HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 9 April 1910, Page 3

HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Till! monthly mooting of the tloro-wlu-nun County Council was hold 'his morning, at. the Council Chambers, Levin. Cr. Watson presided and tlio following members were present:-- Crs. Prouse, AleLeavey, Wintlley, Venn, Freeman, Stephenson, Richards, and Mr Lodge (dork). AIK TOMPSFTT. Air Thompson wrote asking leave of absence, and this was formally granted. MR CAMPIiKLT/S COMPLAINT. Mr S. Oiinipliell wrote asking tho Council to take legal proceedings at once so that he could have the road to his section made legal as '•they will not let me through unless f knock the gate or rails down." A letter dated April Gth from Mr Campbell asked the Council to .all they could to help him. (Jr. Venn asked what could he done in the matter. According to legal advice, tliev had no locus standi in the question. Cr. Prouse remarked that both parties said they were prepared to stand by the law, but unfortunately they took different views as to what the law was. Cr. MeLeavey pointed out that Mr Campbell had been paying rates for over 30 years, and asked -whether they were going to do nothing for him. Fie suggested that the Council should make him a road or refund him his rates. Cr. Venn thought that Mr Campbell should be informed that the i.surfaceman was at his service. Cr. Stephenson questioned the propriety of allowing one of tho Council's men to take action in the matter, but thought Mr Campbell should be instructed to break the gate down. The County Engineer suggested that the Council should take the road over under the Public AVorks Act. He thought it would have been better if Mis Webb had allowed things to stand a.s they formerly were. Cr. Prouse moved, .and Cr. AleLeavey seconded, a resolution to the eifeet that the occupiers aind owners of section A, I?, C, Otakhiwlii. Aft. Robinson S.D., be. notified that it is the intention of the Council to take the necessary steps to acquire the land necessary for the construction of a road through th aforesaid bunds to the boundary of Mr Campbell's land, and to make all such other provision as may be necessary. A DRAIN APPLICATION*. A letter was received from Mr A. Robinson, Tokoniaru. asking for permission to make a drain along that portion of Nikau street adjoining his property, and also to iiiy down a drain along Manuka street boiindn ry. The matter was left in the hands of the councillors for the riding. A TITLE WANTKD. Messrs Chapman. Skerrett. Wylie and Tripe, of Wellington, wrote to the effect that they had to inform the Council that the Natives had not yet produced a certain title to the Land Transfer Office. They would be glad if the Council would communicate with or see the Natives, and explain to them that unless they produced the title, the firm would issue a summons .against them, n.rnl thev would be fined to a day tor every day that the title was not produced. It was reported that the matter had been attended to. AN IM POrNDrXG Q TEST I ON. Mr Horo Karauti wrote (April 1) from Ohau. stating that when he remove.l his calves iront the Levin Pound on a previous Sunday, hehanded to the pound-keeper a protest. .against the county ranger as follows: Ist. driving them to the Levi.ii Pound instead ol to theAlaiiakaii Pound; 2nd. taking them off the Knku Ivist road, which is a private road : .'lrd. the calves were onlv sucklings. No action was taken in the matter. I> IS CH AL 0 KI) P RISO NER S. A letter was received from the .secretary of the Discharge!! Prisoners' Aid Society. thanking the Council for their kind and practical response to the society s appeal for funds. The letter was noted. ■' OLD KKIiRY LOAD. .SHANNON. The clerk to the Alanawatu County Council wrote asking what proportion this Council considered should be contributed by them to ' the proposed work in Old Kerry road. Shannon. KAI UK I KLD PO AD IMPROVEMENTS. Messrs Parker and Vincent, secretaries of the Kairfield Estate Syndicate, transmitted a commirjnoation reminding the Council of < the question, of the metalling of Kairlield road.. The deputation which had recently waited on the Council was* given to understand that the •necessiiry amount to carry out the work would be placed on TTiis year's Estimates. It was decided to carry out the work on the rates for the currant year. ; WAT KAN AE LOAD. Mr G. 'fully attended before tlie Council, and complained of the , -late of the Waikanae road. The chairman said that the road u'-as undoubtedly in a bad state. It wanted metalling, and it was the intention of the Council to have it metalled. Air Tully remarked that lie waafraid if something was not done it would be a case of spending a lot of money. The chairman assured Air Tully : tint the road should be attended to at nice. The County Engineer nilorirmd the Council that about three rnilef ' of the road required improvement. It was decided to leave the mat- ' ter in the hands of the chairman and the County Engineer. T'lfK TAR.ARUA TRACK. The Assistant Under-Secretary til the Public AVorks Department, Wellington, wrote with reference tj I the Council's letter of January 2-" olf.-ring to entrust to the Horo u'henua County Council the expenditure of the grant of £o0 for tin Tararua track, and stating tha lie w.as how able to say that repre sentation had been made to tin Minister of Public AVorks regardinj r. the urgency of the work, and tha I. he (the Afiuister) considered it de virahle that the work should In v undertaken under the supervisioi of one of that department's offi cers. Tf the Council saw no oh jection to this course being follow v . od, he requested them to bo gooi Miough to regard the offer of en trusting the expenditure to th Council as cancelled. Anthorit , would then 1)9 issued to the di- c trict engineer to carry out th work. The letter vns received. Cr. Str.phen.son moved that AI Lambert's request to erect gates o subject to the approval of. and m ; in</ the pleasure, of tho Council. Cr. Venn seconded the motioi ,d which was agreed to. lo ACQUIRING NATIVE LANDS. |. e Cr. MeLeavey moved that tl: | c _ matter of acquiring the land froi n . the Native owner in connection wit I the Kara road, ho left in tl - hands of Crs. Venn and Stepliei son. Cr. Prouse seeoinded the motioi e. which was adopted,

