CLUTHA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 1 September 1909, Page 41

CLUTHA COUNTY COUNCIL.

The jnonthlj meeting or tne Clutha County- Council was held at the County Chambers. BaWutha, on Friday ; present — Cra W. Niool (chairman), J. R. Mitchell, D. A. M'Lachlan, A. C. Saundera, W. Quin, W. Hay, Jas. Gumming, J. Clarke, and John Kdwards. The "Valuer-ajeneral advised having sent to the Treasury a. vouoher for £399 2s" 4d, balance of subsidy on rates for year 1908-09. — Received. Dr Robertson . notified a case of scarlet fever at Tap&nui, Dr Line a. case of septiceemia at Owaka Valley, and Dr Falconer <Dnnedin) a case of phthisis at Owaka, and in respect of the latter Dr Ogeton asked liiat tiie premisas. be thoroughly disirkfectod as soon as possible. — Cr Quin said the Tapanui case was the second in- the same house, after the premises had been disinfected. — Health Officer's request to be attended to. Robert J. Teller. John Calder. George Turner, Jas. D. Calder, Robert F. Welsh, and Joseph Meek, 1/ong Point, Catline, petitioned to have gate and fences on Long toint road at junction with main Waikawa road removed. — Or Saunders moved that the gates be removed and also the fences behind. — Agreed to. Walter Canton, C. Arthur, W. H. 'Petdhell, and eight other ratepayers of the Port Molyneux 'district drew attention to the state. of the roads between Kaka Point end Mr J. Murray's at Port Molyneux.— Mr ■Hay said the part on this side of Xaka Point would be attended lo as soon as weather was suitable. R. Inglis, Owaka Valley, asked parm'ssion to cut flax on road between Owaka antl Owaka Valley, and offered -a royalty of 2a per ton. — It was agreed to decline the offer. Archibald Gall and eight others at Owaka 'asked the council to improve the Big Mill road, which is almost impassable for traffic in its present state. — Cr Saundere said the "whole road was in a very bad state, and he moved that the engineer attend to the matter. — Agreed to W. J. To-oswill, Katea, wrote that there were many stray cattle on the roads, that -there was no pound nearer than Balclutha, and offering his services as ranger. — Offer accepted on the motion of Cr Saunders. Richard Campbell, Inverteil, wrote asking the council's endorsement of his application to have his private railway crossing at his place converted into a public level crossing — Or Hay said they should get a plan showing the exact position of the road and crossing, and moved to that effect. — Agreed to. Daniel Stewart, county solicitor wrote re his instructions to demand from Mr Balloch £50 for damages to road, bridges, and culverts by traction enjrine, giving particulars of the evidence he had been able -to obtain. It wps not sufficiently conclusive to warrant the prospect of successful action. — Cr Quin moved that the matter dron. — Seconded by Cr Cumming, and carried. EXfiINEER'S REPOBT. The Engineer (Mr W. R. Leeder) reported as follows for the period ondnif August 27:— I will begirt ay report by tendering you * recommendation with regard to employing a special team of, say. eisrht or ten horses ( .0 do "grading work in all the various ridings, or in such lidings a? the council may authorise. It Is not nece£s?ry for me to point out tc you the great advantage it would be to have this class of wctlc carr.el \ out in the e*rly season of the year, so that the excavated material wculd bave a chaice to consolidate during the summer In •Waipahi Riding the nembar (Cr James C m , ming) has requested me to endeavour io get ' 11 'month's grading and rounding up cf roads completed in that locality at the earliest possib!« date. In Pomahaka Riding Ci i Clark has also a b:g list of this class of I work, which will probably run into tha £jn - .e length of time. In Richardson Riding there ', is also a standing order to be wcTkad eff, j and in Clutha Riding up to date I have allocated about a week foi a team in this j line. This will give you upwards of two And a-half months' work from present alloca- j

