HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Otaki Mail, 15 May 1922, Page 3

HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

• ♦ MAY MEETING. The monthly meeting held on Baturdav was attended by Crs. G. A. Alonk (ehairmaii), F. J. Ryder, J. R. Whyte, 11. G. Giya at. A. R. Knox, 8. A. liroadlielt. H. Barber, J. AlcLeavcy. and C. I. Haikness. Rat Campaign Continues. The Health Department notified that i! was desirous that, the campaign against rats should be continued, and asked that the Council continue its eff'ot ts. —Received. Tuolic Works Estimates. The rublie Works Department informed the Council that if it proposed to applv for provision to be made on till- public works estimates lor either road or bridge works, the Allnistei would be glad if the application was forwarded. The Chairman suggested that Ooun-_ eillors confer with the Engineer and prepare a list of works in their ridings. This was agreed to. Antecedent Liabilities. The Fahintaa County Council forwarded a resolution in regard to the Local Bodies Finance Act. that all local bodies throughout the Dominion bo asked to approach tin- Government requesting it to apportion a part of the loan being raised in the London nisukei for pay mo it t of local bodies’ antecedent liabilities. The Chairman did not think it at all likelv that local bodies would get anything out of the £5.000,000 loan, and that the money would hat e to be raised elsewhere. Still the money would have to be raised, and raised soon. Ihc Horowhemin County would have to take its own measures, and he would

not recommend supporting, the 1 aliititua motion. Cr. Hal knc.ss pointed out that the Government had brought the legislation down in regard to local bodies finances, and had made no provision for carrying ii out. The Chairman: The Government has not shown us a way out. The letter was received. Slaughtering License. Mr F. w. Vo re applied for a slaughtering license for premises situated m Mamikon road. Qtnki. A letter was received from Mr W. G. Taylor in regard To the above application. He stated if the license was granted ho would like it made perfectly clear that no drainage would be allowed to pollute the water, of the stream that flowed from Mr A tire’s property into that of the writer’s. Until that was guaranteed he objected to the granting of the license. The application was. gnanted subject to the requirements of the Stock Department. ttnd the favorable report *f Cr. Ryder, after inspection. Excessive Valuations. Mr W. H. Field, ALP.. enclosed a Idler which ho forwarded a few days ago to the Prime Minister on the subject ot the excessive valuations placed uponthe Hurowhenua County, and upon which it was intended to levy land tux and local rates for the year just commenced. Many landowners, said Mr Field, would simply be unable to bear such a burden of taxation. As the. Council was aware there were many people in Mew Zealand to-day who were in receipt of no nett income whatever, but who were paying heavy income tax. This was mainly due to the fact that the tax payers were not allowed to set oft their losses in one business against other sources of income. It was also true that thousands of farmers to-day were working from daylight to dark to make ends meet and not. succeeding in doing so. and uci* paying heavy land tax on land from which no income was derivable. 'lhis

condition of tiling-' was coniiscation. not taxation, and hr asked the Counci , in company with other local bodies whose districts had been recently revalued, to support him in protesting against, such injustice. The Chairman pointed out that a taxpayer could apply for a new valuation, and if it cost him £lO. it might pay him handsomely to do so. It was admitted that the valuations were high, and were made, apparently, just before , ilo slump. That was unfortunate. There were cases in his district where the valuations had gone up 100 per cent., which was ridiculous. It had imposed a heavy burden on many, and they should apply for some relief. Or. Ryder thought the Council should support' Mr Field, as the new valuation -was a severe burden. A motion supporting Mr Field's action was carried unanimously. The Ngarara Drains. Mr W. H. Field, M.P., wrote regarding u.r isgaTara drains. The roadman had clears the drain satisfactorily from the sea to<-he upper lake, and then taken off. The ai« n above the lake was still blocked and required early attention. As Mr Field desiroa to clean the stream higher up. it was useless do-, ing the work until the lower portion jvhs completed. He hoped this would be done. The small bridge across the drain cut by the Council required renewing. At present it. was impassable. I'he matter was left in the hands of the Chairman and Engineer to attend to. Eoad at Pukehou. Messrs Harper and Atmore, Otaki, 7/r ote that they understood from Mr j -jp D’Ath that he was in communication with the Council in connection with the dedication of a small piece of road giving access to the properties of Messrs W. M. Simeon and Bevan at Pukehou. The writers wished to know the exact position, as they were acting for Mr D’Ath in the purchase of someproperty from Mr Simeon, and it was necessary that there should be legal access to the land, the subject of the sale.—lnformation to be obtained.

