HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Shannon News, 19 March 1926, Page 3

HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the above Council was held at Levin on Saturday Present: Crs. Monk (chairman), Catley, Ryder, Bryant, Jensen, Harkncss, Broadbelt, Barber, and Whyte. Daylight Saving. The N.Z. Sports Protection League asked support for a daylight saving scheme. It was already practised largely by the farming community, and its adoption would be an cc«J*-(7?Aie advantage to the community by the saving of •light, and in other ways. This legislation- has been in existence in Great Britain for the past eleven years, an., is now a permanent measure, the House of Commons voting for it by 289 to 63 Its adoption by New Zealand offered greater advantages than those secured in the United Kingdom, as our hours of twilight were less. A Parliamcntary comniittee was set up ,in 1924, and reported favourably,, there being practically no evidence given against the Bill. If was felt that New Zealand was lagging behind, and that a determined effort should be made to get the legislation passed for the present Parliament Cr. Rvdcr stated fifteen years ago the Bill was before the House but failed to go through. He agreed that the Bill would, be a good thing for the working class. The chairman moved that the letter be received. . Cr. Catley seconded, considering the Bill would disorganise affairs, and people would work under a great disability. The chairman said he had practised daylight saving all his life—he had to, but he'knew the Bill was; a one-sided one. He admitted that he had a certain amount of sympathy with the Bill, especially when it concerned shop assistants, but it did not require a law to 'enforce matters. What was wanted was unanimity among- the workers. The clerk said that: in the prescm offices employees practised daylight saving by going half-an-hour earlier to work, and closing half-hour earlier. Cr Ryder thought the majority should be considered; it was the worker who desired daylight saving. He wain favour of giving it a push, and moved an amendment that the letter be supported. , . , . No seconder, and the motion on being put was carried. Main Highways. The Main Highways Bolird forwarded'a circular letter to all its representatives in connection with the testing oi road material*, it being stated that a number of local bodies had forwarded samples of stone to Wellington for testin» and have made the freight payaole at & 'the latter point. Also, in many cascs it had been necessary to arrange ' cartage of the metal from the stahoi, to the. laboratory at Pipitea Point. JMiCouncil Were asked to forward # suuv material to be tested to be consignc. through forwarding agencies, and the.oby dispense with the need for the Board to incur charges.—Referred tc the engineer, it being considered a reasonable request. A Bad Drain. E H Kidd, Levin, pointed out thai the Aratangata drain was in a tornbic state and badly required cleaning as n was causing the water to back up _ o, , his drains for a distance of some chain,, and should heavy rain come whilst thdrain was in this condition, the lan., would be badly flooded, The chairman said that he did no, understand the"position matter be referred to the .Works Committee with power to act-Agreed to. Dirty Water Races. Z Devereaux, Ohau, stated that it was nearly 1 a year since the races through his paddock.had been cleaned. Consequently 'they were choked a* water was running almost level *i£ the paddock and he did not see wh} he should pay his rates till the work W Cr d Harkness said that it was necessary to keep the drains clean, while ,he cnghiecr considered it was less than a vear since they were attended to. 7 On the motion of Cr. Harkness, seconded by Cr. Ryder, the matter was referred to the engineer. Motor Vehicles.. Bruce County Council forwarded :i copv of a resolution passed, at a recent Si of that body in connection with the registration of motor vehicles The resolution read. as follows: T*at on application for the registration of a Sol vehcile, or the transfer of sucn registration, the applicant be required to furnish proof to the registrar or clc-putv-reoistrar, that the owner of the Chicle "is covered by a third-Party ■* ccidet innsurance poliey 1 or, say, £lO for the ensuing twelve months.' l.u. writers pointed out that th» advantage to both pedestrians and motorists, ,t ■ such resolution were given effect to, are so obvious that the Bruce County Council consider it unnecessary to elaborate on them.-Th'c chairman mouH j that the letter be received. In advam - , ingMs reasons for the motion ho I thought that perhaps something alo. i A the lines suggested would be a good idea, but in the speaker's experience the Wing of a comprehensive-policy prelum was a pretty costly affair and would *<> Paying right into the hand of the insurance companies. Anothei «T,PPt of the case was that if people Sw the was shifted they St be willing to take greater risks. It was -oing a little too far masking, people to make it a law io insure their car for £IOOO "JJ a« mean a lesser number of "f ° ri }*' £ the cost of such premiums uould be considerable. , " Shaamon Drains. The Shannon Borough Council asked the County Council to have the drams on the Foxton-Shannon (which is the continuation of the borough c J ai ?% cleared to Cr. Barber and the engineer to ascertain what drains were referred to. Metalling. , Messrs Oakley and Todd, Potts Boad, Ihakara, asked the Council to metal five chains of the side road (off ■ Potts' Eoadj, Good gravel was suitable' for'tHe purpose, and the writers would 1 56 prepared to reform the road as it was* in a had state at the present

