HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Shannon News, 17 July 1925, Page 3

HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING.

lhe monthly meeting of the Horowhenua County Council was held on Saturday. The County chairman (Mr. Monk) presided and there were also present Crs. Barber, Whyte, Ryder, Br ,y? nt > Harkness, Catlev and Jensen. lhe Member for Otaki (Mr. W. H. I'ield) in writing on the subject of a change in the time of departure from Ihorndon of "Field's Express," enclosed a letter from the Minister of Kaiiways stating that 'enquiries among passengers of this train had elicited a decision from them in favour of an earlier start, say 4.15, being made. Mr. Jueld had replied, suggesting a convenient time for departure would be about 5.15 p.m. The chairman said his personal viewwas that the most convenient time was oo clock as 4.15 was going to shorten the day m Wellington very much. . it was decided to favour the train leaving about 5 o'clock. From Mrs. J. p oW er, Otaki, explaining way her cows were on the County roads during May last. It was s aid tnat a dram opposite her property had been blocked, the water flowing over the land and spoiling the feed. The owner was obliged to turn the cows out on to the road, where they were found by the County ranger. An advertisement was inserted, without success, for grazing but none was forthcoming. It was asked that the County and ranger walk over the property and make an inspection of the dram, etc.—Regretted that no permission could be given for the cows to be allowed on the road.

Mr 1. D.; Leitch, Manakau, advised that he wa s unable to get up to Levin for the purpose of obtaining a drivers' leense.—The engineer stated that when! ne attended at Manakau to issue driver s licenses the' writer of the letter attended but the brakes on his car were in such bad order that he \ (the engineer) refused to go up a hill with ium. It could not be expected that another visit would be paid to Manakau to pass Mr. Lviteh's car and the engineer had asked him to come to Levin for hi s license, as several other Manakau people had done.—The Council decided to take no action in the matter.

Mr. N. Campbell, of Waikanue, made tlio following suggestions with regard to putting the brcken bridge on the Mangaone Eoad in ;i condition to carry the heaviest traffic likely to pass over the road:—The putting in of two extra heart rinm stringers, as near, as possible under the wheel track, the new stringers to be at knst 14 inches by 12 inches, the bridge to be decked with .3 inch planking, the stays 3 feet wide. On each side and covered with 2 iuch planking. Tliq cost of such work was ost : ranted at £ss.—Left to engineer and chairman to make the best arrangements possible.

From the Te Horo Committee, accepting the Council's generous offer to erect a light near the public hall at Tc Horo, tjhe maintenance to be borne by the committee.—Keeeived. Advice was received from Mr. L. Barker, drawing attention to the unsatisfactory state of the Tangata bridge (Otaki Gorge).—Engineer to report. , Bridges at Te Horo.

Cr. Jensen , asked whether anything could, be done to certain bridges across the Mangaone strerm at Te Horo. The chairman said these were on private property and the Council was not responsible in any way. They were built on. the Gear estate to give access and tire Crown was now the owner and was responsible. Cr. Jensen said lie wanted it understood that the people ! were not trying to put the responsibility on the Council.

The chairman said he did not say they were, but the Crown would seek

Cr. Jensen said it was very unfortunate as the construction of the bridges had been disgraceful. Cr. Ryder said unquestionably the Crown paid for the bridges, though the County engineer of the day may have supervised the work. The engineer said the sheathing was in very bad repair. The chairman said that if Mr. Anderson could give any advice in the matter the Council could give him permission to do so, but the Council was in no way responsible. Flooding at Te Horo. ' The chairman reported on the conference held at Te Horo in regard to the flooding of certain land there. He said he wished to thank the Crs. from other ridings who attended at the meeting at Te Horo to discuss the matter with the settlers. He also appreciated the splendid way in which the settlers had met the Council and the carefulness with which they had prepared data to put before them. It was a pleasure to meet a deputation which had gone into a mattor so fully and placed it so well before the representatives of the Council there. The result of the meeting was satisfactory so far as they had gone, but a further conference would have to take place with the settlers concerned and the railway engineer, and when that was held he had no doubt that a remedy would be found, though the matter might take some time to negotiate. Replying to a question the chairman said the railway engineer was absolutely fair in his attitude and very anxious to find out exactly the cause of the trouble, the Department being very anxious to get the water out of the Te Horo railway yard. The evidence was that none of the water came from the Mangaone stream.