HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Otaki Mail, Volume XXVIII, 15 September 1920, Page 4

HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

GENERAL BUSINESS. At the monthly meeting of the above, on Saturday last, a mass of correspondence was dealt with as under: From District Health Officer suggesting alterations to a boarding-house at Tokomaru owned by Allr K. W. Guy. The building in its present condition, he considered, should be condemned. A house occupied by Mr Woods "as also unfavourably reported, on.— Notices to lie served on the owners. From Dr. Valinlinc, stating there 'was no intention of transferring )uI spcctor O’Brien from Palmerston N. I at present. —Received, i Front ■ Otaki Town Board apply ig 1 for a grant, of £3O, promised by 1 in: Council, for cemetery improvement. — ' To be placed on the pay-sheet. From N.Z. Fanners’ Dairy Lnion declining to accept an offer of £-0u for cottage at Koputurou, being £101) U'.« than the valuation. —Decided to purchase at the increased price. From W. li. Field, M.l’., asking it the Council hud any matter it do: red discussed in the Washing-up Bill.—The Chairman considered the only tiling I hat should be considered "‘as tin

lowering of the llorowhenua Lul.c. (Jr. McLeavey pointed out that thousands oi acres ol land were \.n>t i„.r on account of the present condition of the lake, and thought if lowered by IS inches to two feet it would be must boneliciul. It was decided that this matter be brought before. Mr Field for consideration in the Washing-up Bill. From Discharged Prisoners’ Aid .Sovietv, asking for a donation to its funds. —The sum of £3 3s granted. From C. Leslie Adkin asking that t.he Gladstone Knud be fenced. He also complained ol a gate on tno road being lel i (ipp’i. M i Adkin attended in sup

The Chairman promised that the matter would be considered, and suggested that a refund he made for the fencing if a loan was raised.

i From C. A. Loughnau (i’aliucrsloi j North) asking for drain improvement ‘ at Tokomaru, —Referred to the conn ctllors for the riding and engineer. t> ! report at next meeting of the Council

From M. A. Heighfon (Tokomaru complaining of wandering stock, whu did considerable damage to her pr pertyt —Referred to the ranger.

I From James and Isons (Levin), ask i ing for road improvement. Mr Jones. ! who waited on the Council in support, suggested that fascine be done while the Chairman considered the work would have to lie done by loan. ! Cr. McLeavey said to get inetal to the locality would cost Jfis per yard, j and suggested rhe matter be left in the hands of councillors for the riding and ! engineer with power 1o act. —Agreed to. [ From V. G. Cottle (To Horn) asking for a road entrance opposite his house t (To lloro). ho being now ready for tinwork to be done. —The engineer and councillors for the riding to inspect the locality with a view to having something done. From Field and Lm-kie, instructed ! by .Mr It. Hooperf Waikanae), relative to a (train constructed on the mala road, and complaining ot damage dor; - owing to diversion of water. Mr Harper desired to know it he cow. ! block the water from his land, all I they had suggested the matter be lei t to the - Council's engineer to make inspection with Mr Hooper. 'Pile Chairman said it had been nr ranged To take water from a by-street, and the water was in consequent.diverted, while the Council turned the water on Hooper’s land without authority, and he had suggested Mr ■ t Hooper block the drain. It was impossible to take the water elsewhere. Action endorsed. From Hair and .Tones asking for sonic one to par in a few- days’ work on the road leading from the main road to the Gieland esfate. midway be- , tween Te lloro and Waikanae. Only a little work was necessary to put tinroad in fair order. —To be attended to. From Airs Duckworth (Levin) complaining of the non-supplv of water on her section, and for which she had to I pay rates. — Lett to the engineer to see I if anything could be done. I | Important Public Works. ' A letter was read from Cenral Progress League reporting on the Paekakarikj Hill deviation and enquiring what labour was available. The Chairman said lie was afraid no labour was available—-it was no use beating about the bush. He also favoured pushing on with the Afangahao scheme as the most urgent, and at the same time keep the road steadily in view. The Department needed SOOO men. and could only get 1000. The road could never be made a main arterial road, and to spend money on it was a waste. The road had to be ■ shifted. . Cr. Ryder said there was no hope of getting labour in this district,, and pointed out the country should pay more heed to the labour trouble. Cr. -Harkness said labour was a big : factor, and the Mangahao hinged on it —it was a necessity and should be done before the hill road was started. Cr. Coley favoured the immigration scheme—the housing scheme., in his opinion, was a bogey, and pointed out that old pioneers made homes, then why not immigrants. Decided to reply that the Council regretted no labour was available at present, and to suggest that the Mangahao scheme bS given first consideration. Technical Education. The Town Clerk. Nelson, wrote asking to be supported in a resolution to the Minister of Education, stating the Council did not consider it in the province of local bodies to provide- fends for technical education, and that the Government undertake the whole cf the expense of education, cn a liberal scale. —The Chairman said the resold-

tion should have the Council’s sympathy as far as education was concerned, as it was a purely national matter. Cr. Harkness thought local bodies should assist, and said it should not be cast on the Consolidated Fund. Ratepayers had to pay it in the long run, and he would not support the suggestion. The Chairman considered it shuld be collected through the Consolidated Fund —education was necessary and should be equitably distributed. Cr. Ryder considered education was being overdone; they -wanted commonsense education, and not clasieal education. The Chairman spoke in favour of technical school education, after which it was decided to support the resolution, Cr. Harkness alone objecting. Gladstone Road. Mr Anderson reported that the Gladstone Road was almost impassable. A 21-ton lorry with logs was going over the road and doing much damage. If the Council did not take drastic steps there would be no road. He suggested the owner of the lorry be made to enter into a bond not to further damage the road. —Agreed to. Mr Howard at this stage attended the meeting and asked for the payment of £l3O for improvement to the road. He had only made -10 trips over the road with the lorry, aud could uot have done all the damage. His children had not been to school for five months — the roads being so bad. The money he had expended had been spent with advantage. He asked that all gates on the road be removed. At present stock damaged the work he had done.—Held over pending inspection. Engineer’s Report. The Engineer (Air W. N. Anderson) reported: — “I have the honour to report to you ms follows: — This being my first report since commencing my duties with your Council, 1 have little, to say except regarding the general work on the roads and contracts. The greater part of my time since my arrival has been taken up with making myself familiar with the. district and other county matters. The work generally throughout the county litis been carried out in a fairly atisfuctory manner, although on some sections the water-tables have been

very much neglected aud require immediate attention. The metalled roads are in fair order, but here again it would be advisable to have certain sections attended to at once. Several new concrete pipe culverts have been put in to replace decayed wooden boxes, and new crossings have been put in for farmers at different places. “Oturoa Road: Owing to one of the motor lorries having broken down, metalling on this road had to be discontinued for two weeks until repairs could be made to the lorry.

“Lindsay Road: Farr progress is being made with this work, and given fine weather ihe first large filling should be completed within the next few days. “ Kawiu-Foxton Road: The contractors have made very little progress on this contract since they commenced operations. “Before the next meeting of the Council I hope to be able to give a fuller report on works generally throughout the county.”