Maniototo County Council.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 5 October 1917, Page 3

Maniototo County Council.

The monthly meeting of the council

was held in the County Council Chambers, on Wednesday, 3rd October. f Present —Crs Mann (chairman), Kinney, Morgan, Lowis, Ailken, Davis and Inder. K An apology was read from Cr M'Atamney for non-attendance on account of illness. The Chairman, in apologising for the absence of Cr M'Atamney, made sympathetic allusion to his serious illness, and expressed the hope that it would be found of a temporary character. The minutes of last meeting were read, and confirmed on the motion of Cr Kinney, seconded by Cr Lowis. Time Sheets.

Mr H. D. Atkinson, Wellington, forwarded sample copy of time sheet for which letters patent have been granted.—Received. County Council Bookkeeping.

The Secretary to the New Zealand Counties' Association wrote that the Executive Committee of the Association suggests that a uniform system of book-keeping in connection with county accounts would be advantageous to county councils, and with the ▼lew of testing the practicability of the suggestion and obtaining a basis on which it may pernapa be possible to establish some better system than that now in use, be was directed to request you to supply me with a specimen copy of what you consider the most suitable farm. —Received and laid on the table. The 1917 War Loan.

The chairman received the following, circular from the Hon. Minister of Finance (Sir J. G. Ward):—" When I addressed you just prior to the issue of the 1917 War Loan, I felt that* the leading citizens of oar Dominion who were reponsible for the direction of its local bodies would actively co-operate to make the loan a' success. As you are aware, the success was beyond expectations, and I desire to thank you for the part you took in bringing about such a, splendid result. Uar soldiers at the front will now feel that the whole nation is solidly behind them. Received. Insurance of Workers. The secretary, New Zealand Counties' Association forwaided the following circular: —"I am instructed by the Executive Committee of the New Zealand Counties Association to state that with the view of minimising the cost of insuring workers against accident it has been suggested that County Councils and Road Boarns should establish a Mutual Accident and Insurance Association, and when the matter was placed before the Honorable the Minister of Internal Affairs who seemed favourable to the proposal, he undertook to bring it before Cabinet and notify the association if County Councils and Road Boards at present had the power or whether legislation was necessary to provide the power. In order to enable the New Zealand Counttes' Association to proceed further in this matter, I am directed to request you to supply a statement of the amount paid in premiums ani the amount of compensation received in respect of workers insurance by your council or board during the three financial years ended 31st March, 1917, say as follows: Year; amount of premium paid, amount of claim made; amount of claim paid; dated ; signed. Moved by Cr Inder, and seconded by Cr Aitken—That the letter be received and that the clerk and engineer be instructed to supply the necessary information. —Carr i ed. Dow's Contracts.

Mr E. Dow, contractor, Wedderburn, wrote respecting the contracts held by him. —Held over until next meeting War Bonus to Civil Servants.

The Town Clerk, Green Island Borough Council, forwarded the following resolution which was passed at its last meeting, namely:— "That in regard to war bonus to civil servants, this council is of opinion that no unmarried employee without dependents receiving £l5O per annum or more, or married employed receiving £220 per annum or more should receive a war bonus, and that no special grants be paid to any official during the war; and this council directs that copies of this resolution be sent to all local bodies and members of Parliament throughout the Dominion." Moved by Cr Aitkeo, and seconded by Cr Mann That this council is in perfect accord with the terms of the resolution, and is agreeable to co-oper-ate with the Green Island Borough in attaining the views expressed therein. —Carried. . Patearoa. Messrs Carr Bros., Patearea, wrote applying for permission to lay a pipeline under the road leading from the township to Thurlow's. Moved by Cr Inder, and seconded by Cr Morgan—That the letter be received and the application granted provided the work is carried out to the satisfaction of the engineer.-—Carried. Motor Car and Cycle Inspector.

