BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 153, 10 July 1901, Page 3

BOROUGH COUNCIL.

The fortnightly meeting of the Counci took place last night, there being present: The Mayor (Mr Townley), and Crs Hepburn, Miller, Jones, Morrison, Lysnar, Whinray, Bright, Kennedy, and J. A. Harding. Mr L. T. Symes. Secretary of the Gisborne Library Committee, wrote stating that the Council’s lease of the offices had been up for some time, and asking whether the Council would take a new lease for, sav, ten years, at the present rental. The Mayor said that the strong-room was the property of the Council. Cr Whinray : I think it would he sufficient to take the offices for two or three years, or from year to year. Ten years is too long a term to commit ourselves to. Cr Lysnar said that some day the Council would require offices, and they would never get land cheaper than at present. The Town Clerk said the Council had a section near the Courthouse. C'r Jones considered it would he wise for the Council to accept the otter, as he did not think thev could do much better even : if they built ‘a hall, it would be better referred to a committee. The Mayor agreed with that suggestion. ; He did not think they were likely to j build a town hall at present. j Cr Jones: \ would take the offices my- ; self at the rental. ! The Mayor: There is an oiler straight j away. Cr Whinray moved, and Cr Morrison j seconded that the offices be taken for j twelve months, the latter stating that he i

hoped tho time wjuM soon arrive when j they would have municipal buildings. Cr Jones moved as an amendment that the oflices be leased for seven years. lie j hoped to see attention applied to water and drainage before they went in for municipal building. Kents were going up, they must remember, and they were not likely to be well suited elsewhere. They should also remember they were helping a deserving institution. The Mayor seconded the amendment, and spoke in favor of it. 'V Miller said lie would favor the ; amendment il they could got more room if they wanted it. The Town (.Jerk said they could get it on paying ■> per cent, more rental. Cr I.vsnar said that by erecting' a build- ; mg on the Council's own section they ; would save money. Tiie amendment was carried. For : Crs Jones, Kennedy, Miller, Fright-, and the Mayor. Against: Crs Whin ray, llep- j burn, I.vsnar and Morrison. The income Tax Department applied j for form of declaration for subsidy. Had been sent. Numerous letters wore received in re- ; gard to road machinery. Cr Whin ray : lb-ply that we are still deliberating. The Mayor : And likely to. Cr Miller : 1 thought that had all been j ordered. In discussion it was said that the mat- ' ter had been referred to a committee, but j 1 nothing had yet been doin'. Cr Morrison said an engine would lie j no use unless the bridges were strength- ! 1 filed. M Cr Miller: Arc we going to put it oil j * night after night .’ Well have to wait for j ten years if we wait for the bridges. Cr Kennedy : Bring it up later on. | j Deferred. i In regard to nn offer of a steam roller j 1 from the Arch Hill Company, (V Miller i humorously said, ** Better send these applications to tlie museum, unless we are j going to do something witli them/’ The j Mayor said it had better be referred to tin* commit tec. Mr Hugh Paterson again wrote com- j< plaining of a pool of stagnant water lying j * on a section adjoining hB property. Cr Whinmy : That was up ten years | 1

