HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Otaki Mail, Volume 26, 15 September 1919, Page 3

HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING. The ordinary monthly meeting of the above Council was held.on Saturday at Levin. Present: Crs. G. A. Monk (chairman), F. Coley, F. J. Ryder, J. RWhyte, S. A. BroudbclfpH. Barber, W. .J. Bryant, C. I. Harkness, Jas. McLeavey. . Mr Barber was given a cordial "Ctcome by the chairman. Correspondence.., Correspondence was read”'and dealt with as under: — Prom Department of Internal, Affairs rc peace celebrations and asking for particulars relative to celebrations in the district; and also for copies of peace programme. —Information to bo sup plied. I Prom N.Z. Railways, stating a culvcit under the lino near Mr W. Be van’s (Manakau) would cost £ll. On receipt of the money the work would be put in hand,—Left to engineer to have the work.clone. Prom Palmerston North Hospital Board, asking that the Council elect a representative in place of Or. Law, re signed.—Referred to councillors for the ' Tokomuru Riding to confer with the i Shannon borough, the appointment to l be confirmed by the Council. I The Clerk apologised for not bringing the matter forward for the last ing, but stated he had overlooked the letter. Prom N.Z. Farmers’ Union asking the Council to declare goats’ rue a noxious vreed. —Declared a noxious weed. From Under-Secretary for Public i Works Department, stating he could not recommend exemption of a road at Olian as. it was only a half-chain one, but would do so if widened lo 50ft. It was pointed out that the road ouly served two people.—Left to the Chairman to Interview the Undcr-Sccrctar^. Prom w. s. Park, enclosing transfer of McDonald estate handed over by Mr Tonrpsitt, and stating he had made two alterations as initialled by Mr Tompsitt The undertaking was purely a personal one, and the Council, if it accepted the undertaking, had no redress on the land involved. Decided that the road should be metalled before being taken over. Prom Brandon, Hislop, and Brandon, I asking for higher compensation in arc- j speet to land on Paiaka road (Higgin- I sou’s), £9O being considered insufficient. jj —Decided to reply that the Council considered £9O a fair sum, and would not offer more. Prom P. J. O’Regan, stating that lie had been instructed by G. K. Douglas to ask for a settlement of a claim (£o0) for work done. —Decided to offer L>o

without prejudice. From F- A. Clclund (Te Horo) stating that in view of selling her farm at Waikanae she would esteem it. a favour if the Council would complete the metalling of the road thereto, in order to give the incoming purchaser a better access than at present prevailed.—Left to Chairman and Engineer to attend to,

work to be done as soon as drays were available. From William and Jessie Filing, ' ing for improvements to Wallace Road. To be attended to as soon as possible. Prom John Kernard (roadman) applying l'or a couple of additional rooms to his cottage at Tokomuru, and stating the place had been referred to as a pigstye by the health officer.—Plans to be procured with a view to improvement. The Chairman pointed out that in the near future he hoped to have the housing problem fully gone into. From Robert Bevan asking that the

tree butts at the Manakau cemetery be t cut in half so as to allow him to cart them away and thus enable him to plant J a hedge. * He also suggested a wire fence be erected to protect the hedge.— c Cr. Ryder said the logs were unsightly, and it was useless to plant a hedge unless protected by a fence. The logs could be dragged away and burned as suggested.—Left to councillors for rid- ] ing and engineer with power to act. Prom Shannon Tutqr.il Class, asking for a grant to its funds.— £lo granted. . From T. O. Vincent, making application on behalf of himself and others for ( the formation of a special rating dis- . trict in order to raise a loan of £SOO to * secure a high’pressure water supply. Request granted. _ . From ratepayers of Levin asking tne . Council te raise a loan for the purpose of supplying their properties with high . pressure water. —Request granted. From L. G. McDonald (Levin), making application on his own behalf and others to raise special loans and form special rating districts ns under:—(l) Kawivl Block —a separate loan of £I6OO for making a road; (2) Foxton-Kawiu —a special loan of £I4OO for acquiring land, fencing, and making a road. Request granted. _ . _ From Messrs Saint, Podevin, Ruihi Wehipeihana, te Hiwi (2), T. Hillard and M. Kirkcaldic, asking the Council to form a special rating area and raise a loan to re-form and metal one mile of the Ohau East road—Necessary -steps to be- taken to accede to request. A Cracked Range. Annie Hagan wrote stating that the range secured for the roadman’s cottage at Te Horo was cracked on the tor side, had a hole in the bottom of it. j and had the boiler and back burned out. j The old colonial oven was preferable. I The writer also asked that the doors, j etc., lie varnished.' They were dirty and scrubbing was-®? no use.—Cr. Coley said he did nor,think the range so bad ■is : tated; it was a Shackloek, and with bricks at the back would be as good as ;sew. The range had been secured for £2 from Maymorn, and was a bargain. ’ The Chairman suggested a new range be secured. Left to Crs. Coley and Ryder to at- - tend to. Roadmen’s Wages. O. Larsen, K. Robinson, J. F. Corroll. \ A. A. Mitchell, T-r-Cootes, A. A. Butt, i tj. as-. Bear, E. Thompson, C. Kelleber, 1 83d H. Sualey (cuxfacemen) -wrote ask-

