HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Shannon News, 20 March 1925, Page 4

HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Horowhenua County Council was btld in thc Levin Borough Chambers, on Saturday Cr. G. A. Monk, (chairman) presiding. Also present: Crs. Jensen, Broadbeltj Bryant, Wbyte, *£*(*£, her and Harkness. Leave ot absence was granted to Cr. Catlej. Accounts for Payment. Accounts totalling £2468 18s bd, in-

cluding a sum of £1134 being one debenture of the Antecedent Llablh Ji> and current interest, were passed ioi payment. , Correspondence. Mr. W. Whitey, Ohau, asked for perI mission to erect a whare on the Ku *u Beach Road at about high watoi mark, pointing out that this portion of the road was not being used tor traffic. Cr. Harkness said that this was a

matter for careful consideration, should not be lightly granted. Cr Brondbelt said that the Count} might well grant the permission dur ing the pleasure of the Council, provided* the road was not to be used. Referred to Cr. Harkness and th« engineer to inspect and report to the Council. The Heavy Traffic Problem. The Waipawa County Council forwarded the following resolution, pass cd at a recent meeting of their Goun oil for which they asked support «»n>w this Council circularise al

County Councils adjacent to the rai ways and ask their co-operation in ad vising ratepayers and others to tor ward their goods wherever possible by rail; by so doing they will support the railways (which belong to the people) and also help to reduce the cost of upkeep on those County roads which run parellel with the railways. The chairman said that whilst the> all agreed with the resolution he did not see that they could do more than agree. He moved that they pass a ie solution sympathising with the Waipawa County Council m their endeav onr. —This was carried. . Motor-Drivers’ Licenses. From the Minister of Internal Affairs stating that as the result of representations made it had been decided to make certain alterations in the regulations, among other by striking out thercquirement for a recommendation by a licensed driver, and an alteration of the form of license in order to provide for different kinds of motor vehicles, it being realised that a person qualified to drive one kind of motor vehicle was not necessarily qualified to dm - some others. ... The chairman said that the Council had complied as nearly as possible with the regulations, but he regretted that some of the neighbouring bodies were not doing so. He wished to emphasise the necessity of the regulations being carried out properly throughout the County, otherwise the whole thing became a farce. He would recommend that the matter be brought before the Minister of Internal Affairs for his consideration. —The letter was received. A Main Highways Act. The Public Works Department forwarded a copy of memorandum by the Main Highways Board giving particulars of four clauses which were included iu the Finance Act passed* last session, which in effect annul clauses in the Main Highways Act, 1922.—8 e ceived. Avoiding Unpleasant Legacies. Mr. E. A. Pullman, Te Horo, asked for permission to dig a ditch outside lus fence in order to drain his property, and also to, take storm-water off the road. . The chairman said that there Avas one aspect of this question which necessitated care. The Council was being continually called upon to clean out drains which they or some former Council had given permission to have dug. He would advise that where practicable, such drains be put inside the fence. They had to be careful that no public money be spent on the work.—Beferred to Cr. Jensen and the engineer with power to act. Manakau Bight-of-way. Messrs Mazengarb, Hay, and Macalister, solicitors, wrote that they, haa been consulted by Mrs. A. E. Tatum re-o-arding an application which had been made by Mr. B. Bevan for permission to fence' a part of that portion 0 _ tion 48., Manawatu-Kukutawaki Block, which had been taken for the P^'P 08 ® of a road. They stated that Mr. Bevan had already fenced off portion ot t _ road and they protested that win . t was one thing to take part of he i client’s land for the purpose of lorntin<r a road, it amounted to confiscation {/allow Mr. Bevan to fake thm ioad for his oAvn uses later on. J/cy that the Council have the fencing moved immediately. ™ rv „ nt The chairman said that Cr. Bijai t and himself had been depatedatla.t meeting to inspect this road and at tlie time could not see any reason why the permission should not be e Since then the present protest received, and they had thought visable to have legal advice on “ u . ter. This was now to hand and was the effect that whilst 0°""» might have power to grant the peimm sion asked for, it was not a case whcie such pmver should be exercised. Cr. Ryder said that it must Ik remembered that Major Tatum, by his attitude compelled the Council to take l-tanwy gonnceen, we have been mixed up Avith tfusmd ter long enough; let’s get out of it. (Laughter). . . ~ The chairman, continuing, said had seen Mr. Bevan, who was willing to forego the convenience asked toi. It was agreed to reply to this effect.