STATU GUARANTEED ADVANCES. I Tin* Clerk reported receipt of a telegram I'mm Mr •). W. l'oynton (Superintendent of the State Guaranteed Advances Ofliee) stating that tlu? towns application for .C7OO and £800 had been provisionally ■approved of. A telegram was received Imm the Superintendent of the Shite Guarantee:! Advances Ollice to the effect that there would he 110 objection to the Council reducing the amount of the loan to .suit the rate struck under the altered terms, provided that ten per cent margin was allowed for as required, by clause C, section (it), of the Guaranteed Advances Act. The letters were received. OTAKI GOUGE. Messrs Eraser Bros. wrote: "With reference to spending the i'.'iO on our traclc, we would like to suggest to you to have the money spent in the Worst and most dangerous places. We will offer to do the work at !>s per diem." The letter was received. CHARITABLE AID BOARD. The acting-secretary ol the Wellington Hospital ■Jiinl Charitable Aid Hoard wrote conveying a copy of a resolution passed at the first meeting of the newly-elected Board and asking whether the members would lie willing to continue the previous arrangement regarding the disbursing of charitable aid by local bodies until such time as this Hoard is aide to make definite 'arrangements lor the future disbursing of such act. The resolution was to the _ effectthat, pending the consideration ol the report of the policy committee, the late trustees of the Wellington Hospital and Wellington Benevolent. Trustees be asked to manage those institutions as heretofore ; that local bodies be asked to temporarily disburse charitable aid as heretofore. WAIKANAE BEACH ROAD. The County Engineer wrote submitting his estimate for forming and metalling .'i"> chains of the Waikanae Beach road. This amounted to £131 ss. ENGINEER'S REPORT. The Engineer (.Mr J. Malcolm) reported as follows:— Te Horn Riding.—ln this riding the whole of the roads are in lair order. The new road along 'he mile drain near I'aetawa is finished, and is a very good job: it will bo a very useful road to several se f tiers in the locality. The surfacemen are only now finishing the clean.>ig of the ffautero water-races: the holidays, of course, have delay-;:! them a bit, but- the amount that has been spent on them p-i.tiilly will prove to you that the - oner a maintenance rate is struck il.e better it will bo for the other pa its of the riding. Otaki Riding.--Tn this ridiag •■•11 the roads are fair. I have ;>ot the portion from the mill \o W;.ven<ra roads well metalled, and 1 stiill think that something should be done to get a chain road through this portion of the Otaki township as xocn as possible: every year the land is getting more valuable. I am getting the main road mar Manakaii widened, as recoiiinc'ided in my last report. Wirokino Riding. The widening of the Muhmioia East road is now completed, and is much appreciated by the people that are using it daily. I have also re-graded and widened a portion of Giles' road, at Ohau: the part was clangorous, but it wilt now be quite safe. I have formed and am now metalling a few chains of the Tararua road, to give Mr Bartholomew an outlet for his timber: the Railway Department are doing away with his tramway crossing. This expenditure can be charged against the loan when it is got. The metalling of the Wirokino end of the Foxton road is now completed. I find the fencing on the approaches of the Wirokino bridge completely rotten. f propose to get it replaced with a substantial wire fence as soon as possible. The " Straker" continues metalling in the TCoputaroa district: there is plenty of room for it for some time to come. T have made an estimate, as instructed, for widening the Foxton road near the Levin borough boundary. I find there are ten chains that require it. and it will take about 1100 yards of filling to make a job of it. This 1 think will be done very cheaply at the present time, as our principal contractors are short of work, and the material is very handy, being in the middle of the work. My estimate is CHo. F would suggest calling tenders at once for the work, and they can be dealt with, b.v a committee of the councillors for the riding. Tokoinaru Riding. - In this riding little has been done during the month, but the ordinary maintenance. Ryrie has started the contract for metalling a portion of the Heights road, and will probably finish in.a (lav or two. He will then go oil to Tokomaru at once, and form Wilton's road, also metal the footpath from the store to the railway station, and do any maintenance tliat is required in the district before refunding. Tn re the hail for the Tokomaru streets, 1 will have the plan of the special district ready oit Monday, and after 'letting the valuation and the provisional approval of the Tmisurv, the ratepavers' consent will be obtained. 1 will try and hurry up this matter as much as T can. A WATER RACE MATTER. In re a water supply for the Arapaepae estate, recently subdivided by Mr J. R. McDonald, I have the honour to report as follows: — On the 4th inst., I, in company with Cr. Richards, went over the ground and decided on a scheme of racef which we think will serve all concerned. I have marked thu race? with blue ink on a litlio. plan wliicl 1 attach, and my estimate of cost is as follows :— Races, 150 chains at 85... -CfiO Culverts', sat £4... ... £20 Gauge weirs, 2 at £•> ... £10 Contingencies- £10 ; Total ... £100 If the Council decide to e-nlargi the present water race district ' which 1 think they should do, ' would suggest that the _ followim ' sections of this sub-division shoult ■ be added to it, viz., 1 to 14 am ! 18 to 28; also Mr R. Butt's tarn 1 on the western side of the Arapae ■ pao road, as all his frentage will b ■ served by the proposed scheme. The report was adopted. 1 The Council was still sitting whei ' " The Chronicle's" first edition wen J to press.