HAURAKI PLAINS COUNTY

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4364, 11 January 1922, Page 4

HAURAKI PLAINS COUNTY

MEETING OF COUNCIL. The January meeting of the Hauraki Plains County Council was held in the Ngatea Hall op Monday, the following being present: Crs. J. C. Miller (chairman), W. G. Hayward, C. W. Harris, G. Death, A. Chatfield, J. F. Mayn, T. McLoughlin, E. R. Whitechurch. ENGINEER’S RESIGNATION. The county engineer, Mr R. J. .Dillon, tendered his resignation. He would complete his duties in three months’ time. The resignation was accepted. LANGUAGE AT FERRY. “I beg leave to bring before you the disgraceful conduct of! the man in charge of the Wharepoa ferry towards j a party returning from. Thames on | Christmas eve,” was the introduction to a letter received by the Hauraki Plains County Council from Mr S. G. Howe, .of Turua, at its meeting on ■Monday. The letter went on to say that after an unfortunate run the party arrived at the ferry at 3 a.m. After lustily using their voices without abail, three of the party went across ,the river in a dinghy, where they were allegedly subjected by the ferryman to abuse and obscene language. There were 17 ip the party, which included some ladies, and the language could be distinctly heaid on the opposite bank. Messrs Mantelow and Hine waited on the council. Mr; Mantelow said he was the driver of the lorry .which conveyed the party, and. he confirmed the statements contained in the letter.- It was 4-45 a.m. when they ar-, rived on the other side after, waiting since 3 a.m. Cr. Harris moved that a copy of. the letter be sent to the ferryman, asking for an explanation. SUPPLY OF METAL. Cr. Harris reported, that the chairman and he had waited, on the chaiiman Of the Thames County ' Council regarding the supply of metal. The chairman of! the Thames County had offered any amount up to 225 cubic yards per week of 2%in metal loaded on the Plains County’s punts at the Parawai booms at 10s per cubic yard. The chairman and Crs. Chatfield and Harris were asked ,to wait on the Thames County Council with power to act in the above matter. It is understood that a portion of this metal is for the. unmetalled portion of Turua-Netherton road. TAHUNA QUARRY. . Cr. Whitechurch reported that there will be 10 men employed, at the Ta,huna quarry, and arrangements will be made for the men to work 10 hours per day. MIRANDA ROAD. Reporting on the back Miranda Road, Cr. Harris said that £6O worth of pipes had been lying on the Miranda wharf for three years. Some settlers there had promised to put in their own time and .labour to put the. road in order if 1 the pipes were carted to the road. It was decided to send the lorry to Miranda to cart, sufficient pipes to the back road, and Cr. “Harris was ini structed to supervise the work. UNSATISFACTORY WORK. Cr. Death moved that work on Wilson's road cease at once, and the men given notice, the work to be completed by contract. Cr. Qpath was very dissatisfied with the work there. Cr. Chatfield seconded, and the motion was carried. Cr. McLoughlin thought it was a good idea that the work was to be done by contract ,as some Ratepayers had not been satisfied. HALF HOLIDAY. It was decided to recommend to the Minister of Labour that Saturday should be the half-holiday for the County. MORRINSVILLE ROAD. Hon. D. H. Guthrie, Minister for Lands, in a letter to the Council stated : “Further to my letter of September 24 last, in reply to 'yours of 21st idem., in which you made application for a grant towards the cost of maintaining the Waitak,aruru-Morrinsville road, which is under the control of your council, I have to advise you that last year a grant of £lOOO was provided and approximately £l5O was spent. The balance of the item, £B5O, appears in the estimates of the Lands and Survey vote for the current year, and will be authorised for the purpose of improving the bad stretches of road. ... “The Chief Drainage Engineer advises that in regard to this road the northern end has been maintained by the Department, which also coni structed same, and that the council, which is already in the position of

rating two-thirds of the land abutting on this road, cannot very well complain of the lack of attention in regard to it. “The question as to whether an amendment may be made to the Hauraki: Plains Act’, enabling County Councils to levy rates within the Hau-, raki Plains area, is now receiving consideration.” It was decided to acquaint the Minister of the fact that the land abutting that road was poor .land. REDUCTION OF CLAIM. Mr J. B. Thompson, Chief Drainage Engineer, wrote to the clerk as foil lows: “Referring to your letter of August 29 last, re claim for £284 2s 3d, I am advised by Mr Taylor that he has interviewed Cr. Death and you in regard .to same, and that your council would be prepared to pay, provided the amount was reduced by £34 2s 4<i, value of shipment of inferior metaL I agree to allo.w this reduction.” TURUA TOWN DISTRICT. The Department of Internal Affairs forwarded an extract from the N.Z. Gazette containing a proclamation constituting the town district at Turua as from April 1 next. GENERAL. . Cr. Harris thought it advisable to appoint a committee to go into the accounts before the engineer left the council's employ. This was put in the form of a motion and carried, the chairman, Cr. Harris, and the clerk being elected to the committee. The clerk was instru’eted to inquire from the Government whether the 10 per cent, on the Waitakaruru district roads loan and the subsidy were available to allow the works to lx? completed. A portion of the work had been done. It was decided, on the motion of Crs. McLoughlin and. Mayn, to request the Lands Department to metal the east (island) side of the Puhunga canal. Mr Walton, with reference to the dedication of a road at Miranda, said Mr Coxhead had put in a drain which prevented the road from flooding. He suggested that Cr„, Harris should interview Mr Coxhead and see the plan. The matter was eventually left, to Cr. Harris to report. Cr. Death understood that the Government was reducing the wages, and the price of butter-fat was falling. He moved that the employees’ wages should be reduced Is per day from next month. Cr. McLoughlin seconds ed, and the motion was carried, TALL FESCUE. The following is a copy o f a letter sent to the Minister of Agriculture: “I have to acknowledge receipt of your letter of November 19, which was read to my Council at its last meeting, when I was instructed to reply thereto. I have been instructed to inform you that my Council is of opinion that tall fescue grass is a decided menace in this county, and that, it is spreading rapidly. I was directed to ask you to send a special officer here to investigate and report on the subject. I trust that you wiil be able to do this at an early date and advise of the result.” RIDING BALANCES. The riding balances of the Hauraki Plains County Council at December 31 were as follows : Turua riding, debit balance, £2238 19s sd; Waitakaruru riding, debit balance, £713 17s ; Netherton riding, credit balance, £97 5s 3d ; Patetonga riding, debit balance, £689 12s 2d; Tahuna riding, debit balance, £867 2s lOd. j The balances in the lean accounts on the same date were : Netherton Roads Loan, credit balance, £2539 9s 7d; Tahuna Roads Loan, credit balance. £1075 7s sd,