MOTUEKA HIGHWAY BOARD.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 118, 10 May 1876, Page 4

MOTUEKA HIGHWAY BOARD.

r The monthly meeting of the Board was held on the 6th May. Present : AH the members hut Mr. Talbot. After the confirmation of the minutes the;. Secretary made thei folio wing jre--porti-:— ; " The almost continued wet weather sfrice last meeting has seriously, interfered with the execution of; several of the. worka thenlef, and the roads in many parts of the: district will require, attention as soon as they are sufficiently " Since lastjmeetirig I have been to Nelsdri; 'aridlobtairibd the tracings re* quired for taking the necessary steps foirlegalisrng certain roads now in use. I shall advertise the proposed alterationß.a^Bo6ri? asT 1 cdn surveythe two _ new pieces of road on each side of the Motueka river, near : the Ferry. > ■"'!&" tW^ Motueka. siib-distriot the gravelling., is. finished in High-street, and also:, between Myers' '■ and the Mudflat; Hbe fdrmef piece,' thei large stones.require tfrbakinij. ..... , '-^ fn cOw|'panyV with J . Messrsr Guy. and J.'Dfummbnd'Xmemberß of the Board), I insp6c'ted ! 'the site proposed for a footbr,idge lacross.the .Motueka river; on DiggensV cross-road, and after conBuUation with those gentlemen have prepared a plan of a bridge, and have invited 'tenders for its construction. The cost will no doubt be more than was at first anticipated, but I feel certaifr itbat serviceable bridge cannot be constructed on a less expensive plao. V I have visited (He various parts of tfkk sl '.su'b-distr^ot idf Upper Moutere, where applications have baen made for assistance in repairing and making passable certain by-roads, the settlers interested agreeing to contribute towards the required work. "The Supplejack Valley road for about 8 brdO chains will be quite impassable when a settler has finished fenoiDg his land. This road may fairly be considered to be of advantage to the public^ as it opens up a. considerable amount of buflh land, the timber of which will be required for fencing and oiher purposes. |.'.'.Tfhe Riaipg Siin Valley road aiso leads ,-tO;. busb! ■ land, < is very much in need-of (repair, and [will continue to get worse unless something is done to repair it, as the water in several places is flowing on to the road and runuing down the} wheel-ruts. , The same!, remarks apply to the Manuka-valley road, except that there ia no bush land to op^o, up, in. this direction. ■■ , " With' regard to the road leading to Neumann' s> 'l think , fhe Board might contribute, towards the repair of one Bridge and culvert, as they are in a dahgefous state. The bridge (the top of which ia getting very rotten) might be done away with by putting in a culvert and filling up on the top ; but the road^ although very soft, in places, during the winter, is sufficiently good for the traffic on it. — "<Tlie roads in the Ngatimoti aubdistrict have been repaired in several places, but. the wet -weatbeV has made some of the new work very soft, one of the, bridges by Mr Goulß.tone's property having sustained a slight damage by the late flotde, but a little timely repair has made it all right again. •* Tfce road by the river at Pangatotara, alongside of Mrs Wright's property, has been nearly all washed away in, one place, and more land will have to be purchased to make the road safe for traffic. ; i ; : " ; "In the Riwaka sub-district, the foptpath onthe bank of the river, outsideaection No, 72, has been made at a cost of; £s 14ii.; but a further outlay of £2 will be required on this work, and, steps should be taken to prevent people from riding on the path, for if this is allowed the work done will not be likely to stand. *' The dam in the river is now in a good state of repair, the leakage being scaroely perceptible. " A small outlay will be required where the land is washing away by the new whar.fi ; t- ' . ' : ■ "I have not invited tenders for rounding up o the remaining portion of the swamp road, 1 as on inspection I found that it would not be advisable to take any stuff off the sides of the road, and the .ground is too soft to allow of material being, carted froth' the hills, I would therefore recommend that the work be postponed until next summer, when the .fine gravel brought down from the hills by the winter rains into the ditches will require to be cleaned out, and thus give good material for forming the road; the ditches towards the' North end of this road will require to ."be made larger, as now the land W the hill side is being drained into the upper road ditch, the water, after heavy rains, comes down much quicker than heretofore, flooding portions of the road,'and also some of the laud on the lower side. A dam put in at the end pf the ditch between Messrs E. Fry and E. Boyes' land by the late Riwoka Road' Board, to keep back some of the gra'Vel, has been partly removed by Mr' Boyes, who considers that it was made too high to admit of his land being properly, drained. "I have not been able to visit Brooklyn respecting a road, nor to take any steps u for preventing a portion of the water turned down the old mill road from flowing on Askew's land, in consequence of the river being too high to cross on the day I had arrauged to meet >the persons interested." Letter read from the Secretary of the Waimea Board; iu reply to one from this Board having reference to the completioa of the road between

