TOWN COUNCIL.

Tuapeka Times, Volume II, Issue 82, 4 September 1869, Page 2

TOWN COUNCIL.

The usual meeting of Town Counca waa held on Wednesday evening. Pre-i sent : Councillors Mears (in the chair), Walker, Henry, Harrop, and Coverlid. The minutes of last meeting having; been read and approved, ' A letter from the Rev, Dr, Copland, was read, complaining of the danger from open shafts and abandoned holes incurred by allowing mining within the Municipality. Dr. Copeland specially referred to the fact of Chinamen being a.t present at work on Hospital Flat. Cr. Coverlid said that Chinamen were digging behind his house, and that the path down the hill was rendered danger-! ous after nightfall by their operations. Cr. Henry thought the Nuisance Inspector should be instructed to demand a deposit of £5 or 4510 from all parties mining within the township. This H%z

posit might be returned if the ground were left in a safe and proper manner. Or. Harrop said one party of Chinese had deposited £5. He thought it a mistake not to specify the number of the party whose operations such deposit would cover, as Ah So-and-So and party might mean five or might mean fifty. Cr. Walker called attention to the state of the old cemetery hill, which was regularly honey-combed with shafts, some of them forty to fifty feet deep. After some further conversation, it was agreed^jat the Town Clerk should direct the att«Kfon of ihe Nuisance Inspector to the matter.

An application from Abraham Blundell for the lease of an acre of land adjoining the Wetherstones' road, and- beyond the eurveyed township, was referred to the Reserves Committee ; and a letter from Mr. J. Matthews, calling attention to a pool of stagnant water in Campbellton street, behind Mr. Vause's cottage, was referred to the Public Works Committee.

The claims of the auditors and valuators for their salaries, were referred to the Finance Committee.

Crr Henry moved the motion standing in his name for the letting of tho Municipal Reserves for 99 years, at a pepper corn rental. He said, his only object was to better tne financial position of the township, which was at present in a deplorable condition. A 99 years tenure was almost equivalent to freehold, and a very considerable bonus might be expected from the sale of sections for that period. He pointed out that the Municipality was £1500 in debt, and paid away JBI3O yearly as interest upon that sum. Were £800 or £900 got as bonuses on the reserves, a large portion of this might be paid off, and the yearly revenue expended in useful and reproductive works. He also alluded to the increase in the amount of rates which would result from the improvement of these sections. Cr. Harrnp seconded pro forma.

Cr. Coverlid -was opposed to the bonus aystem, as it virtually precluded small capitalists from obtaining sections. He also thought 99 years too long a term, and proposed as an amendment that the " Municipal reserves be leased for a terni of 14 or 21 years, at a yearly rental."

Cr. Walker seconded the amendment He had spoken to a number of the ratepayers, and thought the amendment would give more satisfaction than the original motion. The Chairman thought nothing should \>e done in so important a matter without due consideration. He advised that the matter should be referred to the proper committee, who would report to the Council. He pointed out that only about ten or twelve sections would fetch anything like a rental, and suggested that the valueless and scattered sections might, by an. arrangement with, the Government, be exchanged for a block, which could easily be let as a paddock or small farm. On a division, the amendment was carried by two to one. The amendment having thus become ihe original motion, Cr. Harrop moved that the matter be referred to the B.eserves Committee, to report at next meeting. Cr. Henry seconded. This amendment was carried nem. con. (3r. Henry moved — " That the Superlhfeiident be respectfully requested to order>the sale of the Government reserves in Peel-street and adjacent to the PostOffice." Seconded by Cr. Walker, and carried. A dangerous hole in Campbelltown»treet.ara!f\>rdeTed to be filled. It "ft Unresolved to obtain a legal opinion from Mr. Barton, solicitor, Dunedin, .as to the legality of erecting a pinfold for <sattle straying within the Municipality. After some conversation on the state of Kilmarnock-street, the meeting closed.