BRUCE COUNTY COUNCIL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 11 March 1908, Page 11

BRUCE COUNTY COUNCIL.

The ordinary monthly meeting of the Bruce County Council held at Milton on the 3rd, was attended by Crs Mosley (chairman), Begg, Adam, Bryce, Crane. Driver, Tough, Brown, and Noble. CORRESPONDENCE. The Hon. R. M'Nab wrote intimating that the Lands Department would be communicated with and requested to- push on the work of the Greenfield-Balclutha road as quickly ea possible. A letter of a later date, dealing with the same subject, was received from the Lands Department, stating that the department Ad not undertake road works, which come under . the department of the Minister of Public Works, and suggesting that the council communicate with that department and get the work put in hand. — ReceivedThe District Road Engineer wrote approving of the works proposed under the Government grants of last year. — Received. The Secretary of the Hospital, Board wrote conveying a resolution of the board re local bodies undertaking the supervision and isolation .of indigent persona suffering from infectious diseases. — Approved. Mrs R. Henderson wrote drawing attention to the need o repairs to ft bridge over the Mktau drain — Repairs to be attended to. W. Newell, Loveli's Flat, wrote, asking leave to erect a temporary fence in front of sections 3 to 5, Burnweil township, until such time as a live fence has grown. — Request granted. John Pearson, Akatore, wrote requesting the council to close a road through section 28, block IV, Akatore district, as the road had been exchanged another. — Resolved that the necessary steps to close the road be- taken. , Miss Paterson, Berwick, wrote complaining of unfair treatment in being called upon to remove a gate from a roadway when others were permitted to have gates on a con- j iinuetion of the same road. — Former resolution of the council to be carried out. Messrs Henderson and Davis wrote draw- j ing the attention of council to a bar on the i mouth of the Tokomairiro River, which had made the road unfit fox traffic. — Attended to. Letters were read from E. J. Wright arid J. R. Wallace re their claims for royalty on stone taken from a leasehold section a« Barnego Settlement. — Resolved that when parties interested obtain an order from the contractor giving actual quantities of stone taken out the council will pay the royalty. | Tne manager of the Bruce -Herald newspaper wrote advising th« council that he desired to withdraw from the present arrangement for county advertising, owing to the increased price of labour in the printing trade. — After discussion, it was Tesoived to call lor tenders for printing and advertising for ore year. Poulton. 8r05.,, Wangaloa., wrote asking that something, be done to improve the road • leading to their property.— Resolved t»at the chairman, engineer, and the mover be appointed to interview Mr P. Haggart as to a deviation of the road on his property. ' W. T. Brown, a workman employed by the council, wrote asking that his wages be raised to 8a per day, as 7s pel day was below the ruling wages for workmen.— The Chairman remarked that, while he was personally in favour of paying every man a fair wage, the council should go slow in £his matter, as it was dealing with ratepayers' money. He thought they were on the fringe of a period of depression in the Dominion, and felt sure that wage-earners as well as other people would have to take their share of it. If higher wages were paid, it could only be for a short time, and he thought if the men were not satisfied with the' wages paid they should be afforded an opportunity of bettering themselves elsewhere. He did not think the surfacemen were killed with hard work. During a brief discussion Cr Begg pointed out that the man who made the complaint ' could get the wages asked for on Government works alongside. — It was resolved to allow the request to stand over in the meantime. J. Smail wrote complaining of the manner in which the IncE-Clutha drainage works were neing carried out, and took exception to the expenses incurred in the carting of timber on to the works.— Dealt with in committee. ' I GENERAX. ' } A suspected case of scarlet fever at Hopefie.d was reported by Dr Sutherland.— Noted. ! The Chairman stated that* in reply to a ' communication from the Valuer-general, the name' of David Thomson, North Branch, had been forwarded as a member of the Assess- ; ment Court for revaluing Glenledi and Kai- ] tangata Ridings. — Approved. i The Chairman reported that at a meeting ol ratepayers of Balmoral Riding on February 22 a resolution was adopted to stop a ' road in Balmoral Riding as another road had been opened up. — Resolution to close road ' referred to was confirmed. i The County Clerk (A Nelson) reported that he had attended the sitting of the commission at LawTP-noe on February 21 to fix ' the proportion that Bruce and Tuapeka County Councils should pay towards the construction of a bridge over the Waitahuna River on the Greenfield-Waitahuna road. Mr D. ReSd, solicitor, appeared before the com- v missioner on behalf of the Bruce Council, ' and objected to pay any part of the cost of ' the bridge on a number of grounds. Evl- ' dence was given that only four settlers on Greenfield would b« directly benefited by j the bridge, and that the remainder would I be better served by the existing roads. Evi- ! dence was given that only one r settler per j day used the road from Bruoe County, and that double the traffic over the road came J from Tuapeka County. The commissioner j (Mr Short) was driven over the road after J the inquiry. He (the speaker) stated at the inquiry that only ~10 out of every 100 on Greenfield Settlement would use the "bridge when erected. The Bruce County side of the ! case was ably put by Mr Reid. The commissioner would give his decision in due course. ' Report approved. — The Chairman said the ; time was coming when the Government ! would have to take over all the bridges in counties. "There seemed to be na finality as to where a county's responsibilities for bridges ended — they had not only to pay for i bridges in their own counties, but for bridges j in other counties as well. The Finance Committee recommended thai i accounts amounting to £841 12s lOd be passed for payment, and the county clerk reported that the receipts amounted to £2012 0s lid. • It was explained that the amounts referred to were for a period of two months.— Ap- . proved. On ths motion of Cr Begg it was resolved — j "That a combined report be sent from th« Tuapeka and Bruce County Council engineers to the Lands Department asking that ! the road past Hardy's section, Greenfield, bo \ extended about 45 chains to connect with the present. Main road. «. POLLUTION OP A CREEK. Cr Driver and the county clerk reported as follows:— We found that the water from ' the naxmill at Berwiok flowed over a swampy '• piece of land before it entered Graham's Creek, and tho water was discoloured by flowing through decaying grass and herbage oefam xt entered th* creek. W« recommend

