CAMBRIDGE TOWN BOARD.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1668, 15 March 1883, Page 2

CAMBRIDGE TOWN BOARD.

Tin: usual monthly meeting of the Cambud^o Town Board was held at the Botiul Oiho", Cambridge, on Monday evening last, at the usual hour. There wore} present : Crs. Wells (chairman), Johnson, Olaik, Hewitt and Nixon. The u&ual prehinuidiy business was disposed of. The New Mr.uiJßii.— The Ciiairman, in welcoming Mi' Glaik to his s>jat in the board, for the fust tune, spoke of the happiness which it afforded him, and he felt sure lie was expressing the sentimenta of the other mem bens, in having for a colleague a gentium in of Mr Clarks business tiet. — (Jr. JoluioOii spoke in a like stiain, endorsing the views of the chairman on the matter of welcoming their now ' member— Cr.' Claik, in acknowledging the courtesy displayed by the older members of the board m ui^h - ing linn, said he came theic an independent member, representing neitner indiudual 01 paity, Imt th.einteios.ts of the town di&tiict generally. While he held his position as a member of the boaid he \\ ould alwa\ s cxci t himself in the best interests of the town ami endeavour to meet the \w nits of the people whom he iepresented. Stri:i:t luPßOvr/iinvrs.— A letter wa3 received from Mr David Carnac'ian, complaining of the faulty drainage of Chapelstreet near his corner. The hoaid had, on a former occasion, promised to construct a culvert here, but, by some means, had lost sight of their promise. The damage complained of had been caused by the board's engineer (not the present one.) He had a small account against the board, (I) Foy damage done to his property ; (2) tor peisonal injury sustained in the year of: our Lord, 1881, by falling over a precipice in Chapelstreet, the board ha\ ing received sevural warning petitions about the dangerous state of the thoroughfa.ro previous to the said occurrence ; (3) on account of medical attendance necessitated by the aforementioned "accident. The aggrieved gentleman did not state what he estimated his damages at.' The letter concluded with a hope that the board would cause the streets in the locality indicated to be formed and drained as soon as possible. — Mr Henry Aruier, a ratepayer, holding a tenement at the corner of Queen-street West and Grey-street, complained of the malformation of the street at that place, through which his back-yard was always' flooded in wet weather, and foot passengers were unable to pass to and fro.-r-Referring to these letters, the chairman stated,, ifop th[ej information' ofj the/ new menVber particularly, and the board generally, that the total indebtedness of the board was. estimated to be, when the Karapiro bridge and the drainage works at the corner of Brewery arid Dukestreets were finished, £557, WheßTthey; had struck the new rate, and paid Rose and Clements' claim at the end of the year, they wcoild be something like £574 in debt. Assuming thifet they undertook no -new works atfall, but simply paid all they knew they had to pay, and making a rough estimate of the receipts and income of the ensuing year, he anticipated they should go out of office jgSi'Js 10d tn> debt. ' He was > fully aware "of the fatt** that there were many pjaoes in the town 'badly in need of attention, particularly Victoria-fctr4et^n'}the' of the .Colonial Bank and the National Hotel, together with other places of which he might also particularise the English iCbuTchpoynet.f iThjey liad'^jraqijey^to do anything in the way of new works, jbut simply to complete* /what they had ;in hand mjU&wa tip Jaafflfcßpm. He

