FRANKLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 7, Issue 359, 12 March 1918, Page 4

FRANKLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

! Continued from page 11

Eoad Material.—During the month an inspection was made of the shingle deposits near Chalmers' Landing, in the Manukau Harbour, by the Chairman and myself, with a view of .using the same for road purposes. Although the shingle appears to be plentiful it is difficult to handle owing to the flat nature of the beach, the most suitable material for repairs being procurable only by carting some little distance from near high water mark to barges, the cost of this would be prohibitive. For general metalling purposes the material is not of a first-class nature, the stone being too round. _lf placed on a road for new metalling some other material would require to be used for a finishing coat; otherwise the shingle would not form a uniform surface. By carting direct from the beach some of the Karaka Roads could be served.

Approach to Hingaia Concrete Bridge.— With reference to the letter received at the last meeting from Mr Clements, of Papakura, re improvement to the approach road on the southern side of the Hingaia bridge 1 do not recommend the Council to incur the expense of survey and legalisation of an alteration in the approach road on this side. The road at this point has lately been formed and the approach to the bridge much improved. If any money is to be expended in improving approach roads to the bridge I would recommend that the road on the northern side be straightened.

Contracts for Tenders Received : Tenders were invited returnable on the 20th day of February for the following contracts, viz. : Contract No. 268—For forming and culverting 34 chains Hirst's Road, Hunua Falls : No tenders re-

ceived. Contract No. 269—For gravelling or metalling 43 chains of Creamery Road, Hunua : Henry McConnell £159 (accepted). Contract No 274 -For forming and culverting 24 chains of Tramway Road, Puni, near Coughlan's: One tender received, deferred. Contract No. 281—For widening and improving '2O chains of Hunua Gorge Road (Ist Section): No

tenders received. Conthact No. 282—For widening and improving 16£ chains of

Hunua Gorge Road (2nd Section)

No tenders received. Contract No. 281—For metalling Heald'sßoad, Hunua : No tenders

received. Contract No. 235 -For metallicg 14 chains of Key Strpet to Kelly Bridge Road: No tenders re-

ceived. Comthact No. 286—For gravelling 23 chains of Stewart's Road,

Hunua : No tendeis received. Contract No. 287 -For forming 81 chains of Waiuku-Drury" Road, near Cuff's: A. J. Moore, £212 15a ; Henry Tooman and John

Smith, 43204 (accepted). Contract No. 288" For all labour in connection with 20ft. span bridge with pile driving, Sutton's

Creek, Drury : Farrelly and Co., £22 15s (accepted) Coatract No. 289—For forming and culverting 47 chains of the Waiuku-Awhitu Road at Har-

vey's: H. Furniss, £ll6 Is; M. J Gleeson, £ll9 ss; 0. and T. Short, £ll6 ss, (accepted). The tender for Mr H. Furniss was sub-

ject to the Council supplying the necessary plant to do the work. Contract No 299—For forming and culverting 19 chains of the main road at McEwen's, Kohekohe: Jas. McEweD, £ll3 lis 6d ; 0. and T. Short, £B6 Is 3d ; G. H. Martin, £BS 16s 8d (accepted).

Contract No. 291—For gravelling 40 chains of McKenzie's Eoad, Maungatawhiri Valley (Ist Section) : 8. P, Pendergrast £lO4 10s (accepted). Contract No. 292—For gravelling 30 chains of McKenzie's Road, Maungatawhiri Valley (2nd Section) : S. Pendergast. £7O 2s 6d (accepted) Terminated Contract," viz. :

Contract No. 232—For quarrying and spawling 2000 o.y. of stone at the Keri Keri Quarry, Papakura : Contractors, Messrs Clark and Jones. Owing to the unsatisfactory nature of the stone after the quarry was opened up and the difficulty in handling and hauling I conferred with the Chairman and member for the riding and it was decided to terminate the contract. The total quantity of stone taken out amounted to 839 o.y. This stone has been hauled and stacked in different parts of the Riding ready for crushing. Contract Previously Advertise' 1 , now Let :