time. In addition they would fence this portion to keep off their "cattle. Cr. Harkness considered help should be given Oakley and Todd, and moved that the matter be taken into consideration when the estimates were being considered. —Agreed to. Deviation. Messrs McLeavcy and Dittmer, Ohau, in reply to the engineer's letter containing an estimate for the deviation of the water race on the writers' properties, stated they were prepared to do the ground worjk, i.e., digging trenches and filling in on the pipes if the Council was prepared to find the material. Dealt with in Works Committee. Noxious Weeds. The Shannon Dairy Co v Ltd., asked that the Council take the necessary steps under the Noxious Weeds Act to deal with the unfortunate spreading of ragwort in this county. With the increase of dairying' and less sheep beinggrazed, the evident spreading of the weed is, in the opinion of the directors, becoming a serious menace to the dairying lands in this county. The chairman -moved that the Stock Department's attention be drawn to the state of the country in question. Cr. _ Broadbelt, said it was becoming a"very s'erious matter, particularly in his district, and he could not understand why the inspector had failed to enforce the law more than he did. The Council should do all it could in pushing the matter home. Cr. Hrakness said he had had considerable experience of that weed and could say, without contradiction, it was the worst of all the noxious weeds. In Taranaki the weed had taken absolute control. It was said that sheep would keep down the weed but this was not so—sheep might check it a good deal, but once the weed got a good, solid hold, it took more than sheep to stop it.

Cr. Broadbelt remarked that three years ago there wasn't a single plant on the Koputaron, but now it was growing right along the banks. The chairman considered it was not a duty that divolved upon the County Council, but upon the ratepay- I er or the body concerned, and the Shan non Dairy Company should have sent direct to the Stock Department. He accordingly moved that the matter be referred to the proper quarter, —Carried. Bridge Wanted. I D. L. Corrigan, Otaki, wrote in connection with a request received from the County's solicitors for the payment of over-due rates. The writer stated he had no means of access except by a very flimsy plank bridge that was absolutely Unsafe and prevented the land from being worked, so far as access was concerned. He was, he stated, building a 2ft bridge, and suggested that the Council advance, from loan monies held, a sum to cover the whole arrears of rates, for which an approximate amount was being spent upon the bridge. The chairman considered the matter unsatisfactory, and said there was no hope to accede to Mr. Corrigan's request. He had visited the property on several occasions, and gone to a deal of trouble. It was agreed to give Mr. Corrigan a share of loan money to go on with the work, but he failed, now he wanted something different. He move! that the loan money be returned to the loan office. The Council had been very patient over the matter, and it would not be wise' to subsidise the bridge Mr. Corrigan now proposed to build. Cr. Ryder pointed out that rates could not be spent on such a bridge, and stated further if the original bridge was not to be erected the loan monev should' be returned. Cr." Jensen said every assistance had been offered the settlers, but that the offer had not been made use of. Cr. Ryder said the bridge at present there was an l ' awful'' affair. Cr. Moiik said that he had done hi" best to get access for the settlers, and he could do nothing' more than move that no action bo .taken.—Agreed to. Improvements Desired. H. W. Clay, Te Horo, asked if the road on the Hadfield ' Estate had yet' been dedicated, and if so -would the Council deck the two bridges and culverts with the decking taken off the Otaki bridge? ,The chairman moved that a reply be sent that the road had not been dedicated. A Verandah Wanted. From H. Freeman (Waikanae) asking permission to erect a Verandah over the church hall. / The chairman said the alterations I were needed because of an alteration now being made to the building. Ho moved authority be granted to erect .the verandah, 'to remain during the pleasure of the Council. "All Wind and Promise."

