HAURAKI PLAINS COUNTY

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 4928, 20 January 1926, Page 3

HAURAKI PLAINS COUNTY

MEETING OF COUNCHL. The regular meeting of the Hauraki - Plains? County Council was held on Tuesday, Or. J. C. Miller presiding over the following : Crs. AV. G. Hajw(ard,'W. Madgwick, J. H. Nicholson, T* McLoughlin, C. W. Harris, J. F. Mayn, C. Parfitt. H. J. Hare, the clerk (Mr E. Walton), and the engineer (Mr F. Baisham). WILSON’S? ROAD CONTRACTS. ' . Numerous very satisfactory tenders were received for the contra,cts, foi carting 980 yards of sand from the dump on the Ngararahi stop-bank road, and for carting 3080 yards, more ►or less, of metal from the Paeroa qtfarry hopper to Wilson’s Road. The average lead for the sa,nd was 100 chains, and for the metal 33£ milesa For the. Band cartage contract the tender of Watts, and Slwindel, of Katikati, at 3s, was accepted. -The contractors will. use Chevrolet trucks. The tender of W. M. Stanton, of Wajuku, at 3s per cubic yard, was accepted, provided satisfactory arrangements were made. NETHERTON ROADS. In reply to the council’s request for a lead as to how much was, to be voted annually for the maintenance of the Awaiti-Block and School roads, Nethfor which subsidies had been gra.nted subject to regular maintenance being guaranteed,- .the . district engineer, Public Works Department, wired suggesting, that the resolution of.the council be that it agrees to provide annually within the limits allowed by law sufficient funds, to adequately maintain the various roads. The Minister’s object was to ensure that the work done out- of public funds wag properly protected from destruction through lack of timely attention. It was agreed that the resolution as suggested was a wise one, and a motio>n to that effect was carired. MAINTENANCE OF HIGHWAYS. A circular letter was received from . the Main Highways Board stating IhHhiV. whilst inspecting various section® of the main highways throughout! the Dominion the members of the board had been gratified, .to note the ex- - tremely good results obtained by some progressive counties, and the generally better tendency of maintenance in most counties by .the adoption of up-to-date methods of maintenance. On the other hand, - in some localities poor, materia,lts and wasteful methods v, ere still being adhered to. As the board was now finding 1 as much money for. maintenance as the local bodies, it felt itself in duty bound .to insist on ’this large contribution being spent as wisely as possible. The board therefoie desired ita’ representatives, when cases of inefficient maintenance were brought to their notice, to take’’ the matter up strongly with the local, concerned. .If no immediate “ improvement was effected the board’s .. representatives must refuse to pay a subsidy on any work which was not up .to the board’s standard. The practice of shovelling back by hand the material which was thrown to the .sides of-roads by l motor vehicles was also still much too common. PAEROA HOSPITAL. The Minister of Health, the Hon. M. Pomare, wrote advising that he hi< : d noted the council’s objection to ■ the erection of a hospital at Paeroa. In reply it was stated that the Minister’s consent to proceed with the erection had been given. NETHERTON MATTERS. Mr A. M. Samuel, M.P., wrote on December 15 advising that in company with Cr. Hare, the county engineer, and members of the Ratepayers’ Ajssohe had inspected the uncom- " pleted portions of the stop-bank and .< * flood-gate site referred to by the council in its letter. The matter would be placed before the Minister of Public Works; with a request for completion at the earliest possible moment. He would also endeavour to have the subsidie<s- already voted for the Netherton distri.t hurried along. ’ KIRIKIRI BRIDGE. The Minister of Public Works wrote in reply to the council’s, inquiry regarding the construction of the Kiri-' kiri bridge and advised that early inquiries would be made and the council , notified, of the position as, soon as possible. - COURT AT EXHIBITION. A further appeal, was received from the executive of the Auckland Provincial Court at the New Zea,land and " South Seas Exhibition for a donation. Teh counties in .the province had not contributed, and about £7OO was required. The assessment of the Hauraki Plains County was £lO4 7s 2d. Councillors’:,We can’t afford it. Cr. Mayn : What about sending our Hikutaia. metal crusher to the exhibition as suggested by a Dunedin newspaper. The Chairman : Perhaps it suggested the crusher as tlie council, has not made a donation.. QUARTERS AT HIKUTAIA. Ten quarry workers at Hikutaia wrote complaining of the inadequate accommodation provided, and threatened to refer the matter ,to the Labour or Health Departments unless improvements were effected. Councillors pointed out th;it the master did not affect the council but concerned the contractor. GENERAL BUSINESS. In reply to Cr. McLoughlin the engineer said that when funds' were .available maintenance work would be done on the road from Ngatea towards' Hopai in the Ngatea riding. 1 After some discussion on the financial position the matter was left to the chairman, engineer, .and clerk to go into and report to the next nreetIni view of the fact that there was little chance of the council requiring the use of the section purchased at Maukoro for the purpose of securing L the-metal thereon for-some time, it IF was decided that Crs. Mayn and Mc.look into the question of the area for the amount of - the rates and interest. K’- ■ Mr L. May, resident engineer, Pub-

lie Works Department, who has, been notified of promotion, was accorded a vote of thanks for his services and asssistance to the council. At Cr. Parfitt’s request the engineer was instructed to keep the grading of the clay 'roads in the Pipiroa riding in mind.

I|n reply to Cr. Madgwick the clerk stated that so far no notification had been received in regard to the classification of roads under the Motor Vehicles Act.

Cr. Hayward suggested that instead of having recesses made on rihe Ngatea bridge so .that pedestrians, could take shelter the bridge' should be .widened by about 7ft between the weightsway, so that two vehicles could pass. He would like the engineer to look into the matter, and moved that the previous resolution of the council be deferred in the mea,ntime.

On the motion of the chairman the clerk was instructed to take steps to take a loan poll for the metalling of the Ngataipua East road. Cr. Harris reported that motorcyclists were frequently noticed to be racing on the road between the, two bridges at Waitakaruru. On his motion the inspector wa,s instructed to investigate and take action.