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CARIARTHEN TOWN COUNCIL.

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CARIARTHEN TOWN COUNCIL. A quarterly meeting of the council was held at the Council Chamber on Tuesday, when the members present were Messrs T. Jenkins, mayor (presiding); T. Davies, (ex-mayor); W. R. s L, Edwards, C. Jones, Ilowell Howells, James Davies, E. A. Rogers, Henry Cadle, D. Parcell Rees, Talbot Norton, D. Griffiths, W. Vaughan George, Walter Lloyd, D. T. Lloyd, and Evan Jones. Mr W. L. Hughes, medical officer of health; Supt. Smith, Mr John Morgan, borough surveyor; Mr A. LI. Davies, collector; and Mr J. Williams, inspector of nuisances, were also present. THE COUNCIL CHAMBER IS UNSUITABLE. Before proceeding with the business on the agenda, the mayor said he should like to have the council's opinion as to tho advisability of getting a 1.¿. J.1 uubitu loom man ineir present one in wnicn to hold their meetings, If they could get the grand jury room upstairs, it would be a great improvement. It was decided to ask the County Council's consent to use the grand jury room. MEDICAL OFFICER'S REPORT. The medical officer's report for the quarter ended December 31st, 1890, was read. It showed the number of births for the quarter to be 47, being 22 males and 24 females, one being illegitimate. Deaths in public institutions were, males at the asylum, 10; females, five; at the Workhouse, females, two. The total number of deaths in the district was 71, being 12 non-parishioners, and 59 parishioners, equal to an annual death rate of 21 per thousand. There were six cases of diphtheria reported in October and November, three of which proved fatal. Six cases of scarlet fever NverG, reported, but all were of a mild character and recovered. 308 notices were served by the inspector of nuisances during the quarter. The medical officer had examined the hospital provided for cases of infectious diseases, and found that in its present state it was wholly unfit for the purpose for which it was intended. The disinfecting oven was likewise unfit for use. He would be glad to have the permission of the council to nominate Mr E. R. Williams, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., London, as his deputy, so that in any event the sanitary arrange- ments of the district may not be neglected"— Mr H. Howells proposed, and Mr D.° Griffiths seconded, that the report be adopted, and that permission be given for Mr Hughes to appoint Mr Williams as his deputy. Mr Howells also congratulated the medical officer upon his convalescence.—This was carried with the addition that the question of the disinfecting apparatus be referred to the sanitary committee. The Medical Officer's annual report was then read, and it was ordered to be printed.—Mr James Davies What is the cost of printing it ?—Clerk Three guineas for 200 copies.-imr James Davies: I had some to distribute one time, but the rate- payers did not want them.—Mr E. A. Rogers: I think that the information in that report is worth a few pounds to make it public. It is from such reports that we get to know of diseases and other things. It has always been printed hitherto.—Mr James Davies I have nothing against Mr Hughes, but I have always opposed it. PUBLIC ANALYST'S REPORT. The public analyst reported he had received three samples of milk, all of which were equal to the recognised standard of quality.—Mr Talbot Norton: If any samples of milk are found below the standard, and the persons are convicted, who pays the analyst's fee ?-Clerk The fee is included in the fine that the convicted person has to pay. He charges 15s for every analysis. Mr James Davies: That is very handsome. Mayor: We cannot help it, Mr Davies. The report was adopted. BOROUGH SURVEYOR'S REPORT. The borough surveyor's report was read. It showed that since the last quarterly meeting of the Council, the following work bad been done: Relaying gutters in Water street, curbing and new gutters in Mansel-street, remov- ing on the Parade, Spilman-strcet, Church- street, and Union-street; cleaning ditches, repair- ing and metalling country roads, metalling town streets, putting manure on fire-plugs during frosty weather, conveying the water from Water-street pond for flushing the sewers at Water-street, Lam- mas-street, and Mansel-street. The leakage in the boiler at the Water Works bad been repaired by Thomas Elias. Witter pumping hid commenced since the 12th January, owing to the severe frost. Tn 3 reservoirs at present were full, and the pump- ing would discontinue that week. There are at present about 500 yards of Irish flags in stock, ready dressed for laying, as soon as the weather permits, and the Surveyor recommended the Coun- cil to give all order for another cargo at once, as the flagging of the footpaths were in a very bad state after the frost, so as to have them thoroughly repaired during the coming summer, and to avoid further complaints.—Mr James Davies: How does the town stand at the bank now ?—The Clerk I made an estimate the other day, and I find we are better than we have almost ever been.