WAITOMO COUNTY COUNCIL.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 467, 22 May 1912, Page 3

WAITOMO COUNTY COUNCIL.

The usual monthly meeting of the Waitomo County Council was held at Te Kuki on Monday evening there being present Crs Scholes (chairman), Hoffman, Smyth, Berry, Were and Johnston. The chairman made reference to the sad and untimely end of the late engineer, and the following motion, proposed by Crs Were and Berry was carried unanimously: "That this cuuncil place on record its deep regret a*- the rad end of the late engineer to the council (Mr W. H. Adams), and that a letter of condolence be forwarded to Mrs Adams conveying the council's deepest sympathy with her in the sad bereavement, and that the council adjourn for fifteen minutes as a mark of resnect."

SPECIAL MEETING

The council sat as a special meeting to consider the balance-sheet in connection with which th following report was read by the clerk : To Members of Waitomo County Council. "I have much pleasure in submitting a report of the past year's workings. The auditor has just completed his annual audit of the council's accounts and you wil ! note by the figures I quote how considerably the county has grown. Our total receipts, including a balance of £1437 I4s lid brought forward, on the Ist of April, 1913, amount to £22,221 ISs sd, made ud as follows: General rates £2115 2~s sd, subsidy on rates 1910-11 £SOO, dog license £67 7s 6d, other licenses £ls 0s 6d, contributions, surveys,, metalling, etc. £l4B Is 6d, deposits cr: contracts £5lB, land fund account thirds £2692 17s sd, Government grants £3956 15s 4d, loan accounts £10,744 14s lid, and sundries to £25 18s lid. Against this our total expenditure amounts to £15,208 7s lid, of which £12,570 83 7d has been spent as follows: £897 7s 3d from the general aocoynt pn maintenance of existing roads, £1929 16s 3d thirds spent on widening and improving roads, giving access, etc., £2395 2s 2d subsidy and grants making new roads, reforming and general maintenance, £SBIB 2s lid, loan money spent on widening and metalling rgads in the different special ratjng areas. Further expenditure, engineering and surveys £560 Is lOd, Waikato Hospital and Charitable Aid Board levy £273 lis lid, contractors' deposits returned £l7O, road grader £IOO, interest on loans and sinking fund, etc. 1791 9s sd, coat of administration £649 0s 2d, salaries, office expenses, printing and advertising and other sundry expense £705 6a, leaving a balance brought forward of £7013 12s lOd.

"County Fund Account: The total general rate 1911-12 amounted to £2543 4s 3d, a rate of Id in the £ on the total capital value of the ratable property within the county, of which £1094 8« yd has* been t<qijeett'd and £lOlO 17s 4d of arrears, making the total as above £2115 2s sd. From this amount we have spent on maintenance of r-jads £897 7s 3d and cost of administration viz. salaries office expenses and printing and advertising £649 03 2d. lam further pleased to state that during the past year all native lands has been placed on the county rolls and made ratable to native owners as well as nominated owners. So far the result has been very satisfactory. The total amount of rates owing by natives amounts to £293. Rate notices were issued for this amount in February last and up to the present nearly forty natives have paid their rates, which, I venture to say, seeing the short notice they received, compares r avourably with the Europeans. In view of the increased cost of maintenance of the roads in some of the ridings, the council may deem it advisable to increase the general rate during the coming year.

"Land Fund Account: Our balancesheet ■ shows a considerable credit balance to the Land Fund Account. During the coming year a considerable amount of that balance will be hypothecated to pay interest on the various loans in the different special rating areas.

"Government Grants: During the year the council received by way of grants and subsidies £3956 15s 4d, of which £3924 6s lid has been spent on widening and generally improving various roads throughout the county, and works are in progress for considerably more than the balance. "Loans: During the past year the council have been successful in raising loans amounting to over £25,000, of which £10,744 nas been received from the Treasury.' The amount of £SBIB 2s lid has been spent metalling and forming the various roads within the differnt special rating areas. Although the councii have spent a considerable sum of money during the past year, had the season been favourable and competition for contracts been keener, I venture to say the amount would have been nearly doubled. The labour difficulty has been a serious matter to us during the past year and also in the lack of competition for contracts. However, during the next year we look forward for better results.

"Assets and Liabilities: Our total assets amount to £10,365 14s 6d and our liabilities £1958 8s 9d, a position I am pleased to say is sound and satisfactory.

