MANUKAU COUNTY COUNCIL

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 8, Issue 457, 14 March 1919, Page 4

MANUKAU COUNTY COUNCIL

Monthly Meeting. The monthly meeting of the Manukau County Council was held in Auckland on Tuesday last. Present: Crs. A. D Bell (chairman), F. 11. Brownhill, A 1). Reid, F. M. Waters, A. E Hattaway, J. Luke, J W. llowse, with the County Clerk (Mr Alex Bel!) and the Engineer i Mr W. J Lopdfll) MISOEI.LAXKOL'S An application was received from Miss A. 6. Webb for permission to remove earth from off the side of the road in front of h«r propeity at . Howick arid the matter was lefr in j Cr Hattaway's and thp Engineer's hands to deal with. Mr T G C. Moore wrote stating that he was prepared to accept the Council's offer of fid per yard royalty on metal to he from the quarry on his place at Brookby on condition that the Council lowered the face of the quarTy at least five feet. Tke Post and Telegraph Department wrote pointing out that the telegraph lines at Wiri were being interfered with through the growth of trees on the road close to the Wiri Post Office and requested the Council to take imjnediate steps to have the trees attended to. The Popartment also requested tho Council to arrange tojuwfthe trees cut at the road divefeln on the north side of Papakufra.—Left in the hands of the Engineer to deal with. A petition signed by Mr John Frost and eight other settlers on Redoubt road Wiri, was submitted asking the Council »o do some forming and metalling on Redoubt road •o enable settlers to get to their homes during winter months. —The matter was left to the Engineer to deal with.

The Whitford branch of the New Zealand Farmers' Union wtotc asking that the wharf shed at Whitf rd should be made rat proof and ren dered clear from flood water as ratepayers were frequently put to considerable loss through the above causes. Cr Brownhill said the wharf shed could easily be made rat proof while the matter relative to the flood water was already in hand —Cr Brownhill was empowered to take such action as he thought desirable. In reply to the Council's letter respecting the method of allocating the receipts from heavy traffic licenses among the various local bodies, the Town Clerk of Auckland City intimated that distribution was made on a population basis He pointed out that tha districts participating were restricted to those wherein the licenses wore available and any part of which was within five miles of any pait of boundary of the City, in terms of section 36 of the Mutii cipal Corporations Act, 1910.—The Clerk said the Council received £9 17s 6d from the City Council per annum, which amount was placed to the credit of the general fund. A request to have SDags in tho Wairoa river removed between the point known as the Island and the landing was received from the Clevedon Steam Navigation Company The writers pointed out that the snags were dangerous to navigation The use of the waterway, they added, relieved the cost of the upkeep of the roads, and they offered, if th=> Council acceded to the request, to secure the services of a competent person to

carry out the work capably and economically. Or Waters thought that before anything was done a report of the cost of such work should be obtained, and on his motion it was left to ihe Engineer and the Chairman to submit an estimate cf the cost for next meeting, after inspection Wi h reference to the new telephone line on theClevedon Papabura road, the Post and Te'-'graph I)e partment wrote atnting that they would like to know definitely how many poles wero affecVl in the portion of tho which was under the jurisdiction of the County. The Chairman pointed out that some of the poles required shifting back to he fence Otherwise, he stated, the job was all right. Mr A E Bailey, of Clevedon, wrote askiug if the Council desired to retain ;lie telephone laid on to his residence at Clevedon. ff not, he asked if the Council would make fiomA definite arrangement, either to sell the instrument to him, or to take it out of the building. -I f was agreed to offer the telephone to Mr Bailey for the sum of £5. A permit to eiect a dwelling-house for Mr Gillard, of Wallace road, Papatoetoe, was granted to Mr Ernest Colebrook, Papatoetoe. The Chairman was authorised to sign the necessary documents in connection with a poll that is to be taken regarding the construction of Manurewa high-level bridge approach. KOAI) LO.NSXltl'f TION I'OLIt V. A resolution was received from the Waipa County Council sta'irg that i:i their opinion tho time had arrived when some system of building permanent roads had become necessary, and further they considered tint such roads should bo conducted largely at the cost of the consolidated revenue, automatically k' v <3u The Waipa Council further considered that motor traffic was r.ow assuming such propoitions 'hat it could no longer be pfrmit'ed to escape t-iv■» t*.r.■ T tJi.'y sngiri'stod iluit a tax ol ;:t le.-l-.r Io per cent should li" 1- vied oil all tyn s i'nponed, iho lax to hfi co!lfit;<d through tho Custom*, aid divided 1 -■ '!u" i<|uitable system of distribution between the local bodies who hid •<•> construct and insintain l tie road* They asked -iij.j.oit to the same On the motion of Cr Biowuhill, it was decided to take no action.

