HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL

Otaki Mail, Volume 26, 2 June 1919, Page 2

HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL

SPECIAL MEETING. j A special meeting of the above Coun- ; cil was held at Levin ou Friday. Prc- , sent: Crs. G. A. Monk (chairman), G. !P. Catley, S. A. Broadbelt, J. R j AVJ.yte, E. Law, F. J. Ryder. Jas. Me- ; Loavey, W. J. Bryant, and C. I. Harki ncss. I Correspondence was read and dealt I with as follows: | From L. G. McDonald (Levin), enclosing plan of subdivision known as Horowhcnua XL B 36. He proposed to oiler, the freehold sections for sale but before doing so asked tho Council to form a public road from the Foxlon road to a stated point. The road, he j pointed out, was already a public road. | —Special rating district to bo fornind | From Arthur Seed (manager of the Maymoru Estate, Ltd.), formally noti- ! fying tho Council that he had erected u j cottage, and a suspension bridgo to I give access to his property. In. view of tins he asked that a piece of road bo J cleared of slips as soon as possible and ■ opened up for cart traffic, and also that the road be kept open for continuous J use. His own men had worked in removing slips at various places, and for 1 this ho enclosed his account. He furj ther asked that tho road bo extended • to the suspension bridge, at least, and asked that a deputation wait ou the (Mmislcr of Public Works to secure a Government grant for the work. Notonly had his company been inco»v«nienccd by bad roads, but had also spent a considerable sum of money on the I road, therefore he considered he was juslly entitled to every possible consideration in an endeavour to secure an extension of the road. He was willing for his men to help with jthc work, proTided thc> Council paid their wages. Ah account for £4 Gs Cd was enclosed for wages expended on the Otaki Gorge road to April 30, .1019.—Held over f#r consideration at the ordinary monthly meeting. From Guy and Rapley, solicitors, Palmerston North,' acting for tho trustees of Bright Dros.' estate, and .W. M. iSimcox, writing with referenco to the farm of approximately 288 acres sold to Mr Bimcox by the estate. A quC3- , tion had been raised by Mr J. D'Atk as to tho access to the section from the. back of the property. For many years Bright Bros., D'Ath and Gcorgo Bevau had used the road leading into .tha back portion of their property through section 27, owned, they understood, by Mr D'Ath. A portion of tho Toad Lad actually been formed and a bridge" elected across a stream, and had Jicuii. maintained by the old Olukr Road Board, and after its merger by the Horowhcnua Council. If they were correctly instructed Messrs Bright Bros., Bcvan, and possibly others, had been charged and had paid a special rate for this formation and upkeep. They now asked to be advised as to the posif ion of the road. The firm also suggested that the Council transfer a. portion of an old road, which was of ti« use to tho Council, and which really belonged to the estate.

Decided that with the subdivision of D'Ath's property the Coocil was satisfied with the existing half-chain road, and declared that tho provisions of action 117 of the Public Works Act, 1908, should not apply, provided the Governor-in-Council consented.

In connection with the request on behalf of Mr Simcox it was decided to hold the matter over for more definite information. Treasurer's Eeport. The County Treasurer (Mr P. ,\V. Goldsmith) presented a lengthy and comprehensive report on the year'* work.

A tabic showed that whereas the Dr. bank balanco on March 31st, 2914, was £5033, £sllO in 1015, £5503 in 1910, cr. £5lO ia 1317, cr. £222 in 1913, and cr. £3838 in 1919. It was only fair tn state,. however, that the balance for last year was somewhat largo owing to the fact that certain works authorised and provided for had not been carried out, chiefly owing to shortage of team* and labour. Interest paid for 1819 amounted to £lO4.

The. treasurer reviewed the genera! rates struck for the past *>ix year*, anil noted that the rate for last year wan slightly higher than hitherto, which ' was not to be wondered at, considering the increased cost of all road i/miEten" ancc and construction work. The toUi amount of raten levied for VJIH-Vj wm Os lOd, and by March Sl>t £17,735 lis Sd. had been collected. The arrears of rates la«t year was £-305, ts against mil and £6Bl f or the prjjwc**., two years respectively. It was very desirable to collect as much arates a<s possible before March 3Jst, as it save* ' bank interest, and zedoeed clerical j

'work. The Satire rate eollectloa was not too satisfactory, though more was now being collected than formerly. The raazlsrum amount ut Government subsidy (£2500) was secured tot the past year.

