Thames Borough Council.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2834, 15 March 1878, Page 2

Thames Borough Council.

The usual fortnightly meetiug of the Borough Council was held at the Council Chambers at 7 o'clock last evening. There were present—His Worship the Mayor; Crs Howe, Jttenshaw, Kbren tried, Gibbons, Head, Wilson, McGowan, and Butt. XINVTM. The minutes of the previous meeting were read over and confirmed. - ' LBTTJBBS SXNT. ' ""''"" I A list of the letters sent since last meet- ! ing was read. SLAUOBTU HOVtl. ' - - ■ A letter was read from AJrW. Bowe, asking permission to use premises at Tararu as a slaughter house. Mr Dean said that they.were used as ft' > public slaughter house. ' ? :: Cr Bead moved that the license fee be the same as last year.. Carried. : -„- , BOBOUGH.BUBSIDT.. . The following letter was read from the Secretary to the Treasury in reply loofte from the Council askiug for fuller particulars of the. deductions from Borough -"• Subsidy for Hospitals, <fee. :—

: Treasury, Wellington, His Worship the Mayor, Thames.

»i.813' T"^'te'!jll?,VB?rb^«|.«eMj««rv the Honorable the Colonial Treasurer te i} acknowledge the receipt, of .70111; letter ef, the 6th instant, in which you represent • that the rates collected; by the Borough of 1 names for the year ended 31* MareL 1877, amounted to £3397 2s 4d, iadurivj of a sum of £1063 8s 4d ji i*peet of !?*?'♦? 'fe JealP rece<*in * a«d eontetd that the Borough is entitled to receive ' subsidy on these rates, either as a put of ■« the collections ot the past year or of the present year. In reply, 1 am to point out to you that the subsidy of each year is paid in respect of rates collected, and that the sum of £1063 8s 4d not having been collected during the year ended 31st March, 1876, the Borough was not entitlei to receive subsidy for the year J 876-7 in - respect of that sum. The Borough would, however, hare been entitled to, and would have been paid subsidy on the sum in question as rates collected during the 1 year ended 31st March, 1877, bat for the restriction imposed by the last sentence of Section 8 of " The Financial Arrangements Act, 1876," which provides that foe the purpose of computing- the subsidies V payable " no sum shall be deemed to be received . . . in excess of the sum receivable on a rate of one shilling in the pound." The total rates collected by the Borough amounted to £3397. 2s 4d,,but the sum which, under the Act, the Borough must be deemed to have received is only £2333 14s, or a sum equal to ft shilling in the pound on the value of the rated property, and upon that basis the subsidy paid to you ba. been computed. As regards the deductions made for Hot*; pitals, I have the honor to refer yon to the Treasury Circular, No. 2/78, of the 14th instant, in which you will find ft full and, I trust, satisfactory explanation of the deductions referred to.—l hare the honor to be, sir, your most obedient wr» vant,

C. T. Batxijt, Secretary to the Treasury. The Mayor said that there could be no doubt that the clause of the Act aM-f tioned by Mr Batkin sheltered the GV. vernment from paying the subsidy, bat' still the action of the authorities contra* vened the spirit of the Financial Arrange* ment Act, which all through favored ue support of poor Borough* 'which Mild not collect their rates rapidly. He referred to the satisfactory result of the deputation of the Hospital Committee to § Mr Sheehan, but said that however well-" they might be treated io future, the* (th»' J Borough) having had£l4CO kept off their subsidy, had been severely treated in the past. ■'•'■■.'• •' ■ Cr Ehrenfried moved that a letter be sent to Sir George Grey upon the subject of tbe subsidies due by the Government, and stating the"circumstances of the Borough. .. - Seconded by Cr McGowan. Carried. , TJPPBB ALBBBI STBBIT. A letter was read from Messrs Shardlow, Smith, and other residents of Upper Albert street, asking-that something be done to the footpath. Beferred to Worki Committee. '? ■ ■ •. ;:;'; :.

