Kawhia County Council.

Kawhia Settler and Raglan Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 407, 26 March 1909, Page 2

Kawhia County Council.

ORDINARY MEETING. An ordinary turning of the above body was held in tbe Council Chambers on Saturday, 18th inßt, when '.here were present— Crs W. J. Shaw (chairman), A. W. Babbage, G. G Jonathan, J. Kearns, Jas. Noonan and R. Do'riea. CORRESPONDENCE. The outward cornFspondance having been taeken as reul, (he principal inwards was dealt with as follows :

From Hon. A. W. Hogg, stating that be would visit Kawhia shortly,— It was decided to wire an invitation to tbe bon. gentleman.

From Valuati n Department, notify ing th.a's £92 Ifis 9d had been paid into tbe County’s ac unt, advance subsid for rates for 1908 09.—R ceived.

From Sime, asking Cou >c : ’ to ap p lint an assessor no act at the Assess ment Court.—Mr T. B. Scott to be asked co act.

Fi(»m Auckland ( iy Council, soliciting co-operation in an e deavour to SiC.ina an ameudme it in “ Tne Loans to Local Bodies Act ” relative to t?nk ing fundi.—Un the suggestion of Ur Babbage it was decided tu support ilhe movement.

From District Roads Engineer, Te Kuiti, stating that the roil at Kino haku through Mr Scott’s p.-op-rfy would be gone on with as soon as the question of c impeneation to be paid had been settled.—Received.

E'rom Department of Labour, stating f;hat W lu'sday afternoons bad gazetted as the aalf -oliday in Kawhia —Riceived

From G. G. Jonathan, Kawhia, applying for a refund of £5 2’, deposit ou J, Duugan’s contrac .—The Chairman said thu.t be looked upon the de posit as the property of Dun *n. —In answer to an < nqui y the Engineer said tha'i it was usue to refund the deposit with the last payment.—lt was dei.ded that the application be not entertained ; also, that all deposits be bold over till the contract is cmi pie ted, From Secretary Waikato Hospital Boiird, applying for £7O 10s balance of County’s cou ributiun to fund.— The Chairman st cl it was a peculiar position. They were mulct io tbe extent of £l2O per annum yet the Council bad no representation, That was not at all fair.—lt was decided to get legal advice as to the Council’s liabi.,:ty.

The following accounts were passed for payment A. W. Babbage £l, J. Dungan £5, W. J. Shaw £l, T. Taylor £BO 15s, J. Dungan £29 14:i 7(1, Edwards a .d Galvan £6 10s, H. H Pettit £2 13s, H. Green 12-:, H.

M'lntosh £3 18s fid, Schreiber Bros. £l4 os fid, W. Dax.es £8 8% A. Armstrong £l4 Bs, G. Poutite Gi, F. Hosking 5-i, M. Edwards £2 17s 6d, G. H. Chase 19s 9d, Shea and Co. £4, T. Taylor £B2 4s fid, M'Donald and Thompson £2O 16s, —. M'Donaid £B, —. Thompson £l2, Raglan Chronicle 14s, W. J. Smith £4 6s Bd, A. Arm strong £1 12s, J. Dungan £29 18s 9d, J. K. Newton £9 Os lOd, Galvan and Edwards £45 15s, T. Scott £2, H. Green £2, A. Atkins £27 Js, T. Ash bolt £5 10s, Vi aation Department £5 16’, M. A, Going £5 12s Id, J. Harper £1 Is, O. Sper jg £1 Is, J. Randf £1 Is, J. Hodges £1 Is, J. Burns and Co. £1 10s, J D. Sutton £1 B’i, F. Atkins £2 Is 6d, W Morgan £4 19s, J. Kearns £l, J. Noonan £i, A. W. Elliott 15s, R. Daxies 15s.

The Clerk reported that tbe various accounts stood as follows :

County Fund, cr ... £516 14 11 Harbour Account, cr ... £l3l 15 6 Loan Account, cr (Kawbia)£l63 18 5 „ (Wharf) £2B 16 0 ~ (Wi etuna) £285 7 5

ENG! JEER’S REPORT. The County Engineer (Mr A. Arm strong) reported as follows :

I have the honour to report that the following contracts have been completed : - No. 7, road to Te f aru townsh’p ; No. 15, metalling (L- g? x’s contract) WaitetunaAotea road. Th e sti ’ remains »0 chains of this contract ' ) metal, but with tha exception of 100 yardti Bracked at Shea’s quarry the metr for this purpose is iaaccessible until roads h ive been made to where it lies. I have insp< ited the place since Mr Taylor me de his offer and consider -it was a fair one. The tracks lo the met 1 on the side or the creek will coitsomew. .« less. In the event of the <' Juncil deciding to let this metal I would suggest ’iat the making of the tracks should be left to tbe contractor, as he would probably ba satisfied with a dif. ferent ro&d to th".t which the Council would have to make. 'lnetJ is another lot of metal lying oo the side of the road about one mile from the widening contract lately finished by Kamsey. E would recommend that this metal be also cartel out and spread on newly-widened portion as fur as it wi" go. This will complete tbe quantity of broken metal oi finally intended. Referring to the c mclitiou of the road between Messrs Norton's ani Van Houtte’s gates : I have inspected this potion of the road acid find that about a mise of it at the west end is in very bod condition, tning worn away in many ph .es to such an extent as to be dangerous to traffic. Unfortunately lit is so lite in the season that to re form the road as it should be done is not advisable, In many pl&ces it would h ive tc be broken up to a depth of 18in, or more to got it into snape, and to attempt this now would end in making the r -a ( wo.su thm it is at present. No doubt- this will be very disappointing|to the settlers, but I think it would be better to face the roa 1 as it is for another winter and have the work properly done by starting next spring.”

