FRANKLIN COUNTY COUNCIL.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 202, 9 June 1914, Page 2

FRANKLIN COUNTY COUNCIL.

At The June Meeting.

The monthly meetirg of the Franklin County Council was held at the County Chambers, Pukekohe, on Thursday. Present: Mr C. Motion (chairmaa); Crs G. Campbtll. Hu~ua; J. FUtiagan, Drury R. Lyon?, Mer:er; H. Wilcox and Dynes Fulton, fukekohe; J. A. Rcnall, Awhitu; J. Henry, Mauku. The county solicitor, Mr A. Hannu, was alio in attendance.

MERCER RIDING KATE. It wis found that in striking the tut'.t for the viri.ua ridirgs Mercer #ad been omitted. Oo Cr Lyons' motion it was decided that a rate be struck of Jd in the £, with any ' special rates existing to be added. THE RIDING BOUNDARIES. On March bth and on April 9th certain resolutions were passed affecting the boundaries of the 1 various ridings. The nature of these alterations has. appeared fully in the "Times." As there waa some informality about them, j Cr Campbell moved, 1 hat the 1 resolutions be rescinded. Seconded j by Cr Flanagan and carried. Cr Campbell said the Boundary | Committee h:d discussed the posi- | tion and were unanimously ngreed ! that it would be best to solve the ; questions arising on the ground. { He moved, That the motion standing io bis name to alter the boundaries j be postponed until the next meeting I of the Council.—This waa agreed to. j Meanwhile the Boundaries Comj mittee will prepare a fresh report. CLOSED KARAKA BOADS. The clerk of the Karaka Road Board wrote with respect to two roads proposed to be stopped by the Karaka Road Board, namely, the road fronTsection 83 to section 117, an I that from section 131 to lection lt>4, parish of Karaka It ; had been nqu?sted tbst these roats I should be stopped under the Public Works Act. The roads had never I be»n made or used and were of no j use to anyone. All the legal formalities had been complied with.

Cr Henry said the position was as outlined in the Istts.' and it wai of no interest to anvote to keep the roads open. He moved, That this Council sanction the closing of the roads.

Ct Flanagan serondrd, saying that the roads led to nowhere. The resolution was carried. ASSESSOR.

Mr H. Wily, of Mauku, agreed to act as County Assessor in respect to the valuations of Waipipi riding. BOMBAY ROAD. L. F. Wibeter, secretary of the Opaheke Hall Co., asked for 4 or 5 yards of screenings fir blinding, etc., for use near the entrance of the hall, Bombay road. The application was referred to Cr Flanagan to deal with. A KOHE KOBE PETITION. D. Ashwm, for the petitioners, wrote:—"Your letter and the published report of the results of the petition sent in are at variance. "I he report states that Cr Renall seconded the chairman's motion, on the understanding that if the mosey was obtained it should be spent from Lee's gully on. You write to say that the money has not been allocated from Lee's! gully onwards. Which is right? If the money has not been allocated for Lee's gully, then spend it where it was originally intended." The letter was received, Cr Renall saying there evidently was a misprint somewhere. LEVELLING WANTED. Alf. Allen, Waiuku, intimated that he wished to execute a little levelling on section 8, subdivision of Mr Mellsop's property at Waiuku. As the path on side of the road was also above the present grade no doubt that wr.uld be better for being levelled at the same time, which he would do at his own expense. He asked permission to go on with the work.

Left to the engineer. HAMILTON ROAD GRANT. F. Bigg-Wither, district engineer, j wrote say ins: that the Pukekohe West Road Board has submitted | specifications for the expenditure of ' £SO £ for £ (£lsoi on Hamilton road. It was understood that this ; was not a county road and that the 1 County Council dt sired that the Road Board should carry out the necessary improvements. The writer wanted to know if this was correct. i Cr Wilcox said the grant was { asked for on account of the district j not being merged, but probably I would be merging very soon. Cr Campbell thought this Council should confine its operations to those roads that had been taken over. If the Council waived the right of ex--1 peoditure then it would be a natter 1 entirely tor the Knad Board, and that j wan the right body to spend the i money. It was agreed that the expendiI ture of the money should be left to the Road board. ABOUT A KOAD. I The district engineer (Mr Mclnj tosh) wrote regarding Bycroft's right of way and Harrisville road, saying it had now been decided to delete from the agreement the proviso with regard to the closing

