HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Otaki Mail, 13 February 1922, Page 4

HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING. s The usual meeting on Saturday was 1 attended by Crs. G. A. Monk (chairman), A. R. Knox, H. G. Bryant, F. J. Ryder, C. I. Harkness, J. McLeavey, J. * R.' "Whyte, S. A. Broadbelt, and H. J Barber. ( The Plague Menace. 1 The Minister of Public Health wrote ( in regard to necessary precautions in . I view of the presence of plague in Aus- ( tralia. He stated that plague was a J 1 dirt disease. "Wherever there were dirty - ( ! premises, dirty kitchens, dirty shops, ] dirty houses, or wherever there was no j adequate provision of rat proof recep- . tacles for food stuffs rats would bo found in numbers, and the rat was the . medium of league. Unfortunately in , the last few weeks there seemed to be a marked slackening of effort in the ( way to exterminate the rat. Many t householders were doing nothing, and , he warned them that apathy now , J would be disastrous. This month ! more than any other all efforts must be redoubled, for next month would begin the plague season. The Director tea oral of Health in. Sydney last week, in , announcing another human case, stated % j that a large visitation of file dread diseuse might be predicted almost with , certainty next mouth. The danger oi _ Sydney was almost equally our danger.. . The Minister, therefore, asked that ef ; forts be renewed in the poisoning anu s trapping rats, and to clean up the dis y triet during the next four weeks. On ; lv in this way could New Zealand In 1 , assured of comparative immunity. e “I agree that it is very necessary r for the Minister to have taken the action he has taken. We all realise 1 1 w I seriousness of the danger if plagui broke out,” remarked the chairman. Advertisements, he add, had been inserted in the local papers asking peopu to destroy rats, and it was just u point f us to whether free rat poison should be distributed. He had not heard that there was any demand for poison, and lie thought the Council hud gone as fur as it need in the circumstances. I The Minister's letter was received. Insanitary Building. The Department of health wrote stat ' ing that a report had been received t from a departmental officer to the ef ! feet that the premises of the public « hull, Mamikau, were in an in 1 sanitary condition, Certain st'-wc- 1 tural alterations were . imperative and the Council was required to point •' these out to the owner and have them ' effected. ■ Qti tiie Chairman’s motion it whs de-| cided that notice be served on tin- j ( owner of the hull to have improve- i meats made in accordance with the J ( Department’s request. | j Rebate on Rates. j 1 A circular letter was received from I < the Waimea County Council asking for j ' I support in the following resolutions: j 1 J “That the Government be urged to j ' ’ amend the Railway Act by inserting a I 1 ’clause enabling local bodies to make ajl rebate of 5 per cent, to all persons pay-j j ing their general rates within ."U days * I 'from the date on which such rates be- j > came due. ” ' The Chairman observed that tins j matter had come before the Counties j 1 Conference, but nothing had been done. - It was just as well to be frank to the i J ratepayers, and he would say that if J j this 5 per cent, was to be allowed as | rebate it would be necessary to add it - in the first place. Thus the man who ! I paid his rates within 30 (lays would re- ' j ceive no real compensation, while any- | - one who was late would actually have-, to pay 5 per cent. more. Certainly it J appealed to him that there should be some reward for prompt payment, but I he had no recommendation to make, j The communication was accordingly j received. * ? i Slaughtering License Granted. j Mr Button Deakin, Waikanae, applied for the issue of a slaughtering li- J cense.—Grained, subject to the approval of the Stock Department. Ngarara Drains. In regard to the Ngarara drains, a letter was received from Mr "W. H. Field, M.P., to the effect that nothing further had been done to clean out the Ngarara stream in conformity with the Council’s deed of covenant with Mrs Field. Her loss through the Council's default during the past year or more hud certainly amounted to some hundreds of pounds, and much of her land, which was dry and carrying grass and other plants fit for pasture before the ■ Council turned the water from the Paetawg, swamps through Mrs Field’s land into the Ngarara stream, was covered with water or water logged. “It has been suggested to me that the Council is uncertain ns to the extent of its liabilities under the deed,” continued Mr Field, “and if this is so I would suggest that an action, which need not be • of an unfriendly nature, be taken for I the purpose of placing the Council’s re- ■ soonsibility beyond doubt.” The position was most unsatisfactory and unfair to f ie!d ' and he hoped that j something definite yould portly be j done. / . 1 The Chairman stated that it might be an instruction to the engineer to do f something in the matter. After the visit of Mr Field, the engineer and the j speaker, one of the roadmen had been j instructed to do certain work there,, and had not done so. For that reason he had been discharged. -It was not the Council’s desire to avoid its rei aponsibilities, and would do what it had j rendered itself liable for. Up till now I very little could be- done,;- but it was j different now. the dry -weather had set } ■ in. * The Engineer was instructed to ati tend to the matter. Mr Field also asked that the regislra- [ tion of a small exchange affecting a . slight diversion of the Ngarara beach J j read be executed at once. £

