BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2458, 24 March 1909, Page 3

BOROUGH COUNCIL.

ORDINARY MEETING v 'k ■ r G t '--hr&i. /kv ."-kv The ordinary fortnightly meeting of the Gisborne Borough Council was held' last evening. Present,: The Mayor;; (Mr. W: D. Lysiiar), Crs. ,J. .Somervell, A., Sawyer, J. W- Williams, E. H. Mann, W. Pettie, J. Sheridan, and G. E. Darton. '/ ; :: CORRESPONDENCE.,

Mr. W. Morgan applied for the usual grant in aid of the Technical School.

The Mayor moved that £2O be granted.-. Cr. Sawyer seconded the motion, which was carried. Mr. J. 11. Martin asked permission to enclose the balcony of the Gisborne Hotel with glass, and to place another storey on the present budding. , Mr. jVlartin is building a three-storied brick addition alongside the hotel, and wishes to raise the present building in wood toa uniform height. Cr. Sheridan said that the request to add to the wooden building was; only reasonable, and lie moved-'that permission be granted. Cr. -Somervell seconded , the motion, and Cr. Pettie supported the motion. Cr. Williams said lie thought proper fire escapes should b,e, insisted -upon. Otherwise he could see -no objection-to the application being granted.. Cr. Darton : The application is op-; posed to the- by-laws, and if we are going to grant these requests we might as well burn the by-laws altogether. Cr. Mann : I cannot see any power given in the by-laws to grant the request. - Cr. Sheridan said exemptions hacl been granted in the past.; .. : The Mayor said the position was a very hard -one, and lie Would like to see the motion go through, with the proviso if the Council had the power to set aside the by-law. It might be. suggested that an asbestos wall be erected.

Cr. Sheridan moved that the application be granted if the advice of the borough solicitor be' favorable to the Council having the power, Cr. Sawyer seconded the motion. He said it- would be a pity if Mr. Martin could not improve his lidtel. Cr. Darton said he was in sympathy with the motion, and he was pleased to know Mr. •Martin desired to improve his hotel, one of the best-conducted hotels in the town. He would vote for the motion, if the solicitor advised the Council to do so. Cr. Mann agreed with Cr. Darton. Cr. Pettie suggested that the matter be referred to the Works Committee to take the advice of the solicitor, and to have power to act. Cr. Pettie’s suggestion was adopted. Cr. Somervell said he could not- agree to the balcony being enclosed, as it meant using the footpath. Cr. Sheridan agreed with Cr. Somervell. The balcony would then become part of the hotel drawing-room, or part of the residential portion of the house. The Mayor thought the application could be granted. Cr. Mann said he thought the Council might strain a point and grant the application. The Mayor: Then let the Council raise no objection if permission cannot be granted. The Mayor’s suggestion that no objection be raised to the verandah being enclosed was adopted. Mr. E. W. Whittaker acknowledged the contributions to the Bread Fund sent from Gisborne, and stated that nearly £2OOO -had.now been collected.— The letter was received. The East Coast Railway League, Napier, asked that the Council appoint a representative to the provisional committee, so as to continually keep tilerequirements of the. district before the Government. Mr. S. McLerncn was appointed to Mr. E. H. Featon offered to supply the Council with a cheap and efficient disinfectant at 3s 3d per gallon.—lt was decided to ask Dr. Mason’s opinion on the sample supplied. Mr. E. J. Harrison, butcher, asked permission to get his meat- from the abattoirs at 4.30 p.m., instead of in the morning. The letter was referred to the Veterinary Inspector to deal with, as the regulations imply that the meat mustbe kept for 12 hours. Two claims by Messrs Maynard and Harris, butchers, for beasts killed at the abattoirs, which had resulted in loss by the meat not keeping, were referred to the Abattoir Committee for report. Mr. P. H. Graham asked permission, to lay a drain from the new .building for the Bank of New South Wales to the Ta-ruheru River. The application was referred to Dr.. DeLisle, Health Officer. Messrs J. Chambers and Sons wrote in ref erence to the of the locomotive crane at Kaiteratahi; that, it was never understood that they should lay rails to place the crane at the shingle beds, but they would place the crane at the beds when the rail® were ready to receive it. . They regretted that any misunderstanding had occurred. , . , The Mayor said that £2O had . been allowed for the cost of erecting-the crane, and instead of the crane being erected at the pit, it was erected on the wharf, and taken up the line; and as it did not fit the rails up the incline it was left at Kaiteratalii. The crane could not be tested on the Government line. He thought, however, arrangements might be made to connect the Government line with- the line to the pit, and the crane moved to position. In the meantime the grab was idle. Mr. Morgan had shown Messrs Chambers and Son’s'engineer where the crane was to go. , . , / Cr. Pettie said the crane was one of tlie best investments made by the Council. The- position was not very satisfactory at present, and lie suggested that the matter be left to the Mayor to arrange. : , , , The suggestion was adopted. REPORTS.

The Borough Overseer (Mr, M. Mor

gafi) reported that he had effected repairs in Gladstone Road. He had also repaired tho water channels at a cost /of about 10s a chain, but a good job in concrete would cost £3 10s a chain. Ho- recommended that the road at tho junction of Lowe Street be asphalted. Tlie report was adopted.

i MISCELLANEOUS. The Finance Committee was appointed {to draw up the estimates of expenditure for the ensuing year. The/-Mayor announced tk*t the municipal roll closed to-day. A special meeting of the Council-will be held to-day at 4 p.m. to sign the roll. A supplementary roll will be issued, clos„jr 14 days before the municipal election. j. .. .. ~ r /, . -r . - THE FINANCIAL POSITION. Dealing with the financial position, the Mayor said certain machinery had been purchased with the understanding that tlie finances would have been carefully handled. The money expended so far was £7683, outstanding cheques due £650, the grab £IOOO, interest £2OO, and inlander's compensation £100; total £8950; while the overdraft, available was £IO,OOO, leaving about £.IOOO for the Council to come and go upon. . nile in April next -an overdraft of £12,000 coiud be arranged for. Cr. Pettie said that while it was sat£l2 ~000 could be rangedar or, f isiaetory to have £IOOO to go last year the overdraft was only £5562, with an overdraft allowance of £BOOO, leaving £3OOO to come and go upon. The Council justified in looking at things ill a rosy manner, as the next year would be started oil April Ist, -with £3OOO less than the present year. Cr. Sheridan: The position is, we are not quite bankrupt. The Mayor held that the Council would be able to carry on _ until next year’s rates began to come in, and the discussion then dropped.