HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Shannon News, 12 June 1923, Page 3

HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING.

The monthly meeting, of the Horowhenua County Council was held in the Council Chambers .on, Saturday, tne,re being present Mr G. A. Monk, chairman, and Crs. Harkness, Broadbelt, Cat-ley, Jensen, White, Ryder and Bryant. ENGINEER’S REPORT.

The engineer reported : The weather during the period just ended has been very bad and the roads have suffered somewhat owing to so .much rain. The work generally has been carried out in a satisfactory manner. The main work during the month was the re-decking and repairs to the Otaki bridge'.anu work on ■ the Manakaiu bridge 'near Shannon, it was only. necessary tc close the Otaki bridge for all traffic for seven days—in this time the men employed (16 in number) handled approximately 100,000 .feet of timber. The above time included the lifting of all asphalt, and old decking and. turning and re-fitting about half the old stringers. This I consider a very creditable performance and. the- men -employer are to be congratulated on.the way. in which they carried out the work. of the work is now practi tally- completed excepting the longitudinal planking and, the bolting of the whdel guards. Only five men. are now working -oh the -bridge,. Owing to scour in the riv-er at the Shannon bridge d was found necessary to remove one 1 of the land piers and turn two 20 foot , spans into a 40 foot span—this work has been completed. On the completion, of repairs to the Otaki bridge, a start will be made with the erection of new bridges on the Te Horo beach road and Hahtere cross road .also the re-deckrng, etc., of the main bridge on. the Mangaone road. The -rbad plant is at present, working on ;:the main road, Makerua, apd will shortly be sent- to Tokomaru.

The greater part of my time has been taken up in- supervising the work on the bridges and preparing the esU mates for the, cu'.rrent year. The estimates are now practically completed. Accounts amounting to £2414 9’s' 6d including £1245 19s hospital levy, were passed for payment. Cr. Ryder asked in regard to the amount paid, in, hospital levy, where patients from! this district were supposed receive, treatment—Palmerstor or Otaki. He asked because he had known nf a man ordered to hospite l whom he expected to find in Palmerston and who really went to Otaki. The chairman explained that paii cuts were really supposed to go ’ Palmerston, but an urgent, case migh 4 be sent to Otaki, in which case that hospital would, he paid by Palmerston in respect to expense incurred.

CORRESPONDENCE.

A letter w.a;s received from the Health Department regarding the licensing o.f eating bouses, and utrging that the provisions of the Act as applied to such places be-enforced.' The chairman explained that- the provisions of the. Act amounted to this: that if they agreed to the proposa l every place selling meals must b" licensed. : There was a certain amoun' to be said in, favour of the idea: ar far as he knew no fee was paid and no hardship inflicted on the proprie tors of such eating-mouses., whilst V assisted the Health authorities. There would be no extra cost to the. Council for inspection, as they already had an excellent man in Mr Huggins, who would do the work. He moved the. 4 , tup npnpr+ment’s..suggestion be agreed to—Carried.

The District Engineer wrote that so far no applications for grants haf been received from the County and askings that if 'any were required the* thev should be made as early as pos siMe.

Tn connection with this the chairman pointed out to> councillor? the necessity of making, their requirements ■known to the, Engineer as soon as pos sible, so that these applications could be mar's. . The Waimea County Council wrote enclosing a copv of a resolution passed bv that body, "for which, they asked the support of the Horowhenua County Council -/“Thai, in the opinion of this Council 'fully 90 per cent, of the weaand tear on County roads is caused by motor traffic, and thi? Council respect’ I'ully urges the Government to amen; the Main Highways Act, 1922, by sub stitutiiig the words “three-quarters’ for “one-third” in section 18 (1) am also the words ‘three-quarters’ for ‘one-half’ in section 19 (1) to provide that not more than one quarter ol tne cost of construction and maintenance shall ha paid for out oi general rates. Also that a fair and equitable portion of the Tyre. Tax be allocated towards the cost of ma'inteniance of County road's other than those determined Main Highways.” ’ . The chairman said that the Waunea County Council had evidently not read the Act aright, The Act . provided that under especial circumstances the amount stated could he increased,. His own idea was to give the. present Act ai trial. It was worthy, of that anti every chance should be given it.. . Cr, Ryder suggested that a reply to this effect he sent, - / _ Cr. Harkness opposed this, saying that the matter should be gone into thoroughly. He considered that the question of the tyre tax was ia very important one, and that the Government should be ulrged to.give the allocation of this money serious consideration. He did not. think ,ttiat the framers of the Main Highways Bil’ had sufficiently considered this aspect of the question. Chairman: Have you read this Bill Cr. Harkness : No,:' you promised 1 to get me a copy, hut I have not received it vet. A motion that the letter be received I was carried, the chairman promising that the matter would be gone into fully when a copy of the Act was ’available. . ■ The Shannon Borough Council wrote asking for a grant towards the upkeep of the Shannon, cemetery, stating that shell! a grant had been promised.