The sum of over £IOO vrzm collected ia license tees, including £7l for dej tax smd £27 Magistrate's Court fee*.

The public debt of the county nowstood at'£loo,s4B. Bee-eatly one of the Izte Te Horo Boad Board loans of £2389 had raafured. It would be some years before any more loacn matured. •The treasurer said that one county, not so large as Horowhcnua, bad iat-

. ters well TEJtler way a losi* of £W,OO<) to procure plant anrl tar-seal « stiles of road. For a work oa a similtr scale in Horowheirua a special rate of nearly one farthing in the pound wooM be required, but, on the other baa**. *. large raving wotdd be; in the anneal upkeep of. the road*. Daring the year £?AI had 'ocen ggeai in the purchase of a »eari&;r, hor«e, dray, etc., making the cost of plant to date £1720. For Ms outlay the Coun-

cil had & 12-ton Avelicg aj*i Porter sleais roller sial egnipffiect," &a Acre* stone crusher, .acd Austin sesrifier.

jac, heat> t fiag eai' toaaeu, __j

The estimates for the year appealed to show that a reduction could be made in the anvuont of rate to be struck, unless further works were decided upon. Balance-Sheet. The balance-sheet for tho year ending March 31st last was also presented. Estimates. The Council proceeded to discuss the estimates, which were adopted. Following arc the figures for Tc Horo and Otaki Hidings:— Te Horo Riding. New bridge over the Mangaone •stream on Beach road, 1.25 span, £75; widening two bridges on main road south of Tc Horo, £7O; main road metal- . linn- from Otaki bridge to woolshed (Gillies'), £356; Tc Horo Beach road j metalling; etc., £125; Tc' Waka road , metalling, including swamp, £150; Man- | gaone road, Tc Horo,-£4O; half-share of Otaki bridge widening and asphalting, £300; tarring section of road through Te Horo, £SO; Rikiorangi metalling and widening, £100; half-share with Hutt I County, Rikiorangi road, £3O; Rassmus- j sen's "road, Rikiorangi, £SO; Gorge road, removing slips, etc., £4O; Wai- j

lioanga road, metal and widening formation, £45; subsidy to river protection as promised, £25; four permanent •surfacemen, £520; surfaceman's cotJagc (Hagan's), £75; Otaki cemetery, £ls; contingencies, £3OO. Total, £2370. Share of machinery account, £220. Otaki Riding. Metalling main county road, 2,oooyds j tit 58 od, £550; purchase of gravel pit , and fencing, £230; cemetery road metal- i ling (Fogdqn), 35; Ealuii road, metal- • ling and repairing bridge, £100; Tasnvan s ioad, metalling and trimming, £3O; : Manakau Beach road, metalling, £SO; j North Manakau road, metalling, etc., ■ 540; half-share crossing span and as- j phalting Otaki bridge, £300; widening main road at Pukchou, £100; tarring j section of main road from bridge, £75; . permanent and casual labour, £000; . P.taki cemetery, £ls; contingencies, £2OO. Total,' £2325. Waikawa Beach j ioadi £ for S, £150; share of machinery account, £l5O. [

' Wirokino Riding. The estimated expenditure amounted Jo £4205, including £IOOO for permanent and casual-labour. Tokomara Riding. Tokoniaru estimated expenditure amounted to £2150.

General Estimates.