that » direct race be cut to the creek from the mill so that the water will not flow over the swamp before it eJters the creek. The manager agrees with th« suggestion. — The report was adopted. It was resolved on the motion of Cr Bryce, seconded by Or Adam, that owners of properties on Loveli's Creek be requested to remove all trees, shrubs, etc., from the banks of the creek where the flow of water i» obstructed. It was pointed out that the overflow of water in the creek, caused by branches of trees and shrubs went on to the road and caused considerable damage. PROPOSED ALTERATION IN BOUNDARIES OP RIDINGS. Cx Begg, in accordance with notice of motion, moved — " That the boundaries of the ridings be adjusted so as to more nearly equalise the rateable value and number of ratepayers in each riding.. . The Chairman thought the subject opened up by the motion wao too extensive to be dealt with by the council at an ordinary meeting, and he suggested! that the motion be held over for consideration at a special meeting. Cr Begg said that about 15 years ago Mr Smith, who then represented Balmoral Riding in the County Council, brought up •the matter of an alteration in Balmoral Riding representation. Since that period things bad changed considerably : Mtrauka Island, Barnego, Roxburgh, Blackburn, and Greenfield Estates, all in Balmoral Riding, had been cut up and closely settled. Four of the smaller ridings in the county were only about equal in valuation to Balmoral. Section 46 of the Counties Act of 1886 provided that the council should hold a meeting in March of the year preceding an election for the purpose of considering und altering the boundaries when considered necessary. If any two of the smaller ridings were put into one, and the representation reduced to one member, there would be a strong protest, yet euch two ridings combined would not be half as large ac Balmoral. Or Noble: The matter is in the same posi- i tion practically as when Cr- Smith brought it up years ago. I do not see that you can do anything with it. Cr Driver thought the question was a bigger and more pressing one than when i brought up in Cr Smith's time. It was resolved to defer further consideration until Monday, 30th inst., when a special meeting is to be held to go into the whole matter. The following is an approximation of th« valuation and population in each riding: —

