ASHBURTON COUNTY COUNCIL.
The ordinary monthly meeting of the Athbncton County Ooancil mi held today. Pceient: Messrs W. O. Walker (chairman), 0, J Harper, W. McMillan. Jm Brown, E. 8. Oostar, H. Frledlander, S. Q. Wright and J Jaokaoo. An apology waa received for the absence of Mr Grlgg, who wrote protesting against any Attempt to repeal the motion adopted some time ago to construct a atormwater channel on tbe Tfmarn track. OBAIBMA2TS BTATEMBHT. The Chairman aaid : — The amoont of £72 10a, being half ooat of auxiliary water supply Rakala plalm, bis been received, and tbe Engineer haa oalled for tendeia wblob will be befoce fcha Oooboll to-d»y. The Ooaaoll'o ■olloiioi baa commnnloated with tbe proprietors of Aoton Estate, and a letter from him with agreement aigned on behalf of the owners of the Acton Estate will ba placed before the Council for its consideration— The Railway Oommlutonerß Inform the Ooanoll that any existing traoka, eto, on the Railway Beaetve, from Aehbnrton to Ohevtaey, will not at present be Interfered with.— The Wallace County Oonnoll wrltea to enqalra if thli Ooancll thinks It advisable to hold a conference of delegates ftom County Councils In the Middle Island In Dunedln daring tbe Exhibition time, to consider the qaeatfon of Obarl+j»bl© Aid and other qaeatlons afleotlog jpooal Bodied—Toe map of tbe ooanty
for t*e Ex&tbnion, prepared by tne survey office, has arrived . The Engineer has marked thereon the bridges and heightfi above the sea level, and has handed the map over to tha Saoretary of tbe Aehbattin Exrslbltiou Oommltiea to transmit to Duandlu as applied tor by him. I think it baa Riven entlct? satisfaction to those Councilors who have seen it. — Tbe R'ikai.i Gorg .. bridge having been d»m<*gad by the p.alo of tbe 9:h September the AdßiaUnt H^'laesr has Inspected it and reports "t>t»t it will require about £400 to rep .le tn* d-iiange' done* He aiatee th*t if the Ooouoil will contribute half tbe cost the work wMbaputln hand. The Selwyn Oouniy Oounoll »a this Oouno.i will sea haß agreed to provide half of ihi above stated amount It this Oounoll wili agree to pay th<s other half . —The Wakauul Road Beard has with drawn the claim of £10 10s made by It for work done at plantation as ie was under the impression the usual oourse was that the Council refunded ouch expenditure.—Tha Colonial Secretary bas written aiklnq If the annual meeting of the Council on 27 th inst being postponed to 11th December so as to allow tbe Chairman of the Oounoll to be present at tbe opening of the Dnnedln Exhibition would meat with the approval of the Council. I have replied agreeing to this proposal and asked 11 election of Charitable Aid Board representatives cannot be also altered to the 11th December— A letter from the Hampstead Town Board respecting the proposed water supply will be read. — Notices for payment of witer charges due lit May last have been issued and £145 10j has been placed to tbe Counoii'a credit m this account. Tho amouut of £884 13s 4i and £644 17a 6d have been paid tor water charges tor 1887*88 respectively. ENaiNEBR'e BKPOBT.
The Engineer reported as folio m» ; — Plains Water Supply : In accordance with your instructions I prepared details of the proposed auxiliary water supply scheme from Rakaia River at Acton, and invited tenders for the work m three contracts. These will be placed before you to-day. The works could be proceeded with at once, provided no legal difficulty stands m the way. If the tenders m the aggregate should be less than the estimated amount I would suggest that the balance be retained to defray part of the cost of special maintenance, which, as I previously explained, will be incident to this scheme. The repairs of Chatmoss Creek at Drayton have been completed, and there ii now a full supply m all the races* The races between Ashburton and Chertsey were shut off by rotation for cleaning purposes, a*d were all m fair order, but the severe gale of 25 th ultimo, has to some extent undone the work again m races cleared before that time. The Rakaia races are being cleared with water m them, and the Wakanui fiat races can also be cleared the same way. With regard to the latter the weekly shutting off of creek by 'the mill owners affects them injuriously; depriving them of a supply ioi a day each week, and cuising irregularities at junctions which would otherwise be avoided. Hampstead Water Supply: You will obseive from a communication from the Hampstead Town Board that Mr Welch objects m toto to have the water m the creek raised by artificial means to the injury of his property, but he would not object to the existing pipe service, or a larger one being continued through nis property so as to connect with the proposed race which would pass close to that point* This would be a feasible arrangement if the question of supply at the existing connection with creek can be at ranged. With refeience to Mr Hibbs' application for the use of race for water power at Methven, I have seen him on tbe subject, and also Mr Morgan who owns the property adjoining, and whose letter on the subject I beg to annex. It appears he also contemplates asking the Council's consent to utilize the race for water power, and with that viaw, he is averse (o the level of the existing race being altered opposite his section, as such alteration would involve him m extra cost if he carries out his proposals. Mr Hibbs could probably attain his object within the limits of his own property, and if so I see no objections to his being allowed the use of the water, provided no loss of water occurs. 2io Mr Hanrahans renewed application for deviation of race, about which he and Mr Gough waited on the Council at last meeting— l hare plotted on the map the precise position of service asked for, so that the Council may be able to come to a decision regarding it — As the Council is aware, this is only one of many similar applications which have been held m abeyance during the last twelve months or more, and I presume the Council will consider hese seriatim, when they decided to grant further supplies from I the existing races— and the present is not a favorable season of Che year for making new loop lines — The proposed auxiliary supply from Rakaia River at Acton while calculated to supply existing deficiencies m lower Rakaia district will afford little or no surplus for distribution m any other portion ot the district, but if extended with further connections towards the Chertsey road, some small, additional services might probably be undertaken—l believe the settlers m that district would contribute similarly io those m lower Acton for such extended services.
