OHURA COUNTY COUNCIL.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 638, 28 January 1914, Page 5

OHURA COUNTY COUNCIL.

The monthly meeting of the Ohura County Council was held on J miliary 21st Present ■ Crs W, Samliion (chairman), Gurrio, Goldfinch, Hay ward, J. Kolly, U. InnvJay, Lyon, Rink, ami VV. Sowry. Aukopati 'l'elophoue.•■ -b'rotn Assis-tant-Soe-otar.y. G.i'.O,, Wellington: "With reference !.<> .your bitter of July ISth, regarding the telephone extension to Aukopaa, 1 have tiui honour to refer to my letters of .June llth and AugUHl. UUh last, staling the farms on which the linn wmihl bo extended. Since then your Council has entered in tu a bond for the extension of the lino between Tauniarunui and Ouuii, and the necessary insUuetion i for the erection of the line have been burned % The denut'tiii.ml', however, would now bo glad to learn whether your Council ia prepared to contribute a lump sum of i!<> for tho furthe.i' .extension from Otunui to Auknuue. I might point out that tihould the terms bo not accepted before the extension to OUinuiui is completed the department will probably require to review the position on account of additional coat should tho workmen have to bo specially aent to tireet the Aukopaa extension." —Cr Hayward mMid one or two settlers J had npoken to him about the «xtons ion and they promised to have a petition sent in to the Council at its present meeting. Cr Currio said there was a petition iiigned by IV.) aett!ern_ asking for the .extension from Tokirima

to Aukopae. -Allowed !o stand over Waitowboiiu Telephone.- -i-'rom the fluh-tolegniph engineer, Jlareikon, as follows: "Your hitter of December 4th addressed to tho assistant secre-

tary C P.O. Wettuigto,!, has been sent to me for report. 1 shall be glad if you will kindly forward to men rough Hketch of tho position of the proposed HUbHcribor:! to the party lino t'iomiri. There are eovef:tl way.-i of getting communication with Ohura, tho ticHt by settlors joining together in partieti of six on a wire to within nay three miles of Ohura (where the department coiiid nmot them) and becoming subscribers to the Ohura exchange at an annua! charge of X'-\ each, an entrance fee of ..U per wire (!!:i 'ld each on a nix nuoline, 4« each of on a live Suhlino) is charged in addition to the annual charge. These subscribers to tbe Ohura exchange and the department would find tho telephones", tho coat of going out to lit them or repair them would, however, be charged to aubMcribor* on line.) not wholly maintained by the department. Second, tho department, would erect and maintain the whole lines and iustrmont as well as erect them as shown in attached sheet. Third, tho settle ra could erect and maintain their mvn lams and connect With Wiiitewhena I'.O. and be switched on u> Ohura as required; each connection with Ohura would he charged at bureau t-jte, tho minimum being (id for three minutes.. 'The aottierti in this case won Id have to purchaye their own telephones and all fitting!! and pay I'.Os per annum each to thee postmaster, Waitawhona, for his own switching fees, if you could uei:d mo definite particular 1 shall ho glad to give any further information required.. Thorn ia not much prospect of the department nailing their line at present. Should sufficient subscribers be offering near WuUewhena the department may consider the opening of a small exchanga at Waitewhenu if suitable arrangements could ho made."

Waitewhana I'.uau From Superintendent Statu Guaranteed Advances Office as follows :--" Your letter dated December 10th, applying for a loan of i> 18,424 under auction 9 of the New Zealand Statu Guaranteed Advances Amendment Act, 1912, io metal seventeen mileti of Waitewhena road and four miles) of Haparua road was duly received. In reply, 1 have to state that, owing to the heavy demands made on the funds of the department, advances) are at present; to £2OOO, and only then for the construction of roads and bridge:) in the backhlock districts. 'lf £?,oou would he or' any assistance to you, yon ahould fill in and return the enclosed application form with a locality plan showing the situation of the roads it "m desired to metal."-—Gr Uisk is calling a meatinj; of Waitewhana ratepayers for Saturday, olst inat., to discuss the above replies regarding telephone and metalling. Matiero-Mirorihnino Road.- -Asa is tanft Under Secretary, Public Works Department, au follows: "i have the honour by direction of the Minister of Public Worku to acknowledge the receipt of your litter enquiring what portion of the vote for the above road ia intended for expenditure in the Ohuru County. In reply i ha 'e to advise you that, the avnount of unauthorised balance on this veto ie £IOOO not £1250. The allooatiuK of this amount, Which has been decided as bee ween your Council and the Waitonso County Council will be two-fifths Churn County and thru <i-fifths Waitomo County, that is, £IOO for Ohura County and £ooo for Waitomo County. lam, however, directed by the Minister to ad viae you that he in at present only able to authorise for immediate expenditure those grantfl Which were provided for the purpose of carrying mi. 1 ; metal work, and this letter must not therefore be taken aa authority too proceed with the expenditure of the money allocated for the Ohura reed." Road Works Near Ma tie re.- From Miniato'i" of Public Works: "Following on any letter of October 22nd, with reforoiieu to your Council's request that a Government engineer should report rognrd'in.f. the extension of the service road to Matiertt, and the improvement of the Miroaliuiao-Matiere road, 1 have the Jumour to atate that the main road between Okahukara and Matiore iowu.ihip' will be funned to facilitate the construction of the railway from its junction with the Main Trunk line. An regards the other road'works I bai/o to state that provision on the Estimates for the current year to the extent of J5890bl for widening of the Miroahuiao rood, and a proportion of this

money will doubtless be expended on the length of the road referred to in your letter." Library Site.—The Prime Minister wrote as follows:—"I have the honour to a .-knowledge the receipt of your letter of December 2nd relative to the matter of an exchange of the present library site on the main road, Ohura, and referring to a promise made in the matter. In reply, I have to inform you that the promise made to have the present library .site exchanged for one of the municipal resprves was conditional upon there being no difficulties in the way. The matter has been fully considered, and I regret that I cannot hpo my way clear to depart from the decision conveyed in my letter of August 4th last." Cr Loveday was not satisfied with this reply, am! after discussion it was agreed that he and the clerk should frame a further letter to the Minister of Lands j on the matter.