CARTERTON AFFAIRS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 March 1939, Page 7

CARTERTON AFFAIRS

MEETING OF BOROUGH COUNCIL RESTRICTIONS ON MOTOR CYCLES. DOING AWAY WITH PILLION RIDERS. (“Times-Age” Special.) The Mayor. Mr D. L. Taverner, presided at the monthly meeting of the Carterton Borough Council, held last night. Others present were Councillors J. Udy, R. A. Copeland, O. Wolters, C. J. De Lacey, H. Mortenson, E. McKenzie, W. A. Hart. Apologies for absence were received from Councillors L. M. Clark and C. E. Stevens. The treasurer reported that receipts since last meeting amounted to £3325 12s lOd. For the period April 1 to February 24 receipts amounted to £7457 2s lOd as compared with £7997 5s 6d for the corresponding period of the previous year. Expenditure from April 1 to February 24 totalled £B5OB 15s 10d, as compared with £7803 4s 5d for the same period of 1938. There was a bank credit balance of £3020 10s 9d as compared with £2926 2s lOd at the same date last year. The Commissioner' of Transport wrote asking if the council was in favour of the imposition of restrictions on the use of motor cycles. Councillor Hart: “They are a darned nuisance to the countryside.’’ The Mayor: “Yes, if they are abused. If they are ridden properly they are all right. It is significant that most of the people injured in road accidents are motor cyclists.” Councillor Mortenson: “Pillion riders should be absolutely prohibited.” It was decided to advise the department that the council considered that pillion riders on motor cycles should be prohibited. It was also decided to ask the traffic inspector to take action with regard to noisy motor, cycles in the borough. The borough by-laws were amended to provide for an itinerant trader’s licence fee of £1 a year and a hawker’s licence fee of £5 a year. The hawker’s fee Will be returned if the person remains in business in the town for a period of six months. Mr W. Vaughan waited on the council asking that consideration be given to the question of assisting the library committee to take advantage of the Government’s free library service. It was decided to obtain information as to cost from towns where the free library service was in force. Mr Taverner said the Government’s scheme would no doubt benefit the library, but it was a question of whether the ratepayers could bear the burden.

A letter was received from the Pahiatua Borough Council soliciting the support of the council for the following remit which is to be forwarded to the next Municipal conference: “That the Municipal Corporations Act 1938 be amended to provide for the making and levying of annual fees in respect of the ordinary and extraordinary water supply.” The Town Clerk, Mr P. A. Cole, said that under the proposed scheme the average Carterton/■•ratepayer would pay more in water rates. At present the rate on an average section in the town was about £1 2s 6d as compared with £2 suggested. Mr Taverner said the proposal certainly sounded a more equitable way of spreading the burden. Councillor Mortenson said there were numerous houses in Carterton paying only about 28s in rates. He considered that for all the benefits received there should be a minimum general rate of £3 on all houses. The letter was received and a subcommittee consisting of the Mayor, Councillors Mortenson and McKenzie was set up to consider the question of water rates in Carterton. “It is not going to hurt us much one way or the other,” remarked the Mayor when referring to the council’s allocation of £l3 towards the cost of erecting a memorial hall and bathing pavilion on the Petone Beach as a provincial centennial memorial. "You may have read in the Press recently a report of a discussion at a meeting of the Wairarapa South County Council wherein complaint was made of the overbearing, insulting and bullying manner of the traffic inspector controlling the roads in the county,” stated a letter from the Commissioner of Transport. “As courtesy in dealing with the public is regarded as an es, sential characteristic in the department’s traffic staff,” the letter added, “and as anything in the way of discourtesy will not be tolerated, the subject matter of the complaint has been fully looked into and I am satisfied that it was entirely unwarranted. As. however, you have been in contact with the inspector for some months now I should esteem it a favour if you would kindly favour me with your opinion of his courtesy and manner of address based on your experience of him.”

The action of the Mayor in replying that the council had always found the inspector satisfactory and had no particular grounds for complaint was approved. A resident wrote alleging that a fire lighted by borough employees in a pit in Brooklyn Road for the purpose of burning blackberries spread to his property and destroyed an acre of grass. He considered that he should have been informed of the intention ol the workmen and asked for compensation for .damage done. It was decided to advise the resident that the council regretted that it could not see its way clear to consider any question of the payment o! compensation. Councillors stated that little or no damage had been done to the property.

The Town Clerk reported that at discount date 93.08 per cent of the current year’s rates had been collected, a little less than last year.

“It is a very reasonable proposition." observed Councillor De Lacey when it was decided that in future the Mayor and councillors be paid travelling expenses when engaged on council business.

Councillor Mortenson said that nc councillor should be out of pocket while doing work for the council. It was not right that the Mayor should have to pay’his expenses when representing the council at conferences.