Ashburton-Rangitata Water Supply: The service m this district is being well maintained and the races are m fair order and will have what cleaning i? necessary executed with the water m them — The games' pi Jast month did very little damage to races as f compara* tjvely small area is under cultiya'.ion— TJie new race for Messrs Ballantyne and others has been satisfactorily completed. Mount Somers Water Supply: The races ame * <n fair order and the supply is sufficient. Bridget s Minor repairs have been executed as was necessary. , r . Plantations ; The cutthT of e orße J nces 'j being proceeded with, an? fence? mftde £ ood where required.
River Deviation at Westerfield : On inspection 1 found the tenant of the mill had opened np a connection between the river and blind gully passing through R.S 15388, thus causing considerable risk to said section, and all the adjacent land m the riverbed there, and more especially as said gully leads m the direction •£ the main current of the riverJ The mouth of cutting had been filled up to some extent, but m a very imperfrct manner, and should be securely made up to fully the original height and made good wi' l i willows, otherwise the first flood will wash it out again. Guaging Streams, Ashburton Rangitata Districts: I have completed the record of these for 2 months ending 31st October last. BKSEBVES. A number of tender* whloh had been received for the lease of unoccupied reserves, were referred to the Reserves Committee! WAKANUI OfiEEK In regard to the repot t ot the Engineer as to the intermittent supply of water In the vVakanal Greek, it was resolved to write to the mill owners taking them to explain why the water was oat off so frequently duilng the last three months. HAUPBTKAD WATFS SUPPLY The Hsmpstead Town Board wrote stating that Mr Welsh was willing that a water supply for the district should be taken through a pipe now under the embankment and along a raoe through his Isnd. The matt9r was left In the hands of the Chairman to arrange. BIVKB DIYBBBION. la referenoe to the raoe taken from the river at the Westorfield Mill it was resolved to Instruct the u.lll proprietor to at once fill up the ousting, WATER CHARGBi, In plaoe of tbe motion of whioh he gave notloe at last meeting Mr Wright moved:— "That a committee be appointed to enquire as to the best means to be adopted to ole»r ofi the indebtedness of the Water Supply system, amounting to £3181 11s 5d on the 20 September last, the committee to consist of the Chairman nnd Messrs Friedlander, Brown, Ooster and the mover, and farther to report what steps are neoßsaaiy to equalise tbe tcoome and expenditure for the future m connection with the County's water supply." He said that In giving notloe of this resolution be felt that the time had arrived when It would be neoeeaary for tbe Oonnoil to put its Recounts In order. They had allowed the collection of the water rate to drift from time to time, and at the present moment the water supply account was Indebted to tha general aooounfc of the Country to the ' extent of £8181 111 6d, Ha would giro
figured showing ths receipts and expoual- , ture on the water supply 6coc»ant : -From Ootobor 1 1886 to March 31 1887, tho receipts were £10 15a, wad the ex?Bf dlture £916 12a 43; for the year ending March 31 1888 the receipts ware £68 3. lid, and the expeaditaro £1361 17* llci, fur tho year ending March 31 1889 the receipts were £858 6a Id, and tho expenditure £1576 4s 9d, while for ihe period from the Ist April to September 30 1889 the receipts aggregated £692 2* Id ana the expenditure £956 2a 6d. From this statement it would be been that the receipts fall f Ac Bhort of the expenditure. In addition he had only quoted the actual expenditure, not taking into account the outstanding liabilities In oouneotlon with the Holmes case whloh would not fall far short of £600. The reseon of this large indebtedness was partly owing to tbe faot that ducing a couple of years they had struck do water rate whatever. The Oounoll'B overdraft at the Bauk, as shown by the bankbook, was £3765, oat of whloh the water supply aooount was responsible for £3181, so that practically?, with the exception of lees than £600, tbe water supply aooount owed the Council the whole of the overdraft. It was not fair to the general body of the ratepayers that buch » system as this should be allowed to continue^ It had beeo said that when the raoei, which are now exempt from charges, came under tbe operation of the water rate the Indebtedness of the syatem would be wiped out. This would not be the case ; the exempted races would not be sufficient for such a purpoie, as the revenue from them would be Inadequate to meet current expenditure. Meantime the Oonncil waa paying Interest for the benefit of those who should be paying a water rate. There was another aspect la connection with this maitir, Duill the accounts bad been put on » proper footing the Audit o -G.^eral would uot itooguiie to eepuraiu Biding accounts, md ll would be iiap'oalblu to adjust tbefr relative liability. The figures quoted were, bo tlnmbt, Buffioiently strlklDg to command the attention of the Oounoll. He was aware that to double the rate would bd very unpopular, aud It would be more satisfactory to the ratepryers and tbe Council if a Committee were appointed to consider tbe best menne of extinguishing this liability. H, therefore, moved m this dlrestlon. and he thought It would be well if tbla Committee were set up that it should Investigate all the obargoa connected with tbe water supply system, Ib^ft sitting.]
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Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2278, 12 November 1889, Page 3
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2,137ASHBURTON COUNTY COUNCIL. Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2278, 12 November 1889, Page 3
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