—Mr Rogers proposed that the report be adopted, and that°the Surveyor be instructed to get the fl,.tgs;AlrDitvies. I quite concur that they will be beneficial, but I want to know how deep it will plunge the town into debt, and do we really want a whole cargo ? I could poiot out spots to the Surveyor where you will get over your ankles in mud, and I should like you to attend to those bye places first. The people that live in these places are ratepayers—large rate- payere-and their feelings should be respected. Our streets are very tairly flagged. I go to Llanellyand other places, and our flagging is as good as at any of thetn —Mr Talbot Norton seconded the motion, which was carried. THEY OUGHT TO BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES." The Council next considered a petition, signed by 25 people resident on the Parade, calling at- tention to the imperfect state of the lighting of the Parade. The Parade was largely used as a promenade, and was the most frequented place in the town. The present lamps were inadequate, and the petitioners suggeste 1 that the Council put up two ad itional lampa. The Mayor said he had visited the place, and considering it was a favourite resort they might very well put up one more lamp. They should also place a lamp in North Road-- the road from the Infirmary to the Parade.—Mr Talbjt Norton proposed that another lamp be added to the existing ones on the Parade, and that a lamp be also placed in "True Lover's Lane." He could not help thinking but that the bad lighting ¡ on the Parade was due to the bad gas they had been lately supplied with by the gas company.— Mr Jame3 Davies Which is the most needful—to I put lamps in places where there is too much light at present, or by Mr Lewis's factory, where people have been f illing into the water all through the winter. Tho people on the Parade ought" to be I a^hauie.! of themselves to present a petition to the Council, and put the town into expense in order to satisfy their o vn vain luxuries (loud laughter). He proposed that nothing be done on the Parade.— Mr Y ugh \:1 Gjor^e seconded the amendment, but on being put to tho vote Mr Norton's, motion was carried. ANOTHER PETITION. The next item on the agenda was to consider a petition as to the water supply of Picton Place, etc. -—Mr James Davies: Have you had any complaints as to the water in Picton Place?—Mayor We had better get the petition read fint of all, sir. [The petition, signed by about 30 people residing in Plclou Place and Union-street, was then read! It stated that they had been without water for six weeks, and prayed for a better supply]. Mr James Davies: From what ward doesit come, Mr Clei k ?- Clerk The petition says it comes from the eastern ward (laughter).—Mr James D lvies: Well, as long as the petition has been wrongly worded, I say it is perfectly out of order for us to discuss it.-Mayor: It is only a cleric II error. All the signatories have put down their addresses. Mr Cadle: What we have to discuss is the question of water supply in Picton Place, and not the wording of the petition.- Mr James Davies: These people are not ratepayers. They d ) not pay the water rate as they have pumps of their own, and they are now petitioning the town to supply them. My statement is correct.— The s irveyor attributed the deficiency to the late severe frost.—'Mr E. A. Rogers It is useless for us to shelve this question. We are all quite aware that the upper end of the town is really suffering from the want of a proper water supply, and that during the few hours they are supplied in the upper part, the water in the other part of the town has to be stopped as the force is insufficient. Further discussion followed, after which the surveyor wasinstructed to supply Picton Place as abundantly as possible with water. THE WATER QUESTION LIVELY DISCUSSION, The next matter was to consider the water supply of the town. The Mayor said that the Garn scheme of supply- ing water, which had been previously discussed, j was a favourite scheme with several members of that corporation, and it bad been decided as to the quantity of water that could be supplied from there. The surveyor could tell them all about it.—Surveyor: The volume of water from the j etream is from 61 to 7 i inches regularly. 6 J inches is the least it has been.—Mr James. Davies I have been told that the water is of a corrosive nature, and has been the cause of great illness.-Mayor We must do something. The papers are full of the matter, and they say we do nothing. Mr James Davies: Oh! yes, that is the "Rambler" in the Reporter, and he is a rambler too, all over (laughter). I find no fault whatever with the scheme, bat what a plunge it will be for our in- significant town to go into a debt of £ 20,000. Mr E. A. Rogers said he had come across some cuttings and different reports of surveyors since the question had been on, and he thought it his duty to collect them and bring for the Council to see. He bad with him a report made by Mr Wade in December, 1866, so that the water question had been before the Council from that date up. The mayor at that time (1866) was Mr T. B. Jones. A committee was ap- pointed to investigate the matter, and it consisted of the following: The Mayor, Messrs Brodie. MostytL Davies, John Thomas (Parade), W. J. Morgan, John Thomas (Quay street), Henry Norton, and W. de Warren. Mr Rogers was continually interrupted by Mr James Davfes, when Mr Rogers said I may be as anxious as you about this question.—Mr James Davies.- I dare say, sir; and may be more. Mr Rogers went at great length into the previous reports made by Mr Wade and others, and also into some statistics as to cost, when the mayor interrupted him by asking if the statistics he was quoting would assist them in any way.—Mr James Davies: Not a bit, sir.—Mr E. A. Rogers: It is only right that we should know what our predecessors have done.-Mayor: It is enough to know that our present scheme is an insufficient one. Mr Rogers said he wanted to bring home to the Council that all the other available sources had been reported upon and proved unsatisfactory, and there was nothing left for them but to go in for a good gravitation scheme. He wanted to show the Council what it had cost them to keep their present system of pumping, what their water rate had been, and what it would be. The amount of water rate for the last 16 years was JB3,311, the lowest being .