HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Shannon News, 16 April 1926, Page 2

HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

APRIL MEETING. ' The April meeting of the Horowhcnua County Council was held on Saturday. The chairman (Mr. S. A. Monk) presided and there were present: Crs. Jensen, Catley, Broadbeiv, Harkness, Bryant, Ryder, Barber and Whytc. Benzine Tin Danger. From the Counties' Association drawing attention to the bad habit of motorists in leaving empty benzine tins on the road. In one instance the Depart of Justice reported a serious case wherein a Native child lost its 'life owing to lighting a lire under a partly empty benzine tin found on the road, thus causing an expkfsion. The executive of the Counties' Association, were of the opinion that steps should be taken to make it an offence to leave benzine tins on the road. The chairman, observed that the matter had been brought before their notice some time ago and the County engineer had been instructed to take action against, offenders' in this connection. The Council were in absolute accord with the suggestion embodied in the above letter. Ohau Water Races. Mr. W. Kilsby, Levin, drew atten- j trim to the condition of the water races on his Ohau property. One water raco ended about two chains- on his property, but was flooding the. surrounding ground? The writer "suggested tin; water being turned into another race, or the present onq continued to an existing drain, in order to give outlet to the water. The letter was referred to the Work;Cominitfee, who will instruct the engineer to take the necessary levels am; refer the matter back to the Council. Qverflow at Manakau. The Works Committee reported as to Mr. R. B. Kilgour's complaint regarding wat-Cr-overflow on the South Manakau Road near Mr. Monk's house. Av inspection 'of the locality has beep made By the Committee and it was recommended that a small bank be erected alongside the fence on the northern side of the road and that a 15-inch pipe' be replaced with a 2-foot pipe on the Waitohu Valley Road. —Adopted. Car for the Ranger. The Works Committee reported: After due consideration of the conditions, under which the ranger is at present employed your Committe'e recommend as a more satisfactory s basis, that a car be purchased Council for the ranger's duties, and that the running co'sts of the same be .paid by the Council. -In view of this arrangement your- Committee also recommend that the ranger's salary be reduced from £2O to £lb' per calendar month. Cr. Harkness asked how this matter cropped up and what information was put before the Committee to lead 1 to this decision. C,r. Ryder, chairman of the Works Committee, said a letter was received from the County chairman stating the ranger's car was no longer available and tire Committee after consideration decided that the recommendation was the best' solution. ■ '' Cr. Catley said the proposal was a good one. He had always felt that the ranger was underpaid as t 'he had to maintain and run his car out of the salary. Cr. Harkness considered that as the appointment was practically a new one, it should have been thrown open to other applicants. 'The.ranging was.the one unsatisfactory feature of. County work and had been for a long time. He did not agree with the principle of finding cars. It was' far better to let officers provide their own cars as better care was then taken of them. The chairman considered the decision a wise one which would make for greater efficiency. He felt that the 1 , dissatisfaction with the ranging was due to the fact, that the ranger was not getting sufficient running. It might bo that the cost would be more, but the ranger was a careful man, and the Council had their own machine and so would be able to keep costs down. If the selreihe worked they had made a step forward, but if it did not work, thev could still.get another man. Cr. Jensen agreed with the recommendation, as the appointment could always be terminated. The engineer said there had been less cattle on the road during the past few months than ever before. The'Works Committee saw very little on their recent tour which was-fairly extensive. Cr. Harkness: They were not out a Sunday, then. '. i Cr. Catley disagreed with Cr. Hardness. The ranging was an efficient as one man could make it, seeing the distances he had to travel. There would alwavs be offenders. He always stood for getting as much as wa,s possible out of a man for what lie got, but lie did not think the ranger could have done more than he had done. Cr. Ryder said there was no desire to get rid of the present ranger. He was quite satisfactory in the job, but a change could be made if.it became necessary.

