COUNTY ENGINEER'S REPORT

Horowhenua Chronicle, 13 January 1917, Page 2

COUNTY ENGINEER'S REPORT

The 'County Engineer (Mr J» al " civlm) submitted the following report to the H'aiowlienua County Council a it» mealing to-day: T'e Hor'o Hiding. la this riding there is really notliijvo" to, report on this niontn; between Investing and holidays nothing has boon done. The 'roads are, howevei, in fair order. They were gcang to pieces very badly before the ram on the Bth ii -st; thus did much good,, b.it unless v, o get moro almost at once they will be.as bad as over. i propose with ycMir leave to got the widening of the blue bluff put iu band almost at on.ee.' ff would have i>ivpiu'c<l a contract for it; but 1 am confident no one would have IrmWed. 1 W«\ is r.ow nobody, thaw, usidwriatiaudis that '•lass of work in the place and it is too 'smadl to' induce outsiders to look ;vt it. With tilie exception of the bluff the Gorge road is now very good as far up as the last extension, and it'.is blocked with slips, Which will have to be cleared at once.

O'taki Riding. The same remark applies to this rid-h-g a,-s to Te Ho to: there is nothing being done but the maintenance and the reads are all fairly good. I much regret that there is no news from the Government Lending Department about the loan for the extension of the Kuk'it water-races. The dry season will be over before tire water can '03 available under any circumstances now. I got a gate erected for foot passengers by the big gate on the new cemtery road, and I have got the road within the cemetery trimmed nip. I think it would be a good 'thing to abandon the old road as nothing can be dene with it unless at is fenced.. T liave not yet cut down the trees round the Maiinkau cemetery. One section cf people are much against it and another for it, but until 'tlioy agree among themselves I propose to let them stand unless 1 you order the work to be done.

Wirokino Riding. The formation of the Tttrarua road extension has been carried out very satisfactorily, and a saving of £2o has been effected by doing it oy day work in place of .contract. I have called tenders for the metalling of this load' and .1 have provided for broken metal. If a reasonable tender is received it will not- be necessary to take land for a pit as there are plentty of boulders on the roadline .and the adjoining paddocks to metal and maintain it for many years. The construction cf the Arawliata road will be completed in a few days; little now meeds doing but the breaking of stones. The formation of the Ivawiu road drags along slowly!; the holidays and scarcity of men is responsible for this. The tender of Winter and Clost was accepted for tile metalling of this road at 4s per yard. ■ They have not been able to start vet as there is none of the formation quite finished. lam now getting the Wallace road put in order, as Winter and Close are waiting to get on with their contract. I am taking the opportunity to- get a much-needed work done. Tokoimaru Riding.

Nothing lias been done in this riding during the month but the usual maintenance ; still the roads are mostly good ; the metal in 'tlie north end does not break up nearly so. readily with the dry weather as it does in other districts. There is still a few days work required to finish the bridge-near 'Makeru;t. Much difficulty was experienced in getting the timber carted as all were so busy harvesting. 'However, that, has been overcome and all j the materials are 011 "the ground. Tlie labour will not take long to finish. The contractor who carries the mail between Shannon and Foxiton called 011 me the other day and requested that some posts should be erected 011 the roadside to show the flood level ou the lower parts of the road between Shannon audi the Manawatu bridge. "I think th© request was « very fair 011? and propose to pu't up about five if there is no objection. I shall get them painted white and marked from the ground line up to about four feet at even:y foot. There have been several requests to put up some on tlie new load made a year or two ago by the Mokerna. Estates 00. This is not of so mucli importance as 011 the main road, but they are wanted bad enough at times.