HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Shannon News, 15 May 1925, Page 4

HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING. The' monthly meeting of the Horowhenua County Council was held in the Borough Chambers, Levin, on Saturday, Cr., Monk, chairman of the Council, presiding. Also present: Crs. Jensen, Catley, Broadbelt, Bryant, Ryder, Whyte, Barber and Harkness. Accounts for Payment. Accounts totalling £1099 7s 7d were passed for payment. Hospital Levy. The Palmerston North Hospital Board forwarded their statement of estimated receipts and payments for the financial year 1925-26, together with statement showing the actual results for the past year, and a statement of the apportionment of the levy on the various local authorities in the district. It was pointed out that the maintainance levy showed, a small decrease, J from £2460 18s 9d to £2358 lis. Against this the capital levy had been increased from £44=l 0s 7d to £649 14s Bd, mainly on account of additions found necessary to the nurses' home, and the purchase of additional farm land for the purpose of growing vege- ; tables, etc. The chairman pointed out that ?t would be necessary to pay an amount of £lO6 more, this year than last on account of an increased capital levy. He did not think that it was possible to see any great reduction in the maintenance charge, whilst the admissions last year averaged 92, this year they had gone up to considerably over 100. Against this, mainly on account of the better timesj a greater proportion of fees were being collected. Cr. Catley said he objected to improvements and enlargements being made by capital levy. These improvements were being made .for posterity and they should contribute. The statement was received. Tokomaru Footpaths.

Mr. W. H. Miles, Tokomaru, drew attention to the dangerous condition of the footpath, from the railway bridge to the Nikau Road at Tokomaru. He stated that on several occasions recently there had been several rather serious accidents in connection with the footpath. He stated that a light was very badly needed on this length of road. Referred to Cr. Whyte ana the engineer with power to act. Mr. W. R. Mullins, Tokomaru, asked that some small improvement work be done on the Victoria Rd. He stated that there had not been a surfaceman on the road for 12 months. Referred to Cr. Whyte and the engineer with power to act. Flaxmiii Tram-Line. Mr. C. H. Spiers asked for permission to remove his flaxmiii tramline from the temporary bridge over the intersecting canal on the Kuku Rd., to over the new bridge just erected by the Makerua Drainage Board. Referred to a committee consisting of the chairman, Crs. for the Riding, and the engineer, with power to act. Improved Access Wanted. Mr. C. Schwass, Tokomaru, complained of the condition of the road leading from the Main Road to his property. Cr. Whyte said that the road was very little used, Mr. Schwass being the only settler on it. ' The engineer said that the road had been treated as well as others, having had £2O expended on it. It wa s decided to give the road consideration on the new estimates. Tokomaru Valley Road.

The C. and A. Odlin Timber and Hardware Company wrote stating that they understood that the Council was contemplating the construction of d; new road into the Tokomaru Valley which would open up country held by their company. They pointed out that their property carried a considerable quantity of millable timber, which lacking this road, could not be worked, and trusted that the road would be proceeded with at the earliest moment. The chairman said that the road asked for was; an extension of the Tokomaru Valley Road from Nash's. What he would suggest was that the letter be referred back to the company and ask them what they were prepared to do. They might be prepared to form a special rating district. It was certain that the work could not be done out of revenue. —Agreed to. Okuku Road.

The Makcrua Draiuage Board asked that the Council purchas'e the laud required for the alteration of the Okuku Road by the new bridge at Tokomaru, and haud it over to tho Board, which would recompense them for the outlay. They pointed out further that the Council would have to construct the road and hand it over to the Board which would pay all expenses incurred. Eeferred to tho chairman, Crs. for the Riding and engineer, with power to act. . Mr. A; Siefert later waited on tho Council in respect to this matter and stated that the Board could construct a bank and keep away from the present road, but the result of this would be that this road would be under flood perhaps for a week at a time. It was proposed therefore to build another road which would be inside the bank and which would be dry. The difficulty was that there were legal difficulties against this Board taking the necessary land and constructing tho road. It was therefore proposed that the Council should take the land and construct the road, the Board to thereafter compensate th'e Council for tho work done. His Board had gone into the matter fully and decided that as tho\ County would benefit by having a greatly improved road and one not liable to damage from flooding, that they should contribute to the work. They had tentatively assessed the , tho Council's contribution at iloO. The dredge was coming close to tho | scene of operations and it was the desire of the Board to excavate the exist-! ing road for the puropse of building the bank. It would be necessary to obtain the Council's permission to do this. Provision would be made for traffic during carrying out of the work. The chairman said that a committee had bean set up to go into this matter. He would like to point out to Mr. Seifert that the matter of compensation

did not come into the matter as affecting the Council, as it was proposed to hand over an existing road in place of the proposed one. It was recognised that the new road would be an improvement on the old one, and this being so the matter of a contribution would be gone into by the committee. Arawnata Road. Messrs Mitchell and Hayes asked that the Arawhata Road be repaired. Referred to the Crs. for the Riding and engineer to inspect. Otaki Drain.