ENGINEER'S BSPOJIT. The Engineer (Mr A. Nelson) Teporte as follow*: — "I have (he honour to report to you on the state of the roads and works for the period ending February 29, 1908: — " Roads. — The toads axe all in very good repair, and only some slight repairs Save been made since my last report. " Works. — On the bridge over the Washpool Creek, Pukepito, nothing has been done to finish tne works, and it -will be necessary to. cancel the contract and finish the works at the contractor's expense. The contract for metalling part of the road " fortification to Akatore'' has made good progress, and is nearly completed. The earthworks and formation on Akatoie road have made some progress past trig W. The contractor is at present attending to his harvest, and expects to be at work again in a few days. The works of deepening the Inch Clutha centre drain is making fair progress. The work is Hindered by the number of pine roots in the bottom of the drain. A start has been made with the erection of the groin on the Koua. branch of the Clutha. River, and the works are progressing favourably. Some of the bridges have been erected on the auxiliary drain, and the remainder will be taken in hand as socn as the timber ajrives. Part of the fencing material is on the ground, and will be soon put m hand. The repairs to the bridge over the rokomairiro Eiver at Milton, for which the Government gives a gTant of £100, are near completion. The bridge known as the Black Bridge over the Tokomairiro River is showing signs of decay, and I recommend that loads over the same be limited to four tons, and that it be closed for traction-engine traffic altogether. This will not cauee much inconvenience, as the Southbridge traffic can go by Dunn's Bridge or by the Cross road past A. Allison's, until such time as the bridge can be repaired. Timber has been laid down to re-plank the bridge over Graham's Creek, near Berwick. A email bridge on Coomb* Hay road bae broken down, and timber has been sent to renew same. On two bridges over the Matau drain the planking has been renewed. The planking on Waitahune Bridge has now been all renewed. The road on riversid« leading to Taieri Mouth Punt was washed away In some places by the swell from the ocean, and it has been built up again. One of the men engaged in this work had an accident through the capsizing of his dray, and on application has been made to the Insurance Company for compensation due under the council's policy covering its workmen, the work of widening the road on the side ofC.utha River below Pillan's is being carried on by the surfaceman. The road leading to Poulton Bros.' farm has been aurfaced and made passable for traffic. The bar on the mouth of the Tokomairiro River rose up J° such a, height thai the water was over the Ooom.be Hay road in ae-vera-l places. Messrs .Henderson and Davis offered to assist to clear the bar, and I sent the surfacemen to assist, and they succeeded in getting the bat lowered on Saturday last, and the road is now clear of the water and passable for traffic. I have called for tenders for the clearing out of the Mateu drain and Incnclutna dram, to be opened at this meeting.' — Approved. MOLYNEUX HABBOTTB BOARD. The Chairman reported as follows- — " Gentlemen,— l have to report that 1 attended as one of a deputation of local bodies and others on Mr Millar, Minister of Marine, re Harbour Board and harbour district. I proposed that Bruc« and Clutha Countieo should be the area included in the Mojyneux harbour district, and that Bruce and; Clutha Counties should each elect two menibera on the Moiyneux Harbour .Board and Milton, K&itangata, and B»lclutha boroughs one »acb. This, along with the two Government appointees, makes nine members. % also proposed that the eleotion for said members should be taken on the same day as th 6 county election, and in the boroughs tn4 same day as their election. The Minister, ifter hearing the various speakers, promiMd to form ft Port Molvneux, Harbour Board, md to give them the representation they Hesired.— Jos. Mosliy, Chairman." Speaking in support of the motion, tha Chairman aaid tha entrance to the river art Kaitangata and th* condition of the haiooiir was suffiqient for many fears to. cot M**** rke xeport wo* apptov*4

Valuation, x 3almoral .. £251,375 Clarendon . 58,549 Jrichlon .. .. 98,003 Jlenkdi . . 35,287 Laitangata . . 61,835 tfiatau .. .. 85,295 nchclutha . . 82,180 tfount Stuart 99,954 Cokomairiro . . 276,807 iVaihola . . 71,577 Fopul*tio 585 178 826 214 218 571 307 491 1157 632 on. Acres. 64,533 22,780 35,798 26,598 88,851 6,782 6,473 57,978 19,075 25,329