An application was read fn>m Mr I Alex. Smith, Ranfurly, for the ap-! pointment of Inspector of Motor Cars and Cycles for the county. He held a certificate of competency from Dnnedin. Moved by Cr Aitken, and seconded by Cr Kinney —That Mr Smith's application as Inspector of Motor Care and Cycles be accepted.—Carried. Control of War Funds. Tie Hon. Minister of Internal Affairs, Wellington, forwarded extract from from the New Zealand. Gazettee notifying aa additional number of registered societies.—Received. Re Proposed Road Access to Eweburn Gravel Pit. Moved by Cr Morgan, and seconded by Cr Kinney That respecting the correspondence between the Public Works Department and this council re ■grad giving access to Eweburn Creek Travel, the Minister be informed that this council is willing to erect the necessary rabbit-proof fencing and gates, and tbat the engineer be instructed to forward the necessary plan, memorial, and statutory declaration required under the Public Works Act. Carried. Riding Balances.

Your committee set up to consider sx« question of Riding balances at

31st March last, and their apportionment to the new Ridings as at Ist April, beg to submit for youc consideration the following report and recommendation.

The actual rate-paying values of Ridings was adopted as the basis of calculation, the values of non-rateable lands and lands exempt from rates being excluded.

The cash balances of each of the old Ridings was taken from the last balance sheet, and your committee, after careful consideration and calculation, have come to the conclusion that the following transfers represent a fair and equitable distribution of these balances to the new Ridings:— Old Riding New Riding £ s d From St. Bathans to Lauder 569 7 1 „ Mt. Ida to Gimmerburn 259 6 8 „ Idabura to St. Bathanß 207 8 9 „ Mt Ida to ldaburn 81 8 2 ~ Puketoi to Serpentine 14 6 8 „ Pnketoi to Hyde 249 0 0 ~ Kyeburn to Hyde 56 7 6 „ Mt. Ida to Kyeburn 45 7 5

Should these transfers he approved ■the balances standing to Dr. or Cr. of Ridingß under the new boundaries at Ist April will be ss follows:

Cr. Gimmerburn £259 6 8 Lauder 569 7 1 St. Bathans 374 5 9 ldaburn 290 0 11 Mt. Ida 254 1 4 Puketoi .699 3 7 Serpentine 479 5 2 Hyde « Dr. 29 5 2

Kyeburn 308 8 8 We are. Gentlemen Yours faithfully A. B. Mann, Chairman. T. A. Lowis, Peter Aitken, Members Finance Committee. A. E. Inder, Engineer.

Moved by Cr Kinney, and seconded by Cr Lowis —• That the report of the committee set up to report on the balances be approved aod adopted. Carried. Cr Kinney and others spoke in appreciation of the labour of the committee. Engineer's Report. Grader.—As the grader was in -the Higbneld district, it was decided to round up the roads where required from Highfield Btation to Sharkey's corner, thence to Gimmerburn school and along the main road to Eden bridge. The contractor made a start on the 20th but the wet weather put a stop to the work last week, otherwisa the work would have baen nearly completed by this time.

Hawkdun Runs.—lt is proposed to form the road through Hawkdun Rons with the grader as far as the second crossing of the Scandinavian water race. Now that the front runs are being fencad, it will be necessary to bridge the races for stock. Seeing the races are deep and carry a large volume of water it will be as well to make the bridges Btrong enough for dray traffic Timber has been ordered for these bridges as it is essential they should be put on for stock and for the cartage of fencing, etc. Contract—M'K. Marshall completed the gravelling of Reed's road after which he did the White Sow Valley main road contract. In both cases the work was satisfactorily done. The surfaceman was instructed to engage the teams after the contracts were finished to do necessary patch gravelling in the locality Wilson's Road.—Probably the wet weather will alter the contractor's arrangements. He intended starting on that work (gravelling on Wilson's road) at the beginning of next week, but the road will now be too wet. Seeing the lambing is on, Mr Wilson will be better pleased if no carting is done through his paddock until the end of the month, and I have written asking the contractor to arrange his work so as to meet with Mr Wilson' wishes, and finish the Puketoi end of the work first.

