Kawhia County Council.

Kawhia Settler and Raglan Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 317, 21 June 1907, Page 2

Kawhia County Council.

SPECIAL MEETING. A special meeting of the above was held on Monday, 17tb, when there were present—Messrs W. J. Shaw (chairman), G. G. Jonathan, H. Shaw, H. Armstrong and A. N. Norton. The business was tbe passing of the Consolidated By laws and the special orders re loans, which was done by motion. The billiard room license was fixed at £1 Is per year.

ORDINARY MEETING. COST OF VALUING, The following letter was read from the clerk of the Clutba County Coun oil :—“ i have tbe honour by direction of the Chairman lo forward to you the following resolutions passed at a meeting of this Council held on April 26'/b. and to usk your co-operation and assistance. Ist. That (his Council is unanimously of opinion that tbe present system of valuing properties tbrougbou: the colony by the Valuation Department is unreasonably costly and presses unduly upon thealready heavily burdened taxpayers. 2nd. That the various loeil authori ties having a thorough knowledge of the respec ive vduei of pr. perties und-r their control could with confidence make all valua'ions for less than oue half tbe charges now imposed by tbe Valuation Department. 3rd. Tbit with a view of bringing ab mt a m-ich desired change a copy ol tbit re.oiu tion be forwarded to all C -only Councils throughout tbs colony soliciting their co-operation and also tha assis tance of tbeir Repre entativos in Parliament.

The Cbairm tn thought the Council should do all that they could to ass.s’. The cost of valuing was ridiculously high and could bj d me for half the cost and at the sam* time mire car rectly. It was a burning question with every local body, and he fancied there would be some alteration soon. He knew the clerk of one local body who did the valuing for the Government and never left the office. On tbe motion of Crs H. Shaw and Armstrong it was resolved to co-oper-ate with the Clutha County. THE LOANS. Letters were read from tbe Treasury pointing out chat sections included in tho Kawhia special rating area and the Aotea-Waitetuna did not appear on the Government litho, plans of tbe districts concerned. This would have to be rectified before the loans could be authorised.

The engineer and clerk were instructed to attend. A WAITETUNA BRIDGE. W. L. F. Covert, Waitetuna, wrote asking Council to fix up bridge over the Koere stream, which was in a dangerous condition. Cr Norton said he had inspected tbe bridge, the decking of which had rotted through. It was Mr Covert’s only outlet. After discussion, it was resolved to give Cr Norton authority to expend £l5 in repairing same. THE OKUPATA ROAD. The following petition, signed by Messrs 0. Bell, W. Sobye, C. Clarson, and G. H. Mackenzie, was read: —From the .report in the Kawhia Settler of the Council meeting, held on Tuesdav, April 22nd, the petition of the ratepayers in the Oku pata Road special area appears to have been misunderstood. The remarks of tha engineer and of Councillor Armstrong as reported in the Settles appear to have very little bearing on the petition. They both speak as if we were asking tbe Council to do some additional work, valued by Councillor Armstrong at about £l5OOO whereas the petition merely asks the Council not to do work valued by the engineer at about £l5. It is therefore necessary for us to repeat our petition. We must first point out that tbe principal objection to the work viz., that it means that some of our loan money will be speut in the Maori land outside the special rating area, was ignored. This is a most important point and, and although it is presum ably too late now to stop all the work outside the area, we believe that tbe contractor is prepared to meet tbe Council with regard to stopping at the point where some deviation from the present road is a future possibility. We must point out that the question of the cost of any deviation which may ba made (mine.’ ones are possible main deviation prove too ex pensive) need not ba considered at present, as it is impossible to say what funds may be available for tbe purpose in the future. We therefore request you to stop the work at this point for two reasons, vizthat it is not work for which we raised the loan, and it is not work which will be of permanent value should a deviation be made here in the future”

Cr Armstrong said he had tried particularly bard to tell the petitioners that this work was not solely out of loans, but out of thirds and loans. The settlers who signed the last pe’i tion wanted tbe work to stop at the native land. The Cbairm in believed that tbe engineer had made arrangemenla which agreed with the requestof the petitioners. The Engineer : That is so. Cr Armstrong then moved Cr H. Sh*w seconded “ That this Council havo received so many conflicting petitions and motions from the Okupata ritepayers that it it would be advis able for them to call a ’meeting of their own end sand to the Council tomelhing definite as to what they want.” in reply to Cr Jonathan, the Chairman said the work had been stopped where the petitioners asked. Cr Jonathan thought it unwise to put the mutton. It woold be better tn