V i \> iiiiiifi'N . likvii »in <* y '■'-n »- | Cr Kennedv : All absentee owner The M«vor : Yes. ! ! Till. Town ('l.-rk said Unit tlio owner i wns to come up to Gisborne, but bad not \ 1 vet done so. i t'r l.vsuar moved, and Cr Kennedy 1 seconded, tdi.it tbe work lie done, notice , 1 liist to lie sent to the owner : the work to ' 1 lie done within fourteen days. Mr (i. Primrose wrote complaining that : 1 [lie rent lived for the place be occupied ' tins) was too much : he ottered Ills. Cr Morrison said that the otter was fair, 1 1 and he moved that it be aeeepted. Cr Whim-ay : Make it Ids. j 1 t'r Jones: I think 10s is enough, and I seeond that. J I Cr 1 iVsnar moved that the rent he j s Ids fid.' Cr Hepburn seennded, saying that it | < would bring it in line with Mr Nield's , property. j The amendment was carried. Crs Jones ; ' and Morrison only supporting the motion. The Committee in regard to the amalgamation of the borough and suburbs duly I reported, strongly favoring amalgamation. ■ | giving reasons therefor, and asking that a . date he lived for a conference, at which it ' could be decided on what terms the suburbs could join the borough. ' The plan sumnittod was inspected, the j suggested boundaries being the same as j previouslv described in the Timks. I Tbe Mayor said that as the matter had ; not yet been submitted to the road district j ratepayers, it seemed to be premature to j him for the Council to gn into it. However. they could discuss it if they desired. . Cr Morrison : Alt that is asked for is a conference —not for an expression of opinion. It would, he considered, be j wise to grant the request to ascertain tile , views, and he moved accordingly, the date > to be fixed by 11 is Worship. The Mayor: We have a good many things in hand now. Cr Jones : I seeond the proposition, lint on the distinct understanding that l am in no way bound to agree to anything. There is no harm in discussing the proposals. The motion was agreed to. Cr Jones said it would be well to tind out how much the Countv claimed. Cr l.vsnar : That is ditheuh to ascertain ; it is said to be XT.700. Mr T. ti. Lawless, on behalf of the Ocean Guarantee Company, ottered to take up the fidelity bond of the Town Clerk for £■', Ids tid.‘ as against .£0 ds nowpaid to another Company. On the motion of Cr Kennedy, seconded bv Cr Harding, the offer was aeeepted. ' Mr It. Hird wrote, complaining that while his cow had been impounded by the ranger, the latter allowed his bvvn 1 hor.-es to stray about on the roads. On the motion of t'r Miller, seconded by the Mayor, the letter was referred to Mr Wilkinson for an explanation. Mr W. 1.. File wrote claiming certain money in regard to a borough lease. It was agreed to refer the matter to the solicitor, and if the applicants for the amount could not agree, the money be , handed to the Court to decide. Mr Norman Vile wrote strongly protesting against the small value placed on one of tlio borough houses in which he was interested, touch a valuation he declared to be preposterous. He ottered to sell a Shackloik range, etc., for -£S. t. v Bright said he thought the position was that they did nothing till the valuations were before them. It was in the hands of the arbitrators. Cr Lysnar: His valuator as well as ours. An opinion from Mr Chrisp. Borough solicitor! was read regarding the leases. The Town Clerk said that both Messrs Jameson and Nicld only had to register their leases.

Cr Jones said that would not be necessary after the lease had run out. Sir W. r. Finneran. the valuator, wrote in regard to the awards. As"the clerk was reading the letter Cr Bright said they should have the complete awards before them, with which Crs Whii'.rny and Kennedy agreed. The Town Clerk said they had all agreed but two. Cr Bright said that was not an award upon which they could act, and he moved that the report be referred back until the awards were complete.—Agreed to. Mr Arthur F. Cuff wrote, offeriug for abattoirs 42 acres on the banks of the Awapuni. He would hand his interest over to the Council for X’l20 —it was a 909 years' Government lease at an annual rental of A'Jo 17s 2d. Cr Miller said they might deal with the matter at once. The Council would only want a.bout three acres. It was agreed to reply that the property was unsuitable. Jhe night-watchman, Mr 0, J, Morell

• reported that there had been no hres m j the borough during his hours of duty for j the past fortnight. ! The Ovc-rse-er, Mr Morgan, reported as ito the removal of trees. The work in the ( Recreation Ground would he completed ! in a few day s ; the Disraeli street footpath leading to the ground would require some I trimming. He recommended that a tew j crossing he put in at the corner of Derby I street and Gladstone road, at Pollock’s j corner, and that the side of the road be I metalled—the corner was too hat for the ! quantity of water brought to it, and the ! water spread over the surface. By the proposal the water would be confined to a narrower space, and force

I it away, tnus helping greatly lu uispense with the inconvenience to foot trailic so often caused by the spreading of ; the water over the crossing. He recoin- > mended that crossings leading to private ! property should be made in sections, so that a portion could be removed, or hung i with hinges and opened up, so that they could be cleaned out without trouble at ' present much diliiculty arose through the 1 water getting dammed back by rubbish gathering under the crossings. Hay labor, £2B 2s. It was agreed to have the work at Pollock’s corner carried out. As to the crossing, it was left to the Overseer to try and arrange with owners of property. The Overseer was authorised to do the work recommended in Disraeli street. The Inspector, Mr Little, reported that he had inspected various drains and urinals, which had been duly attended to. | As to the Presbyterian Church, he reported j that there were five means of egress. The j Inspector also reported’on the borough i reserves, and recommended that tenders j

