COUNTY COUNCIL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 838, 10 January 1883, Page 2

COUNTY COUNCIL.

The ordinary monthly meeting of the above Council was held to-day, in the Council Chambers, when there weio present —Messrs W. O. Walker (chairman), J. Jackson, I. Taylor, J. Latnbio, H. T. Winter, E. G. Wright, and T. Bullock. chairman’s statement. The Chairman stated that he had received a joint application from Dobbin’s Ford Bridge, sent by the chairman of the Selwyn County Council, for the purpose of being signed by the chairman of the Ashburton County Council. This had been done, and the application sent to Wellington and duly acknowledged. T 1 • Selwyn County Council had also written, stating that in their opinion one-third should be raised by the Selwyn County towards the Dobbin’s Ford bridge, the Ashburton County finding the remaining two-thir s, it being of far more importance to the latter County. The Wakanui and the Rakaia Road Boards had consented to co-operate with the Council in the matter of the destruction of . small birds, and will supplement the Council ; by 2d per 100. The Chairman also stated that a meet’ng of the Council will have |o be held on February 12, to elect a member to represent them on the Lyttelton Harbor Board, in accordance with the Act of 1882. The gums that had been sown last year, and also the willows that had been planted at the head-works of the water-races, are growing vigorously, SLAUGHTER-HOUSES. .} The Inspector reported that he had visited the whole of the slaughter-houses in the County, and that there was no cause of complaint. T e defects in certain yards that he had been called qpon to notice during last year had been in ; every case remedied.—The report was approved. COUNTY FINANCES. •' The Council then went into committee to consider the state of the funds of the County. y Mr Wright moved, and Mr Lamina seconded— “ That a rate of 4d in the £ on : all rateable property in the county shall be struck on the 12th February, 1883 for;the period ending the 31st March, 1883, pay- > able in one instalment on the Ist March * next.” This was passed by the Committee, and, on resuming, was adopted by the Council. I ENGINEER’S REPORT. ) Thel Engineer’s report was read as ; follows : , Branch Race, Drayton District.—As,-re-quested by the Council I have examined injjb , the question of a branch line from the mam 3 near Pudding Hill to serve the district situated between Chapman’s Creek and the - North Ashburton River. I have staked out a line about five miles in length, as shewn’ on plan, ! having first taken the necessary levels to fix 1 the route. This race would be of considerable 8 service for the several properties through which it would pass, but the only objection- -. able feature in it is, that it would have to dis--5 charge into the auxiliary channel leading iutp i Methven, thus somewhat lessening the supply b which would otherwise be available for die , main race leading out towards the Rakaia side tof the plains. This, 1 however, could-be com* pensatedfor by making a connection near Club j. lower end of Highbank property between races D and E 5, so asjto give a supply for that portion 1 of the latter race which would be situated below the point of junction. Springfield Property.Mr Reynolds and Mr Boyle have, since, last " meeting of the Council, made the race through e their properties .in extension of that braijCh a previously made by Messrs Gould and Cameron i and forming part of the tenth pf the supply of e the auxiliary channel as allocated by the Coun--0 cil for that district. Ashburton-Rakaia Water Supply.—The extension of the F line, pf B water-race below the railway has been carried j out during the last month, but the percolation along the greater part of the race is so great-at present, that the water has not yet reached ttose B lower end ; more especially is this the case 1 from Winchmore downwards. Some portions a of the race made by Messrs Gould and Cameras, - also require further deepening, and they must 1 also provide ample waterway at the crossing of f the West Coast Road. Very lew of the owners i below the railway have as yet paid their con--1 tributions towards this race. I have also 3 levelled and staked out the extension of B 1 race through the properties of Messrs Pepper* ill, Healey, Denshire, and others, but the formation of this race has been postponed for a month, till the crops are off the ground. : ’I 3 find, too, that a small deviation will be neces--7 sary at the lower end, so as to avoid awkward severances, and give a more efficient service on h that portion of the race. With the exception d of the putting in of three of the fords on ,tbs e B 2 water-race, which will be completed on O Saturday first, the works on this line are now n finished, and the water has been led along, its e entire length. Some small grips require to toe P