HAURAKI PLAINS COUNTY

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4427, 14 June 1922, Page 4

HAURAKI PLAINS COUNTY

MEETING OF THE COUNCIL. The monthly meeting of the Hauraki Plains County Council was held at Ngatea in the office of the clerk (Mr. E. Walton.) on Monday, the fol J lowing attending: jCrs. J, C. NiMwt (chairman), W. G. Hayward, G. Death. C. W. Parfitt, C. W. A. Chatfield, J. F. Mayn, T. McLoughlin, and E. R. Whitechurch.

CATTLE TIC-K. The Thames County Council wrote requesting financial assistance for the construction of* cattle dips on the Coromandel Peninsula, which had been declared a tick infepted area. The seriousness of the infection and the danger of it spreading throughout the Hauraki Plains and Thames Valley was pointed put. Cr. Parfitt said,, it was a serious thing, and s ( hould be considered, prevention was better than cure. Cr. Mayn would strongly oppose the Council helping with the cost of dips on the Coromandel Peninsula. Or. Whitechurch proposed that the matter be deferred until full enquiries could be made into the matter. POWER BOARDS. A copy of a resolution from the Timaru Borough Council that the Government be asked to abolish the present system of constituting electric power boards on petition pfl onefourth of the ratepayers was read- ft was decided to reply .that the Plains County was already committed, and was not concerned in the matter, ORCHARD EAST ROAD. “You are aware," wrote Mr. E. Taylor, resident land drainage engineer, “that .the Hon. the Minister of Lands informed the deputation of settlers interested in the metalling of the Orchard East Road that the sum of £BOO was available for expenditure on this work. I have since been advised that there are no further monies on the estimates for this work, and have been asked to ascertain if there is any possibility of your Council doing anything in the matter. The light tramway will be laid for metalling the portion Qf the road tp be carried out by the Department, and in the event of your Council having money available to continue the work it might be advantageous if your Council and the Department co-loperate." The clerk said the letter was a result o' a letter from the Council. About £6OO per annum was collected in the Turua riding from Crown lands. The chairman and he had thought that some of that money should, be handed to the Department to spend.

Cr. Hayward said that if the Council subsidised the work to about £2OO a loan should be raised to complete the work The clerk said the question was whether it was considered advisable to do the work while the tramline was on the road. Cr. Hayward thought the Council should take advantage of the tramway and make a contribution towards the work to the extent of £2OO. He moved to that effect. z Cr. Mayn seconded, and the motion was carried. LOCAL BODIESI’ FINANCE. The N.Z. Counties!’ Association requested an expression of opinion on the provisions of .the Local Bodies niFance Act, 1921. Discussion on the matter was deferred. KAIHERE-iNGATEA ROAD. The Minister of Lands, the Hon. D. H. Guthrie, regarding the question 0>" making a grant for the metalling of the Kaihere-Ngatea Road, advised that he had received a report on the matter and it appeared that only a portion of the road had yet been formed. The work, however, was being proceeded with by the Chief Drainage engineer, who would also complete the metalling as far as the available funds would permit. Ifi the funds, in the hands of the Lands Department were 'insufficient to complete the work the question of making

provision for the metalling wornd then be considered by the Hon. the Minister of Public Works. TURUA WHARF OPENING. The Thames Harbour Board solicited the co-operation of the Council in the forthcoming Turua wharf opening. Cr. Harris said the Hhrbour Board s unauthorised expenditure was very small and the wharf was in the Council’s area. The Council should help. The function would probably take the form of a banquet. It was decided to co-operate with the Thames Harbour Board wtith the Turua wharf opening, and tp grhnt £lO towards the cost pt the function. Cr. Death, opposing the motion to co operate with the Harbour Board, said the .affair was only beipg got up by the Thames to court favour at the County’s expense. Cr, Mayn said Turua was a port inside the county, and it demanded the Council’s co-operation. Or. Harris said the Harbour Board was not courting favour of the Government, but was fostering a port in Hauraki Plains. The Thames Harbour Board was not a Thames board, as there were. iiepi;esentative.s on the Board for many miles inland. He felt that the Council’s hearty co-op-eration in the matter, would help to pu«h the district ’ahead as a district and not as a Thames matter. MAUKORO DEVIATION. The Public Works Department, in reply to a letter from the Council inquiring whether, in the event M the Council agreeing tp legalise the Maukoro deviation, the Government would contribute on a £2 for £1 basis towards the cost, regretted that it con’d not contribute to the cost of legalisation of the deviation. A subsequent telegram 1 from Mr. A. J. Baker, District Public Works Engineer, stated that there was no chance of the Department going back on its decision. It was decided to reply that the Council was willing to undertake the legalisation if the Department would do t'he fencing- If the Government did not agree the Council would be forced to abandon .the project, as the ridings would be unable to finance it. OPANI-TURUA ROAD.