The Chairman explained that some ftime ago a deviation had been made, but had never been legally completed. He considered the request was a reasonable one. The Clerk was instructed lyBridging Otaki River. A deputation consisting of Colonel Corrigan and Messrs F. Corrigan, IV. F. Kussling, and E. Crumpton, waited jOn the Council, and were introduced by Cr. Knox. Mr F. Corrigan said that a loan had been raised to construct a road along the Otaki river, but had not been gone on with. He understood that £750 of 1 iiia loan was still available, and the deputation wanted to know if that money could be diverted and divided in order to construct three swing bridges over the Otaki river. The Chairman said he had gone into ihe matter and found that there was not f 750, as the survey had to be paid out of it.. There were two courses open. They could return the loan money in hand and get a new loan, or got the money in hand transferred from road to bridge purposes. Colonel Corrigan asked what would .o necessary to get the money trans.erred! The Chairman: Get a clause in a ‘Washing-up Bill agreeing to the transfer. That is the way these matters arc dealt with. The Chairman added that the survey of the road and plan cost tlod, leaving GiOO. It was unfortunate a clause could not have been got in the Washing-up Bill of the present session of Parliament, but it would have to wait now till next session. in reply 1o Mr Corrigan, the Chairman said the engineer had prepared an estimate tor a swing bridge over the; river at “The Forks” at a cost of £750.. Colonel Corrigan stated it was very iisnppointing to Ihe owners to find that iHer taking up tlu: land there was no road. i t he Chairman saiil lie quite agreed j .vifn that remark. It was very unfortunate about the road altogether, but die Council had taken up the attitude of trying to do the best it could. Still, sympathy was not much good.

Colonel Corrigan said he quite believed the Council would do what it could.

The Clerk suggested approaching the State Advances Offices and see wliat they required in order to utter the purpose of the loan stjTaut it could be used for bridging. He thought that the bos' way to start, and they would soon : know where they were. - , The Chairman said that the Council should act on that suggestion, and it 1 was decided to do so. i ENGINEER’S REPORT. I I The Engineer (Mr Anderson) report-j led:— | I The period just ended lias been another quiet one as far as County work | is concerned. Most of the time has I been spent in general routine work, excepting in the Wirokino riding. The gang in this riding has been employed > ; most of its time in improvements at the I head works of the Waikawa-Kuku wa-iter-race and the erection of crusher J plant at the main road pit, IVeraroa. t The contracts on hand arc nearing com- & pletion. The main race deviation couj tract should be finished within the next f day or two. The Tokornaru Valley j Road metalling contract has now been I completed and the contracts for the * Lindsay Road -metalling are making good progress. The new Thornyeroft lorry came to hand during the week and appears to be very satisfactory. The greater part of my time during the period has been taken up in making enquiries regarding motor lorries and in | supervising the erection of the plant ! for crushing, etc. 1 Considerable discussion followed the reading of ih.e report. Cr. Ryder said lie very much regre-t----i ted the Chairman and other councillors j bad not accompanied him on his visit ' of inspection to the work being carried | on on the river tit Ohau East. lie did I not approve of what was 'being done there at the Council's expense. I The proper course was for the own'ers of tile land affected to co-operate. He did not- know way the groin had been put there. It-was 100 tar away from the bridge, and in any case he did not approve of it. The best thing to do was for a committee of councillors to visit the scene and confer with the settlers. The real danger was from the overflow destroying the road. The groin had the effect only of protecting one man’s property. The engineer said .the overflow had : (been going.on for yc-ars. The groin was built in order to turn the river down its old channel and this it had dune. The groin had done good work -during the last flood. It was decided that a committee consisting' of the Chairman. Crs. Broadbelt. Harkness, McLeavey and Ryder, together with the engined inspect the river at Ohau East and meet the settlers interested to discuss the question of river erosion. Or. Harkness said no w that the j Council had its new lorry, perhaps I some metalling could be done on Glad- ! stone road. The engineer said that would hare to wait as rue main roads must rgy-ci"* e attention first. -. Cr. Harkness remarked .that a motor bus was doing the round trip from I Kimberley to Gladstone road eonvey(ing the children to school, and the rid- | ing was very rough for the children I over Gladstone road. ] Cr. Broadbelt said he'motfteu that the Wirokino surfacemen had been employed on the races, and he ■ asked ir the payment of their wages would be charged against the races. The Chairman: Yes. Cr. Broadbelt stated that th&e-was-a j sum still outstanding on the cleaning . out of the Koputaroa stream, and i. was time it was‘paid. The work had been done for a private owner by the Council. Cr. Broadbelt added that _te had been over a good deal of tne CounI tv roads lately, and found them in very I bad order as compared with Manawa-

tu and JKairanga. Manawatu seemed to crush their metal finer and it made better roads. The "Wirokino riding roads were going to pieces in places. Cr. Barber considered that it was only on the slopes that our roads were inferior to Manawatu. Cr. Broadbelt said the condition of some of our roads was very bad.. Cr. Barber considered that was owing to too much clay being put over the metal. The engineer said ever since he had been here he had reported that the Wirokino roads required attention and nothing had been done. What was wanted was more metal. In reply to Cr. Ryder, the engineer said the Waikawa races were not eompleted. but he had gone as far as he had been instructed. Cr. Ryder referred to the want of a screen for the crusher. It was absolutely necessary. Cr. Bryant drew attention to the Waikawa bridge. Protection was badly wanted on the southern side. Cr. Knox asked if repairs had been done to the Waihoanga bridge. The engineer said this work had been placed on the estimates, but of course the Council had not been able to carry them out. and the work had been postponed. •Cr. Barber enquired if the tarring of the Manawatu bridge could not be done during the present fine weather. The engineer said this would be done at the first opportunity. In reply to a question by Cr. Ryder, the engineer said the plugs had been removed from the two barrels of tar at the Otaki bridge, and the tar had run to waste.