The Engineer's Report

Horowhenua Chronicle, 13 March 1915, Page 2

The Engineer's Report

- 'J "hi. , !.)llowing report was submitted to t;.u Horowhenua County Council today at its meeting by the Engineer, Mr ,1. .Malcolm.

Te Horo Riding

In the southern cud of this riding all the" roads are in fair order. The drain , - in the Paotawa district arc all cleaned out; it may be necessary to run over them again at the end of the season as they have been done before the growth was finished. 1 inspected the Otaki Gorge road the other day and with the exception oi Vella's Flat. whore it does want metal very badly, it is not in had order. The .surfaceman i.s cleaning out the water-tables: he commenced at the top end and jnow nearly down to the forks: .uid where the tables have been cleaned jut and the formation trimmed it is not bad at all. Of course it must bo borne in mind that there is n<) part of this road fenced and the sheep in many places fill up the water table almost as soon as it is opened. There i.s about 17 chains of Vella's Flat that will have to get some m<ital. T- only propose to put on a very light coat, about five yards to the chain, as there is no heavy traffic. f suggest that it bo loft to the member lor the riding and myself to get it done. Otaki Riding The roads to the beach on the north side of the township have been put in order. The roads throughout the riding are in fair order now ; of course. there are many places where metal is much needed if wet weather sets n. The tenders for the bridge on the Waikawa Beach road are now due; 1 attach a.n estimate. I propose- to get levels taken and plans prepared for the expenditure of tho loan and grant money on the Beach road; lh<* only thing is I don't want lo go to too much trouble until 1 see if the settlors want the road Wirokino Riding. Tho roads in this riding have benefited by the rain; they were breaking up badly before it came. The formation of Potts road is now done and another Jong-promised work is also done, and that is the formation of the Wanga-road—the- road running by Mr J. R. McDonald's house. ft is wellformed, but will be useless for traflic until metalM. Tt will cost about

£70 to do the work. I beg to recommend that it be included in next year's estimates and done as soon as possible. The men with the grader _are now forming the Ohau East road", and it will probably take a week. When finished I propose to send the grader to To Horo to do what is required there. The metalling of the Koputaroa to Koxtwi load is proceeding satisfactorily, and it will be finished in seven days it' the. weather is good. The widening" of the Fox ton road near the Wirokiuo bridge had better be done with our own men. It looks a big job but it is not; about a week will wee it* out. 1 propose crushing the metal to repair the main county road from tho borough boundary at this end to tho riding boundary at the other end. The other metal I have called tenders for and they are due to-day. 1 have not yet got a satisfactory tender for installing the Beach road. I liwiigM it needless to call fre.sh tenders for thi-s meeting as there was so much «i:>i»r niptal to tender for. -. sec by Gazettenotice that the roads in the Heatherlea subdivision have heen handed over to us, and T wish to point out that "Sorrensou's" road has not been metalled. T may say some, of the settlers have been writing to Mr Field, M.P., on tho matter, and T have fully axplained the position to him. He has just advised mo that lic x has written strongly to the Minister of Public Works about it. A small platform bridge on the Gladstone-road gave indication of collapsing. 1 had it replaced with a hardwood one. .. y Tokomarn Riding. The metalling of the new road in the Makerua swamp is 'dragging along slowly ; another month, with fair weather, should see it through. There is only about 50 chains on the near ond to do to finish it. 1 have got the drains cleaner and the bridges raised, therefore there is nothing but the ineatlling to do. I shall get the bridges on the Shannon to Buckley load rc-decketl and fixed up in a few days: they are in a very bad way now. There is a rotten bridge on the Kingston road which I propose to replace with 3ft 6in pipes as soon as the men ean get at it. 1 have ordered the pipes. I shall try to arrange a specification and get tenders for /aising and putting in abutments to the bridge on main road opposite Mr Southee's place for the next meeting. It will not hold out much longer. Everything at the north end is in fair order. Several settlers are anxious to get Kowliai street formed as soon as possible. I take this opportunity of informing them that the work shall be done | as ".soon as the men with thegrade can get to Tokomaru.