write and state that tbe matter bad been attended to. Tbe motion was put and lost, the secretary being instructed to reply. A BAD PRECEDENT. Cr Norton reported that tbe la?t time be waa going home from Kawhia he received a complaint from Mr Quin relative to the bad boles on 4be approach to the Aotea beach. He instructed Quin to repair the road and fouud that day that Q lin had fasoimd sod metalled three chains at a c mc of £l2. He offered to complete the piece (about 20 chains) for £8 more. He only authorised Quin to fix up the boles. Cr Jonathan remarked that Q lin had acknowledged to him that be Ipd exceeded what Cr Norton had authorised him to do. Cr Norton : The wo k Q iiu L* d ing is badly wanted. The Chairman •• what wants doing ail over the e maty. Cr Armstrong : The am pju i 11 it for the benefit of -noh • f * - » payers. The Chai-mtn: Ta w tha 1 : Qiin has exc.-eteu bi i.is nicti ns, therefore -ihe C <uncii sp >nsible. I believe the aobut if all the wo-kmen act* =i • I wiy a principle w>ud *> i , i *e might stop Q lin and w&hh tr>e c tint cimes iu di cuss tbe mi >r. Cr Norton rem.rk d o». i work .vora stepped n>w r. w ui i le tn rowing- money away. Ct Jonathan leaving tbe milter in Cr Nj-ton’s t.a i l< The Chairma i said th «t Quio had acknowledged he had exe vd-d his instructi ms be w mid have to wait for payment until the J ;i< - funds. It was eventually a/ . the motion of Cre N > u - i i nHrong, “ That the engi ear \ -sit w .rk being done by Qd i ; b coo recognise n j respuo ibiii-. .n he ac . ter, but if be writ 00-npii ■- . j J (about another th*aa coa”- ) a tn? igineer’s price and t bis saa-fact <*n, he will be paid as ?oon as tho Cjuncil is in funds.” ACCOUNTS The following aceourwp-p p« - d for payment:—J. J. W ..oily £2, A N Norton £1 10% H A m 15 , H. Shaw £l, VV. J. Sn £ Newton £9 8< 41, •< 14s, W. To«i £4 18 . 1 i .» e £2 16s, Wha a£3 17 , ■ -i £2 2% H. Green £3 12 £2, J. Rimsey £5, T B £5, A. Ward 10s, Ngarohoe £2 2 , 4 »l‘Mi • lan £1 4s, J. Sc tt. j-., £1 12-, J. Grant £8 Is, G. Har m m £1 12s, J. Duigan £l4, R. Nesbit 9- Gi, OckUston and Co. £1 15s 91, E P r er and Co. £8 17s sd, H. R Shroff £l7 2 81, D Galvan 10s, W. Doyle £26 12s 91, A. and H. Schrieber £76 13s 4d, A. Armstrong £lB Bs, J. G. Howes £SJ. Champtaloup and Cooper £1 10s 9J, petty cash £2. TOWN BOARD OFFICES. The Kawhia Town Board applied to have the Coauoii Chambers as the office of the Board also. A discussion ensued daring which much bitterness to tho proposal was shown by Urs Norton aud Armstrong. To put the question to tho vote, Cr W. Shaw mjvod, and Cr Jonathan seconded, •* That tbe Town Board havo the use of the Council offices for meetings at a too of 2s 64 per meeting.” Tho motion waa lost. GENERAL.

The Engineer waa re-appointed, after having had a month’s vacation. Cr Norton was authorised to spend Waite’s thirds on gravel on tbe Waitetuua Valley road, and to clear alio away on tho Pakihi road ; whilst Crs W. Shaw and H. Shaw were authorised to expend thirds du- □ tbs Watharakeke and Tnharoa riding.. The engineer was instructed to pr • oeed with laying out proposed works for which loans were raised in the Kawabia and M itakowhai Ridings. It was resolved that on receip* of £4 from Dr Jenkins tbe Council forward £l4 for connect ng tbe doctor’s room with the post office by telephone HARBOUR BOARD. The Council afterwards sat as a Harbour Board. A letter was received from the Marine Department asking how the beacons leading over the bar were situated.—Attended to. The following accounts were passed for payment:—J. K.JNewton £lO, t W. Morgan £6 10s. The question as to where tho Oparau goods shod waa to be bail! was held over. Cr Armstrong moved and Ur Norton seconded—“ That the Kawhia Harbour Board take steps to have rhe mud flat iu front of tbe township surveyed off into township sections aud leased.”—Carried. Sing a song o ’ Peppermint, The cure thats made by Woods, For one and b xpence worth of cent. A worth of er >od Wh m the bottl 3 opened, It’3 praise all people ei-.g ; ’T’is certain such a aov reig<> < 'u • • Would set up sny King.