Orinoco and Thorpe, stating that the completion of. that road is not withiu\ the present means of the Road Board, but that they will attend to i,t as soon as they shall have funds . at command. ■ .; A ; Letter read from ...the Provincial Treasurer staging that, the. snm of £30 had been paid to the credit of the Board to defray* the cost of exploration of road, between Riwaka and Takaka. ; Resolved, That as a considerable iportion of the Overseer's time haslberih: .taken up in surveying and laying off jgradients on the new line, the Secretary write to the Provincial Government to ikpowr,' whether, iti is their intention tfritake the necessary steps, for. haying the Jroad mafdeT"' '■' '■'■•■■*'•--■ ' ••'•■ - ,A, Jetter,^ ,was read from,. the E.roy^n--cial Secretary, stating that his Honor the Superintendent having recomjmended, that out of a small balance; idue to this Province, under " The'Payments to Provinces; Act,; 1874," and available for distribution amongst Road Boardß,;th6 Wm of £200:, be; paid to the Motueka Highway Board for expenditure on public works in that [district, and requesting the Board to ;prepsre affd 'submit a ached ule; of the] Iwor&a "proposed to be : i executed' 1 by x tnlf ißoard, and paid for by them out of the i£2oo referred [ to. >: : •' r'' [ Resolved, That the Secretary report j«t. the next. meeting. of the Board upon all important and essential works in bach sub-distriat, with an estimate of the probable cost of each work. : A letter was read from the Riwaka Poundkeeper, drawing, the. Board's attention to the dilapidated state of the Riwaka Pound, and stating that he cannot engage to be responsible for any cattle that may be placed in the Pound until it is put in proper repair. j Repolved, That the attention of the Provincial Government be called to the jletter received from the Riwaka pound' keeper, and as the pound at Motueka iis in a "similar state to that at Riwaka, an, application be made to the Government for a sufficient sum of money to put both pounds in substantial repair. A requisition letter was read from certain settlers and occupiers of land in the Sandy Bay part of the -district; complaining of the. .state of the track from Cook's hill to Sandy Bay, ao.d. promising ll fo 'cbnttribute brie-half the '■ jcost of the,, works-required to. put it in repair. ' """* '• : Resolved, That the Secretary visit the part . of the track complained of, with the view of having the same repaired on the conditions offered by the persons signing the requisition. Reßdlved, That the applications of the inhabitants and those interested in the, roads, to Supplejack, Rising; Sun arid Manuka valleys, be granted; the Board; .agreeing, to supplement the amount of their subscriptions 1 with an equivalent sum, and that the Secretary set : out and -let _ the required- work. - /. : -Resolved, That the bridge arid culvert c on the old Dovedale road, near Neu tpau'a," be, .repair jad^ the Board undertaking to contribute one-half the cost. 1 Resolved, That the Secretary order Mr Bsyes to replace the plaok he has unlawfully taken from the dam at the end,, of the ditch between Mr E. Foy's property and his own, and remind him be has not only rendered himself liable to a penalty for. interfering;; with the dam, but also liable for any damage that may have been sustained by what he has done. . ; Resolved, That as it is desirable the piece of road near the College be gravelled, the Secretary endeavor to let the work at not more than 30s per chain, and also tbat he have the' worst places on the road by Mr G. Remnant's gravelled. No tenders for the' above works having been received. , ■■■■ ' : ; Resolved, That the Secretary inspect the Pangatotara road from Heath's to , Marshall's, and take the necessary steps to have the same repaired. ; Resolved, That the Secretary lay out a road through sections Nob. 58 and 36, square No. 7, Ngatimoti, sub-dia-trict leading to Graves' and other land. Resolved, That the Secretary'fproceed with the ' opening of the road between Ngatimoti and Rosedale, Upper Moutere. • Warrants .were signed for the payment of £0"93 2s B i.