The chairman said that the. statement that a grant had been promised was not quite correct, hut he had no doubt

that the Council should contribute something. Cr. Barber expressed the opinion that it was only right that Shannon should get something ai> other townships were doing so. On the suggestion of Cr. White the matter was heiu over until the estimates could be brought down. The State Advances Department wrote thaft the sum of £SOO advance for the conservation of water-races had been lodged in the Post. Office to the credit of the Council.—Received. A letter was received from Mr A. C. Holms drawing the attention of the Council to thg long-standing question of the Tiro Tiro-Mako Mako wafer supply extension.

The chairman said that he had discussed the question with Mr Holms, and did not think that anything could be done without making a thorough examination, of the ground. The trouble wajs that these people thought that one part of their land should be rated for the scheme and the other part not. Cr. Gat-ley: Same old idea!

The chairman said that the councillors should go over the- land am 1 see what could be done. There were certain difficulties which would have to be contended with, and a thing to remember was that it wa: s advisable io avoid a survey if poSsible : as :| fi is was necessary the uxpensj weed have to be borne by the peopie effected.'

The matter was left in the hands cl the councillors for the Riding tor report.

The County Solicitors wrote that they had searched the title deeds of the land belonging to Mr A. J. Blackmore on the Otaki Gorge road, and that the land had been sold by the old Manawatu, Railway company. When selling the land a chain strip had been reserved along the bank of the Otaui stream as a road reserve but never dedicated, and the title thereto still r emained in the hands of the company or their successors. The chairman explained that this letter was the result of an application from Mr: Blackmore for a road to his property, and he considered that the matter - should be further gone into. If there wais no dedicated road the onus to provide one was on the people who sold the land. Several sections were affected and the owners should act with the Council to get the original owner, who gave titles to the land to provide a road. Some time ago the Council had raised money to put this road in, but had abandoned the idea owing to the difficulties of the country. They had ther, offered to put a swing bridge into Mr Blackmore’s property, but on making the discovery that- the road had not been dedicated had given up the idea as the- County was not empowered to spend money on a road that was no l dedicated. He moved that the letter be referred to Mr Blackmore’s solicitors for consideration—Carried. The County Solicitors also wrote re the proposed! crossing at Major Tatum’s property a.t Manakaiu. A letter bad been received from the- Chief Engineerof Railways opposing the cross ing on the principle that the Depart ment w-a-s averse to increasing the number, of level crossings-, and they considered that a,n overbridge wonld be required. They had replied tha* this would not. be a public crossing.

The chairman pointed out that this matter referred to a right of way which existed through some land be hind Maijor Tatum’s property. Theca me to within, a short, distance of tlm main road and it was proposed that some of Ma.jor Tatum’s land be taken to bring the right ,of way out to tlm main road. This would not make a, public crossing over the railway as i' would only affect the settlers who already bad a right of way across it It, was" agreed to support Messrs Park and Adams in their reply. It was agreed that Mr W. E. Kilsby be given nermission to fence at ttm pleasure of the Council a disused ro;v running through his property, he to erect a suitable gate.

GENERAL BUSINESS. Cr. White asked; that. Mr Kelly'boundaries be defined and pointed ou; that the longer the matter was left the harder it would he to do, as the river was changing. He also asked il anything was being done about the clanking of the Tokomaru bridge. The Engineer explained that this matter was now in hand. Regarding the question of the road to! Mr Riggins’ property, the County Clerk explained that this was a difficult matter to decide as a special loan would have to be raised and there would be difficulty in collecting the rates on same. Gr. White said he understood that this was so, but he considered that Mr Liggins should be written to explaining this. Cr. .Barber said something should be done. If not as 1 much as. was asked perhaps a 1 lesser scheme could he decided on.

Cr. Catley (Wirokino) asked what was going to be done with the decking timber from the Otaki bridge. The chairman explained that this would he used for re-decking the other bridges at Te Horo, etc. In qnswer to Cr. Ryder the Engineer said that there 1 would be no waste from the timber as anything down to one foot and eighteen inches would he used for culverts. It was all heart of totara, and nothing would be wasted. Cr. Braadbelt brought, up the question of the Buckley-Koputaroa road and on Iris suggestion it .was agreed that councillors visit this with a view to putting in an application, for at grant for same.

Cr. Bryant said the South Manakau road, was very bad owing to being cut up! by the carting of the Mangahao electric ower poles. He, considered that an application should be made to the Government to have it put in order as they were responsible for its present state. The chairman explained that an application was being made. C,r. Jensen stressed' the necessity for repairs to the Swamp road s . in the Te Horo Riding. If these roads were not attended to shortly they would be impassable before long.

In regard to the Hautere water-race extension scheme it was decided that

this had better be postponed until levels could, be taken.

A deputation, consisting of Messrs L. McDonald, Horrobin, Wilson, James and Watkins waited on the Council in reference 'to the Waitarere road, which was claimed to be in a very had condition, the parts, across the swamp needing forming and several cuttings opening out where sand had drifted in.

After hearing what the, settlers had to say the Council decided that the Engineer and councillors for the Riding should inspect the road with a view to deciding what work would be necessary. A vote of thanks to the chair concluded the meeting.