j OHA/I.Vfj Kl' i 1 11 I.KABKS I The JEketahuna I'Y.unty Council I forwarded a circular letter stu'ing | that for the past two years the foun--1 ri! had Mifferr'] | jjonTfll r.*.viT>„ to Hip l/'nd Pur- ((•-»' Hoard purchasing lan' f-T : < UKi.t nr> 1 leasing the land on f grazing rifht !'-si■?»■.■> fi.r considerable t di (I»lriri^- n'li , [. • 11li»■ flin 'Vo'.I'M j (

refused to pay general rates. As I these land transactions would increase with the return of soldiers, the Eketahuna Council asked for tho Manu kau Council's co-operation in getting the law amended, so that when the Crown purchased land for settlement it should pay general rates for the period of its occupation. The Engineer stated that the same difficulty was experienced elsewhere. Returned soldiers, he said, took up land under the Returned Soldiers' Settlement Act, and after a time found they could not make it pay, an ), consequently, could not pay the rates on the land. The Department, he added, did not recognise any liability at all. The Government lost on it, and the local authorities had to lose also Under the present ; law local bodies had no power to | saddle the (iovernment with taxes on Crown lands. Cr Brownhill thought the Government should be subject to taxation on Crown lands. On his suggestion it was agreed to heartily support the Eketahuna County Council's S"ggestion. MAORI PAS The Tauranga Hospital and Charitable Aid Board forwarded a copy of a resolution wherein it was statod that the Board was unanimously of opinion that a number of native pas were in such an insanitary state as to be hotbeds of disease and a menace to public health and the Board asked that the Council should co-operate with them in urgiug upon the Government the desirability of improving the sanitation of the pas. It was agreed to support the resolution. GOVERNMENT GRANTS The Public Works Department intimated that it was prepared to issue aut orities as under for road works in the County directly plans and specifications and detailed estimates of the cost were submitted and approved of by the District Engineer at Auckland, viz : Alfriston to Arduiore £BO, £ for £; Clevedon to Mataitai £SO, £ for £ ; Granger Bridge £SO ; Ness Valley to Moumoukai Hill £SO; (Jtau Mountain Road £SO £ for £. Ranfurly Road £IOO £ for £, Whitford to Brookby £2OO free. Total £SBC. The Engineer was authorised to submit plans etc, to the Department. ERECTION 01' RRIDOES la connection with the bridge improvement proposals in the Turanga ridiug the Engineer stated that he had found in other places that the better policy to pursue was to obtain the sanction of the ratepayers in a particular riding in order to raise a loan for bridge work. When a bridge required to bo erected the Council then would not need to go back to the ratepayers to ask for anthority to borrow a few hundred pounds as the Council.would always have the authority. The Chairman thought the suggestion an ideal one. It only meant, he said, getting the ratepayers together and placing the whole position before them. The Engineer was instructed to prepare estimates for the erection of the Mill bridge and Cemetery bridge in Turanga riding. It was also agreed to instiuct the Council's solicitors to take the necessary steps towards raising a loan for bridge construction work in the Wairoa riding, on conditions that they did not interfere with ttagrant of £.'5000 already allocated. ORERE ROAIiS Jn connection with the proposal on foot to construct roads in the Mitaitai and Orere d strict?, Messrs A. Rowlands and Kerslake waited on the Council on behalf of the ratepayers and stated that they were prepared to donate £250 providing the Cuuncil contributed £250 in order to take up the Government subsidy cf £-*)00 on a ,1' for £ basis. Such together with tho straight out grant of £272 made by the Government meant that they would have £1272 to start with. The subject was deferred until the Council inspected the districts named. t'OF'NTY ENOFNEER Mr W. J Lopdell, reported that ho had commenced duties as County Engineer on February 19th and he stated that he had been shown over the roads by several councillors. FINANCE Ihe pay-sheaf, amounting to £1,375 Is lOd, was submitted, and passed for payment. The Clerk's statement of the receipts and expenditure for the period February 10th to March 1 Oth showed tho balances in the various ridings to bo as follows : Mangere, debit, £202 7s 3d ; Pakuranga, debit, £755 Us Id; Papakura, debit, £IBO 16s M | Papatoetoo, debit, £2(31 3s fid ; Turanga, debit, roa, debit, £1,(388 13s j"d. The report was adopted