HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Otaki Mail, 13 June 1923, Page 3

HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

is MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Horo- °- whenua County Council was held in the Council Chambers on. ' Saturday, o there being present Mr G. A. Monk, chairman, and Crs. Darkness, Broadbelt, Catley, Jensen, White, Ryder and Bryant. ENGINEER'S REPORT. The engineer reported: The weather , during the period just ended has been very hud and the roads have suffered somewhat owing to so much rain. The work generally has been carried out in a satisfactory manner. The main work luring the month was the re-decking 8 mcl repairs to the Ofaki bridge and i vork on the Manakau bridge near . .Shannon, ft was only necessary to close the Otaki bridge for all traffic for ' seven day:— in this time the men em--7 ployed (10 in number) handled approximately rue,out) ieet. of timber. Tile above time included the lifting of all ! > J asphalt and old decking and turning! and re-fitting about half the old strin- . I gers. This I consider a very creditable performance and the men employed , J are to he congratulated on the way j in which they carried out. the work. . The whole of t'". <vori,- js nr ,\v prncti-1 cally completed excepting the longi-i tudinal plan! ing and the bolf'mg c; ! the wheel guards. Only five ii:c : are now working on the bridge. Owing to scour in the river at the Shannon bridge it was found necessary to remove one of the land piers ami turn two 20 foot spans into a 40 foot span—this work has been completed. On the completion of repairs to the j Otaki bridge, a start will be made with the erection of new bridges on the Te [ Horo beach road and Haniere cro^s road .also the re-decking, etc., of the ' | main bridge on the Mangaone road. The road plant is at present work- , incr on the main road, Mnkerua. and , will shortly be sent to Tokornarn. ] The greater part of my time has | been'taken up in supervising the work on the bridges and preparing the est' ( mates for the current year. The esti. , mates are now practically completed, i Accounts amounting to C 241 i 0s Gd , including CI2JS 1.9 s hospital levy, were , passed for payment. . Cr. Ryder asked in regard iu the | amount paid in hospital levy, where ] •laiion-K from ibis district were sun- , nosed to receive treatment —Palmersmr. or Otaki. Tie asked because he ha-'' , known of a man ordered to lt<.-nit ■■' j whom he expected to find in Palmers. . ton and who reallv went to Otaki. The chairman explained thai pap ] eiits were realty supposed to go ' | Palmerston. hut an iirgPnt ca.se mieh 1 ~ he --cot to Otaki in which ct.se thai hospital would be paid by Palmei-sto" in respect to expense incurred. CORRESPONDENCE. , I

A letter was received from the Henlt) Department, regarding the licensing o en ling houses, .and urging that tin provisions of the Ad as applied n such places be enforced.

The chairman explained thai tin provisions of the Act amounted to this that if they agreed iu the propo r >

every place selling meals must be licensed. There was a certain amount to be said in favour of the idea : as far .as lie knew no fee was paid and no hardship inflicted on the proprietors of such eating-houses, whilst if assisted the Health authorities. There would be no extra cost to (he Council for inspection as they already had an excellent man in Mr Hucrgins, who would do the work. He moved that the Department's suggestion be agreed to.—Carried.

The District Engineer wrote that s< far no applications for grants hat been received from the County am asking that if p.nv were rennired thn rhov should he made as early a> pos si He.

In connection with this the chairman pointed out to councillor- the necessity of making their requirements known to the engineer as soon as pos. sible, so that these applications cool'! be made.

The Waimea County Council wrote enclosing a copy of a resolution passed by that bodv. 'for which they asked the support of the Horowbenua County Council • "That in the opinion of this Council fully 90 per cent, of the wear and tear on'County roads is caused by motor traffic, and this Council respectfully urges the Government to amend the'Main Highways Act, 1922, by substituting the words "three-quarters" for ••one-third" in section IS (1) and also the words 'three-quarters' for 'one-half in section 19 (1) to provide that not more than one quarter of the

cost of construction and maintenance shall be paid for out of general rates. Also that a fair and equitable portion of the Tyre Tax be allocated towards the cost' of maintenance of £ou.nty roads other than those determined Main Highways."" The chairman said that the Waimea County Council bed evidently not read the-Act aright. The Act provided that under especial circumstances the amount stated could be increased. H>own idea was to give the present Act a trial. It. was worthy of that and every chance should be given it.

Cr. Ryder suggested that a reply to this effect "be sent. Cr. Hai-kriess opposed this, saying that the matter should be gone into thoroughly. He considered that the question of the tyre tax was a very important one.'and that the Government should be urged to give the allocation of this money serious consideration. He .did not' think that the framers of the Main Highways Bill had sufficiently considered this aspect of the question. Chairman: Have you read this Bill-

Cr. Harkness : No': you promised to o-et me a copv, but I have not received it vet. . \ motion that the letter be received was carried, the chairman promising that the matter would be gone into fully when a copv of the Aei was availnWe - The Shannon Borough council wrote asking for a gram towards the upkeep of the Shannon cemetery, stating that such a grant had been promised.