Cr Davies said he wag very pleased with the report, and agreed theL the toad should be kept open ih ; s winter and tha permanent work gone on with next spring. It was decided to oall tenders for c<reing tbo metal referred to by the engineer, VkK houtte’s road again., Thu (Jonuniisioner of Crown Landa, Auckland. wrote as follows “ I h »ve the honour to inform you that Mr D. Van Hoatte continues to allege t iat work promised on his road of access haa not been done aud that hii» ihirda ha ve hp-m spent on road* th nt are of qqi use to hiir and that ha in

threatened with ruin on account of it being impoisible to report to packing

aa this is not permitted by the dairy inspector. This appexrs to be a long standing grievance, and I shall be glad to know what hr.i been done by your Council in the matter. Ido not ’Hggest that the Department Vs »» r 'v right to interfere in the Council’*work, but where the payment of thirdis concerned the eel* ctors’ interest must he protected. Will you there fore kindly advise me*for the information of the Harbour Board, which will require particulars beforj your next proposals are approved, as follows : Nature of accr s to Van Houtte’s sec tion ; where the thirds have been spent ; state of repair in which the mad is in ; what consideration the Coanoil Ha given to Vtm Houtte’s onmplsints ; H Hie road too bad for wheel traffic, as alleged, or too narThe Chairman said that this matter baa cropped no before, Mr Van Houtte at that time alleging that be w»s not t. waiving consideration. Mt Jordan,Crown Lande Ringer, over to report, which was to the effect that there w nothing to complain of The third’ *hat had accrued h-.d been “rent on the road leading to Van Houttf-’e. It was decided that tbe Clerk supply the information asked for. TH# PAKOKA SHEI>.

Mr E W. Buckeridgo attended and draw attent’on to the fa.ct that the Pnkoka shod was baing knocked abiu< badly and that it would not be long be fore it would be beyond repair. He bad written to the Minietiar for Marine who said that the shed should be placed under a local body, therefore he suggested that it should be vested in the County,

The Chaii man thought that both the shed and the A -tea Harbour should be under the jurisdiction of the Harbour Board, and by r. solution it was decided to request that that be done.

i The Minister of Lands (Sir J. G. Word) wrote •• —“ Referring to your letter of the 24th ult., tins matter has been very carefully erquirad into, and the Chief Surveyor, Auckland, estimates that the amount required to put in the side pegs on tbe roads in ques tion would be £lOO- It is conceded that pi the c rntre line of the road was ran by a Government Surveyo- tbe Kawh:.'. Harbour Board is eutitl' I to have the opposite angle pegs put io, and thuß save the the cost of so doing when sabdividing the Endowment block for k Ring. The Chief Surveyor state ; that ba? no surveyor who cjuld be spared to do the work, and therefore it will have to bp done by a private surveyor. It i*» proposed to place the sum of £lOO on the L'.nds Department eetimaf a next sr eion for doing the neceessrji pegging along the read line bounding the IC&whia Harbour Endowment area, and therefore if your board obtaiia the eorvices of a private surveyor to undertake the work it njnst b* l on the under^ranti ng that tbo £lOO cannot be paid over to yon until it has beeo ajsnropr : at 1 by Parliament next session,"

Mr Whitcombs (who was praseat by request) riid that what thenxtia work meint was a i j survey of tbe roads wi»h the exception of grading. This would cost a lot., but the Government ought Io do it ri l‘,he previous work had never I 311 completed. It was quite safe to print litbos. of 'he sections.

An offer to do the work wr 3 pat in by Mr Whitcomb?, and it wn referred to the CH’rtnanand Cr Jorathan who were empower." 1 co accept the sutne, the work to be completed within six months of the acceptioia of the offer. Oa the motion cf Cr Babbage it was decide 1 to have lithos o'i the sections prepaiad at once.

GENERAL. The next meeting was fixed for April 26Ui. It was dec.ded to lift another £lOO of tbe wharf loan.

Mr Baekeridge presented like plan of the reclamaiion scheme at Kawhia, which was accepted. Cr Nouutm reported 1 hat he had arranged to have the posts to show the heightb of the tide at the Oparau and Puti crossings erected, the cos& of which would bo only a few shillings each.

Au account f ,J r £8 16*, sent in bv R Sircomb? for work iin conuectiuu with Iho scrab ft neo across the bay at Kawhia wai held over till* next meeting. Ou the suggf'Stion of Or Noonan it wri decided to ask tbe Government to acquire hjj or; 1 of about 14,000 acres of land near Tc Rau-a-moa owned bj King Mihu ..

The Ohairmin was appointed to confer with thi Town Bond relative to the collection of rates on absentee sections and aho on native town sec tions.

Cr Divios asked for a grant to repair Cuvett’s bridge at Waitetuna, tbe new stringers and decking of which wanted yuuitig together.—lt was regretted that folds wore source, and the matter was he.d over until they were more plentiful.