| bo culled for works which lie recoin- : mended. He also recommended that notice be given that tanks should he cleaned out. The suggestion as to cleaning out tanks was adopted. In regard to the Church, Or Whinray said that tiic report was very ; satisfactory. As to the borough pro- ! perties, Or Lysnar said it would be better j to let the matter stand over until the awards acre settled. That view was : adopted by the Council, hut it was 1 thought repairs should be done to the ■ bouse that had been occupied by Mr j I Hack, as that is now empty, and the i Overseer is going into it. , On the motion of Cr bright, seconded j , by o Lysnar, the matter was referred to j , tire Works Committee, with power to act. j ( hi regard to a letter from Mr C'ranby j as to a road-making machine (As? 10s), : j the Mayor said that lie had seen the machine, which lie highly recommended. In i , Hawke’s bay, on one job, such a machine j ( had saved X-!0. He did not think there i | was suilicient work in the borough. All ( their roads could be formed with it in a fortnight; but it was not wise to form ( streets until they had metal to put on. j j A sweeper and scraper could lie obtained i from Warwick, at X-T> 10s for the former and A-10 10s for the latter, to which about ij() per cent, could lie added. None ot the sweepers gave much satisfaction. j Cr bright moved that a scraper be a ordered. Cr Lysnar seconded the motion : there y was no use dilly-dallying further with the c matter. He would like to sec the broom added : it would sweep the bridge in a i|iiarter of the time occupied at present. j Cr Whinray urged that a road roller should bo at first obtained, as not 15 chains of road was tit for the use of a scraper. They should have the metal and road roller first.

(Y i.ysnar: on propose that we get lie i'oml roller. Cr Whim-ay proposed that the matter e left until they were taking the whole object into consideration. Cr .lottos considered it their bounden utv to got the scraper and sweeper as oon tis possible. Cr Bright added the sweeper to the lotion, and it was carried. Cr H’iunray said he would move an mendnient. There was only a small treet upon which it could bo used. Cr Cysnur : [l goes up to your place. Laughter.) Cr Whim-ay said his place was always lean. Until they could get metal and .mead utilise the roads, it was a superuity to go in for these reform notions. Ve did not wish to sec the major portion f the scheme vitiated, and ho moved hat the subject be considered in eonnecion with the traction engine and road oiler. The amendment lapsed for want of a ceonder. Cr Miller said that Cr Whinrav did not rasp the situation. A scraper and weeper were more necessary now than -hen they had the roller and traction ngine. The motion was carried. Cr Harding said that in Auckland, 'hristehureh and Napier lie had seen men ,-ith hand brooms sweeping the streets, n Auckland he had seen nine men so cnaged, and he would like to hear of some metical test. Cr Miller said he had interviewed six verseers. Those with, brooms said they ,-ould not be without them, and those ,-lto had not got them wanted them, ’hey prided themselves on the progress hov were making, but this borough was he biggest back number in New Zealand n regard to road cleaning. Tile Mayor: Thank you. (Laughter.) Cr Miller said he was inclined to think hat the Mayor did not want a sweeper, nit if there was any chance of the new latent of which lie spoke coming into itilitv, it might i>c worth waiting awhile. After further discussion, the sweeping imposition, as it was termed, was disposed if. The Overseer's report in regard to the teach roads, held over, was again brought orward. Cr Whinrav moved that in regard to rev street the Overseer's report be agreed o. and be spoke strongly in favor of the notion. Cr Morrison seconded the motion, and ;aid they should at any rate give the icoplo there a footpath to the dry sand. It was decided to expend the sum of £9O on forming and shingling the road rom the bridge in Grey street to the teach. Considerable discussion took place with •egard to the necessity of forming and ■totalling that portion of reel street lowing to the railway station. A motion moved by Cr Hepburn, and seconded by Cr Harding, that the work should be done at a cost of about .£IOO was lost. lHahit.uilk .un lio vun. The luonthlv meeting of the Board was held at the conclusion of the Council meeting. Two claims from the Auckland Hospital for treatment of patients were received. The Board disclaimed any liability in either ease, as the persons referred to had not been residing in the district for some time past. A similar claim from Ashburton was dealt.with in a like manner. The Secretary -reported that there were twelve inmates at present in the Home. Several applications for relief were dealt with.