Conthaot No. 27; i For the supply of .'iOO c.y. of shawls Comrio's Hill, Pukekohe East Road, has now been let to John Frasor, the contract price being 43120 Brown's Road Works.— The who!.'

of the formation and metalling of this road under the £ 100 £1 for £l subsidy and £IOO :„.w; Ims bei n comploted bounty Road Plants The different plants are now working rtwliiy Good progress is mado with the metal hulling and sin old the weather prove favourable the metalling works ai.th.iisod will be completed tlii i season. '.l he teams' plant i.s engaged forming (lie Wa'uu to Pupakura' Road. The pimt taken over from the Kav.tka b'oad Board is under the chaigo of the team;-' foreman. Tito storm <r"shing plant is ongageil at present <'.t Harri&ville and will shortly he se.,ttto the Bombay district. Works generally are receiving every possible attention and are being carried out as expeditiously as possible. ('..I'M I!, lil.-i l\ss|o\ In regard to the approach o Hinguia bridge a further letter wis reail from Mr Clements enclosing an offer mudu ley Mr White to give an easfnier.t of'JOft for the suggest'd improvement on the Karaka side of the bridge

Cr Montgomerio agreed with the Engineer that the north side of the bridge was more in need of attention than the south side. Thore wore, he said, two or three dangerous bends there that should be done away with, Thd Chairman doubted whether it would be wise, even if preference for improvement was to bo given to the rorth side, to refuse to accept Mr White's offer as Mr White might agree to the work on the Karaka side being done at a future date. Cr Montgomerie and the Engineer were finally requested to visit the locality and to interview Messrs Clements and White and other settlers in order to ascertain their views on the matter. Referring to the subject of road material, mentioned in the Engineer's report, Cr Montgomerie urged that advantage should be taken of the shingle as it could be landed with little expense at various points on the Karaka-Waiau road. If not so good, he said, as crushed metal it was better than nothing. The Chairman informed Cr Montgomerie that a contract for carting 100.yards of shingle had been let for trial purposes. Cr Montgomerie, alluding to contracts unlet as detailed by the Engineer, said the same appeared to be small jobs, principally at Hunua. Such work, although small, necessitated plant, which constituted a difficulty for small contractors. He thought more tenders would be forthcoming if the Council had its own plant and hired it out to contractors.

Cr Lockwood stated that the contracts in question were of a fairly large type and that they had not been let was due to the scarcity of skilled labour. He was not worrying over them as he recognised that they would have to put up with inconveniences until the conclusion of the war. The Engineer, he added, would whenever it was possible let the contracts and the settlers were quite willing themselves to do the smaller jobs. The Engineer's report was then adopted and the authorities tor work as asked for were granted. J'INANCE ♦

The Clerk reported as follows : The overdraft at the bank on the County Fund Account is £10,416 13s 2d. Transfers from Loan Accounts, amounts due for Government grants expended, temporary advances to loan accounts and cash on hand due to this account amount to approximately £2BOO. The accounts ;iow due and payable from this account amount to £2,251 lis 9d made up as follows: General (including crushrr, e*c.) £603 18s, Awhitu riding £BB 5s 6d, Trury £2.51 Is Id, Hunua £9.5 0s 2d, Mauku£247 5s lid, Mercer £l5B 2s 2d, Pukekoho £260 Ms fid, Waipipi £9O Is 5;l, Waiuku £ls4 15s 9d, Contractors deposits £2O 16s, Government Grant accounts £l5O 19s ss, Interests accounts £BS 10s lOd.

The following arc the credit balances on the various loan accounts, viz.: Hill Distiict No. 2 loan £B3 Is 9d, (less £l4 17s accounts payable) ; Hunua Hiding Roads Loan £3l 6s 9d ; Piatt's Hill Loan £9 3s Bd, (less £sl 15a 7d accounts payable) : Brown's Koad Loan, Tuakau, £l2l 15s lOd, (less £76 18.1 7d accounts payable) ; Jamieson's Koad Loan (Buckland), £ls 15s ; ArrowsvilleKoad Loan (Aka Aka), £4lB 0s 9:1 ; Moumoukai Koad Loan, £305 Is lOd.

The report was adopted and the accounts as presented were passed fcjr payment.