"Public Debt: Our public debt amounts to £12,455 Os 9d, of which £32 7s 9d sinking fund has been paid, leaving a debt on the 31st March, 1912, of £124,23. 3s. Miscellaneous: "Dealing with this report generally I feel sure that the council and ratepayers generally will admit considerable progress has been made during the last year in this county. The Government of the Dominion have treated us liberally in the way of grants and our loans in nearly every case we have been granted a £ for £ subsidy in which case it means that the ratepayers are getting one pound's Worth of work for every ten

of the ratepayers of this county is certainly due to the late Minister of Public Works, the flon. Roderick McKenzie. His consideration for this county compares more than favourably with any other county in the Dominion.

j ''The thanks of the council is also I uus to the various departments of the j Crown, of which we continually come in contact with, especially the Public Work?, State-guaranteed Advance?, the Treasury. Auo.it, Valuation, and i Native Land Depatments. We have always been treated with the utmost courtesy and respect. ''Further, we have to thank cur late member, Mr W. T. Jennings, for his valuable assistance. His energies on behalf uf the district has been instrumental in bringing about much of our success. On the motion of Crs Were and Hoffmann the report and balance-sheet were adopted as read. Native Rates. —ln connection with the portion of the report relating to the rating of native lands, Cr Berry said he considered the thanks of the council were due to the clerk for the manner he had undertaken the work of placing native-owned lands on the rate book and in getting the ratesfcollected. He proposed that the council should recognise the clerk's work by granting him a bonus of £25 to recoup him for the expense he had been put to in connection with the matter. Cr Hoffmann said ha was fully in sympathy with the motion. It had been widely held that native rates were not collectable, and the clerk had, at considerable expense to himself, had demonstrated beyond a doubt that the machinery provided was quite sufficient for tbe purpose. He seconued the motion. The chairman and Cr Smyth spoke in a similar strain and the motion was carried unanimously.

ORDINARY MEETING

Ngutunui Road. —P. D. Hargreaves wrote with respect to the metal on the road and offered to provide a horse and dray if the council would find a couple of men to do the work. Resolved that Mr Hargreaves' suggestion be agreed to,

J. Budge wrote regarding the amount of £2O voted for repairs to the road near his property and requesting that the work be deferred till better weather conditions prevailed. He offered to do all the ploughing necessary on the parts in need of re-grad-ing, free of cost.— Resolved that the request be acceded to and Mr Budge thanked for his offer.

G. H White wrote drawing attention to the state of the road to the new school at Kakapuku —Received,

Quarry Reserve. The chairman Baid it had com 9 to hid notice outside people were en/quinine for quarry sjjes,. He had instructed the county solicitor to take steps to secure a site at Waiteti. — The chairman's action was endorsed by the councii.

The chairman reported that he and the clerk had attendsd the conference at Hamilton for the purpose of sending delegates to Wellington to consider the Local Government. Bill. An endeavour had been made to have a King Country delegate appointed, but that the voting power of the meeting was against them.

The Paymaster-General advised having remitted £45 Is 3d for widening M ok au-iti-.—Received.

Wallace Bros, wrote on behalf of the Kio Kio settlers requesting an estimate for metalling from the Mangaoronga bridge to Otorohanga.—Received.

W. C. Lines, contractor on the Arapae road wrote stating his intention of quarrying and crushing during the winter in order to be ready to dump metal quickly as soon as weather permitted. He requested the council to advance on the work. Resolved to agree to request.

G. Bishop wrote complaining of the manner in which portion of the Hauturu road was being metalled. —Received.

The chief surveyor wrote stating he had requested the resident engineer to take the necessary steps to have the deviations on Te Kuiti-Te Kumi road surveyed and legalised. Received.

New Road Applied For.—Mr Gadsby's application for the taking of a road through his property was granted subject <"o the. usual conditions.

A number of settlers wrote complaining of the gates across Te Ahuroa road and requesting the council to take steps to have them removed.—Left in the hands of the chairman with power to act, J. B. Valder wrote drawing attention to the bad state of the roads in Kawa district. Received. Arapae Road. —W. C. Bines wrote asking if the council would take over the portion of the road which had been metalled. The chairman said he understood that arrangements had been made for inspecting the work with a view to taking it over. The chairman reported that the assistant clerk had left and it was proposed that the position be temporarily filled by Mr Callaghan.—The council agreed to take tne course suggested. County Engineer.- -The matter of employing a temporary engineer was left in the hands of the chairman and Cr Berry with power to act. Pungarehu Road, The clerk was instructed to apply for provisional consent to the Pungarehu road loan as soon as the necessary particulars were available.

T. Rose's application for leave to erect gates on the road line leading through his section near Kumara road, on the usual conditions. The action of the chairman in appointing Constable Mathew and Constable Drummond to collect the dog tax, and Constable Mathew to collect licenses for wheel Ifiaffifi vc; rig aji-