HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Shannon News, 16 November 1923, Page 3

HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING. . The monthly meeting of the Horowhenua County Council was held on , Saturday. Cr. G. A. Monk (chairman), presided, and there were also present

Crs. Barber, Jensen, Byrant, Broadbelt, Harkness, Catley, Whyte and Ryder. Mr. F." E. Guruey, Otaki Railway station, asked that a culvert on the Rahui | Eoad should be repaired. The chairman stated that a difficulty had been found as the get away from the culvert was unsatisfactory. -Until Mr. Gurncy fixed this it was useless'to do anything. , Cr. Ryder protested against the delay and asked that the roadman be instructed to proceed with the work immediately. Mr. Gurncy was ready to assist him.—This was agreed to. ■■' Mrs. E. Duggan wrote in respect ef a road to her property at May Morn. — Referred to the chairman, Cr. Jensen and the Engineer to deal with.

Engineer's Report. Although the weather at the commencement of the period just endeu was a good deal broken, the work throughout the County has been .carried out in a satisfactory manner. Approximately 1500 cubic yards of maintenance gravel was put out, although only No. 1 crusher has been at work. JS T o. 2 crusher broke dOAyn just after last. meeting, but I hope to have it in full swingagain within a day or two. I have just received advice that the new jaw will arrive at any time. The contractor for metalling in Tokomaru Riding has completed: his contract, and will make a start on Victoria Road almost immediately. The drain on the Main Road and Kara Road, has now been cleaned out, and is in good order. : The main Levin-Shannon Roa'd between Ihakera and Law's gate has been metalled, and a • start has now been made with the metalling of Potts Road. The metalling contract in the southern end of the Wiroldno Riding is ncaring completion, the contractor having put out 450 cubic pards during the period. Very little has been done in the Otaki Riding owing to' the crusher breaking down, but, as stated before, I hope to have the luetallbig in full swing again within the next few days. The gang working in this Riding have been employed on the Waihoauga bridge. The bridge cm the Hautere Road was commenced in the period, and the foundations have been put in, but the men engaged on' this work had to be sent to the Waihoanga. bridge. However, a few days will complete the work. • ■ ■

The greater part of my'time during the past two weeks has been taken; up in the supervision of salvaging the Waihoanga bridge, and several matters which were to receive attention have had to be held over in the meantime.

Re Hautere water race extension, an amended estimate amounting to £786 6s 8d is attached hereto, based on the conditions set out by Messrs Harper and Atmorc at the last meeting of the Council. I have gone carefully into this estimate, but there are two items which can only, be put down as guess work. One is the pugging of the race, and the other which was a condition made to mo personally by Mr. Lothbridge that all springs i must be led into the proposed race. This I have not added to my estimate, and I do not think I can take the responsibility to guarantee that no water from the large number of springs shall pass under the race. ,

Cr. Eyder (Otaki) said that there \ wore iconic spikes- in -the Otaki bridge which were standing above the level of the planking and should be attended to. Regards the crusher, which it was .stated had broken down it se'emed a considerable delay and should be fixed as soon as possible. Or. Bryant asked if some planking could bo put on the Waikawa bridge to strengthen it for motor traffic. — Agreed to. < Cr. Jensen (Te Horo) brought up the question of the Engineer having been asked to prepare an estimate of the Main Road for th'e Main Highways section and hoped that it would not be necessary that he should neglect his other work 'in order to attend to it. Regards the Waihoanga bridge he asked that the chairman arrange as a temporary substitute should be made as safe-as possible. .There were 14 children to bring across this river to school every day. ' The chairman, in moving the adoption of the report said that there Were some questions arising out of the dis-' cussion which called for a reply. In regard to Cr. Jensen's query as to whether the Engineer's time would be so taken up with the preparation of< the Main Highways scheme that other work would be neglected, there did not seem to be any doubt that it would take some of his time. However, he had some reliable assistants and there was no necessity to consider any extra assistance for him, for the present. The chairman reported that the Crs. for the Tokomaru . Riding together with himself and the County Clerk had represented the Council at a conference held in Shannon to consider the advisability of shifting the Manawatu bridge, when it was decided that it would be well to defer a decision on the matter until it was found what the Manawatu-Oroua Drainage Board was going to db regarding an overflow cut r this being.the crux of the situation.

Resolutions, were carried striking special rates for the construction of the Waitarere and Waikawa Roads and also the Mako Mako-Tiro Tiro water area.