( would sug^atth'iifcftlLlthead application* i be replied to, informingfthef Writers that their complaints would be attended to ao , far av,*be .mean,? of^the^board^wp^d^ allow. — Cr. Nixon moveda resolution ill accordance with ■ the chairman's feugges- , tion, which .was- seconded by Cr.. Hewitt and carried I .} Kir < 'i//I \ I If Tjte Drainage Works i axd the { EDPCATtos REsaiV-k'-^-Mr R. Ji D/S"tewart wrdte referring to the fact. th,at inen.,en,- fl gaged by the, board were carrying a drainage pipe thiWgh-tho ground' 'of thY Board of Education without permission. He did not -know that , any, iObjcctipn , would be made so long a3 the board left everything a.s they found it. He complained of tlie great want of courtesy; displayed by th« 'board in the matter* — It i^was agreed that the letter should be re-""cei<-e"d t the aboard , consenting ; to make i godd all damages which might be done. 1 Local PiuWktv VAluation.— 'ln the 1 matter of the valuation roll forwarded by Commissioner Sperrey, several errors' are visible, and these being of a nature likely to injure the revenue of the township, improvements during the year JBS2 and. ISB3 not beinij iuserted therein, and farther, in the ' matter of properties having phauge ( d , hands during the ..last, twelve months, the present owners' are,,' not inserted in the roll as forwarded by' (Mr Sperrey ; consequently, when' the board are preparing their- electoral roll the parties who are bona fide electors will be excluded from voting. — It was resolved that the chairman forward a decayed telegram, to Mr Sperrey on, the matter, explaining tl^e^grounds of thet board's complaint. Local Nuisances. — The inspector 'Of ' nuisances wrote desiring to bring under the notice of the boatal the fact that a ii\ui8anco existed through pigs being kept jn Btyea between Brewery' and Victoriastreets by Mes>sr3 Moisley and Murphy. The existence of, these r styes, in the con* ilitjion in winch ', they were 1 ' kept,' ' was highly injurious ' to ' the public health, and very offensive at tirres.— The Chaii man stated that under section jd of the Public Works Act of 1576 the boa id had the powers of a local board of r health. — Cr. Nixon, having drawn atten-' tion to other nuisances of a like na.tuiil* moved a resolution in terms of the act tm< the following effect :— "That in terms sa I and 39 of the Public Heilths Act, ISTGi ,tlie parties complained agninat be requested to remove the nuisance referred to within 48 hours of the receipt of notice. ' . - , Town Endowments. — The matter,, of the Waste Lands Board having .atlvor- ! tised for sale certain endowments which the Government had hitherto reserved from sale for the purpose of vesting in the local body, came under the meeting. —The Chairman sue^ested that the' bonrd should instruct him to apply to the Government to have the endowments referred to withdrawn from sale. The suggestion was given effect to, and a resolution embodying the same drawn up and cariied. Karapiko Bridcjl: Earthworks. — The following tenders were received for the above work :— l5. Wilson, £210 ,">s ; Geo. Mann and Dan. Dillon, £IS2.— On the motion of Cr. Nixon the tender of Mann and Dillon was accepted. Tlttf FOKMATtOT OV CUAI'JJL-STRKET. — The following petition was received fromabout 40 ratepayers and residents respecting the formation of the above thoroughfare :—" To the chairman pi the Cambridge Town Board.— Sir;— We, the inhabitants and ratepayers of Cambridge, do respectfully request to draw your attention to the dangerous and almost' impassable state of Chapel-street during wet weather, and earnestly beg ' that you will cause' it to be formed, '&c, as in its present state it is unsafe and quite unfit, for traffic, especially at night, through the water lodging on the street, particularly at Gcinmill's and Oarnachan'a cornel-. We have tliu honour to be, sir, yours respectfully, &c— Cr. Clark in lay- , in^ the petition before the meeting, said ' there wuro ratepayers in all p;vrts of the town who leconimcnded the formation of Chapel-street, though the disgraceful state of the stieet was in itself a sufficiently strong petition for attention. He believed the majority of those who signed the requisition that he should stand for the vacant seat in the board did so in the hope, that he would sec to the requirements of this very neglected thoroughfare. This being his fiist appearance he regretted the petition should have been put into his hand at such an early stage of his commissionership. Chapel-street was a very necessary and important work, and one which requiied their immediate attention. Indeed at present it was far from being creditable to the town. He beJie\ed £20 judiciously expended would effect considerable good, both as [regards making the street presentable and ' passable, as well as iniprox ing the health , of the residents.— Cr. Johnson said he could find twenty places in the town about which the same remarks would apply with equal foice. It was impossible for foot passengers to get.. t from Queen-street West into Grey-street in rainy weather.— Cr. Nixon said ho could speak as to the disgi aceful state of Chapel-street, and the great source of discomfort which it was during rainy weather. It was the duty of the board to do something in the way of complying with the prayer of the petition.— Tho cleik informed the meeting that a large number of those who had signed the petition u ere neither ratepayers or perin.inenfc residents.— The Chairman said the matter of further improvements to their streets had, on several previous occasions, been thoroughly gone into and discussed. He did not intend to revert to it again, as he had said all he could üboiiu it before. He would, however, endeavour to show to Mr Clark that the sum he named as likely to effect some good if judiciously expended, would be of no service whatever. By spending £20 they would simply be removing the nuisance from one part of the street to the other. When they improved Chapelstreet they wanted to do it properly, and not half do it, for half doing it; would be worse than not doing it at all. When the board were in funds he for one would gladly favour the formation of Chapel-street, ' What they wanted was money,— Cr. Nixon : Are there no means of raising sufficient money for the work Mr Chairman'?— Tho Chairman : I know of no means of getting any. The only visible course I know of would bo to call a public meeting to authorise the levyingof a fapecial rate to pay Clements and Itose's claim with other expenses. And then I am almost sure t would be almost impossible to get a poll fon the matter.— Cr. Nixon: Could we not get it from the bank. Probably they would extend our overdraft another £50. Cr. Johnson thought the ratepayers in Chapel-street who were so anxious about the work should contribute something specially themselves. In Grey-street this had been' done.— Ctf Nixon did net think it was fair that |*l ratepayers should have to do any sT^^V thing.— The Chairman :It is purely""a question of ways and means. We all agree as to the urgent nature of the work, but where is the money to, from ? — Cr. Nixon suggested that between then and the next meeting of the board they should see if they could not arrange with the- bank for ■* another ,£§o to - undertake* the work.— Cr. Johnson understood" tha't^' Cr. Nixon, was averse to an increase o€ the overdraft.— Cr. Nixon thought if money, could be .borrowed for one work it could he borrowed for another, the emergency being as 'great in' one ease 'as in the other. —Cr. Hewitt said Cr. Nixon had refused to, put, hia haud to .paper pa \ a former occasion when it was suggested to increase the overdraft fora very necessary work*— Cr. Clark said that if the board could see ita way to Btrain a point on, this occasion, , be would- like it very much. It was then agreed that the matter.ahould be allowed, to stand over until the next- meeting qf the board.—' .mis was all the business.

- W ftakesr.three days of .good • footi'to make on- forgone day <>f ba4 W,' "• •