BBFtTSI. A letter was read front Mr G. Cribb, complaining that Mr McCaul lent cartloads of tin and iron watte, the refue of hia trade, to the writer's properly at Parawai. He did not consider that household refuse. ; Cr Benshaw mored that the Turncock be requested to tee Mr MeCanlonthil matter. Carried. BOBOUGH SOLICXTOK. A letter was received from Messrs Macdonald and Miller, asking that the retainer appointing them solicitors to the. Council be signed. The Mayor &aid that the appointment of Messrs Macdonald and Miller as soli-. citora to the Council was invalid, as the. seren days' notice of the appointment of an officer to the Council required bj the By-laws bad not been given at the time . of the previous appointment. It would be necessary to suspend Standing Orders and make the appointment again. J--T--Cr Benshaw moved that the Stantf BfXOrders be suspended. Cr Ehreufried seconded. The Mayor said that he had not the slightest feeling in the matter, but he intended to vote against Messrs Macdonald and Miller being retained regularly, as several times lately they had appeared against the Borough in,several important matters; not only were they solicitors to the Bank of jtfew Zealand and the County, but to several mining companies., The suspension of Standing Orders was then carried unanimously. Cr Henshaw moved that Messrs Maedonald and Miller be appointed solicitors to the Borough. With reference to their sometimes being in opposition to the Council, he might say that when last' year tbey intended going against the mines ; for rating, Mr Macdonald had strongly | recommended them not to .do it, and this 1 year, when they had neglected his advices they had lost the cases, Cr Ehrenfried seconded the motion. He referred to Mr Macdonald's gratuitous legal services at the time he was Mayor. In not appearing for the Borough in the * recent cases he was only consistent, as he - had all along believed that mining property was exempt. . Cr Bead said that Ceptrjn Fraser h*d said in town that tho cases would-go against the Borough, as he could not |Q against his own license. Cr Howe said that Captain fraser could ~ have done nothing else than go against tht

Borough. It was a positive sin that tho Borough had brought tho action against tho companies. Tho companies had morality on their side. The motion was then carried, and tho Mayor authorised to take the necessary steps connected with the appointment. WOBKS COMMITTEE'S BEPORT. The rtport of this Committee was then read as follows:—The Committee have the honor to report that the tramway bridge referred to in the letter of the residents of Tararu is a matter with which this Council has nothing to do, it being a bridge on a tramway in tbe possession of the County Council of Thames. The Committee have examined the bridge over the Tararu Oeek leading to the Cemetery, and found it in passably good repair. The Committee recommend that a footpath be formed between the new school-house, Tararu, and Messrs Bawden and Climo's, by the inner edge of the road being raised, and carried at such raised level for about a width of four feet •long the distance asked. The back edce of this footpath would be about a spot now marked by a peg driven in on the raised ground on which the new schoolhouse is erected. The Committee have arranged for the carrying out of the water ; table and footpath* near Mr Baily's. On receipt of the annexed application from IlCjlDeeble, asking to be informed the correct line of street previous to the erection of a brick building by himself, your Committee ascertained that the Borough is without any data or records whereby the. correct line of any street can be given to any burgess making application for it. As this is a matter of great importance, an-.l tho want of such information may lead in the. future to considerable law proceedings, your Committee recommend that the Borough Engineer ba directed to accurately define the corners of all the streets iv the Borough, and drive in at such points iron pegs, and at same time prepare the plan of the Borough required by sections 190 and 217 of ths Municipal Corporations Act. From such plau, when completed, the lines and levels of the streets for which information applications are constantly made to the Council by burgesses could be furnished.—James Kilooub, Mayor. Appended to the report was a letter from Mr Deeble stating that as he intended building a brick house in Baillie and Rolleston streets, and was informed by surveyors that the latter street was 18 inches out of its proper line, he asked that the Borough surveyor give him the x correct line. Considerable discussion ensued, Ors Rowe and Butt considering that it was not the Borough's business to give a ratepayer his correct line, and it would be inadvisable to fix the levels of the street just now. . Cr Bead said the preparing of-sucb a map would cost some hundreds of poundsi He moved that at the present state of finances it is hot desirable to go into an expenditure of the kind. The Mayor considered that the fixing of the street corners was an important matter. Cr Read's motion was then carried.

