COUNTY COUNCILS.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1566, 25 February 1879, Page 4

COUNTY COUNCILS.

AKaR, A.

Saturday, Febru rt 23. The Akaroa, ' 'oanty C tv il 'net at 'he Hot"-, Hill Top Barry's Pa s, on Sa : *rd .) tJiA i st, at 11 a.m. Ih* memh„rs pr sent v.-»e MesbM K. C. Latter (Chiirman), E; . E ■< Bradley, F. H. Williams, J Barker, J. V.Lksh, J. Hay, W. Coop, G- S. Fleming, J. chairman's statembnt. Thn Chairman reminded the Council that two important matters would come before them that day which had been 1 ft over from their last ineetmtr, viz., the allocation if the funds now in the hands of the Cuncil, and the questi ; n ot offices, on wHch the report, of i,he sub-committee woald be submi'tel -inc < t'-eir previous imeting a sum of £*>2oloh 3d had lieen receive) from the Government as their sh th of the County land Fund. As the and was iow nearly exhiasted, the County Council could not look for much more from that source, and the sum now in hand, something ove. - £'ooo, would be about the total available sum for distribution amongst the Eoad Districts. A return of the mileage of the main roads in each of the Road Districts, and the amount of the new valuation rolls of each district would be laid before them, as some data on whch they would be abe to apportion to each Board its share. The amonnt of the valuation roll* had 1 et to be fixed by the Assessment Courts Mr Potts had informed hin that an engineer was now going over the road over Mansoa's Hill again, and that his report on the Buboes would b* forwarded to the i 'ouncil, but up to the present that document bad not been received. The balance at the credit of the County Fund in the Bank that day was .£7607 18s 6d. and at the special grant account, £2556. Out of this last sum the Council woidd be asked to pass votes on the Certificate of the Chairman of the Akaroaand Wainui Road Board for the Long Bay and Mount Bossu roads. Letters had been receded from Mr Ware, a resident in Okain s Bay, complaining of the pollution of the creek in that bay by sawdust, and also from the natives in Little River also complaining of the pollution of the streaus there by the same cause. This last letter was in the native language, and unle-s some gentleman present would undertake to interpret it, they had better wait until the Rev. Mr .-tack gave them a translation, which he had promised to do He did not see that tbe Council had under the Act any power in the matter, but it might be referred to Messrs Hannaer and Harper, the Council's solicitors. That was all the business that he knew of to come before the Council, and he would suggest that the smaller matters be counidered first.