ing that their wages be increased from Its to 13s per day, and pointing out other local bodies paid their men a minimum of 12s per day. They also asked .the privilege of making a regular hour (1 p.m. each Saturday) to cease work. , *

I! The’ Chairman pointed out that the Ilutt and Manawatu Councils gave 11s i per day, Kairanga 12s. with six days I annual holiday, while Horowhenua gave ; 11s, with 15 days’ holiday. The argument now advanced was that the cost of living had gone up on account of the rise in wages, while others argued the •reverse way. He pointed out that in 1913 the Council pjaid-Ss (id per day, and that, the rise was not equivalent to the depreciation of the sovereign. At 11s per day the Council did not get less work, but It did not, get more, but still the Council had to do the right

thing. He thought a man recoiling lls per day, wet and dry, with 15 tlliys’ holiday, was better off than a casual labourer at 15s. To give a rise of Is per day meant to the Council over £SOO a year, and he suggested that as no provision had been made in the estimates to leave the matter over till the end of the financial vear.

Or. Ryder supported the chairman, bill pointed out that several of the surfacemen were on the old side, and that 11s per day to permanent men was much j better than 15s to the casual man. He I thought for the surfaceman to ask for | 12s was exorbitant. I Or. Harkness differed with this latter ' remark, and stated that the cost of living was high and likely to still soar. He thought the application should be received favourably and discussed later ‘ as suggested by the Chairman. • Cr. Coley agreed, and considered when the question was re-opened the ! housing problem should also be dis- ; cussed. He contended that if the Council, wanted good men the Council must provide good accommodating. Cr. Whyte said in his riding it was difficult to secure a surfaceman at less than 14s a day. The Chairman’s suggestion was agreed to, but it was decided to allow the surfacemen to leave work at 1 p.m. on Saturdays. A request front the engine-driver .for 12s board allowance was not enter- , tained, but it was agreed to give him I £-1 10s per week. . Miscellaneous. The lender of the .Modern Printing Company at £9 for printing the balance sheet was accepted. The “Otaki Mail” tendered £ll 10s and Levin ‘‘Citron- t icle” £l2. | Accounts amounting to £IOO3 were j passed for payment.' j Cr. Coley asked that the wire at the S Otaki suspension bridge receive atten- ] tion before the Council was .involved in ! hundreds of pounds.—Referred to the engineer. Cr. Ryder asked that tenders be invited for a concrete culvert on Lupin road (Otaki). He considered the price would be much cheaper than for pipes. While road improvement work was being discussed Cr. Ryder said hr considered the. crushing plant should not be on the roadside, as It had a tendency to frighten horses. —Xo action. Cr. Bryant reported that the roads in his Tiding were satisfactory, while j Cr. Monk, in speaking of the Hue roads in the Otaki riding, suggested that loads of crushed metal be deposited at various points. If crushed and left in the pits the metal cost more. It was decided to cull for tenders for a concrete culvert for Mangapouri creek, and that 200 yards of crushed metal be put out in dumps on the main road at south end of Otaki The baTapce-sheet for 1019 was signed. the clerk pointing our that it contained no “tag.’’.probably for the first imo in the history’ of the Council.