COOK COUNTY COUNCIL.

Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 92, 27 April 1901, Page 3

COOK COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING. The ordinary meeting of the Cook County Council was held yesterday, when the following members were present: Messrs Maefarlane (Chairman), Graham, Tombleson, Hutchinson, King, Jex-Blake, and Cooper. "CORRESPONDENCE. Mr George "White, Ruangarehu, wrote drawing attention to the main outlet drain running through the Ruangarehu bush (known as Seott’s bush). It was very much overgrown with watercress and swamp-weeds, . consequently, in wet weather, the water was thereby blocked, and backed up to such an extent that it overflowed into his paddock.—Cr King said that the drain really did want cleaning out. It was only a small work.—On his motion, it was decided that the work should be done.

JIARAETAHA ROAD. Mr E. W. Coop, of Tarewa, wrote stating that, being unable to get tenders for the formation of part of the Maraetaha road, the Wairoa County Council had agreed to hand back to the "Commissioner for expenditure under the co-operative system all thirds accruing for the said road. The work would be begun at once, and he would bo obliged if the Council would hand to the Commissioner of Crown Lan.ds instead of to the Wairoa County Council all moneys that were in hand from grazing run 40, which ho expected would be about £3‘2. —The Clerk said that there was only the sum of HI 17s in hand, and he did not know of any more coming to hand. The applicant certainly did not understand his true position when he asked for so large a sum.

WAIAPU INLAND ROAD. Mr E. R. Murphy, of Waiau station, wrote stating that it would bo as well to send the Engineer up to the Inland Waiapu road between Lowden Hill road and Innes’ property, as ho would bo felling bush up to the back boundary this winter, and fencing as soon as it was burnt. The present track crossed- the boundary in three or four places. If there were any deviations, it would be as well to lay them off at once.—Mr Spencer had written about the same matter at the last meeting. —The Clerk said that Mr Spencer had done i£lo worth of work.—The Chairman said that it would bo as well for the Engineer, when up that way, to see the road. The road could, he thought, be carried on one side of the fence. The road had been surveyed. PAKARAE ROAD. The Department of Lauds and Survey wrote re the Pakarae road, a payment voucher for L'4o under agreement 2686 having come to hand. The agreement was not complete until it was signed by the Minister for Lands, whereupon payment would be made. PUKEPAPA ROAD. The Secretary of the Ngatapa Boad Board wrote with regard to Pukepapa : :oad, stating that the Board had agreed i dint £l2 be given as a contribution to- 1 yards metalling the road on the under- 1 itanding that a similar sum was subscribed by the neighboring settlers," and hat the County Council find the balance equired and carry out tho works. Or Graham said that all the Council ranted was to get the money from the load Board, also as well as tho contribuion of .£l2 from Mr Hood, and tho work rould be proceeded with. This was agreed to. CYCLING TRACKS. *

The Secretary of the Auckland Cycling Eoad League wrote asking if the Council would have any objection in the event of the Cycle Boards Bill becoming law during the ensuing session to co-operate with any Board set up under the Act in laying “ down tracks through the district. “ The Chairman said that a copy of the Si Bill had not been forwarded. He agreed with the principle, but until the Bill was bofore the Council they could not give a decision. It was decided to reply to this offect. TOE ROYAL VISIT. In connection with the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York p to Auckland, the Chairman of the Becep- J tion Committee, Mr N. A. Nathan, wrote asking for a contribution from the Cook County Council towards the expenses. The writer pointed out that the demands made upon the citizens of Auckland had been so continuous during the past year that it was considered hardly fair to expect them to provide the whole of the funds on the occasion. The Chairman : I think the reply to _ this is that, although we are in tho Auckland Province, we are geographically cut off from that place. Ido not think that , wo are called upon to .contribute anything r towards the cost of entertaining the Boyal visitors in Auckland. Cr Hutchinson: Certainly not as a , body.. By way of individual subscription, ... we might do something. nt Cr Tombleson : We arc not likely to ye take auy part in the proceedings. Our representative, Mr Carroll, will be there. p ( Tho Chairman : He gets his expenses paid by the Crown. Cr Graham : I propose that the communication be received. The same circular has been received by the Boad Boards throughout the district. A ROAD CONTRACT. Mr A. Trafford, of Wharerata, informed T the Council that Mr Bartlett had been up ’ to repair a fence on his property, but “ would not do it to his satisfaction. The fence referred to was alleged to have been 3:1 damaged on account of road work done by Mr Bartlett,—The Council decided to take no action in the matter. engineer’s report. -g Tho following report was received from _| the Engineer: — ( - )i Contract 2, formation and metalling 1 Tolago-Hick’s B.ay road: On my last inspection the contractor was quarrying g 0 out the stone and having some broken and stacked.