manson's road, port victoria. Rev. K. R Bradley moved—" That the conBideration of th« qtiostion of the road over Manson's rfill be deferred until the report of the engineer, understood to be at present engaged onthework.be received." Mr J, Gebbie, in seconding the motion, said he knew the work was web in hand and all but finished. The motion was carried. POLLUTION OF STREAMS. On the two letters on this subject being read, the one in Maori and the other from Mr John Ware, Okain's Bay, it was agreed to allow the matter to stand over until the attendance of the Rev. Mr Stack, who was expected during the sitting of the Council Mr Coop was sure the whole was a personal matter, and unw rthy of the attention of the Conncil. By taking action in the matter local industries would be afft-eted. Streams had to be polluted by manufactories in the old country, and as population increased would have to be in this. „ •■».•., Mr Gebbie was in favor of referring the matte- to the Road Boards, who hud ample powers under the * oad Ordinance of 1872. Mr Williams did not agree in throwing the matter ba«-k on the Road Boards. It was a legal question, and it would he wise nob to move until they had the opinion of counsel on the matter. Another reason for not sending it back to the Boad Board was that they were more likely to be influenced by local feeling. It was a matter for the counsel. The Chairman read the ckuses of the Public Works Act bearing on the question, and was of opinion that the matter was for a solicitor. The matter was allowed to drop until the contents of the Maori letter on the subject were known. PIGEON BAT WHARF. Mr Hay reported that as yet no scale »f wharf dues had been fixed for this wharf, and asked that the matter be allowed to stand over the meantime. ENGINEER'S ACCOUNT. The Chairman said the Council would remember that at last meeting of the Council an account had been received from Mr H. Fenton, engineer, Akaroa, for and repeggins eleven miles of the I ake Forsyth road, amount ing to £l7 18s, and that he had asked Mr Fenton to be present to explain the account to the Council, as he was rather of opinion that the whole amount was covered by Mr Fenton's previous account, and that he understood the expression in Mr Fenton's letter to mean that the pegs could he put in at any time if the Council so wished, and had requested him to do so. He would read a copy of a letter addressed by the clerk to the Little River Road Board, in reference to this subject, stating that the line had not been repegged, and that many of the nimbers of the pegs were obliterated. Mr Will ams moved, "That Mr Fenton be asked to attend and explain his aceount." The motion was seconded by Mr Hay and agreed to . Mr Fenton attended, and explained that the work in the first account mainly referred to the line of road as far as Wainui Pass, and that the account now in question referred to the line of petrß from that Pass to the end of the Lake Forsyth. The work had been carefully d»ne, and ha could prodnce his chainman and others to give evidence of the fact. If any pegs were not to be found he wou'd replace them. The Chairman again explained that he understood from Mr Fenton's letter, that what was now charged for was part of t&e works covered by the Council's resolution of 29th October last, when he w*s authorised to employ an engineer to lay off the Mount Bossu and Lake Forsyth road, and gtt specifications for the same. Mr Barker was sure Mr Fenton would not charge for any work he had not done, and was in f wour of paying the account at once. Mr Williams was sure the whole matter was a surprise to the Council, and they ought to Bupport the chairman in hi < view of the question. Another part of the que-tion was that no dateß were given in the bill. As a matter of business tho-e should be supplied. Mr Baiker moved—" I hat the consideration of Mr Fenton's aceonnt be deferred until next meeting to enable Mr Fenton to give dates, &c " The motion was seconded by Mr Gebbie and agreed to. COUNCIL OFFICES. The sub committee, consisting of Messrs Hay, Dalglish and Williams, appointed to consider the question of site for offices, reported through their chairman, Mr Hay, arfollows : We have carefully examined the site offered by Mr H. Piper for Council offices. He offers the Council one half acre at £SO, with a frontage of 70 •dd feet on the Main Beach road, and running back so as to contain the complement, and he also offers us a quarter-acre section of the same frontage, that is 70ft frontage to the Beach road, for the sum of £25, and we, as members of committee, have made enquiry as to the Yalne of adjoining lands, and we find that we cannot lease or buy in the same locality to the same advantage, and we should strongly recommend the Council to buy the qnarter-acre section, as it has a frontage on the main line of road, and adjoins the Post-office and Telegraph station, lately purchased from the Government, and is within a few chains of the Eoad Board office, and should the lino of railway pass through the Head of the Bay it must pass within a very short distance of the site chosen, and will considerably add to the value of the site should the Council deem it necessary at anytime to B«Uit. , ~ ov • (Signed) James Hat, Chairman. It w s remarked that the site recommended was not the corner site, that Mr Piper wished to reserve. Mr Sbadbolt asked a large sum for the opposite corner, and M J Barwi'k. in Duvauchelle's B ly, waited ,£BO for les» than a quarteracr \ All the offers were exclusive of survey and legal charges. Mr Barker moved that the report of the subcommittee be adopted, and that this Couicil accept Mr H. Piper's offer of a quarter-acre section for offices at .£25. The motion was unanimously agreed to. SPECIAL GRANTS

On the motion of the Bev. R. R. Bradley, seconded by Mr J. Gebbie, the application of the Akaroa and Wainui Rnad Board for .£B6O out of special grant for the Wainni road extension and for £350 for i.ong Bay track were passed for payu ent. NEW OFFICES.