Dow's Contracts.—E. Dow explained to me that he was in communication with a man who would probably take on the work of gravelling at Lauder, and be was expecting a reply when I last saw him. Under these circumstances, the question of dealing with the deposits may be left until next meeting of council. Lauder Lane. —Owing to illness, Mr Rutherford bad not commenced work on the Lauder Lane, when I' was there last week, and the wet weather since has made work there impossible. Beattie's Crossing.—-I examined the crossing, but found Mr Beattie away from home. ' At the time- of Tny visit the water was confined to the channel made some time ago. Although in flood time the water may escape from the channel, there is always a likelihood that it will run in the channel for long periods and it can be bridged with rails and timber. As Mr Beattie has suitable rails, I would suggest that if he supply these and cart the timber, that the council will make a bridge over the channel, the council providing the timber and other material.

Ida Valley Back Road.—A stretch of the road from C. Brown's gate north to the top of M'Knight's Hill, is soft and requires gravel while one culvert is also required., Farts of the flat stretch of road from M'Naughton's to C. Mann's gate also should be gravelled and I recommend that a contract be let for gravelling ! these two places with five hundred cubic yards of gravel. Arrangement were made with Mr M'Naughton to supply teams for work on the road from his place to the main road, but probably the rain will inter fere with the arrangements. Culverts. —Concrete pipes have been | sent to Spec Golly, to Wilson's road, | to two places on the Patearoa station road, to Graham's and to the Black- : ball, but the difficulty is to spare the | men to put them in. Timber has been sent to Wilson's ; bridge, and O. Cambridge has underj taken the work of strutting and brac-

: ng the structure a3 soon as the creek is low enough. Timber. —There is still no word of timber for the Linnburn bridge, and at present it is practically impossible

to get timber suitable for bridges. The timber ordered for bridges at Becks, Lander, Hills Creek and other places is not yet to hand. For the Hawkdun bridges, the timber is of small scantling and short lengths, and there is a chance that we may get Australian hardwood. At present lam trying if birch timber of good quality is procurable in Southland and this could be used in some of the smaller bridges Beeing that the better class timbers cannot be got. Surfacemen's Camps.— Application was made to the Land Board for sitei on reserves at Gimmerburn, and between Waipiata and Ranfurly, in additition to one at Ranfurly. The replies to these applications will be before the meeting. A building has been placed under offer, which i know from passing by. The locality is suitable, and the building appears to bo good. I would recommend that it be examined and purchased if found satisfactory. If this were done, it would leave the hut intended for the Gimmerburn available for another riding. Hyde. —lt ha? been found impossible to start the work on the Hyde to Rock and Pillar road on account of the shortage of men, but as soon as they can be spared, I should like to have them on that work, as the present wet weather should leave the road in order for ploughing.

Washouts.—Several small washouts have been reported, and one or two of these are requiring attention, but 'ho serious damage has been reported. At Capburn the surfaceman states the water is .still to high to judge what amount of repairs are necessary. Dog Collars.

Moved by Cr Davis, and seconded by Cr Lowis That tenders be called for n6xt meeting for the supply of dog coljars for the ensuing year.—Carried.

Patearoa, Sowbum Creek. Moved by Cr Aitken, and seconded bji Cr Kinney That the engineer be in! stracted to prepare plans and estimates of the coat of a bridge over Sowburn Creek at Patearoa.—Carried. Surfaceman's Hut at Gimmerburn. Cr Davis notified the council that a suitable house could be purchased at a reasonable price. The engineer was instructed to inspect and report. Seattle's Bridge.

Moved by Cr Morgan, and seconded by Cr Lowis—That providing Mr Beattie is prepared to fall in with the suggestion of the engineer to provide the rails necessary and to cart the timber, also to take a share in the cost of keeping the water under the bridge, the council carry out the work at once. —Carried. Ida Valley. Moved by Cr Lowis, and seconded by Cr Aitken—That the engineer call for tenders for next meeting for 500 yards of gravel to be spread on the back Ida Valley road as suggested in his report. —Carried. \ ' Moved by Cr Lowis, and seconded by Cr Davis —That the grader be sent to tee main Ida Valley road as soon as available.—Carried. Ranger and Poundkeeper's Report. 1 beg to report that since last meeting I have visited the following districts:—Patearoa, Waipiata, Kokonga, Kyeburn, Hills Creek, Puketoi and Gimmer burn. 26 head of cattle were found wandering on the roads. All were released before impounding, drivng expenses being paid.— Received.

Accounts. Accounts amounting to £373 12s 3d were passed for payment.