Contract 3, formation, metalling, etc., Arikihi road : Fair progress is being made with this contract. Portion near the Stallion bridge has been formed and metalled, and near Knox’s whare the formation is under way. The metal obtained is of very poor quality, but the best that can bo got. Contract 4, clearing drains, etc., Tolago Plat : This contract is under way, and hands are being employed opening up the drains, etc.

Contract 5, lifting and breaking metal, Tolago Hill: Good progress has been made, and tho work will be finished in the course of a few days. All the large boulders on the road have been utilised, and 200 yards of beach stone broken.

While on this subject I may mention that a report furnished to you to the effect that not three inches of metal was being put on the road and covered up by the contractor is totally without foundation, as the general depth of metal throughout has been from six to eight inches, and as good a job made as the material would •allow'. Contract 7, collecting beach shingle, Putae : I understand this work is in hand, as there w r as a considerable quantity of shingle washed up. Contract S, formation and metalling, Wainui road : The formation of this length has been completed, and most of the metal stacked; will probably be completed in ten days. Contract 9, formation Takapau: lieported as finished. ■ Contract 10, metalling Wairoa-Gis-borne road : Some IS chains of the first portion of this contract has been completed. Contract 11, filling depots: This work has been pushed on during the month, and most of the depots have the specified amounts stacked.

Contract 12, metalling Inland Waiapu road: Very slow progress has been made, there being an insufficiency of drays employed. Contract 13, metal with river gravel near Waerenga-a-bika: This will be finished in a couple of days. The metal is very poor, and, being unscreened, the major portion is sand. Tenders have been called to close today for formation of Gisborne-Maliia Road and clearing road drains and outlets Wliataupoko-Ormond Road. I would respectfully point out to the Council that the present system of maintenance on certain roads is far from economical. The roads from the borough boundary to Patutahi and from Makaraka towards Ormond have been originally pitched for a foundation, and the top surface of broken stone allowed to wear completely away. Now, an expenditure of something like 9160 to £'loo per month is used in carting broken stone on to practically a boulder foundation ; laying a thin coating of stone where the road shows signs of breaking through. I need hardly point out to the Council that the rrsult is that 70 per cent, of the metal (which costs from 6s to 7s 6d per yard) is ground almost at once to powder, and resolves itself into mud or dust, and is finally blown away. The only alternatives*will be to either lift and break the pitching, or to put on a sufficiently deep coating of notv metal to allow’ it to lock together and form a smooth road. At present it is also impossible to score or roughen the road to allow' a thin coat to set at all. I am aware that the Council is not in a position at present to undertake expensive works —but bring the matter forward as a further and most urgent plea for support of the loan proposals. The matter of the Tapuae point on the coast road is one which interests a largo number of the travelling public, and being on a main road should receive some consideration from the Government, either by subsidy or otherwise. I may say that during the short time I have been in charge (and that during summer months) a constant procession of roadmen has taken place between Pakarae and Tapuae for the purpose of attempting to keep this point open for wheel traffic. Vehicles run the greatest possible risk in travelling on this road, and serious accidents arc averted only by the merest chance. I would ask the Council to grant me permission to take the necessary soundings and surveys with a view of submitting a scheme for improving the line of traffic, and that the Council approach the Government with a view' to a subsidy. I beg to bring before the notice of the Council that the Kaiti Road Board has dug a huge drain 6ft deep and 6ft wide along the mam road from the corner of DeLautour road for a distance’of about three chains. This locality is practically a suburb of Gisborne, with a very large amount of traffic centinually passing day and night, and no drain of such dimensions should be allowed on any main road; moreover the spare earth lias been throw'll back in such a manner as to block tho surface water draining off the road, and lastly the work done has completely prevented any possibility of carrying on the footpath which stops abruptly at this point. The Board should at once be required to put in pipes along the County Council portion and fill in the drain, providing a water table. I may say that a narrow drain formerly existed at this point, which I had intended to fill in, and grade the water in the opposite direction. So far as I know no permission was obtained to execute work on the County road. With reference to the clearing of the Patutahi drain, I have been along the entire length. The whole drain is more or less blocked with raupo, cress, and other weeds. The first half mile was fairly clear of water, but the balance had at the time of my visit 9 to 12 inches of water, which would render it difficult to properly clear and deepen considering the height of the banks. I should recommend all vegetation being removed and the matter of properly clearing out left till the summer time.—D. G. Fraser, County Engineer. With regard to the metalling of the Gisborne-Wairoa Road, Cr Jex-Blake said that efforts were being made to have tho greater portion of the Government rate of 91300 spent at the Mahia end. He urged that advantage should bo taken of the offer of the Arai Road Board, who offered £IOO towards the work of metalling at this end it the Council spent a like sum. Tho Engineer said that the work at the Mahia end would cost 91275.