It win then resolved that the recommendation of the Committee as to the footpath near the Tararu School be carried oat at a cost not to exceed £25. FINAHCE. A number of small accounts for contracts and wages were passed for payment. THE GOVERNMENT ABSAYEB. Cr. Ehrenfried then mored the motion standing in his name re the Borough assisting the appointment of a Government Aisayer. He presented the petition signed by some 400 miners, and said that the 1 best means of. promoting the object wonld be to forward the petition to the Government, or else wait on Mr Sheeban and hear his views on the matter, and giro him the petition.' He would more that the Mayor and Cr Howe wait on the Hon. Mr Sheehan, and present: the petition j and take Ms advice on the best means of dealing with it. Seconded by Cr Butt and carried. ■i POLLEN BTBEKT WEST. A petition signed by more than threefourths of the ratepayers on the west side of Pollen street, between Richmond and Sealey.streets, (in accordance with Byelaw No. 7) applying that the footpath be made, was read. Cr Head thought the work a rery de-. sirable one, but they had not the means to undertake the work at present. They were paying interest on close on £2000 at 8 per cent. . The Mayor said that the ratepayers unanimously wanted the work done, except two, and. they were absent. Cr Gibbons moved that the work be undertaken. Cr Bowe seconded, the motion. CrlEead moved that the work be deferred till June next, when they would have the publicans' license fees. Seconded by Cr Butt. The amendment was put and lost, and the motion was carried. ALBBBT BTBEET BOUTH. The Town Clerk reported that there was an application in from the ratepayers of Albert street South, from ton Cash Palace to the Bank of Jtfew South Wales, applying for an asphalt footpath. As the manager of the Bank of New South WalefpA^hed to communicate with his superiors it Auckland, be would ask that the matter be deferred till next meeting. It was resolved that this be done. ■■ HABBOB IMFBOFEMENTS. Cr Ehrenfried said that he believed that a letter had been sent by the Chairman of the Harbor Board to Sir G. Grey asking that Sir John Coode be employed to report on the harbor. They all knew the" difficulty under which they labored through want of sufficient depth of water, and he thought that they should strengthen the hands of the Harbor Board in trying to secure the services of Sir John Coode, and mored that a letter be sent to the Government backing up the application of the Harbor Board. If they had a good harbor he believed a very considerable trade could be established with Christchurch and other places. Cr Butt had much pleasure in seconding the motion. It would be well to hare a disinterested man to report on the matter. ** Cr McGowan thought that it might be considered a piece of difficulty to the Harbor Board. Cr Ehrenfried withdrew his motion, and the following was carried :." That this Council is prepared to assist any effort made by the Harbor Board to obtain a visit and report from Sir John Coode oa the best method of improving the harbor:" KUtES. The consideration of the code of rules

regulating the order of the meetings was deferred till the 25t1i. THE BOBOl'Uil ' AL A.iuN. Cr Ehrenfried said that list")" must «ivo some consideration to peup!*l wiioobjt'Otnd to the valuation at the As*e>.«-ment Court. If a man objected to the vuination ol his property—however small —he had to lose a day's work, and one hundred to on«- tho valuatiou would be sustained, and costs went againit the objoctor. He thought that they should not take advantage of smull errors in Die objection form, ami asked that the Town Clerk look over such errors and also dispense with tho personal attendnnce of tho objector. He moved that the Town Clerk be so in s true ted. The Mayor said that he considered that the whole valuation of the Borough 100 high. The valuers should be instructed to be more careful. Cr Rowe said that the legislation would have to bo altered. Tho matter then dropped. SPECIAL MEETING. A statutory special meeting, for the j purpose of adopting By law JN'o. 8 with reference to slaughterhouses, wan then held. The By law was adopted on the motion of Cr Rowe. This was all the business.