Noxious Weeds, Airs Grace Fox, Otaki, asked to be supplied with a list of weeds declared to be noxious by the Council. She understood some could be planted as hedges if kept trimmed. —Information to be supplied by the Clerk. Manakait Footpaths. Air F. Simcox, lion, secretary of the Alanakau branch of the Farmers’ Union, stated that at a meeting of tha branch, the following resolution was passed: “That it be a recommendation to the County Council to put in concrete kerbiugs in Alanakau in place of the present wooden one which had perished. and that, the path be asphalted.’-’ j The Chairman said foot-paths has • been promised in his own little township three year’s ago and had not been supplied yet. He said it was-a ques- j lion of linancc, and he moved the writ - | cr be informed that the work be undertaken when circumstances allow. This was carried. Engineer’s Report. f The Engineer (Air Anderson) reported: — Although the weather has again been very broken during the period very satisfactory work has been done throughout. the County. In the Tokomaru Riding things are in fair order excepting the main roadin the southern end, which will be attended to in the near future. The Kara Creek bridge on the main road requires

immediate attention as one pile is badly decayed and the stringers and decking . will have to be renewed. J The roads in the Wirekiuo Riding are i in some parts pretty bad order blit the ] plant' is at present working in this rid- I ing and a good deal of maintenance t work has been carried out since last meeting. Lower Gladstone road and c Upper Queen Street has received a fair 6 coating of metal, Arapacpac road south ] of Queen street has been patched, al- I so Fairfield roads and part of Beach r mad. A start has been made to reform and metal the main Lerin-Shannoil I road from Fotts’ road south. The L quantity of metal put through the h crusher in the Bartholomew road pit for the period was 1132 cubic yards, t< and this I consider a very creditable I performance considering the very bro- I ken weather and the amount of strip- 1< ping that is required. Of this amount C the lorry carted 1122 cubic yards per i« day and the balance of the metal was carted by teams. The Lindsay road F metalling contract was completed dur- L ing the month, and I intend shortly to A. give this road a final coat of crushed b metal. The asphalt has been removed p from the Ohtiu bridge (main road). The protective works at the Ohtiu A. bridge on the Alutiunoa East road arc A completed and a 42iu. concrete culvert fi has been put in on the Lindsay road cl extension. The grader is at present at T work in this riding trimming the edge b of the roads. D Otaki Riding.—The roads in this rid- k iag are beginning- to show wear, and a | K fair amount of metal will be required in keep these roads in order during the G winter months. The Alain road bridpje A. over the Wait-obit stream is in bad re- R pair and will require to be practically P rebuilt in the near future. The bridge O nil the Rahui road is also very bad and 11 will require re-decking at. once. Ttt connection with the estimate for watersupply for Alanakau township I have net been able to complete an estimate for this proposal as a large amount of my time during the period has been j taken up preparing estimates for the ensuing year, but I hope to be able to

O complete same before next meeting. To Horo Riding.—The main roadi | are in a very fair order, but some of j ' the district roads can do with some j metal and this work will bo put in hand whenever the estimates are ap- * proved by the Council. Re proposed water-race from Lethbridge’s to Hail- _ lor,- Cross: I have again inspected this locality and examined the springs from vh-i h it is proposed to get the supply for this race, but I cannot report very favorably on the result. The supply , may be quite alright in a wet season ( l nl t in a dry spell Ido not think the , supply would be sufficient owing to the _ very stony and' porous nature of the . ground. As previously- mentioned during the month a large part of my time has been taken up in preparing the Public AYorks estimates for the ensuing year, and I have had a copy of same forwarded to each councillor for their informa- i, tion. Councillors will note that the amount of this year's estimates is in excess of the previous year, especially J ; in the Wirokino riding. As I have re- j ported from time to time on the eon-! dition of the roads in the Wirokino rid- j ing. councillors are aware of their con- i dition and unless a considerable am- j qii lit is expended on them this year I t would not like to say what their condition will be in twelve months’ time. | Speaking of tits'*Engineer’s report, Cr. Barber (Tokomaru) reported that ■ the roads in the south end of the rid- j ing wore in a bad state and should be . attended to as soon as possible. Cr. Broadbelt (Wirokino) said he was glad something was being done to improve the main road at Ihakara, but he would like to see the road sealed at the point where flood water frequently came over, as each time this occurred it broite up the surface. The Engineer had said Wirokino riding was getting behind and the roads in bad order. He

wanted to know why. ■The Engineer said he was not getting much to spend on the roads. Cr. Broadbelt enquired what was intended to bo done with the soil being graded off the roads. Was it to be left there? ' The Engineer said it was impossible to cart it away. It was the usual practice to grade and throw the material back. On many of the roads, however, the water tables were too close and consequently the roads were too narrow. The surfaces right through the County, for that matter, were tfeo narrow for the traffic on them. Cr. stated that it was satisfactory to note that the Ohau brldga

was receiving attention. It Wad satiss factory, too, tft learn that the scarifier j was to be put on the main south road at an canty date. He agreed with the . Engineer that most of the road surfaces , were too narrow, necessitating the traffic passing- over one portion all the time. A case in point was the Ohau AVcst road. , Cr. Ryder agreed, with what was said ' about narrow roads. Cr. Bryant said Alanakau West road was in danger of sand drift, and at another sp#*t (lie river was everwashing. The road wanted some attention at once. The Kukii water race was giving trouble, and appeared to be losing j Water at different places. Cr. Knox asked the Engineer if half the water supply for Huiitere Cross was drawn from Air Lethbridge’s would it ibo sufficient to provide an adequate supply. I The Engineer said he though! so, and j that the supply should then be satisfnei torv.