tiona, and will put •% long mileage of bad clay reads in order. Beioxe concluding I would like to mention that this xnethicd was , adopted in Clydevale Riding last season. ! The bulk of the work was run out in a> few weeks, and fche reads set to such a degree during the summei traffic that they have required practically no attention since. I think Cr Mitchell (member for Clydevale) will certify to this system being an advantage for clay roads. It is not possible to get horses bere and there from farmers to push road work through in the suitable season. I The recommendation is submitted for your consideration and: approval Some road formation is required on the Pomahaka River bank road, near Conical Hil's. I have inspected 1 the locality, and recommend you have the work carried out j at an early dal«. With reference to the rail- i way crossing at Waipahi. I regret to report that the Railway Department stopped youi men when they bagaD to build, the crossing. As already reported, I met the ! district railway -engineer on the ground, arid t arranged with him as to the position of the ' crossing. I started my men afc ..he point | agreed on, but they were not allowsd >x> j continue. May I suggest that immediate -j steps bs taken to get an explanation of j why the man were not allowed to carry out ] the work as agreed. A lot of money has , been spent in making the read from, the \ quarry to the railway, which will be simply I thrown away if the crossing is not aMow«d i to be put in. Apart from this there is & j large ordea for metal to be run out of this quarry during the incoming season that will , have to be carted between three and four miles if yen are not dilow.ad the crossing. On the Clinton-Ta-pamii road, Pomahaka. Riding, the water tables are- bsing ploughed' and scooped. I hope to bave the maintenance metal run out on this portion of the j road tit an early date. On the Waiwera- ' Clydevale road in ibis same riding work of i a similar nature has been vigorously pursued j over a long stretch of fcbe road — that is, i ploughing and tabling, etc. A timber culvert on "Wai wer a-KaiMku roact has been xedeckect and upwards of two mile? of various roads | trimmed up with plough and scoop in eait • end of Clutha. RioMng. In Richardson R'ding I on bhe Main Port road, near Kakapuaka, j there is a bridge that i; ir an advanoad state of decay, and will require to be overhauled, redeefced, antl probably other miner , repairs effectsd as %ocn as possible. On | the hill going north from Waitepeka bridge about six chains of first-class maintenance metal has been carted out and spread on the read 12ft vide and •» good average depth, and it is all very nicely broken. Some maintenance metal has also been distributed over a portion of this ■same road near Brown' 3 Hill to fill \n holes, etc. The men in this riding «re now busy completing repair? to the bridge over the Puerua Stream at ' Lamond's. I think it would be advisable i to erect a centre pier in this bridga. If this were done the bridge would be strong enough to oarry traction traffic for a number of years — submitted fox approval. South Molyneux Riding. — During the month the mainten-ance metalling at or near Goldsmith's on Puerua "Valley road' was coinplet&d. About 100 loads of metal have be>an put out at this point. On this same read near Pusrua stcre^ and on Port road between factory and the store, 36 loads of metal have been distributed where urgently required. Ploughing and ecooping water tables in this i looality is under way. - Cutting willows on j rivet ba-Ti-k: Eighty chains of this weak hays I bean c omDleted 1 in detached paris a3 required, j Cat'ins Riding. — I hev>e nothing sensational 1 to uaport from this locality for the past period, as tha C&tlina district is not suit- j ab J e for profitably carrying out an extensive list of works during the wet season. However. I hope to have some important works sta.rfred during iSe incc-rning month, end will , endisavcur by date cf ycur next meeting to give you' a more interesting report of works J in progress in this district. On the Catliri3 Valley road about 25 chains of swamp chtcli I i-as besn cleaned out, and some mir.or repairs to variou roads effected with nsainten- j once metal, and some ditch-cleaning and j casual road wcrk ha* besn in hand! on Owaka I Valley road. Plans and specifications are j completed for the erection of t he new traffic 1 bridge on the Owaka River a* Friend's, and I I recommend ycu have tenders cil'ed f.i tb-2 work, tenders to be '.p 101 your next meeting. 1 l*ians and specificaiticns ax© a'so ready for j the rebuilding of the bridge on the Karhiku I Stream near Waiwera. Tenders for this ' work can also be invited foi your next m>3:-t- j •ingClinton Riding.— Contract No. 347, metalling Clinton -Owaka road., has been com- ■ pkted an a satisfactory manna. There is a 1 bridge on the Clinton- Wyndham read, about egbt miles from Clinton, that is not safe ' for traffic. Some of the beams are quite ' rotten, and it will be cece&sary to have re- | pairs effected rithcut delaj. With refer- ! once to opening road a i Waitepeka through ' section?, I have again locked into this matter, i and beg to report that I considei it impracticable o make a good worka,b'« red on- j tha old surveyed route If you decide to • have this road opened, I sm of opinion that ! it would be better to negotiate with the . adjacent land-ownere with a view to arrang- ! ing a change of route. By making a small j deviation a good workaLe „id -nexpensi%i» ! road can b-3 cbiained. ) Glenkenich Riding.— Attached to my report ' is a lettsr from G. and J End, in which they a?k that something be done lO lmjarovo the ' ttats of tho west end ol Waikoikoi-Ma:tland Village road. Their lettsr gives you further details. I may say I have traversed thja ' road en various occasions during my rounds. ! It is an old read, smd veiy lnt!e used for ' y?ars, but now that the railway is o^en to ! frtl^ %l U^ °*l° l the Pnncipal read, I for that district. With ycur approval 1 can give you an estimate of ccst of improvements at your next ni-t.ng. Recommendation to determine contract. I retrret to rp ! commend that contract X o 341 metallic ' at Waipahi, bo determined, in accordant ' with section 12 of the general of con.ract, as the contractor has failed to com- ' pieto Ike work to the specifications Tne contract uas let about eight months ago. The council resolved to recognise no ■ liability in connection with the case of i Horace Calder falling from a horse and ■ oustaimn? injuries on the Popotunoa road. ■ In regard to a previous letter from the ' Tuapeka County Council asking support in requesting the Government to aid -n buildin? a bridge ovsr the Molyneux at Tuapoka Mouth, the Clutha Council had no objection to the Government building a biide-s, but, a; C'r Mitchell su-.-gosted, "the bridge would bo bette.- if built low 21- do.vn. 1 Cr Gumming stated tliit there were a number of sections in Waipuhi township for which the rates could not be collcr--, e d, :is they could not find out the nuuieb of the owncs. — Resolve) iliat the clerk communicate with tho Public Trustee with a view to procuring the nauie-s and lia\ing tlio rates paid up. The Clerk r^uiried the receipts for H.e month as £400. The n.orjrl,!\ jjajsiif"-, a«iiountinij to £773 10« 9d, v. as pa-^e-J fjr pa\ merit. It was resolved that the ns^t ordinoiy mectiag be held on Friday, October 1.