Revision of Motor-Lorries Regulations , Wanted. From the Public Works including revised draft of the Motor lorries Regulations and asking th. ■ any comments thereon should be warded before the 19th mst. The chairman read a letter had received from a small ™ proprietor, in his district, <■ » ' tention to tbe unfair trea meet to tbe small owner. In Ms business be em

ployed two one-ton lorries. If these were used for carrying goods only tney would have to pay only £5 license fee; but if he carried passengers to tne number of 16 he would have to P a y ® fee of £4B. He pointed out that a country carrier had to cater for a * kinds of traffic, and that if he were carrying passengers he would not be carrying freight. He could not afford to pay £96 for the right to carry pas-

sengers since his passenger carriage did not make him a return of more than about £4O per year. The chairman said that the case of this man was that of many small owners in country districts, where there was not sufficient work to keep

a passenger traffic only going. He was only employed carrying passengers on holidays or similar occasions, and in this way served a verjr definite purpose in a country district. His position was that he would not be carrying more weight in his passenger traffic than if he were not carrying goods, and he asked if it would not be possible to issue a composite license for country districts to enable both goods and passengers to be carried, a proviso being made that both should not be carried at the same time. He recommended that a copy ot tms carrier’s letter be sent to the Minister with a recommendation that it be given favourable consideration. He was not arguing in favour of the large char-a-bancs which were doing a tremendous lot of damage to the roads. In the Act there was a provision that where a lorry was engaged in the carriage ot both goods and passengers, only on© fee should be charged, but that that should be the larger amount. 'The chairman’s motion was adopted. Engineer’s Report. The engineer (Mr. W. N. Anderson) reported as follows: During the period the weather has been somewhat unsettled but satisfactory progress has been made witn the works on hand Owing to tho wet weather the Main Roads have suffered in places but generally speaking everything is in fair order. Maintenance metalling in the Tokomaru Wirokmo and Te Horo Ridings has been com pleted for the season. No. 1 crushing plant was shifted in to the Otaki Riding during the period and metalling work is being earned out in this riding. The formation woTk on the Waikawa Beach Road extension is finished and the metalling on the Waikawa South Road is nearing completion. Good progress ; has been made with the formation worVon the Wai tarere Road, approximately 50 chain having been formed to date. Given fine weather the whole of this work should be finished before meeting. The engineering survey of the Ohau West Road extension was put m nanu during the month and plans specifications have been forwarded to Wei lington for approval and on receipt o the approved plans the work will be put in hand. Re high pressure water supply from Roslyn Road to Mr. Law’s property: I have inspected and taken levels for above proposed water supply but find that the scheme is impracticable as the level at Mr. Law’s house isap P™ximately 50 feet above the outlet erf "tlio Levin Borough settling tanks. The r port was adopted. General. Cr. Whyte drew attention to a very bad portioifof road on the length between Makcrua and Tokomaru, opposite Mr. Pryor’s house. . Cr. Broadbelt said that the roads in the Wirokino Riding were m fairly good order. There were certainly some pot-holes, but these keexpectedwould be attended to immediately after the end of the present month when the financial year started. Cr Harkness asked if the usual machinery had been used out Waitarere Road: whether the plough and scoop had been used. , , , , The engineer said it had not bee possible to use the plough andscoopon this road owing to the nature of th formation being done. The work was moeeeding as well as was possible. P £ answer to a further question by Cr Harkness the engineer said that nothing had so far been done m regard to the Arawhata Road. The Otaki roads were stated to oo in satisfactory condition. Cr. Jensen asked if been done in regard to the bridge m the Otaki Gorge. The engineer said that so far no ing had been arranged. He had made arrangements to visit the site occasion but the weather had been against him. . __ lin . Cr. Jensen drew attention to au u ? satisfactory piece of the main road m the Te Horo Riding. . : . The engineer said that they had ready over-expended the allowance for th Thc ia chair°man said that he would not like to sec the engineer bffimed too much for the condition ° f roads. He did not see why they shout© rob the district roads for the benefit of the main roads. This lv been done in the past, but it was wrong in principle. There was OQ IF tort Jght igo until the «»J« opened, when the mam roads would re ceive further uttentiou, On the motion of Or. Broadbelt, seconded by Cr. Harkness, it was decided that Messrs Ross, -Rough, and Co., be written to, and as:ked f cheque m lieu of tbe m etal and above firm promised to carry spread on the portion of Levm Foxton Road to Wirokmo Bridge. Pronosed by Cr. Monk, and seconded bv S P T vde fthat the dog' tax for the venr be* fixed at 2s <sd per head for sheep' and cattle «<*>. »**“ and sporting dogs at 10s > further that George Watson be appoint ed registrar for the Horowhcnua Countv for the said year, and seeing that the Native dog-tax is not now collected that representation be made to the Native Minister for authority to collect. the Native dog-tax in this County.