WAITOMO COUNTY COUNCIL.

King Country Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 80, 1 May 1908, Page 3

WAITOMO COUNTY COUNCIL.

- <> A riveting of the Waitomo County Council was held at Te Kuul on Monday last. There were present Councillors Lusk (Chairman), Loveday, Ormsby, Hoffman, Williamson, and Johnston. Leave of absence was granted to Cr T. Hunt. REBATE OF RATES. A letter from Mr A. Julian, pointing out that portion of his Mangaotaki property was in Awakino County, and as rates had been paid on the whole of the propert\ r , the writer applied for a refund of the excess amount, and a re-adjustment of the present year's rates. —On the the motion of Cr. Johnston, seconded byCr. Williamson, the rebate and re-adjustment were granted. EXEMPTIONS FROM EARLY CLOSING. A requisition was ■ received from various business people in the County, requesting that the hours of closing be extended in the case of hairdressers, fruiterers, fishmongers, and refreshment rooms. —The requisition was approved of by the Council. OTOROHANGA 1 STREETS. Mr H. M. Quin wrote, drawing attention to the fact that the formation work now proceeding at the junction of Maniapoto and Ranfurly Streets prevented access being obtained by vehicles to Ranfurly Street. A cutting on Ranfurly Street was necessary to give the desired access, and the material therefrom could be used to fill in a depression in Maniapoto Street.—On the motion of Cr. Williamson, seconded by Cr. Hoffmann, the sum of £5 was voted to make the cutting. SLAUGHTERING LICENSE. An application for a slaughtering license by Poaka Weretini, of Mangapeehi, was approved. OAMARU ROAD. Cr. Hoffman requested authority to have a slip removed from the Oamaru road at a cost of about 30s. —Granted. RAILWAY CROSSING, TE KUITI. The Clerk was instructed to interview the District Railway Engineer at Auckland with a view to having a level crossing established between Rora Street and Carroll Street, Te Kuiti. LICENSE FEES. Attention was drawn to the position of the Council with regard to license fees for hawkers, carriers and billiard rooms in the County. The Clerk stated that recently he issued a license to a hawker, who, upon going to a Maori settlement to do business, was requested to pay a fee to the Maori Council for the same purpose. The position was that the Maori Council, which comprised a larger district than the County had power to levy license fees, and the two bodies were bound to clash. The question of billiard room licenses and carriers' licenses was also discussed, and it was decided to state a case, and obtain legal opinion on the position. COUNCIL OFFICE. Cr. Ormsby referred to the question of establishing a County office, and said the engineer should have a room to work in. The Chairman said that some time ago he had written to the Government with regard to securing a room in the Government buildings, but had received no reply. After some discussion, it was decided to leave the matter in the hands of the Chairman, with a view to securing a site on the Government ground. CAVES road. Cr. Johnston stated that the Caves road was in a very bad state in consequence of slips, and requested authority to expend £2O in repairs, the money to be paid out of thirds. — Authority granted. COUNTY BOUNDARIES. The report of the Committee elected for the purpose of re-adjusting the riding boundaries was received. The Committee recommended that the present Ohura riding be divided into three, giving a representative to each of the Mangaroa, Matiere, and Aria districts; that the Paemako riding should be extended to include a small portion of Mairoa ; that Mairoa should be made to embrace a portion of the W r aitomo riding towards Te Kumi ; that Waitomo should have its boundaries extended to embrace Hangatiki station ; that Te Kuiti and Otorohanga ridings should be extended on the north and south respectively to meet near Hangatiki, and Te Rau-a-Moa riding to be extended to include portion of Waitomo and Otorohanga ridings. The scheme was explained by the Chairman, and discussed by the Council at some length. Eventually it was decided to adopt the report as to the elimination of Hangatiki riding, and several alterations were made as to the proposed new boundaries. —It was decided to extend the boundary of the new Otorohanga riding to include the Mangaorino valle}' - , up to the boundary of Mr O'Brien's section, and to bring in the boundary of the Waitomo riding to the Mangapu river. COUNCILLOR'S RESIGNATION. Cr. Williamson tendered his resignation as representative of the Otorohanga riding.—Accepted with regret. ENGINEER'S REPORT. I have let two contracts for the widening of the Pungarehu road. The first starts about a mile from the Mairoa township, and extends to the crossing of the Whakarotorua stream. This contract has been let to Charles Sommerfield, and the contract price is £69 2s Bd. Contract No. 2 is from the crossing of the Whakarotorua stream to Mr Main's house, a distance of 93 chains. I have let this contract to A. T. Main for £94 Us Bd. These contracts are for the widening of the present 6 feet road to 9 feet. The contractors only made a start last week, consequently there has been very little work done.— ARAPAE ROAD: On this road I have only been able to let one contract, owing to the scarcity of men. Mr Boddie is to sign the contract to-day, and will make a start to-morrow, i his con tract is for forming a road 4 foot in the solid, and extends from 44 chains from the commencement of the road to the crossing of the Mangapu stream, a distance of three miles sixteen chains, and the contract price is £73 16s. I have

engaged two men for day work on this road, and they will go out to start to-morrow. I propose to employ their, repairing culverts and fixing up the worst places, and afterwards let them a contract. On Wednesday I am going out with some Maoris to look at Contract No. 2, which extends from the Mangapu crossing to the Mairoa road.—NGAPAENGA ROAD : I have not been able to get men for this road. The date of the next -meeting was left to the Chairman to fix.