FOXTON HIGHWAYS'BOiRD. ;

Manawatu Herald, 30 August 1881, Page 2

FOXTON HIGHWAYS' BOiRD. ;

Thursday, August 25, 1881. The Board roefc a 7.30 p.m. Present— Messrs Thynrie (Chairman), Gower, Cobb, md Carter. RIVER BANK ROAD. The cnly correspondence read was M r Robinson's letter re main drain and rive r bank road, which, together with the reso . lufcion of the Board, was published iv las' Issue. Referring to Mr Robinson's letter, the Cliairmaa remarked that Mr Larkworthy's original arrangement with, the Government was that he was to have the swamp for the cultivation of flax for dressing. His motion...asked for information which . he thought no one could object to. It was not of course Mr Gower's business, representing Mr Lirkworthy, to supply the information asked, in the motion, but the public had a right to know if the agreement had been carried out. The arrangement was that Mr lark worthy got the land cheap on condition that he did certain things. The public had a right to know if those things had been done. Mr Carter, in seconding -the motion, thought they had a right to get the information.' Mr Gower remarked it was a pity the matter was not brought up when Mr Larkworthy was in the colony a few months ago. However, it was a public matter, and he thought it was quite right that if there were any grievances they should be looked into. The motion (already published) was carried on the voices. MOUTOA RESERVE. Proposed by the Chairman, seconded by I Mr Carter, and carried : — "That this Board would respectfully enquire how the recreation reserve set apart for the use of the Moutoa settlers was but lately sold to Mr Larkworthy. They would desire to point out that such sale is unfair to the purchasers of land in that block, as the leasing of it would have provided funds for many necessary works. As the road from Foxton to Moutoa needs large sums of money to be expended upon it to make it anything of a. road, this Board would respectfully request that the amount realised from such sale should be handed over to this Board to be used iv the formation and improvement of this main line of road, and they believe the justice of this request will be admitted, seeing that they should at least have some satisfaction from the loss of their only re- . creation ground. " FOXTOS-OTAKI ROAD. Proposed by Mr Thynne, seconded by Mr Gower, and carried, " That the Chairman be requested to urge upan the Government for a grant in aid for the formation of the Otaki road, as the usefulness of it will be felt by the settler* in and around Otaki and Foxton, as well as by every traveller up the West Coast. That such further assistance is noivnec33sary to make the past outliiy available, which, without further labour upon it, the rubbish and timber will grow up and cause a useless extra expenditure hereafter. This Board desires to see this road formed, and would rather the execution of the work was left in the hands of the County Council, as before." FOXTON-SAXSOX ROAD. Proposed by Mr Thynne, seconded by Mr Gower, and carried, "That this Board desires to represent to the Government that on the sale of the Township of Sanson, the then Provincial Government guaranteed to form a road to it from the Port of Foxton, which has been but very partially fulfilled. They therefore respectfully request the Government to place such a sum upon the Estimates to properly complete such road. Local funds have been spent, but they are insufficient to execute the work within many years' time. The formation of this road would only be an act of justice to the purchasers of Crown lands in both Sanson and Foxton. " DRAINING THE VALLEY. With reference to the drainage of the valley to the south of Foxton, Mr Gower explained what had been done. He said that Mr C. Symons, through whose property the drain would have to come, demanded £50 compensation, and also raised the question of outfall, which, as proposed, would cost £50 more. They therefore offered him £100 to cover both compensation and cost of cv tting the drain. To this he agreed. The next question was how to raise the money ? The settlers mutually agreed to levy a rate on the land immediately adjaceut to the drain, also upon the roads which would be benefit ted, and the lands not adjacent which would be benefitted by the work. In order to ascertain the liability of each person, and of the Highways Board, an assessor was appointed, MrG. Nye doiag the work, and he (Mr Gower) though no better appointment could have been made. Mr Nye reported that N T o. 4 Line should contribute £10, and No. 6 Line 4:20. The Chairman— Which is No. 6 line? Mr Gower — From your gate to Mr M'Pherson's. He pointed out that the settlers would have to raise amongst themselves nearly £80, as, in addition to the work itself, there, was the cost of a legal agreement binding them to the terms agreed upon. They proposed to levy a rate of 2s * per" acre to meet the cost, besides which they hoped to get £30 from the Board, as indicated by Mr Nye'a report. The Chairman thought £30 was too much for the Board to give : £20 was quite enough. Mr Cobb— There is no other outlet for the drainage of those roads, but this, is there ? Mr Gower — No, there is not. This drain will affect 40 chains of road on No. 6 line, and 20 chains on No. 4. The Chairman said a glance at the map would show that No. 4 line was a very long one, and No. 6 a very short one ; consequently it was absurd to try and force No. (j to pay double what was borne by No. 4. The assessor resiled in the same ward as Mr Goner, and in which was No. 4 line ; and no doubt both gentlemen were very anxious to avoid all possible expenditure of their ward's moneys ; but that was no reason why hia ward, which happened to contain No. 6 line, should have to pay £20. Besides, all the settlers in Mr Gower's ward used No. 4 line, while no one would think of using No. 6 line, even if it were drained. Mr Gower said the Chairman had not put the matter correctly. Although No. 4 line was a long one, only a small portion of it was swampy, or likely to be oenefitted by this drain. Also, he himself had only a few days before been compelled to ride some miles with some cattle, simply because No. 6 line was not made. Although a short line, No. 6 was all swamp. The Chairman — But what would my distinguished constituent, Mr Larkworthy, say if I agreed to vote this large sum away for this work ? Mr Gower— Well, speaking in his interests, I say yon could net do' better with the money. The Chairman — Ah ! but in this instance, you know, Mr Lark worthy's interests happen to be in my keeping. (Laughter.) Mr Gower asserted that the Chairman agreed to give £20 to the work. The Chairman— Yea, front the Board, not