Cr Jex-Blake proposed “ That the sum of £l7O be spent at the Mahia end, and the balance be spent at Murcwai.”—This was seconded by Cr. King and carried. The majority of the members present approved of the suggestion of the Engineer with regard to the system of maintenance of roads, but as they had not the money to undertake the work the question was not considered at any length. It was decided to call for tenders for cleaning the Patutahi drains.

ORMOND ROAD DRAINS. The Chairman said that Messrs Barker, Grey and Shelton were irate about the Council not cleaning the drains on the Gisborne-Ormond Eoad. He had asked the Engineer to go and see them on the ground, so that they could call for tenders at that day’s meeting. The question for the Council to consider was whether they would open them at that meeting. The gentlemen mentioned had in the past assisted the Council by doing portions of these drains themselves.

Cr Cooper thought that a good many miles of drains could be done away with, as they were not required. There were miles and miles of drains which only required a plough and scoop. Considerable discussion of a desultory nature took place, and after some time had been spent in inspecting the plans of the locality, the Chairman suggested that Councillors should take a drive out and inspect the drains. This was agreed to, and shortly before three o’clock the Councillors left town in one of Mr Desßarres’ brakes.

"When the meeting resumed Cr Tombleson said that it was his riding, and he did not think the Council were responsible for the outlet drains with one exception, that being the drain which took the w’ater off from the Waihirere. He moved that tenders for that work be opened. This ivas seconded by Cr King. The tender of James Henley for cleaning the side drains w r as accepted, the price being one shilling per chain. One other tender was received from D. Courtney, the price being Is 4d per chain. SIURKWAI-MAHIA ROAD. Six applications were received for the formation of the above road. These were from Burns and Co., Bartlett, Wheeler, Rich, Dougherty, and Crowley. A ballot ■was taken, and P. Dougherty and party were successful. Only one section was let. " =a ” A TINIBOTO ROAD. Mr J. L. Spence, of Tiniroto, wrote stating that the Government was extending his road as far as the money voted would allow in making a dray road. There was £ll odd in hand, being his fourth?, and there was £1 odd now due. He asked that this money should be spent in continuing the road. The Council decided to accede to the request.

OVERDRAFT. The overdraft on March 31st was £6305 13s Bd. The sum of £193 os 2d had been collected since that date. Accounts amounting to £1204 4s required to be passed for payment that day,