or resumption of this road by the Railway Department. Cr Fulton said he would not be in favour of taking the road over until the county engineer had reported upon it. He moved. That a report be made.—Carried. i BUOKLAND QUARRY. A letter was received trom Thorne Campbell and Thorne. layirg that Mr F. J. Bealing had seen them with reference to the metal that the Council was lifting from the quarry, part of which was on hii lard at Buckland. The letter added that the Pukekoh* Weat Road Board had admitted Mr Bealing's claims to royalty in the past and the Council was merely advised of i ita position when the time comes for payment. Cr Wilcox said there was a dispute over the ownership and if the Council psid out to the wrong man they might be liable. Cr Lyons 89id the best plan was to hold over any payment until the law suit had been decjded. It wb* agicwd rot to maks payment to anyone until the ownership of the quarry was settled. IHE TELEPHONE. Thomas Meikle notified that he intended connecting a wire to Mr ! Muoro's private telephone. He aeked permission for the wire to ' croae the road.—Granted.

MANGAfANGI ROAD. R. Chfal, surveyor, wrote reaped ing the road from Reed's lo Mangatangi bridge. There was a survey enor (nut Mb), which was delaying the work. Cr Lyons moved. That Mr Cheal be asked to make the lurvcy at once.—Carried. HEAVY TRAFFIC. W. L. Wes', Waiuku, secretary of the Waiuku banners' Union, asked: "What is the meaning of 'heavy traffic' in the by-laws? Does the annual charge only apt Iv to persons plying for hire, or does it include everyone as to weight to be carried? We presume this apples to all and sundry; is this correct?" As there were sevrral by-law questions to be dealt with this matter was deferred WHARF DUES. In reply tu questions arising out of a previous difeussiot', the Northern S.S. Co. wrote:—"We were never charged dues for Te Toro and Waiau wharves as only a small amount of cargo is landid at those places. We pay the Waipipi Road Boaid £l4 10s per annum." AKA AKA ROAD DEVIATION. Ma-on aid Mason wrote respecting a deviation effected some time ago on the Aki Aka road, altering the frontage of lota 40 and 41. Mr C. A. Fitchett's property was affected. As Cr Higginson is familiar with the subject the matter was referred to him. BILLIARD R'JOM LICENSES. James Evans, Bombay, applied for a billiard room license. Cr Flanagan said applicant wanted some alteration in the hours of keeping open, but he did not think the Council had power to do that. He believed that everything was tight in connection with the application and moved that it be granted.— Carried.

Cr Lyons mentioned that the bylaws fixed the price for these licenses at £lO per annum.

Several councillors expressed surprise at this and said there must have been some miltake.

The general idea appeared to be that what the Council really decided on was £2.

This question will be dealt with when the by-laws are reviewed.

LOOK OUT FOR THE ENGINE. The Department of Railway* advised its willingess to erect ad* vance notice hoards near railway crossing if the Council would maintain same. The chairman said that strangers did not know the locality of the railway lines and the embankments that obscured the trains made many crossingi »erj dangerous. Cr Campbell said as far as possible this proposal should be taken advantage of. The engineer is to make a report upon the crossings where the danger signals are needed. METAL QUARRIES.

Cr Flanagan said that in the county there were several first-class quarries. He mr.vrd, That the councillor for each riding, with the engineer, visit the quarries of his riding and select the best; the whole Council then to inspect the selected quarri r s in the several ridings and determine what ihey will do about acquiring the sites.

Cr Henry seconded. There were ■everal quarries in Mauku riding, Homu being) clone to where the Waiuku lino would go. Mr Finlay's would be iery suitable fur the Waiuku people and that gentleman was open to negotiation either for sale or royalty. FATUMAHOE TOST OFFICE. Cr Henry said they were moving for a grant for at. independent post office at Patumahoe. They had the site. He thought if an expression of opinion w«mt from this Council It might be of assistance in getting a grant on the Estimates during the coming session The chairman thought the Council should assist, and on Cr Campbell's motion Cr Henry's request was acceded to. Councillors forthwith signed the petition. MACHINERY. The 1-inance Committee reported having discussed the question of machinery. Cr Flanagan proposed that this committee recommend the Council to call applications for a traction engine with scarifier attachments. Resolved: That the Machinery Committee be recommended to procure plough, scantier and roller, as the South Road is needing immediate attention.

This report was adopted. UENbRAL. An offer of a traction engine and stone crusher "at a bargain" was referred to Cr Flanagan to inspect and report upon. The demand for £1531 16s Gd for hospital and charitable aid rate extracted the comment that the charge was always increasing. Cr Wilcox said nothing furthor had been done about Kutherford'a road. Mr Rutherford had said that if the engineer would give an estimate ot the probable cost he would, if the estimate were reasonable, p«v a cheque for the amount and clear it oil". But Mr Rutherford had not since come over for the conference that was proposed.—Tho engineer Is to make the estimate.