COUNTY ENGINEERING.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 169, 10 February 1914, Page 4

COUNTY ENGINEERING.

Monthly Report to Council.

At Thursday's meeting uf the Franklin County Council the engineer (Mr McA.rthur) reported as follows: "Taylor to Quinn's read, Mauku.— Having inspected this road in company with Cr Henry, I hnd that it would be useless to expend money

on the present surveyed road, the t grades being impracticable; £l5O v would be required *o make a deviation including compensation and fi ncirg. i "Burgess' Hill deviation. —Cr Flanagan and myself visited this 1 locality and considered that the ' cost of tha proposed work 3 would 1 be cnnsideratly more than the 1 amount available. I would suggest 1 that the Government be asked to 1 give £1 fir £1 subsidy. ' McPherson's bridge, WaiukuDrury road:—After further inspection I find that it will be necessary to erect a new structure as the present one i 3 not in a fit state to s!acd haavy traffic. 1 would sug- 1 gest that an arched reinforced concrete bridge be erected. 1 would estimate approximately the c:st at £750; this would include cutting down and ti ling approachea; £l5O appcai'3 on the Supplamarta y Estimates as being available for the work. "Re closirg road. —Mr J. Simmor. licensed surveyor, of Auckland, wrote asking whether your Council would have any objection to closing a portion of the road passing through section 26j, 132, 121 a, Waipipi parUh. Mr Simmon surveyed a deviation as shown on accompanying sketch, and states that the deviation will be dedicated and the old read closed as soon as he receives the desired informatioa. In company with your chairman and Cr Renal 1 I inspected th:se roads, and would suggest to your Ccuncil that the old poition of road be closed. "Re petition asking that road leading from Mr H. Kaihau's property, Waipipi parish, be opened Havirg gone over the rosd with the committee appointed Dy your Council together with properly owners interested, I could see to reason why this road should be opened or public money expended thereon. The present road between Mr Ridgley's and Mr Jones' property could be made in good order with a small expenditure, and 1 consider that it serves all persons interested as well, if not better than the one which is now asked to be opened. The chairman said it would be folly to open up this road. Cr Eenall : Will you sell the road? The chairman : No, I would not sanction that. It might bo wanted in the future but I think the Council should not iueur the cost that would be involved by opening it at present. Cr Eenall explained the position as he saw it. "Stone crushing plant,—On the 26th of January the crushing plai.t

arrived in Pukekohe fiom Papatoetoe and proceeded to Waiuku where crushing operations are proceeding satisfactorily.—The chairman said that the crushing plant Mas now doing good work. "Contract No. 5, Pura Pura road, Shipherd's hill, has Leen relinquished by the c.ntractor, Mr Charles Gabel. This contract was let for £299 15s on the 22nd December, 1913. A start was mada in the beginning of January and after clearing bush and doing a small portion of the formation, the contractor wrote ms stating he thought it wculd be necessary for him to thruw the contract up, owing to the Imd nature of the ground and difficulty in obtaining labour. Shortly after this I found that the contract was abandoned and that the contractor had ljft the district. A deposit of £ls has been forfeited for abandoning the works. Fresh tenders are invited returnable on the loth of this month,—The chairman said he had instructed the etiginoer not to wait. "Works have been laid out during tbs month as follows: "Creamery road, Hunua. "Key street to Kelly's bridge, Hunua. "Martin junction to Cowan's road, Hunua. "Martin-Ferguson road, from cross road to Martin junction, Hunua.

"Edward's boundary to Olau road, Hunua. "Otau read to Paparimu school, Hunua. "Schrol, church and creamery road, Hunua, "Waiau Pa tu Patumahoe road, frontage to Havergam's section, Mauku. "Waiau Pa to Patumahoe road, at Bailey's, Mauku. "Waiau Pa wharf, approach, Mauku. "Work lias also been done on Pratt's deviation, Rama Kama The routa considered as being best for the new road I find is almost impracticable, owing to a waterfall in the creek about 80 feet in height, "Re claim by Mr A. Moore i'or extra work done on Sutton's (.reek road, Waiaj contract.—Mr Moore | claims that he did more work than was shown in his contract. After inspection I find that Mr Moore is entitled to the amount claimed, £9 4s. ' On the oOth day of January I I was commanded to attend at the j Courthouse at Opotiki to give evi- ; dence on behalf of the Opotiki j County Council. With the permis- j sion of your chairman I left Puke- 1 kohe on Wednesday, the 28th day i of January, and returned on Monday, ' 2nd of this month, "I would respectfully ask your j

Council to bear the cost of running ; my motor whilst on county busi- j ness. I might point out that with | the car I can get through so much j more wurk, and i'or inspection there ! is no comparison between the car and j horses. I am willing tJ use my own j car lor county work if your Council i will pay for up-kecp and running expenses.''