MANAWATU COUNTY COUNCIL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1456, 7 October 1915, Page 3

MANAWATU COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING.

The Manawatu County Council met on Tuesday. Present: Sir J. Wilson (chairman), Crs W. E. Barber, B. Gray, H. H. Hunt, W. J, Phillips, Strode, Penny, and H. G. Hammond.

A letter was read from thellorowhcuua County Council, stating they would not agree to proposed expenditure on the Whirokino bridge deck, and, asked the engineer to meet the Horowhenua engineer for consultation. Mr C. A. Coley asked the Council to sell him the Shannon terry cottage. The tramway manager reported : The traffic in September was good, and a credit balance of ,£l9l I y’ :3 iid remains. The receipts with tire charges for metal constituted a record. The following were the chief items of traffic Minerals, 135 tons ; manure, 102 % tons ; general merchandise, 335/4 tons ; limber, 38,800 ft. : metal, V 175 cubic yards. Fares amounted to £$ 7s fid. Included in general merchandise were 5,114 cases of bensine and kerosene. The engineer reported as follows :—Awahou Riding : I have employed the road grader to trim up the Foxton Beach road, and also the Kari Kari and No. 6 lines. The usual road maintenance work has been done on Elkin’s, Motuiti, and Whirokino roads. Whirokino bridge. As requested, T arranged and met Mr J. Malcolm (Horowhenua County Engineer) at the bridge to decide what kind of timber should be used in strapping the bridge, but I am sorry to say we did not agree on the kind of timber to be used for repairing the bridge. Mr Malcolm is strongly in favour of using jarrah timber, and I am in favour, and strongly recommend, clean heart ol totara for strapping the bridge. It is a well-known fact that jarrah timber will not stand heavy traffic and the excessive heat that bridge decking is exposed to. Recent experiments go to prove beyond doubt that first-class heart ot totara will stand against weather conditions better than any Australian timber. The bridge is 685 feet long, and will require about 12,000 feet of timber to strap the bridge four planks wide on each side in the wheel tracks and repair the centre where required. The price quoted to the county for bridge heart of totara is 22s fid per 100 feet delivered in Foxton, and the price obtained from two leading firms in Wellington for jar lah is 27s at Wellington. My estimate for repairs with totara, leaving out the tar and sand, is approximately ,£220.