Horowhenua County Council

Levin Daily Chronicle, 14 May 1918, Page 4

Horowhenua County Council

The monthly meeting of the Horo-vh-enua. County Council was held on Sativ.'da-y. Present—'Crs Murray (in the. chair). Catioy, Broadbelt, McLeavoy, Whyte, Ryder and Law. Accounts amounting to £1644 were passed for payment. CORRBSPONIXEN Oli. The Public Wonts Department wrote nufehoriaing tho expenditure of £100 on a brid'ge aerobe the Mangaoue at the Pukenamu settlement. Mr E. Macdonald, Te Horo, wrote stating all the contribuJXHS at "the upi<cr end of the Katihiku drain were (V satisfied with . the recent worts, which I'ihey considered 'required deepening for about five chains at the ripples, taking the widening right to the bottom at fthe upper end and cutting out l oots visible on the sides widened from the Wells-Jensen boundary tip to the end of tlie work. It was considered rbhsit the matter bo left with Or Cat/ley and the Engineer. Mr A. A. Brown, Waikanac, drew :ii' ?nt):on to tlhe Paetawa drainage agreement and stated his iland was flooded by^the neglect of the Council to enforce the agreement. If something was 11ofj done he would be compelled to taike Jegal action. —'Left with <ohc chairman. Advice was reeeivodl from the agents that the scarifier for use wi th the road roller (had been shipped. The Shannon Borough Council asked! tli'at <jhc Conmty Engineer toe allowed to advise the Council for a few dn\ s. >"o action taken owing to pressure of Council work. The Otaki Town Board asked whether Anzae road coul dbe vested iiiL tihe Board as people turned cattle on it and tHie Borough ranger could not .'mpruind th©m. The cattle were destroying the santll cheeking plants tlie Board had planted there. —Granted. The Manawatu County Council drew attention iio the dangerous condition of the deck planking on the Foxton-■'ri-non Bridge. The Engineer stated he was attendin t to the matter. The Public Trustee acting for Roicl Bros., Ota'ki, on active service, asked •Shat the County Engineer report on river erosion that was talking place on their property, and the diesi'rability of building a groyn.— Granted. The Assistant Engineer, Public Works Department':. wrote stating he rould not recommend the application for the proposed deviat.'OJi of the Nga-tia-.va road owing to the steepness of tlie line. Tho existing line, iin his opinion, should not be departed from. T"he Public Works Department forwarded authority for the expenditure -f £525. Government £1 for £1 vote, on widening and l , metalling two miles of the Waikaiiae-Hadficikl road. The Engineer reported having written to the DistrkO Engineer pointing out that the authority was not in accordance with tlhe p'l'onH e made by the Minister in February I'jo a deputation that tlie whole of the money on the estimates for the Te ,Horo-Manga-r>ne and Main road Hadfield-W aikanae would be to the County for the purpose of widening an<l nidMilling about two miles of this road. Tlie Council could not afford to lose tlie. difference, £134. The dork reported having applied to' the State Advances Office for £500 Kuku water 'race loan No 2, and £1000 Te Horo Riding loan for road widening and adding a now span to and asphalting 'tih-e Otaki Bridge. It was decided Ao call a public meeting at Te Horo and Waikanae to take tire necessary steps. The General Manager of Ba'l\vays wrote stalling that there were no difficulties in the way of the propored level crossing at Otaki and it was decided that the work be"proceeded with. It was resolved 1 on \'lne motion of Cr B.ydisr, seconded my Or \L>aw, "that the Kuku water race final payment be held over until the next meeting, of the Council wlien the Council will endeavour to have Mr Bird. i:he present.'' ENGINEER'S REPORT. ™Ie Engineer (Mr J. Malcolm) reported as follows: Wirokmo Ridanig.—The metalling of Muhunoa road west (Ke'bbell's) i<s done and the worrt parts of the Muhunoa East road have also been repaired. The main road from 'ihe Waikawa to the southern end■ of the Village Settlement- has also ' been, repaired with metal from the Ohau river; there, was no time to put ifi through the crusher as it was set for the Foxton road and I was aimO'iis to get the drayn on doing the worst of it. The Comm|:tee appointed at last meeting to consider tho tender of Mr Winter for metalling the Foxton and other roads accepted it with slight alterations and the work is still going on. The timber work of the Mak"hika Bridge is finished and I expect the approaches will be finished to-day or Monday. I propose starting the scarifier on the Foxton road at once. I liadl to replace a good many culverts on the Foxton road; all the timber ones are now completely roiiten and will not stand the metal drays. The Koputaroa Foxton road especially the picco through I>r Newman's swam]") is geti.ing in a bad way on account of the flax traffic; they aTe carti*i.™ with narrow tyres and r--av they are ■inablo to get ':he regulation width as V mntcrtas cannot be got. They p.vo offtv-od to cart metal from the R nil way station at Koputaroa to repair the road and I think under the circumstances the offer i® a fair one and should/ be accepted. Tokomarn Riding.—The roads in tlie northern end of this rfding are now very good. Several motorists "have spoken to me on the matter and they nsßure' me. that they are good. There s a pi-oce of the main road between Shannon and ':he Miranni mill that is cutting up badly with the extra traffic and I will send the scarifier and grader up as soon as possible and see what can be done with it. The traffic planking on the Sh a n non-Foxton Bridge needs seeing to at once. I propose trying rimu this time for repairs but next time it will have to be asphalt. Totara is useless.