Additional information regarding a grant of £B5O, £ for, £, on the OpahiTurua Road was supplied by A. J. Baker, District Public Works Engineer. The abovenamed vote, advised the engineer, was proviJed flor the particular section of- road .towards which the Lands Department is forking. If the settlers are proposing to raise a loan to complete this work your proposals are in order. Please let me have a sketch showing that portion of road for Which the County proposes to raise a loan and advise me of the estimated cost of the work it proposes to arrange flor. The clerk said he had replied that the road was 200 chains northward of Turua. HIGHWAY BILL. The Waimea County Council submitted for consideration a copy Of a resolution to secure necessary provision being made in the proposed Highway Bill. It was decided to support a proposal that the tyre tax be distributed among the various local bodies. paeroatahuna road. The District Public Works Engineer advised that the Council may proceed with the expenditure of the grant for the Paeroa-Ta'huna road from the Piako River to Morrinsviile Road. Monetary authority, £l5O, had been authorised' for this work on April 6, 1920. OLD NETHERTON STORE. The Farmers’ Union Trading Company, Auckland, requested if the Council was ready to complete the purchase of the old Nethertpn store site. Cr. Death said other, persons were negotiating for the purchase pfi this site. It was stated that the old store could' not be purchased under the Housing Loan. Jt was decided to advise the cpm-

pany that the Council wished to terminate the lease. TELEPHONE POLES. The Postmaster-General, the Hon. J. G. Coates, regretted that the Council’s request to have the telephone poles along the Ngatea-Pipiroa. Road erected along the inner side instead of the road side pf,the drain could not be granted. POWER POLE ON BRIDGE, The Thames Valley Electric Power Board asked permission to erect a pole on the Ngatea bridge to carry the Board’s wires oyer the Piako River. Permissiion was granted, provided the County engineer, was satisfied and that an indemnity was paid against any damage. REMITS ON LOANS. The State Advances Office advised that it was proposed to remit £l5OO on account of the Housing Loans and £lOOO each on account of the Netherton and Tahupa Roads Loans. This should enable the Council to m«et its present commitments. It was decided to push ahead with the construction ofl the engineer’s residence and the purchase of. the l,apd. The engineer and Crs. Hayward and Harris were deputed to appoint an architect and tp call tenders for the engineer’s residence. I The same committee was also deputed to act with regard to the removal of a house from Wai'hi to Waitakaruru. POKENO NGATEA SERVICE’. Mr.. W. Heaven, Maramarua, regarding his proposal tp arrange a daily rural mail service from Pokeno to Ngatea, stated in a letter that it was proposed to run on the sepviqe a motor-bus to carry from 20 to 30 passengers. He would leave Pokeno at 10 a.m., arriving at Ngatea at 1 p.m-> and return to Pokeno in time to connect with the evening train to Auckland. He had already been offered a subsidy of £lOO per. annum towards the service and the Postal Department was anxious-to have the service started, but the state of the county road between Hailey’s corner and the county boundary at Robertson’s re ! quired putting in order, so that the service could be run through the winter. It was decided to acquaint l Mr. Heaven of the fact that the grader would be sent to work on that road, and that there was a grant of £3509 flor the road. SUNDRY BUSINESS.

Mr. J. A. Reid sent a letter oftha,nks for the liberal assistance given him in cleaning the road drain at Nethetron. The Farmers’ Co-operative Auctioneering Company’s applications for registration of saleyards at Ngatea and Patetonga were granted. The engineer was authorised to go into the Tahuna loan account and make an application for a subsidy.