <r . - Mr.: Gudgeon jitated that they (the Valuatprs]k would' bring in the roll completed in six weeks for £50 additional. In reply to. Cr. Anthony, the Mayor said they would be in the position of not being able, to strike a rate if the roll was not completed at the end of six weeks. Cr;. sti^d he jfould object to their granting any'additional sum. They had stipulated for a certain sum,, and the work should be completed* by the Valuators, with some assistance from the Council, v-.; vj -.:.:*'? -''N'J>.;i *.T; Cr. Kilgour suggested .that the Councill should make arrangements with the Valuators as to terms, and then hand the roll over to Mr. Dean, who was peculiarly fitted to accomplish ;the task—he (Cr. Kilgour) felt no confidence in the Valuators being able to complete it. A discussion arose as to whether the Council, by placing the roll with the Clerk; would be takinglt^abn^cfanpleted —out of the Valuators'hands. "°* Cr* Ebrenfried moved, in order to simplify the,niatter, that if the Valuators give the Town Clerk all the assistance he required in the completion of the roll, and sign it in the Revision Court, they receive £100,' * '" Cr. Benshaw moved as an amendment that, the Town Clerk be instructed to complete'the lioll as soon as possible. ' The amendment was negatived; and His Worship remarked, that the resolution of Cr. Ehrenfried did not make it imperative for* the 'Council to complete the roll —it said that the valuators should give all the assistance required by the Town Clerk. The motion, ioo, that the Clerk undertake the work at once, had been negatived. ! To get over this difficulty, Cr. Kilgour moved a resolution, which was carried, that the work be undertaken by the Council. ETBE-BTBEET. A communication was f received from Mr. F. A. Pulleme, suggesting some al-

terations in the Engineer's plan of the footpath, which would bring the expense from £50 to £31-rthe residents to paj It was resolved to refer the matter tc the Works Committee with power to act, subject to the consent of the Engineer. BEACH BOAD. A letter from the residents of the Beach road from Brown-street to Karaka Creek applied to" the Council in the matter of the road's improvement. ...,., . The Mayor stated that some of the ground was private property. The ground in front of the W.csleytm .Church was part of the Church property, and further up Mr. Banks' property came down r to* high water mark, so that they could not. do anything until a road-was defined,; ' '' ■' ' ■■' ' '"■':" """''■ i" 1 '. - LICENSING DEITE3S., -,- _ • ■ - \ "A memorial' was' received from the owners of carts a&ain appealing in the matter ;of liceriiing the men engaged ais drivers, and stating that if such a resolution were' passed definitely it would have the effect of injuring the several interests of the memorialists; it further stafed that such licenses being imposed would probably have the effect of compelling, the cart owners: to discontinue their business. It-was^movedasd carried*that the memorial be.received. - ./ : :: WOBKS COMMITTEE. The report of the Works Committee was read and adopted. KEHO3ENE LICENSE COMMITTEE. Tha report of the committee on the application of Mr. Nolan to erect a building for a kerosene store was read. Some discussion arose, and the question was again referred to the same committee. ', ; . .; ■, accounts. ;:. , ■ , A number of accounts were passed^for payment. BOAD TO TAUEANGA. The Mayor handed in a telegram which had been received from Mr. J. bheehah on the question of the Tauranga and Thames and Cambridge roads. It reads as follows ,:—Will be happy to cooperate with, other members named in urging upon the Government the construction of the roads between Tauranga and the Thames.;, : ;"■ ■• :•■ •■' •>''■; ■••• , ■• .-.>■■■'■' LICENSING CAETEEB. : < The> consideration of the letter sent by the carters requesting that they might be licensed, etc., and which had been ad*journed, was brought on the table. 1 The Mayor thought Ci\ Brown had made a motion with respect to this. "\ ,' ■ Cr. Ehrenfried moved that the Bye-la* (No. 3) should remain as it was. '; Cr. Butt seconded the motion, which was carried. ; : VALUATION 03? MINES. '[ The consideration of this subject wai deferred at last meeting. ' The Mayor said it was a matter of great importance. He supposed they would experience some difficulty in pleasing people ; but they must act according to their best judgment. ; Cr. Kilgour maintained that the question wai not, as had.been thought' of such difficulty ; they could not rate the ground beneath the surface. The property on the surface, of some mines was much greater than others, but it was misleading to go into the question of the number of miners' rights employed in a mine and other complex questions. He thought they 'should value the land for what it was worth—never minding how that value was arrived at. Cr. Benshaw thought they should have a standa* d for rating every man's ground, and that in the case of the property which happened to be upon it, that was a question with which it was proper for the valuators to deal. Cr.Butt thought with Cr. Benshaw; and said that the rich mines did pay a tax in addition to what Cr. Benshaw had. remarked. The duty paid oh gold was returned as a subsidy for the repair of roads, and then those who exported most gold contributed most largely. ;' \ The Mayor said as their was "only a small number of Councillors present, and as the valuation would take six weeks to complete, ha hoped some member would move the adjournment of the question. He looked upon it still as one of great importance, and did not"agree with Cr. Butt on the whole, as the money from gold duty received by the Borough was often not sufficient to make more than one road, and as some mines destroyed the roads more than others, he thought those mines should contribute 'most largely. Cr. Ehrenfried moved the adjournment, and the question stood adjourned accord* ingly. SOAP BEPAIBS. Cr. Butt drew attention to the fact that the lower portions of Bichmond and Willoughby-streets required repairing, and moved that the question of the lower portions of both streets be referred to the Works Committee. Carried. > ■ ' NOTICE OF MOTION. '" , Cr. Kilgour's notice of motion for resi cinding Cr. Butt's resolution with re-) ference to the Poundkeeper's salary was brought up. •'. Cr. >Ehrenfried seconded the motion,' and stated that he had made arrangements with. Mr. Wilson. 7 Cr. Butt made some remarks as to the mode in which the Council had re,c#ivcd the Committee's appointment of the flouhdkeeper, and witn reference to'Cr.' J£hrenfrifld's resolution at a previousl meeting, for the instant dismissal of Charles Bowley, he thought ■ that it was not so much, because of the salary, which had been awarded,- but on account of a little private grievance. He thought; it would be better to come to the Council as Councillors, and leave grievances &i home. He also contrasted the manageof the pound by Cr. Ehrenfried with that of the appointed keeper. • Cr. Ehrenfried defended 1 what he had said with> reference to the man—he coA* sidered him an improper person to hold'a

responsible position, and had voted for his dismissal accordingly. The motion to rescind the resolution was then put and carried.