The Chairman suggested that the committee who had just reported upon the ?ite for offices had better be continued, to consider the question of suitable buildings. Mr Williams, a member of the sub-committee, would like to hear the question of accommodation discussed After some discussion, it was agrend that the requirements of the Council would be met by a building of abou". 40ft. x 20ft., containing Board room, chairman's roum, clerk's room, and map room, to be u«ed as engineer's office if required. Mr Gebbie moved—" That Messrs Hay, Dalglish, and Williams bo appointed a sub-

commit eto i-lr- .in from an architect apiin of an oih e for the Council, co sisting of four root, B and»l»oof a stable of six stalls-, and i they approved of the pan, to call tor te idera before the meeting of the Council for erecting name " <h« motion was seconded by Eev E. E. Br idley. and earned. IVlr Hay proposed, an! Mr Barker seconded—- " That the chairman be authori-ed to t ke the necessary steps for comnleting the ptircla»e of the land for the Council's offices " Carried. ALLOCATION OF FUNDS. The Chairman submitted the following tabular statement of the mileage and va nation rolls of the fix road districts in the couuty, compiled from the replies received from the clerks of tne various Boards. '1 he only return wanting was the amount of the valuation ro 1 of Pigeon Bay district, which it was agreed should be put down at ,£SOOO : I Mileage Amonnt of Ainonnt Road District. !o( Main NewValun- of ! Roads, tion Roll. Rates. Little River ... I| 431 16,622 10 0355 17 9 Port Victoria ! 17 3,385 12 076 9 6 Akaroa and Wainm.. J 61$ 15,08:5 9 4100 :? 5 Okain's ! 37 5,710 0 0211 2 6 Pigeon Bay i 27 5,000 0 0 Port Levy 1 43 4,055 5 0'124 0 0

Mr Barker did not think it fair to take rates into consideration. For instance, his Board rated themselves to the full legal extent and the Little River Board were satisfied with a sixpenny rate, and yet came to the Council at last meeting and wanted one-ninth cf the whole funds The Chairman said that the better plan would be to allocate only on the basis of the valuation rolls, and the length if main roads in each district. This was the point aimed at by the Counties Act. 'lhe total rolls were about £SO 000, and a sum of 2s per £ would be a fair division. On the valuation roll this would f ake about £SOOO, and leave £2OOO in the hands of the Council—a sum they would require for carrying on their current expenditure. Mr Gebbie moved—" That the main line of road from Akaroa to Tai Tapu be placed in the hands of the I ittle Eiver and Akaroa and Wainui Road Boards, and that the sum of £IOOO be placed to their credit for the purpose of maintaining this road before any sums are allocated by the Council." The motion was seconded by Mr Coup. On the motion being put the only members who voted for it were the mover and seconder, The motion was declared lost, Mr Williams moved—" That this Council allocate a sum of 2s per £ to each road district, on the ba»is of the valuation rolls of 1879, the amonnt so allocated to be spent on the main roads considered most nece-sary by the Boards." The motion was seconded by Mr Barker, and was put and carried, Mr Coop dissenting.

MAORI LETTER. Mr Hay was afraid the matter of pollution of streams had bten overlook' d. He would move " That the Maori letter be sent to the Rev. Mr Stack for his in'erpretation ; and also, that the whole matter of the pollution of water-courses be gone into at next meeting of the Council." Seconded by Mr Barker, and agreed to. RESIGNATION OF CHAIRMAN. Mr La'ter informed the Council that at the close of next meeting he w uld place his resignation in the hands of the Council, as, from the heavy nature of the duties of his department, he could not give that attention to the office it required, but that he would always be willing to assist the Council in every way in his power. ADJOURNMENT. Mr Gebbie moved—" That the Council do now adjonrn till Saturday, 29th March, at same place and hour "

Seconded by Mr Barker, and agreed to.