MANAWATU COUNTY COUNCIL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1081, 3 April 1913, Page 4

MANAWATU COUNTY COUNCIL.

The ordinary monthly molding of the Maium at,u County Council was held on Tue--day. Present: Ors J. G. Wilson (chairman), J. Henson, W. J. Phillips, W. Barber, B. Gray, 11. B. McKenzie, and 11. 11. Hunt.

CORRESPONDENCE.

The following letters were laid before the meeting and dealt with: Treasury, forwarding £39 5s 3d, paid-ons on tram. Same, forwarding subsidy amountincr to £1037 ss. Same, slating debt of £SIOO 4s 4d. loan raised 26 years ago, and for which the halfyearly interest was £ll4 15s Id, had now been redeemed. The total debt, of the Council now' stood at £49,613 Os Id, the half-yearly interest, on which was £907 10s 4d.

Audit Office, forwarding balance-sheet, having been audited. Slate Guaranteed Advances office, stating tho Board was now in a position to lend the £6O which the Council had ashed for some time ago for Oroua drainage. Same, with .similar reference to application for loan of £6OO for Bainosso road. Postmaster-General, with reference (o application to have the Sanson telephone open between 7 and 8 p.m. daily, slating Ihe extension would lie due when I lie number of subscribers exceeded 50. Public Works Department, forwarding Gazette notice of proclamation for biking land for Kopulara road, Block XIII, Te Ka wau S.D.

Valuation Department, forwarding account for £65 3s Bd, charge for revising valuation roll. Woodvillo Borough Council, forwarding copy of resolution in favour of a tax: on motor cars and motor cycles, tho money thus raised to be handed to. local bodies for the upkeep of roads. Waimnto County Council, copy of resolution in favour of addding 10 per cent to all rates not. paid two months after notices have been sent out. Palmerston Hospital Board, asking for payment of £224 9s 7d, levy for 1 Old People’s Home. Mr Frank H. Cooke, solicitor, Palmerston. saying the summons re Oroua Land Drainage Board had been argued and judgment losorved. Mr C. Aide, Rangiotu, asking for advice regarding tho clearing of drains through his and adjoining properties. Messrs P. Gedge and G. Good applied for the. transfer of tho slaughtering license held by William .Tones. TREASURER’S REPORT.

The county treasured (Mr A. K. Drew) presented the following report: Bank balances. —General account, dr., £360 2s Bd. Loan acount, cr., £290 12s Id. Net dr. balance,' £69 10s 7d. Riding accounts. —Available for expenditure to- March 31st: Waitohi £27 lbs 7d, Carnarvon £lO Is 3d, Whirokino £4B 18s 7d. Over-expended: Sandon £69 - 2s, Mt. Stewart £4l 8s 7d, Rongotea £l7 9s sd, Kawakawa £l7B 15s 6d. Awahou £326 Os lid. BUSINESS DONE.