Tho general expenditure .estimated j for totalled £4200. Included in , Peso arc the following items:— j Salaries—office (including clerk) £450, j •engineer £350, ranger £220, hospital » ■and charitable aid £1866, office ox-J n'enscs £55, bank interest and fees £l3O, councillors and chairman's travelling j •expenses £IOO, destruction small birds £IOO. Tho apportionment of the expenditure was as under:'—Tokoniaru £IOO4, (Wirokino £1540, Otaki £SSO, Tc Horo { £656. ' The Chairman congratulated the Clerk for the lucid report; on financial matters, and said he was pleased to see ithc rates had been sufficient to cany iout what had been proposed, except in JhcTe Horo Riding, whore the estimates had been slightly exceeded. A; year or so ago the Council had thought j it impossible to maintain roads unless it went in for machinery. This was sc- I ißurccl and he was satisfied it had prov- j ied a "ood investment. The present « System was good, but hot good enough, and traffic demanded a permanent surface' The matter was one that could not 'be coped with as the Council was Soing He had in his mind, some time .- fcgo,°a proposal to tar-seal the main ioad at an estimated expenditure ot £50,000, but he had decided, after he 3iHCW the Minister was taking a hand an such matters, to shelve it for the •time being. Ho thought the Minister would bring forward a proposal to na- } ■•tionalise the roads, and therefore at SaigM pay the Council to hold on for a While. 'Another proposal was the fornation of a memorial road from Auckland to the Bluff at a cost of about £SOOO a mile, or a total in all of £0 000,000. The question was, could the Council afford to wait for twelve inonths to see what the Government was going to do? He was against deLays as a rule, but in this instance he pought it would pay to wait a little There was one thing, and that was" bad the Council not got machinery %ho roads would not have been as good jaa at present. The Council had made iio provision'for more machinery in this year's estimates, but he maintained 'Other machinery was necessary. At the same time he would advise the Council Jo .wait.a year or so. It might then be procurable, at a reasonable price. Cr. Law agreed it -would bo advisable Jo delay the purchase of machinery, imd. gave instances of how iron and .Wire were arriving in lots of thousands Of tons. Cr. Harkness stated the report was 'Clear and concise, and the treasurer was • worthy of hearty congratulations. He agreed with the chairman's remarks as Jo the purchase of machinery, etc., and Considered it unwise to go in for a big public expenditure. Cr. Ryder considered every councillor Should be pleased with such a report, Which should also be most gratifying to .ratepayers. He did not favoirr purchasing more machinery for a year. : ■ ' Cr.'Catley said he had been pessimistic re the machinery purchased, and was afraid the application would be at fault He now admitted the machinery bad 'been beneficial, but considered Even better work should be accomplished. He favoured crushing the metal finer, and thought, councillors should feet in a'body and watch the methods. e thc machinery. *&g*&g* upon, and also felt thv She Council was in . its experimental regarding machinery. ■Ch Rvdcr considered the screener a disgrace" to the Council, and maintained Sydidnotgetatenthofthesereento£ He agreed that the metal was fcot crushed fine enough. The Chairman said he had watched IBS pretal put down i* tfw *** the

Hutt counties, and considered the Horowhenua roads twenty per cent better | than .those of tho Hutt. Taranaki ad- | vocatcd crushing on the large - size, 1 holding that fine metal soon wore into pot holes. Screenings, however, should Ibe used on the top. He maintained, •. however, there would always be pot /holes until the roads were tar-scaled. Taranaki, he contended, had to, go in ■ for roads on account of the high price of metal. The Engineer considered screenings i of- very little use on the main road, 1 as motor cars soon threw them off. Cr.'Catley differed, and pointed out that some of the best roads in Otaki were due to fine metal."

Cr. Harkness- said thorough rolling was the cause oi the success'in Tara; j nki.

Clerk's Salary Increased. The Council went into committee to consider the advisability of increasing the clerk's salary. Many compliment-ary-,-references were made to the thorough manner in which Mr Goldsmith had carried out his duties, and it was decided .to increase his salary by £l6 13s 4d per annum until it reached £4OO.

: The Engineer's Car. j It was also decided to allow the eni gincer an additional 5s per week for the running expenses of his car. j General Rates. j The Council resolved to take the proper steps to strike the following . general rates for tho year 1919-20: — , Wirokino Riding, Jd; Tokoniaru Riding, ) :;d; Otaki Riding, Id; Tc Horo Riding, • IJd.