Mr. A. P. Ferguson, Te Eoro, asked if notices could be sent out to \ the owners of sections 1 and 2 Ngako- | roro Settlement asking them to clean | out their portion of the Pahiko drain. It was decided that notices be sent accordingly. Engineer's Report. TV- l-lnT'ii-cr (Mr. W. N.-Anderson) reported as follows: — The weather during the period hasj been very wet and unsettled and the' roads throughout the County hare suffered, considerably, particularly the main roads. The men have been employed the greater part of the period on loan work and main roads. The formation work on the Waitarere Road is practically completed and a start will be made with the metalling of the first section in about a week's time. The metalling on the Waikawa Beach Road extension ihas been completed and the lorries are at present engaged on maintenance work, on the Waikawa Beach Road, and the Main Road, in the vicinity of Manakau. When this work is complete No. 1 crusher will be shifted to the Bartholomew Road pit. The lovclling of the new depot site is almost complete and a start will be made with the erection of sheds within the next few days. The new wheels for the road roller came to hand during this week and the roller is again at work. I am, starting a few men next week in several of the pits in preparation for crushing metal for the strengthening of the main highways. ' I have now completed the estimates for the coming season and will have a copy forwarded to Councillors at the beginning of next week. A good deal of my time during the period has been taken up in connection with machinery for main highways work. 9 While in Wellington this week I interviewed Mr. Hannah and Mr. Ronayne, Public Works engineers, re various matters including Otaki Gorge bridges and Manawatu punt. Mr. Hannah intends to visit Levin and the punt in the course of about ten days and Mr. Ronayne has promised to make an inspection (along with myself) of the Otaki Gorge bridges at the end of. next week. Although the rough .weather has somewhat delayed the main highways survey, good progress is being made with this work. General. Cr. Barber pointed out that communication between Shannon and Foxton had been practically blocked during the week on account of water on the road. The engineer stated that tho' position complained of was a pocket. When there was water backing up from the Manawatu River the floodgates on the stream were shut and surface water collected at this point.

.Cr. Harkness congratulated the engineer on tire progress being made with the preparation for the main highways scheme. He trusted that everything would be done to get the necessary metal pits in preparation for the scheme. He drew attsntion to the fact that a number of lights were needed in Ohau, and trusted that this matter would be given attention. , Cr. Harkness stated further that there was considerable evidence of wandering stock on the roads of late, and the water-tables were suffer, u<r in consequence. Cr. Broadbelt asked that the bridge on the Koputaroa-Foxton Road should be attended to as early as possible. A Fair Day's Work.

Cr. Catley said lie was glad to see ' that the Waitarere Eoad was near in g ' completion. He understood that the Koputaroa Eoad was being cut up considerably by flax-carting and he thought that this matter should be kept in view. There was a, further ease of the spoil from the drains on the Kuku Soldier Settlement Road being thrown on the road surface. He thought this was a direct challenge to the Council and should bo stopped. He now had to bring up a matter which was one of the most unpleasant that a Cr. could bring up. That was the hours worked by the County workmen. There was a recent case where he had seen the man in charge of the grader coming home at 4.10 p.m. on one of the finest days that humanity was ever blessed with. The hours men were supposed to work were from 7.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. He had had various complaints, of this sort of thing from various sources but had not taken any notice of them. But when he had se'en it himself, he was not going to overlook it. They were there to watch the ratepayers interests and must not allow things of this sort. The engineer stated that he had tackled one man on this business and the excuse that had been given was that the horses could not stand up to a whole day on the grader. Cr. Broadbelt said that the work was being done wrong. When a man was working out four or five miles from Levin the horses Avere tired when they got to the job.

The chairman said that he had himself received complaints of men going home early but in one case that had come before him it was found that this man had worked from 6 a.m. for each of two mornings and to 8 p.m at night, in order to clean out a block in a drain. Yet because he was seen going home at 11.30 on Saturday morning, a complaint had been made to the Council. It was necessary to consider the week's work put in by the men rather than what might ■actually be put in in hours, and he contended that the results which were being obtained were very satisfactory indeed. There was a very fine spirit indeed amongst the men and a line spirit of teamwork. He was of opinion at one time that a man had to work 8 hours in

order to do a fair day's work, but there were where this could not be done. On the hag, for instance, a pair of horses could not work a full 8 hours, and if ratepayers saw men resting their horses or knosking off a bit early, it certainly appeared that they were loafing. The engineer said that there was the case of the Waitarere Road. Complaints had been made to him that men got in by the lorry at ten or 15 minutes past five. These people, who complained did not know that .the 'men were ! taking only half an hour for dinner, which enabled them to knock off a halfhour earlier. Cr. Eyder said that every credit should be given to Cr. Catley for bringing this matter up. Now that he had heard the explanations given he was prepared to admit that the men might have reasons for knocking off early on occasions. As the chairman had said, the spirit of the men was the big consideration. A good man working willingly could do more in 6 hours than another man working for eight. Cr. Jensen complained that the grader was not being used in the further parts of the County as much as it was nearer Levin. The use of the grader was the only way to keep the roads in order. He contended that if a couple of horses could not do eight hours work on the road then a further horse should be provided. It was not right that two* men should work only part time simply because their team was not adequate. In answer to Cr. Jensen, the engineer stated that the Public Works engineers would visit the Waihoanga bridge probably next week, and ho thought that there was every possibility of getting Government assistance. The engineer's report was adopted,