R. B. Kilgour. Manakau, drew attention to the state of the South Manakau Road near the chairman's house. During last winter and spring, the writer alleged, that on ten different occasions his "children were debarred from going to school, on account of the water being over the road at this point. Tnift was a serious matter and one that should be remedied at once. The road at the place mentioned is very .low, but the trouble is that the Manakau stream in Mr. J. D'Ath's property is filled right up with coarse metal and big stones, so that the stream could not possibly contain the water at flood time. 'The writer suggested that the metal should be removed and encased in wire, netting and laid on the bank with a small bank of turf behind it, and the trouble would be oyer—The chairman moved that this question or dealing with water, as it involved its entry on to private property, be referred to the Works' Committee who would inspect and report upon it- —Carried. The writer also stated in a second letter that at a meeting h'eld in Manakau the chairman (Mr. Monk) made the statement that, their rates would be less' if we had the loan carried for the Main Highways. This year, however, the rates had increased from £l7 2s 8d to £2O 3s M, which went to show that ratepayers should take a grain of salt with all statements made by members of public bodies, as seemingly they did

not understand what they were talking about. Horowhenua was badly in need of a new set of Councillors, as most of the sitting members were all "wind and promise," but failed to carry out their duties. The chairman said the writer was a quite, nice, affable man but apparently able to hit harder in a letter than when met face to.face in a serious discussion. On several occasions had the speaker to deny that he had ever said- there would be any reduction in the rates if the Main Highways loan were carried. He did, however, state that if this, or some such scheme were not evolved the rates would increase. At the meeting in question the writer of the above letter had asked the speaker whether the by-roads would be neglected while the "main highways scheme was in progress. The chairman had stated he did not think so and he still reiterated what he previously said. The second letter caused no little amusement, it being "received" amidst laughter. Accounts. Accounts passed for payment totalled £5651 13s b'd. Miscellaneous. Cr. Ryder asked if the engineer had been over the Rahui Road while the metalling contract was in progress. He thought, with Cr. Jensen, that the contractor should have attended to the water-races and he hoped attention would be given to it by the engineer. Referring to the golf links bridge he said this was in a bad way and needed attention. He would like to sec the hand-rails erected. The engineer promised to attend to it, Cr. Ryder stated that a settler had emptied old horse-shoes into the Otaki River and asked if the Council had any jurisdiction. The , chairman: The Otaki River Board! Cr. Ryder asked that attention be paid to the Waitohu Valley bridge. Cr. Bryant drew attention to wandering stock on the Waitohu Valley, stating it w r as very bad. The engineer said roads, generally, were clearer of cattle than ever before. Mr. Watson had frequently been over the roads.

Cr. Ryder, in answer to Cr. Jensen, said he had men put on a drain at Te Horo (near Ferguson's) and believed good work was being done. Cr. Jensen considered obstructions should be taken out of the drain, adding that roots, etc., wore not beneficial to.the drains. ; Cr. Ryder said that he was willing to go over the drains with Cr. Jensen Crs. Jensen and Ryder were deputed to interview owners of drains with a view to having improvement made. Cr. Jensen, drew attention to a leakage in the water-race at Te Horo, and considered there would always be trouble. —The engineer promised to attend to the matter. Cr. Jensen drew attention to the bad state of Swamp Road between Milligan's and Harkness' at Te Horo. The metai could be raked in and the road levelled off.—To b'e attended to. Cr. Jensen also drew attention to a letter that was sent to this Council about eight years ago in connection with the Katiluku drains. Work was to have been done, but attention had not been given it. Stock continually went into the drain where there were no fences. The owners had • promised to erect fences but had not done so. Cr. Jensen said that it had 'been decided that the Railway Department be written to'relative to storm water at Tc Horo, and asked if the matter had been attended to.

The engineer explained that the delay was his fault, he having forwarded a wrong letter. He would, however, give the matter attention at once. Cr. Ryder drew attention to a bad fence on the Rahui Road (near tjie bridge) and said he could not understand why it had not been attended to. —Left to the Engineer.