POHANGINA COUNTY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 248, 17 September 1940, Page 10

POHANGINA COUNTY

COUNCIL BUSINESS

WANDERING STOCK

The Pohangina County Council mot yesterday, those present being Crs. fc>. J. Strahan (chairman), W. McKay, T. E. Craine, G. M. Arbon, R. W. Jensen and H. B. Clapham.

Mr J. Enright, I'iri Riri, wrote complaining about wandering stock in his district. It was decided tnat the council communicate with the Main Highways Board inspector, pointing out that it was unable to have a ranger at the present time, and asking lnm to take action in cases of straying stock. The Mianawatu branch of the Crippled Children Society wroto soliciting a grant. The letter was received, councillors expressing the opinion that in view of possible future calls on county funds it would not be possible to make a grant.

The Manawatu-Wairarapa Employers’ Association forwarded a copy of the general order for an increase of 5 per cent, in award wages, a.nd the New Zealand Counties’ Industrial Union of Employers wrote requesting that the 5 per cent, be not added to wages pending the hearing of an application for exemption from the Court. Cr. McKay said he did not think the application to the Arbitration Court would meet with much success, but the council could not go above the request of the counties’ industrial union. The chairman said that the council would' just have to receive the correspondence and await results. This course was adopted. The traffic inspector (Mr D. M. Ford) reported that all main roads in the county had bean patrolled in August. No serious breaches of the regulations had been detected. Traffic on the whole was well conducted.

The Apiti Domain Board wrote thanking the council for the recent metalling done in front of the public hall.

The Wellington Provincial Patriotic Committee advised that the provincial quota for Christmas parcels for sold.ers was 620, and forwarded details of the contents of which parcels should be comprised. The clerk (Mr A. E. Orgias) said that the local ladies’ committee had at present about 20 parcels to send away, and Cr McKay said that the committee at the Mangapikopiko end of the county had also taken the matter in hand and was doing good work.

The chairman reported that he and Cr Arbon and the clerk had attended a. meeting in Palmerston North to meet the Minister for National Service (Hon: R. Semple) in connection with the formation of the Home Guard. There was very little further to report at the moment, as the forms for voluntary registration were being awaited. The New Zealand County Councils’ Industrial Union of Employers wrote saying that the Arbitration Court had inserted a different country work clause in the New Zealand local bodies’ (rural section) labourers’ award. It was desirable that the new clause should be properly understood if counties were to avoid the risk of substantial claims for country work. “Country work” was defined by the new clause as “work done by a worker in such a locality as to necessitate 'his sleeping elsewhere than at his genuino place of residence in New Zealand.” This was much wider than previous clauses—Received. The engineer (Mr >D. Watson) reported on general maintenance work done duting the past month, including a good deal of metalling and improvements to culverts. In the Pohangina riding gravel was put out to repair Pqhangina Valley Road. Where washouts had occurred on Te Awa and Ridge Roads improvements were effected by cutting back the high bank and widening that portion of the roads. It was left to the engineer to investigate the possibility of improving a bad bend on the Tunipo track so as = to give better access for cream lorries. The financial report showed that there was a debit balance in the county fund account of £1993.