taken out on several portions of C 2 race before the water runs freely. These will be finished to-day, and as the fords on this race are already “ completed, I fully expect the water will life at the railway line to-morrow, and at the 8 lower end near Dundas on Friday first. £’j a line which was recently formed is now sup* 0 plied with water throughout, but several of thp s fords are yet in an imperfect state, and I have sent the contractor back to overhaul them. . There has been such a large mileage, of r races formed recently, that a huge 9 portion of the available supply has been required to charge them fully, in their . present porous state, and this chcumstance’hah helped to cause some irregularity in the flow 1 of some of the branches at the lower end of the r system, but this is in a greater measur'd t due to some cases of tampering, which * have been reported, and which are now i being put in the hands oi the solicitor, j I have had a few fords put in on upper section . of the B water-race, where, until recently, there did not [seem to be any traffic.—Ashi burton-Rangitata Water Supply: The races in thissystemareallcontinuingto run satsifactorily, with the exception of that next the Rangifa(a * river, the adjustment of that supply being de- ’ pendent on the Committee’s decision as to proposals put forward by Mr Twentyman. The ' supplies both from Limestone creek and Gorge South Hinds have abated very much oi late, i By your authority, I postponed the contract for ■ P 3 water-race, as the tenders showed con* i siderably higher prices than those lately ruling i for similar works, and the owners on the Willowby extension line, anticipating similarly high prices, have also arranged to postpone the work for a time, but they express a wish to have the race extended as soon as the exi* gencies'of harvest work will permit.—Upper Rangitata Traffic Bridge : Since the arrival of the timber, the contractor has certainly lost no time in pushing forward the work of erecting this bridge. Already twelve spans of the superstructure are now in position, represent* ing about two-thirds of the entire length of the extension, and all the materials for hand-rails: are dressed and ready for erection. All th£. timber has been forwarded, with the exception of the decking.—Storm-Water Channel, Mcth- : ven to High Bank: In accordance with in« structions received from the Council, I. havei examined into the scheme which has been re*-, commended by the Mount Hutt and Souffii Rakaia Road Boards, and plans and estimate, of which have been submitted to the Council,. I was also met by representatives from the. Mount Hutt Road Board, who showed me the 1 , line over which the secrions had been taken;! On a careful investigation of the whole this scheme appears to me to be very defect five in several important particulars; ; First: The storm water is proposed to be dis-1 charged over the shingle terrace at Highbank, which is 225 ft above the river bed of the Rakaia, and of this height provision has been made for a concrete shoot for the upper 45ft only, this being only one-fifth part of the vertical height of the terrace. Second : The arranger ment of channel is such that though the cutting is only 99ft wide, a width of about seven chains of ground along the course of the channel would be inundated on the occasion of prery high flood, and at least three times the quantity of cutting wpuld be required to give a channel pi sufficient capacity to contain thp flood watejrwith sp small a declivity, this averaging about ain per chain. Third ; lam of opinion that the width of at least two chains would be necessary for flood channel and road, so that" after allowing for the area occupied by present road, a width of fully a chain would have to be acquired over the entire length of si* miles, * representing a purchase of about 50 acres oft good agricultural land. Fourth : The proposed;! channel is situated so high up on the plainer that scarcely half the storm water of the dis-,.. .trict between the hills and the sea would intercepted by it, so that at most the lower

districts would receive only a partial benefit from it. 1 estimate the works of an efficient scheme on the proposed route as follows Earthwork, La, 850; concrete shoot. La, 100 5 land and houses, L 900; road crossings, etc., L 300; contingencies, 10 per cent., say L6OO ; total post, L 6,750. This is exclusive of fencing, which might probably be required also. You will observe that the concrete shoot over the terrace forms a considerable item of the cost,, but I should not fall in with the suggestion expressed by some members of the Road Boards to dispense with it. The consequence of doing this would be that the chasm would from time to time, according to the force and frequency of the floods, work back, first on the ♦ line of the channel as formed for probably its entire length of six