ASHBURTON COUNTY COUNCIL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1779, 2 March 1888, Page 2

ASHBURTON COUNTY COUNCIL.

The ordinary monthly meeting of the Aahbu? ton County Council was held this morning. Preseut :— Messrs W. 0. Walker (Chairman), E. G. Wright, J. Gngg, J. Holmes, Jas. Brown, 0. J. Harper and K. 8. Coster. chairman's statement. The Chairman said the Helwyn Ooaaty Council writs to say that as the fees received for pilotage at Dobbin's ford are not anffioient to maintaiu the ford, they hare decided to oloae It and forward an aooount of amount dae by this Council to date for this ferry. — A copy of the pro* posed new Bylaws for the Aahbarton v traffic bridge has been furnished to the Council's solicitor so aa to enable him to draft a speoial order, and a letter from him m reply will be read to-day, pointing out certain things requiring amendment — The Committees appointed to consider regulation for traotion, engines on road a and to deoide the question of maintenance of Boundary road, Wakanul, and South Rakala Road Boards have met since laßt meeting of the Oouncil and will present their reports at this meeting* —I have written to the Road Boards ii the county reminding them to apply for the subsidies due, and m oases where Road Boards ere not striking rates application will be made for the subsidy to be paid to the Oounol for the rate now being levied by this body —The amount of rates paid to date is £747 17s Od.— The Government has acknowledged the reoeipt of the letter forwarding copy of the resolution re erection of the rabbit fence. At the instance of Mr E: G. Wright, on behalf of persons Interested m prospecting In the Alford Forest district, and who plaoed before me the diffionltlea under which they labor In consequence of the rough bush, eto, whloh oovers the ground they are prospecting, I, m con junction with him, made enquiry from the Minister of Public Wotka as to the probability of obtaining assistance from Government, In accordance with the Information we received, I have made application to the Minister of Mines for a subsidy not exceeding £250 for prosy peotlng tracks, so that the Oounoll may be m a position to oonalder the matter as aooa as possible, should they be of opinion that it is desirable to undertake such work. I have not yet reoeiVed a reply. EKGINBBR& RKPORT. The Engineer reported «a follows :— Ashburton-Rangitata Water Supply : The Bources m the Upper Hinds distriothave been bo low during the month that the races dependent on them have not been fully supplied, while the races m Ealing and Cola* stream districts partially dependent on them had also a short supply for a few days. The latter has now been remedied by the olearing and enlarging a portion of the R race through Grown Lands, which race connects with supply from South Ashburton river. The auxiliary supply from Streamlet near Hinds gorge has done good Bervice bo far as the upper portion of the T race is concerned, but it is inadequate at this season of the year to reach down to the junotion with the St race. Several of the races havd been overhauled recently, and others are m progress but a' good deal more requires to be done before the system as a whole can be reported as satisfactory.—For the supply of settlers m the Waterton distriot, the artificial out at Mr McQuilkin'a is being oleared out at their joint expense. This will improve the supply to some extent, but m order that a permanent supply might be obtained it would be necessary to have a connection formed with Ford's creek. This might be made either along the upper boundary of Mr William Anderson's property, or otherwise a cut might be made from Ford's oreek to Wheeler's oreek through Mr Osborne's property. In the latter oase the severance would be considerable, but there would be muoh better fall that way. A Beriea of levels would have to be taken to determine declivity, depths of exoavations, etc, but I should judge the expense of both routes to be about equal, and the cost m each caße of all necessary works to be about £17 or £18, and a coat of about £8 a year would have to bo incurred m keeping the main olear from Ford's Greek to upper end of Mr Huston's property. Plains Water Supply : This servioa on the whole has been satisfactorily kept up during the month. The Pudding Hill supply has been all taken up by the E races, but it is not getting any lower, and may now bo expected to stand out during the season. The races m Lower Acton district were somewhat intermittent about the middle of the month, but are now running more steadily. A little additional boulder work has been execuccd m oreek at Drayton. Several miles of raoea have been oleared out recently m a satis* ■ f aotory manner, and portions partially oleared preparatory to annual overhaul which takes place next month. The supply m the Wakanui Greek is now getting very low, but the raoea 1 depending on it are as yet all fairly supplied. On account of the continuous lowering of the " water level m the river, the temporary dam at inlet of race at River Road has had to be f made up from time to time, which has kept the d greater part of that race supplied, and m the c present condition of the river the supply :• oannot be inoreased exoept at very con* d Biderable cost. The Ranger reports that be IQ has several times found the raoe broken down i- at flume near Mr Wm. Brown's, k and tho _• water turned out of the raoe.

Hampstead Water Supply: Having oon* farred with the Borough Engineer on this aubjeot, I find the Borough Counoil is likely to undertake soon works for an enlarged service from the Domain towards the point on' Wakanui road on which the Town Board wieheß the supply to be delivered, and I believe the Borough Oounoil would be pre* pared still further to enlarge said servioa to an extent whioh would be equal to the Hampstead requirements provided the Town Board defrays the extra cost. The County Council's contribution might therefore bo made available for this route instead of that originally proposed along North Belt as ift seems that would interfere with the levels of the street lines and cause inoonvonient sever* ance near the lower end of the Borough. Tinwald Town District Water Supply : Tha supply whioh the Town Board wants is for flushing the streets, the main to be brought towards the hotel, and branohes along Graham's road and South road. The water or portion of it oould be returned to County race, but it would be better probably not to do so as it would be eubjeot to pollution to some extent. ' " v '*'■-.