The chairman said that the statement that a grant had been promised was not quite correct, but he had no doub 4 that the Council should contribute something. Cr. Barber expressed the opinion thai' it was onlv right that Shannon should get something as other townships were doing so. On the sngjS-s----tion of Cr. White the matter was held over until the estimates could be bronchi down. The State Advances Department wrote that the sum of £SOO advance for the conservation of water-races had been lodged in the Post Office to the credit Of the Council.—Received A letter was received from Mr A. C. Holms drawing the attention of the Council to the long-standing question of the Tiro Tiro-Makp Me-ko water supplv "extension. The" chairman said that he had discussed the question with Mr Holms and did not think that anything could be clone without making a thorweb examination of fhe ground The i trouble was that these people thought I that one part of their land should be rated for the scheme and the other part not,

Cr. Catlev: Same old idea! _ The chairman said that the coun,-

Cillers should cro over the land and see "what ''ould be done. There were certain dlfflcu'itifts which would have

to be contended with, and a thing ti remember was that it wa§ advij&ble i. avoid a survey if possible as 11 U-i; was necessary the expensa wcu.'c have to be borne bv the people affect ed. The matter wa.s left in the hands c: the councillors for the Riding lor re port. The County Solicitors wrote tha they had searched the title deeds oj the land belonging to Mr A. J. Black more on- the Otaki Gorge road, and that the land had l)een sold by the old Manawatu Railway Company. When selling the land a chain strip" had been reserved along the bank of the Otaki stream as a road reserve but never dedicated, and the title thereto still remained in the hands of tiie company or their successor;. The chairman explained (hat this letter was the result of an application from Mr Blackmore for a road to hi* property, and he considered that the matter should be further gone into. If there was no rledicated road the onus to provide one \va. ; on the people who sold the land. Several sections were affected and the owners should act wit}) the Council to set the original owner, who gave titles to the land to provide, a road. Some tune ago tit* Council had raised money to put this road in, but had abandoned the idea, owing to the difficulties of the country. They had then offered in put a swing bridge into Mr n-acL-nnro's property, but on making the ■Uirnv-ry )ho| tpp roa( ] } )af ] no j been dedicated had given up the idea as the C-nntv was not empowered to spend monefon a road that was not dedicated. He moved that the letter be referred to Mr Rlackmore's solicitors for consideration.—Carried. The County Solicitors also wrote re the proposed crossing at Major Tatum's property at Manakau. A letter had been received from the Chief Engineer of Railways opposing the crossing on the principle that the Department wa> averse to increasing the number of level crossings, and" they considered that an overbridsre would lie required. Tihev had replied that this would not be a public crossing. The chairman pointed out, that this matter referred to a right of way which cxi-ted through some land behind Major Tafuni's property. Tins came to within a short distance of the main road and it was proposed that, some of Major Tatum's land be taken to bring the right of way out to the main road. This would not make a public crossing over the railwav as if would only affect the settlers who already had a light of wav across ii. It was agreed to support Messrs Park and Adam ; in their rep]v. [t. was agreed that Mr YV. !•;. Kilsby lie given permission to fenc at the plea.suro of the Cduncil a disused road running through his property, lie to erect a suitable gate. GENERAL BUSINESS. Cr. White u.sk-ed that Mr Kelly's boundaries be defined and pointed out thai the longer die matter was left the harder it would be to do. as the river was changing. Me also asked i.f anything was being done about" the planking of 1110 Toko.iua.ru bridge. The Kiigineer explained that . this matter was now in hand. Regarding tiie question ol' the mad to Mr Liggins" property, the Countv Clerk explained that this wa» n difficult matter to decide as a special loan would have to be raised and there would be difficulty in collecting the rales on same. Cr. White said be understood thai this was so, but he considered that Mr Liggins should be written to explaining this. Cr. Barber said something should be done. If not. as much as was asked perhaps a lesser scheme could be do ided op, Cr. Catley CWirokino) asked whal

timber from the OUiki bridge. The li.-.'ii'iiiji! explained that tin- would \)t: used for re-decking the other brid-•rr-s a 1 To I lore, etc. in answer 10 Cr. Ryder the Kuginee-r said that there would be 116 waste from the limber as anything down to one foot and eighteen inches would be used for culvert-. V. was all h«art of totara. and nothing- would be wasted. Cr. Broadbelt brought, up the question of ihe.'Bueklcy-Kopuliaroa road and en his suggestion it was agreed thai councillors visit this with a view to putting in an application for a grant for same. Cr. Bryant. ?aid the South Manakau road was very bad owing to being cut up bv the carting of the MangaJiao electric ow«r poles, ffe considered that an application- should be made to tr/e Government to have it put in order as ihov were responsible for its present state. The chairman explained that an application was being made. Cr. Jon .son stressed the necessity for repairs (o the Swamp roads in the Te Horo Riding. If these roads were not attended to shortly they would be impassa.ble before lone in regard to the- Hautere wafer-race extension scheme it was decider! that this had better be-postponed until levels could he taken. A deputation, consisting of Messrs L. McDonald, Horrobin, Wilson, .Tames and Watkins waited on the Council in reference to the Waiterere road, which was claimed to he in a very bad condition, the narts across the swamp needing forming and several cuttings opening out sand had drifted in. After hparinc what the settlers had to sav the Council decided thai -the Engineer and councillors for the Riding should inspect the road with a view to deciding what work would be necessasf,-. A vote- »f thanks 10 the cnair toneluded the meeting.