miles, with a depth varying from 20 to- 200 ft, and a width of severe 1 chains, • and would ultimately cut off all connections of roads and water-races, and isolate a large portion of the district, besides permanently carry- • fag off several hundred acres of land, whilst the ultimate direction of the channel, if uncontrolled, it would be impossible to determine. The effects of a mere trickle of water in forming the present chasm, which is already of conriderable sire, give pretty fair indication of what might be expected to result from a copi- - Ous flow of floodwater discharging with such a. bead through loose shingle Into the Rakaia liver bed. I need hardly say that although the works as estimated above were formed there - would always be considerable risk incurred, as well as expenses for maintenance, and I should be inclined to recommend, in preference, the taking (nch steps as would lead to the present line of , »torm-water being recognised and treated as a -Stormwater channel throughout its entire length to the sea line. It is, for the most, part well defined, and if sown down and kept in grass and the fence lines crossing it were removed, a small annual expenditure would suffice to keep it within reasonable bounds. The scheme de- - scribed does not extend as far as Chapman’s creek, but it could be made to include it at '-small extra expense. I have, however, previously reported on the line of natural outfall for this creek, the course of which is clearly defined to Cairnbrae, and on the railway au- . thorities making provision for passing it across the railway there on its natural course, there - would be little difficulty about the further disposal of it—Mount Somers Water Supply: Since the Council last met the races supplying the district between South Ashburton river and . Bowyer’s stream have been satisfactorily comSleted, and the works in the Taylor’s stream istrict are now in hand.—Auxiliary Channel, Lagmohr District: Your Committee having visited the site of the proposed works, will no doubt report on this subject to-day, and I have now got plans and sections prepared which . will enable me to put the works in hand as soon as the Council may direct. The application of the Drayton district . was referred to the Water Supply Committee.— Be the Springfield property, it " tins decided thnt the Engineer be instructed to insist on Messrs Gould and -Cameron enlarging their race and culverts to the satisfaction of the Engineer, and -that in future no private individual be allowed to construct races where the race U intended to be carried beyond the pro- , party, and where other settlers are dependent upon the race for a supply of water.

JBe Upper Rangitata traffic bridge, a letter waa read from Mr J. McCombe, •the contractor, asking fer an extension of one month for the completion of his contract on account of the difficulty of obtaining the necessary timber for the work. It was decided that the contractor 'he informed that his letter will be considered when the contract is finished.— ‘Concerning the recommendations of the Engineer re the construction of a storm . water channel from Methven to Highhank, it was decided to send a copy of ■ the paragraph in the Engineer’s report to the Mount Hutt and Mount Somers Road Boards.— I Theßanger’s letter to be referred to the Water Supply Committee for con■ido ation and report. BONUS TO THE BKGXNEEK. Mr E. G. Wright proposed that a bonus of iSO be given to the Engineer, in recognition of his services. He had not spoken to a single member of the Council, but he thought that some recognition should be made to a very energetio'and able officer. Had the Council been in a better financial condition ho (the speaker) would have proposed an addition of LSO to the Engineer’s salary, but although the time was not opportune for doing this, he thought that the compliment he had suggested might be paid. - - Mr Lambie seconded the motion, and ■poke in high terms of the Engineer's ability. There was no doubt that he had Saved the ratepayers many thousands of pounds.'' 1 ' 'Messrs Jackson and Bullock endorsed the remarks of the previous speaker. The Chairman said that speaking from his intimate knowledge of Mr Baxter’s ability, he could'quite agree with what had bo n said by Mr Wright. The manner in which the works had been carried pot reflected great credit on the Engineer, and it was.only right that his services should be recognised. The motibn was carried nem. con ’ The Council then adjourned till 2.30. COMMITTEES. : The Council then went into committee tat the purpose of considering the waterrace by-laws, and it was resolved that the report be deferred for another month. In reference to the committee for the Lagmhor water-race, Mr Wright reported that the conditions have not yet been 'completed by their solicitor. Mr McLean had; 4 , however, agreed to the main conditions on which it waa proposed to carry bn the proposed race. It was resolved that the committee he given power to deal With the matter before the next meeting of the Council. ACCOUNTS. A number of accounts were duly presented and passed for payment. RESIDENT MAGISTRATE. A letter was read from the Borougl -Council in reference to the sitting of f Eesident Magistrate being held more fre quently. - Mr Wright said that the question wai _ . .1 , _£ AI. A rf/tiii ■>!» art 1 r