Business was transacted by the meeting as follows; SATISFACTION EXPRESSED. The Chairman described the letter from the Treasury notifying the reduction of the debt of the county as a “pleasing piece Cr. Henson remarked that the Council would not now find it necessary to tax motor Ca Tho Council was also pleased to hear, as tho Chairman said, that the Government was now prepared to lend the Council two sums of money which had previously been refused. The clerk said the applications for these loans were being pushed cm THE TELEPHONE service. With regard to the letter from the Post-master-General regarding the opening ot the telephone from 7 to 8 p.m., the clerk said sonic time ago the settlers had been informed that it they got fifteen subscribers, the exchange would be opened as required. The Chairman said it would be necessary to have another officer here to open the office. ... • , , , Cr. Henson said it was an important mat* ter. The telephone here was a farmers telephone, and the farmers, who were genera ly away all day, wanted the use of tho telephone in the evening. . ... The Chairman, after communicating with the post-mistress, said that lady was wulling, for the sake of the settlers, to work longer hours. It was agreed to ask tho clerk to communicate with the Department. CATTLE ON ROADS. Mr Ohas. Hopping waited on the Council and complained that some 200 head of cattle grazing on the road in the Rongotea riding. These cattle were doing a great deal of damage to th e roads, drains, and fenpee, It was getting so bad that the people wpqld , s .°on not bo ablo to get along the roads for cows. Chairman asked Mr Hopping if he wdulcj Ije bp willing to go into the Court and give evidence pir fhCj -piatter I Mr Hopping saKrh© W3 S quite willing to assist the Council in any shape or form, (he wav the practice was going, it would eventually bo that each small settler would have a cbwyard at the corner of his section and e-onld milk his cows on the road, Ho honed the Council would do something to stop the grazing in the Rongotea riding for eV Cv!'Tluiit said that before ho knew that Mr Hopping was going to wait on the Council he had intended to ask the Cou .cd to close the roads in -the Rongotea tiding ag After further discussion the following motion was agreed to: That from April Bth the roads be closed for grazing stock in the ridings of Rongotea, Kawakawa, Awahou, and the Whirokino sub-division, Carnarvon, and the Waitohi ridings in all that Portion south of Awahun-Taipo road, and that mgtrue*tens b» given to the roadmen to nnSa *«•««"* 7‘ r h Henso jane or tho hoy/ Kopanp ppatl.—Crs. Henson and H“«£ vx ()N MO t O R CARS). Discussing tho proposed tax on motor cars, the Chairman caul There was a very great deal of motor traffic on the road from Awahuri to Bulls, He thought tbo.Councd would be justified in spending a sum of money in tarring a portion of the road bj wav of experiment. It was costing dd per square yard for two coats of tar on the streets in Palmerston. _ Cr. McKenzie again urged that .me Council should make provision for registcrmotion of Crs. McKenzie and Hunt, the following motion was carried: That in pursuance and of tb e ppwers vested it in that behalf by t&e Mfttor Regulation Act. 1908, the Manawatu County Council hereby give** puWic notice that it is tho intention to firing Part- 1.1- of the said Act, relating to the registration of motors, into operation as from May’lst,.lOto. COUNTY RANGER. . Crs Barber and Gray proposed that, subieset to his consent, Mr Wall, of 1-oxton, be appointed county ranger for the riding of Awahou (including Whirokino subdivision). MOTOR CAR BYLAWS. The Council held a special meeting at 2 mm., when the draft by-laws tor the regu“"m'sSwt, A license was granted |o Mr pharles Petersen to construct a private tram line along the Ballyhooly and Foxton-Sandon roads for the purpose of carrying flax. MISCELLANEOUS. Cr McKenzie proposed that the road grader be hired to ratepayers at the rate of 6s per day where, it is not used for by Cr. Hunt and agreed to On the motion of Crs, Barber »Rlj Gray, it was decided to give notice to Mr MPurcell, Pox ton, to dean out the drain miming througli Ins properly from tmj t'evigu-Hituilangi road to the Roima B Tho OvcrtiMi* was authorised to let (he cleaning of the Kflpulara dram, or any part of it, at a pri,co UQt nus c^ndecided to place on the estimates tho sum (if £SOO for tlie purchase of a stone crusher. • . , , , The tender of -I ¥■ Bp ipu was accepted for metalling on the pdmersiop-J/oxtoii road. Other tenders for metalling and draining were considered too high, and the work was left to the Overseer to be done by day labour. ' The Council passed a by-law restricting heavy traffic on the public r.oads.

OVERSEER’S REPORT. Sandon Riding.—Mr H. Scally is making fair progress- with his contract for supplying and delivering metal on the roads in this riding. Owing to tho difficulty of getting stone breakers, tho stone breaking is a good way behind, and up to tho present time tho cost of breaking down tho largo •stones is a fraction over le per cubic yard of gravel. Waitohi Riding.—We have put in a flinch pipe culvert on lino opposite Mr Brookie’s, and have also cut oft’ the water on tho east sido of the road about 20 chains above Mr Brookio’s. These improvements will prevent the storm waters flooding tho roads and Mr Brookins property. Mr Bishop is making satisfactory progress with las contract for supplying and delivering metal on the Sandon-Awanuri road. The concrete culvert, in the course of construction over the Main Drain on the Green road will bo completed about the end of tins week. As the approach to the old culvert was dangerous to tho traffic, wo decided to place tho new culvert a few yards fi.irl.lioi- up tho road from the corner, and in oilier lo cany out this work we hud to excavate a new channel and also erect a Jong wing wall to prevent the water scouring behind the end of tho culvert.