Cr. Harkncss asked what the estimated cost would be. The chairman said not less than £IOO a year, but the Works Committee fully expected that greater efficiency would be possible. Cr. Harkncss: We will expect it. The recommendation Avas then adopted. Main Highways Satisfactory. Following are the scores:— The Works Committee reported:—On the day of the Committee meeting an. inspection was made of the main highway construction in the southern portion of the- County and the works' generally were found satisfactory.

Engineer's Report. The engineer reported as follows: Although the weather has been somewhat broken during the period, work throughout the County has progressed in a satisfactory maimer. ■■> Tokomaru Riding—The roads in this riding are all in fair order, although the main"roads suffered somewhat owing to holiday traffic. One of the small graders will be sent to, this riding within the next few days. Slow progress is being

made with the formation work on the Ashlea-Temukamu Road. A start has been made ;with the erection of the bridge on Albert Road. Arrangements have been made with Manawatir County, for the installation of engine on the Shannon Punt. Pretoria Road has been trimmed up, a quantity of maintenance metal delivered and a ;U5-inch concrete pipe put in. ' Wirokinp Riding.—Everything in this riding is in fair order. The tractor and grader has be'en at w r ork part time "on several of the district roads. Paiaka Road 1 has received an additional 50 cubic yards of maintenance metal. Waitarerc Road has been trimmed up and is in* fair order. Metalling on this road will be discontinued in the meantime. Messrs McLeavcy and Dittmer are at work on the alteration of the water ,race system, on their property at Ohau. This work when completed, should prove <. satisfactory to everyone concerned. Only one tender' has been received for the formation, work on the Ohau West Road extension.

Otaki Riding.—l have very little to report in this riding. The main road is a little rough between Otaki Railway and Manakau Bridge, but this will be attended to before the crusher leaves Waikawa. The district roads are all in good condition. A Certain amount of erosion has taken place at the bridge •over the Waitohu stream on the Waitohu Valley Road. Crating wire'is being made, and the necessary protection work will be put in hand almost immediately. Tc Horo Riding.-—Every road in this riding is in good order. There is a , fair amount of loose metal on the main road, but the grader is kept at work and a fair surface' is maintained. I have not yet had the opportunity of inspecting the fence and race through Mr. Best's property at Mangaoire, but will do so very shortly. Ranger.—The ranger has reported -to me as follows: —Since last meeting, I have impounded 35 head of wandering stock. There are a number of informs- ■ -tions to lay before the Magistrate's Court for the May sitting. Cr. x Barber said the by-roads were not getting much attention and were in a very bad state. He drew attention * to the frequency with which roadmen .. were out of their working localities. Cr. Whyte asked whether power had been arranged for the two-horse grader and the engineer said this had been arranged for. . Cr. Whyte,-said the Takomaru metal contractor (Mr. Webb) had been, greatly handicapped in obtaining metal, and had suggested that he be alloAved to set up the old crusher in the Council's possession, which ..would ensure better ■>ietal and be in the Council's interests. The contractor was willing to supply the metal at th'o same price as he was now getting. The engineer said he had discussed the matter with the contractor and approved of the proposal. The engineer, and Cr. Whyte were appointed to arrange the matter on a satisfactory basis. Cr. Harkness said the Wirokino-F6x-ton Road, near Poroutowhoa, was particularly bad, and unless it was attended to soon would require a large amount of metal. The engineer said the amount'of traffic on the road at Easter would smash up any road. The lorry was working there now. Cr. Harkness suggested binding the. rough metal at main highway corners as the lorries were tending to break away the road. —The engineer said this would be attended to. Cr. Jensen said he was pleased at the way the by-roads were kept in Te Horo. but, before the Wet weather the grader should be run over the r sides to let the water off. The engineer said he would do his best to send the graders to Te Horo, but in view of demands made for the graders all over the County he could not promise definitely. Accounts. Accounts passed for payment totaled £2914- 9s 2d.