whether the work of the Court could not be done by a Magistrate living in either Tima-u or Christchurch. He could not feel assured that there were sufficient reasons to have a Magistrate a resdent in the town or district. It was only adding more expense to the colony. In any case they should have now statistical information laid before the Council to show that more than two sittings a week, as already arranged by the Government, was required. - Mr Bullock thought that a Resident Magistrate tn urgently required; still, be was in favor* of a trial being given to the arrangement now made to have the services of a Magistrate twire weekly. The Chairman also speke in the same strein. and suggested a trial should be made before taking further stops in the matter It was resolved—“ That the Council will consider the matter after a due trial had been made of the present arrangements of the Court.” '■“ ASHBURTON TRAFFIC BRIDGE. A letter was also read from the Boi ough Council in reference to the traffic bridge liver the Ashburton to Tinwald. Mr Wright said ho Was fully convinced that the bridge whs required, but the question was, whether they were in a position to supplement the vote of L 5,000. As the Council were aware, this vote yronld expire in a short time, and it ' would pelhap- he a difficult ipatter to get S other vote of a similar kind in future, e thought that the bridge would cost about Lip.OpO. Such being the cas’, he wetdd like to have something definite ag tp subsidy whiph would be forthcom|ng from, the Borough Council and th« Road Boards. % s Mr Taylor thought that, in the face of sc v' large an expenditure for the bridge, ii - , c batter to make the preseni 7 Birviceable by way of alterin{ S l tTin wiilg on the flooring. ■Bdlfoek hoped that the bridgi je proceeded with, as it would bi coayeuence to the yjhole of th to in the County.

t Mr Wright suggested that each of the t local bodies interests I in the work should • be asked to contribute one-fourth and the ► County Council the remaining s' arc 1 It was decided (o send a copy of iho ’ letter and resolution to the SVakanui, Longheach, and Upper Ashburton Road 1 Boards, and the Borough Council, asking . them if they are willing to contribute a ! fair share towards this bridge. MOUNT HUTT POUND. A letter f om the Chairman of the Mount Hutt Road Board, approving of the appointment ef Mr Compton as poundkeeper at Melhven, was read, and it was resolved to confirm the appointment. NEXT MEETING. The date of the next ordinary meeting of the Council was fixed for the 12th February. WAKANUI WATER-RACE. A letter was read from Mr Purnell with reference to Mr Moffat’s signature to agreement for keeping open the communication for his water-race. The letter stated that Mr Moffat had refused to sign the document owing to his leaving for Southland. An offer from Thomas Patterson to keep open the race for Ll 5 per annum was accepted. RAILWAY LEAGUE. In reference to an application from the Railway League for a contribution to its funds, it was resolved that the Council is not empowered to subscribe as Requested. FORDS OVER WATER. RACES. In reply to the Council’s letter, the South Rakaia Road Board writes, stating that they were prepared to keep in order the various fords and culverts over the water-races in the district, provided the Council paid for the maintenance. It was resolved--“ That, inasmuch as the Road Board had agreed to vote LSOO for the work, they fulfil their agreement by handing over the sum of L 250.” The matter w.as left in the hands of the Chairman to attend to. LYTIELTON HARBOR BOARD. A letter was read from the above Board in referrence to the election of a member of the Harbor Board from the Council. It was decided to hold the election on the 12th February. WAKANUI FLAT WATER SUPPLY. In deference to Mr Cochrane and others’ wishes, it was resolved to leave the matter in the hands of the Chairman and Engineer. SUNDRY BUSINESS. In the matter of Dobbin’s Ford bridge, ' the Council could see no reason for alter- [ ing the decision come to at its last meeting. The matter of closing road in the ‘ Longbeach Road district, was deferred for consideration at the next meeting. Five slaughtering licenses and twantj renewals wore granted. The Chairman was authorised to write to the Geraldine County Council in reference to the share due by j that Council of cost of completing this ] bridge. ( The Council then adjourned. r