Rongotea, Hilling.—Tho usual road inainleiianco work has lieen dono on Jones’ and Tompkins’ roads. Messrs ,Smith and Hill have almosl. completed their formation work on tho Groon road, and are making very good progress with tho metalling. Mr (boksloy has completed the formation of file Kopane road, and is making satisfactory progress with the metalling. Kawakiiwa Riding.—Very little lias been done in this-riding during the past month beyond tho ordinary road maintenance work. Some time back Mr Saunders made an application to the Council to have a small culvert put under the Main Drain road near the end of Mcl/ennau’s line. At flu’s point the Main Drain road is flooded I 1,0 whole of tho winter, and tho water is dammed back in Air Saunders’ paddock for a considerable time during the winter months. I would also recommend the Council to effect certain improvements to the roadman’s cottage at Glen Oroua. The front room is about 21 x 12, and I would suggest that this room bo divided into two rooms. The roadman requires tho extra room.

Carnarvon Riding.—Air C. Martin has completed his metalling contract on the Whale line satisfactorily and has commenced his contract for supplying and delivering metal on River Bank line. Messrs Ehrhorn Bros, aro making fair progress with their contract for clearing out the Jordan creek. Air Kemp has completed I;is contract for improving tho Makowhai creek below tho bridge. During tho past month I tried to let the cleaning out of the drains at tho Kaikokopu lakes privately, but was not successful in obtaining a price anything near my estimate, and have decided to call tenders for the work.

Awahou Riding.—Mr Cookslcy is progressing favourably with his contract for supplying and delivering metal on the Foxton-Shannon road. The amount of metal is approximately 000 cubic yards and the cost about £450. If we continue to repair the whole length of this road for ordinary traffic we shall have to expend at least ' another £250. and probably more. The traffic to and from the flax mills is grinding the gravel down almost into dust as fast as we can put the gravel on the road, and in order to keep the road open for ordinary traffic the Council must close the road at once against all heavy traffic. If the road is not closed against heavy traffic the Council must expect a heavy deficit at the end of this year. General.--During the past month I made an inspection of the stone crushing plant at Ohingaiti. The Government has an up-to-date plant here for crushing metal for ballasting the railway line. The metal is worked on the same principle as an ordinary (lit. The metal is loaded into handtipped trucks and the men push these trucks up to the crusher and the whole lot is put through the machine as it is taken from the pit. The machine is worked by a 50 h.p suction gas engine and is capable of dealing with 130 yards per day. I also went down to Levin with the intention of hiring the stone crusher from the Horowhenua County Council, but the Engineer informed me that they could not hire it out for the next three months or more. Their machine is capable of dealing with 80 yards per day With a 5 h.p. engine. They also put through the whole of the metal as it comes from the face of the quarry. Tramway report. —We are now preparing the sleepers and making arrangements for laying a length of heavy rails. Several lots of silver pine sleepers have come to hand during the past month which are of good quality We have almost taken out the lower'level of the gravel pit, and have pulled the lino over to tho high face of gravel, and we expect the output of metal will bo much larger during the present month. .... TRAMWAY MANAubk'S REPORTA debit balance of £4l 7s lid was made, but included in tfie expenditure were the following extrq, items, rails and fastenings £l2O Is sd; sleepers, £l4 12s 6d ; freight on sleepers, £9 2s; total £143 16s lid. The chief items of traffic were: Grain 128 tons, minerals 164 tons, merchandise 1613 tons, flax 57 trucks, timber 86QQ feet, metal 260 yards. Repairs have been effected to two or the metal trucks and one of th<>. others is at present being overhauled. The special ballast train authorised at last meeting js at present being run. The locomotive “Rangitikoi" has been running fairly satisfactorily, but tho steam space in the boiler is not sufficient, and a great amount of power is wasted through priming being caused by-tins fault when a heavy load is being liaule.d. Mr U. O. Stewart is of opinion that the dome should be enlarged, thus allowing more space for dry steam. The total cost of carrying out the work would be £l6 10s.