£167 for 1888, and the largest £ 1,0^0 for 1881. They bad also paid interest upon the loans to the tune of £ 2,888, and putting that interest w'th the rates it would make the amount to over £ 10,000. The money which paid the inte- rest on the money they had borrowed for the Water Works came from the district rate, and not from the water rate.—Mr James Davies: What becomes of the water rate?—Mr E. A. Rogers: The water rate is used for the pumping station and the working of it and other things. The amount we have borrowed upon our water is £ 6,500. The first loan we had was X3,000 in 181'5. the next was XI,300 in 1858, XI.500 in 1871, and £ 700 in 1873, making a total of X6,500, so it cotnes to this: that our expenditure these last 16 years has been £ 17,000. Had our predecessors done what we are called upon to do now, we should be at the present time having a proper supply free of expense.—Mr James Davies: I question that.—Mr Rogers (con- tinuing) said he would be sorry to see the Council spending X6,030 or X7,000 or. that question, unless it was thoroughly done, and their children, in years to come, would not be again troubled with it. In his opinion, the only difficulty in the way of adopting the scheme was the compensation, but it had occurred to him that even that difficulty could be got over, as by purchasing a few acres of land they could erect a reservoir to hold sufficient water, and the factory and the mill could lay a 9-inch pipe from the reservoir and be supplied by it with water. By that way compensation would be doue away with, and they would have merely to spend about £ 500 to get the reservoir. He said that Xio,ooo would be sufficient to carry out the whole scheme. —The Mayor: I am afraid many people here do not know which scheme jon are advocating.—Mr Rogers: I advocate the Gam scheme. I want to show what would be the benefit accruing from that scheme. Mr James Davies—The benefit would be to burden the ratepayers with a good rate. Mr E. A. Rogers—We should then be able to supply the town 100 feet higher than at present, and we should have no complaints from the upper parts of the town. Mr James Davies—Yes, we should .then be able to water old Picton (loud laughter). Mr Rogers—Mr Davies is interrupting. Mr James Davies—Yes, because you are bringing on such a ruinous scheme. Mr Rogers-Before miking any proposition, I will ask the Surveyor if the supply is the same fro'n the Girn stream in the summer as in the winter. Surveyor: I have never seen it in cummer, so I cannot say. Mr James Davies: Hear, hear, for a true speaker (laughter). Mr Rogers: I propose that the surveyor go as often as possible at his own discretion to visit the Garn stream and test the volume of water and report to the council, his expenses to be paid by the council. Mr James Davies: If you put my money in it I will kick up a devil of a row about it. Mr Talbot Njrton seconded the proposition. Mr W. R. Edwards said he would willingly fall in with the scheme if they could have a guarantee that it would only cost XIO,000, but he was told that at certain seasons the supply at Garn failed. Mr Edwards pressed on the council the importance of threshing the matter out thoroughly before coming to any decision. Mr Evan Jones believed that XIO,000 would have to be spent in compensation alone, and the scheme would land them into expenditure of about £ 40,000. Mr Rogers said he could not let a remark made by Mr James Davies pass by unnoticed. He would remind Mr Davits that he did not come there with any selfish motive. He came there to do his duty as a ratepayer. It had been rumoured that be was fighting for that gravitation scheme for his own ends, and that he was going to try for the contract. If ever the work would be carried out, it would not be carried out by him. Mr James Davies: I never said so. Mr Rogers: I shall be very pleased to do all I can to assist in having it carried out, and give what information I can. Mr James Davies: The fact of it is, you know nothing of the work. You can give us no idea. Mr Rogers: I have no selfish motive, sir. I hope to God I shall remain as straight as ever I can, and not assist a friend more than anyone else. After further irrelevant discussion, the motion was carried. ABSURDITIES IN THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT. The Clerk said that when the Local Government Act came into force it was necessary to divide the borough into electoral divisions for electing mem- bers of the County Council. Now the Board thought it necessary that the borough be divided into electoral divisions, as in the case of electing County Council members, and it required that members of the Town Council should be elected on the same day as the County Council members, and at the same booth, and by the same officials. Now that was impossible, and that was one of the many absurdities that he found in the Local Government Act.—It was decided that the town be divided intn electoral divisions as requested by the Act. It was decided to refer the question of widening the Parade Road footpath to a committee. The Mayor said he had a petition to present to the Council as to Owen Evans, who was said to be shouting in the market and stopping the trade of I other tradesmen.—It was decided that the Mayor be asked to speak to Owen Evans to stop shouting and stop the present nuisauce. ° The other business was trivial. ) ——————————————===

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