from my ward. If the Board assisted the work to the amount of £20, that was all that could be expected. Mr Gower held that as No. Online could not be made without a drain iue- Bofrd should assist to the extent asked. He had used the Chairman's name on the supposition that he agreed to the amount proposed, and referred to Mr Nye's report; from' which the Chairman had not disagreed when it was shown to him. He was prepared to put the matter to the vote. The Chairman thought it would be most unfair for the other two wardens to sit and vote away £20 belonging to his ward. He did not see that he should be the only good Christian in the meeting, bearing his wrongs with fortitude. He would suggest that each of tk'e wards Bhonld^give £frto the work. Mr Carter said rather than see an important work stopped for want of funds he would be willing to contribute £5 from his funds. - . • •< • ' '' * - * ,Mr Gower considered that having stated outside the Bjard would assist to the extent of £30, he was placed in a false position. He was quite prepared to throw it up. The Chairman said Mr Gower was not placed in a false position. He (the Chairman) could not promise on behalf of the Board. If Mr Gower ohose to "shy it up " in the' manner' he said, he could do so. The financial position of the Board was this : If all the rates were collected. No. 1 ward would have £29 to spend ; No. 2, £16 ; No. 3, £4 ; No. 4, £9 ; No. 5, £8. That was what they had to work on till March 31, 1882 ; besides which, they had promised to take £100 worth of gravel How, then, did Mr Gower propose to do the work 1 Mr Gower explained that he proposed an overdraft should be obtained until next yea; a' rates were collected, the two wards interested paying the interest. He thought the present unsatisfactory state of this matter was the fault of previous Boards, during nine years. It was an old, longstanding sore, and no one had cared to face the difficulty. He was as independent of the drain as any one of the settlers, and yet Ije had agreed to pay at least £5 more than his due, because it would cause the most beautiful valley in the Foxton district to be settled. He would altogether' himself pay £20 to the work. He was willing that £15 should go from his ward if there was no other way of getting over the difficulty. If the Board said he should pay £20, after inspecting the locality, he would do so. The Chairman said his contention was that the acreage benefitted in Mr Gower's ward would be greater than his own. The following resolutions were then passed :— Proposed by Mr Gower, seconded by Mr Carter, and carried, "That a deputation consisting of the members of the Highways Board see the No. 6 line, with the view to ascertain if it can be drained- without the proposed drain through the private land, and which drain empties through outlet at C. Symons 1 ." Proposed by Mr Gower, seconded by Mr Cobb, and carried, " That the Secretary be requested to send a written notice to each member of the Board, and request them to meet at 4 p.m. on Saturday, the 3rd of September, to inspect the roads known as No. 6 and 4 lines, with a view to see the relative benefit to each road that will he afforded by the proposed drain through Mr C. Symons 1 outlet." MISCELLANEOUS. Proposed by Mr Carter, seconded by Mr Cobb, and carried, "That John Carter be allowed to erect a gate on bye road at Moutoa, dividing sections 66 and 67, during the pleasure of the Board." Mr Carter explained that only natives use this road. Mr Cobb proposed, "That T. B>we be paid half the amount of his contract for deepening drain on Moutoa road. " He explained that a great portion of this work had been done, but now there was so much water in the drain that it was impossible to finish it. The Board thought it would be establishing a bad precedent to pass this motion, as the contractor might not complete the work. The motion was therefore withdrawn. The Chairman said he had been asked to bring before the Board the desirability of haviug a piece of road made near Adamß* brickyards. The settlers interested had offered to subscrible two-thirds of the cost, which would be about £12. It was resolved that the matter stand over for the present. There being no other business, the Board adjourned.