Wakanui Creek Improvement: The work authorised will be commenced early next week. The contractor has reoently been engaged on several minor works neoessary for the keeping-up of the water supply m various parte of the county. water races. In the course of a discussion on the question of water raoes, Mr Wright said there was one matter whloh the Council would do well not to lose sight of. A number of races had been constructed through Grown lands, thus considerably enhanolng their values. The Government had hitherto refused to contribute towards the m«lnteoanoe of these races, whloh entirely devolved on the Ooun'cU. He noticed that the Government were goirig to sell the old railway reserve, from Tlnwald to Rangitata, and he thought the Council should make applioatlon for a portion of the prooeeds, as the lands had been directly benefited by the expends ture of County funds. Mr Holmes thought the suggestion a wise one. He notioed that at a sale of land m North Canterbury, the Minister had agreed tQ'oet aulde a portion of tb,B proceeds for Ehe tiunstruotlbn' o! tafttiv raoes instead of roads.

Mr Grigg said that he entirely agreed with Mr Wright. He wai on the point of moving, when the nubjdot was broached by Mr Wright. The Chairman said that from hla experience of Governments he was rathei dabioua whether past expenditure wan recoverable. The Oonnoll might, how* ever, make application foe a grant on behalf of irrigation or extended water works In faturo.

Mr Grigg wa satisfied the Oouooll oonld make oqt a good case, and bo moved — "That a statement be prepaid showing the extent of water raoos ! Id trhla ooaaty, passing through Grown Lands, and their proportionate post uolaalve of he»<3

works In order that applications be made to the Government for a portion of tbe proceeds of Grown I ancle benefited thereby, trhioh may be sold from time to time." Mr Wright seconded the motion which vu carried. TAMP SUING la reference to the clause m the , Engineer's report, which mentioned tim pering having taken pi ice on one of the races m the Wakanui district, it was re solved that the water should be cat off from thai particular portion of the race to provide against future tampering. It was deoided to take the sapply, for the j lower portion of the district, by. a more direct route, and the Engln or was Instructed to have the work pat m hand at once. HAMPSTEAD WATEE SUPPLY. The clause m the Engineer's report was agreed to. TINWALD WATER SUPPLY. The Tinwald Town Board's application to t»ke a water supply for flushing channels etc. waa agreed, to provided that ■atief»ctory arrangements oonld be made, for disposing of the water without polluting any of the water race*. oal:forviah thistle. Mr Brown aeked if any report as to the exVence of the Oaliforniaa thistle m tbe district had been received Mr Barper read a paragraph m tho water rnnger'a diary which stated that hia (the ranger's) attention had been called to what was Baid to be a patch of Californtan thistles growing on Mr Houston's farm. Mr Houston had cut them down and was going to build a stack o£ Btraw over them; The ranger said that be would bring m a epecimen to the Council's office. After some desultory conversation tbe matter dropped TRACTION ENGINES . The Committee appointed to draw up by-laws for the regulation of traction engine trafficeon the roads of the county submitted a report. The clauses were considered seriatim. Mr B r own moved tbat a clause bo added prohibiting traction engines of a greater weight than eight tons from crossing bridges m the Wakanui district unless the consent of the Road B ard be obtained. Considerable discussion rnsned but tbe motion not being seconded lapsed. The report after being amended somewhat waß adopted and referred to the ■olicitor. BOUNDARY ROAD. The Committee applied to consider (bis matter recommended that the cost of the maintenance of the road between the WakaDui and South Rikaiaßoad Districts should be shared equally by the two bodies. Mr Brown did not think tho division an equitable one The road was used much more by South Bakaia settlers than by those m the Wakanui district. He moved tbat tbe apportionment of ma : ntenance be:— South Bakaia 3-sth, Wakanui 2-sth. Mr Wfight Beronded Mr Brown's amendment which was, however, lost and that Committee's recommendation that tbe coat of maintenance be equally divided was agreed to. DEPUTATION. Messrs Daw son and Protheroe waited on the Council m reference to water supply for Waterton settlers. The Engineer m his report recommend a certain route, while tbe deputation were of opinion that the settlers would be better served by the water being taken from another place, i The Engineer-was instructed to survey and report as to the routes IRRIGATION FARM. Mr Harper, for the Irrigation Committee, reported :— Since list meeting the stubble land hss been skim ploughed. The water has been pat over the clover for the third time, and the result of tbe Irrigation of this crop and the potatoes is most marked, showing a very favorable contrast to the non -irrigated portion. The chaffoutting is about to be commenced, and the return from each portion carefully ascertained. Ai the members of the Committee hetve been so busy this last month, they have just been able to bring up their report as to the proposed work m the future, and Mk now for an extension of time. . p:>ETPONW>. Mr Holmes asked that the notice of motion at&nding In hla name be postponed till next meeting, In order tbat there might be a fall attendance, the matters being of importanceLeft S'tMna.