HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Shannon News, 20 August 1926, Page 4

HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

AUGUST MEETING. The Horowhenua County Council met on Saturday. Present: The chairman (Mr. G. A. Monk) and Crs. Jensen, Catley, McL'eavey, Kilsby, Bryant, Ryder, Whyte and Barber. A Makerua, Road. Mr. G. Craw, of Linton, considered that now the Makerua Drainage Board had finished the road along the bank of the main drain, it should be passed by the engineer of the County, for the protection of ratepayers and to see they got a fair deal. When tho writer took over his land, the roads were all in a rough state and those adjoining the property were paid for by the writer. The Makerua Drainage Board had now made it impossible for him to work on these roads with safety, but before the dredge came he had a road that, at least,, he could get about on and about a chain or more wide. At the present time the road wa’s not of sufficient width, and if one veered more than a foot from thic course one was liable to drop to the bottom of the drain. He carted nearly 1000 tons annually along this road, and did not think the Council should'see him .placed in a dangerous position, or imposed upon through no fault of his own, but should insist upon those responsible making a proper roadway. —Engineer to investigate and report. Otaki Gorge Access. Mr. .S. L. Corlett, Mangawhata, drew the Council’s attention to .the fact o: his having no outlet to his property in the Otaki Gorge, and would like Iq, know whether the Council could do anything in the way of giving him some means of access thereto. On one or two occasions he had been obliged to take stock up the Rahui Road around a precipitous track, and it did not seem fair that he would have to pay rates for such a. bridge that lay' at the bottom of the river. He would like to know whether the Council expected him to pay rates on such a bridge, thalt was of absolutely no use to him? * The chairman said this was one of those unfortunate cases arising out of the Otaki Gorge —i't was well-named the' Gorge, and his property was rated for the Waihoanga bridge which was at the bottom, of the river and the Taungata bridge which was cut off by a deep ravine. What he would like to know was how titles were obtained in this locality with road access. The matter was left to the chairman to enquire into. Maintenance of Hospitals. Ohura County Council • forwarded a copy of a resolution passed at a recent meeting of that body, reading as follows: “That this Council urge on the Prime Minister the necessity for some new system for raising money for public hospitals whereby the public should help to maintain the hospitals, . instead of the brunt falling on tho ratepayers. ” The writers suggested that the hospital levies be charged to the consolidated fund.—Received. Local Bodies’ Loans. The New Zealand Counties’ Association advised that the following resolution had been passed: “That while the N.Z. Counties’ Association is not opposed to the supervision of borrowing powers as proposed in the Local Government Loans Board Bill, it is anxious that the operations of the proposed Board will not unduly add’to the administrative cost of counties in com-, plying with the Board’s requirements or delay the carrying out of legitimate requirements of the county, areas. The Association is, however,’ of opinion in view; of the large and important interests of rural communities involved, that one of the members of the proposed Board should be representative of county councils.” The executive of the Association suggested, that even if the Bill wbre not passed, loan proposal supervision might be greatly assisted if the Treasury investigated the financial merits of each proposal and submitted its report to local bodies, prior to the staking of any loan polls, and further that a minimum percentage of the total votes on the roll used, must be recorded in favour of a loan proposal in order to carry same. The chairman reported that this mat : ter came before the. executive of the N.Z. Counties’ Association, but it had not been able to express the opinion of the various counties, as the latter had not se'en the proposal. It was felt that some supervision would be necessary, and the speaker thought that the Horowhenua County Council’s agreeing to the proposition might, possibly, assist the Government. ' It was resolved to support the measure. Open Gates —Straying Cows. Mr. E. H. Lewis, Kuku, reported that a short while ago some of his cows strayed from off his property along the river bed, situated about a mile down from the Ohau bridge. As there was some likelihood of his being summoned by the County ranger, the writer stated that the fact of the cattle having wandered was through no fault of his, as the gate attached to th’e bridge was being left open by persons taking metal from the river, and he asked that the matter should be investigated The chairman remarked that, apparently, no great crime had been committed—the stock had been found on the road and captured by the ranger, but that was what' the ranger was for. The gate could not be blocked up. The letter was received. A Racecourse Road. Otaki Chamber of Commerce advised its'having passed a resolution, instructing the secretary to write to the Horowhenua County' Council, pointing out the danger of the approach to the racecourse, and asking that something he done urgently before the next race meeting. 5 iCr. Ryder was deputed to investigate and report. Leaky Wafer-Races. Mr. Harold Bfist, To Horo, stated : that it was now about ten months since he wrote the council, in regard to : the condition of the county fences i along the water-races, and he received 1 a reply on the 17ith of November last, i

stating that the matter would receive attention. The Writer would now be pleased to have the fences done immediately, as it was impossible for him to keep his stock in bounds. The waiter-races were also in a leaky condition, and he would like to have that attended to also. Cr. Jensen suggested that the trouble should receive attention at once, as there were three or four leakages. The settlers, if given proper notice,- would Jxperience no hardship if the waterraces were cut off for a day or two. The engineer was authorised to repair the leakages. A Bridge for Muhunoa. Twenty settlers of Muhunoa West appended their signatures to a petition for the erection of a bridge across the stream on the Muhunoa West Road. Cr. McLeavey mentioned, in producing the petition, that a number of cars had recently been held up, and a bridge there would serve a v'ery useful purpose. The people concerned were willing to have a special rating area struck. The matter has been referred to the Works Committee. Works Committee Report. With regard to matters referred to the committee from the last meeting of the Council the committee reported as follows: 1. Petition of E. P., F. S., a nd W.M. Si me ox re proposed extension of Waikawa South Road by means of a loan. As tlie engineer was not in a position to report regarding the estimate for the proposed work your committee have" deferred consideration of the matter until their next mooting. 2. Petition of E. J. Arcus and others regarding a special rating district for the construction of a bridge over the Holcio Road: In ord'er to minimise as much as possible the expense necessary in the raising 0 f a loan especially where the amount of the loan may be small, your committee recommend that the Council consider making a contribution of £SO towards the suggested : new bridge, provided the settlers inter-

s t ested aro prepar'cd to petition for a s special works rate to be levied over a ■ | special area, for a period of two years, ' I to provide the balance required. ! 1 3. —Improvement of approach to KoI putaroa Post Office: After receiving I the report of Councillor Kilsby and the engineer your committee recommend that in addition to the wvork requested to be done by the Council for the Public Works a further eight feet of bank be removed at the expense of the Wirokino Riding. Overseer.—After careful considera- ! tion, your committee have no recom'l inundation to make respecting the appointment of ah overseer for main .highways work only. Your committeedo, however, recommend that an overseer be appointed for general County work as directed by the engineer. * i Your committee have also considered the following matters:— * j Estimates in connection ■ with proposed special rating districts. Your, committee recommend that in future where ratepayers petition to be sup-i plied witli an estimate of the cost of j loan work with a view to the formation of special rating districts that the pro- ; motors of the scheme be required to deposit the sum of live pounds to cover cost of preliminary investigations by the Council, such sum to be refunded 1 in the event of the loan being proceed- I ed with, otherwise the deposit to be re- j tained by the Council. j' 6. —Bitumen Boiler.—Your committee ! recommend that an additional bitumen boiler be procured in time to be of use | in the coming season’s programme, the | same to be fitted with 16 inch wheels if possible. 7. —Fences encroaching on Road.— Your committee recommend that Messrs V. G. Hunter, H. White and G. R. Gibbons on the Ivuku South Road; be notified to remove their fences back to the proper boundary. | On clause two Cr. Catley moved that the recommendation be deleted as the J Council had no money on the estimates . for the purpose. They were committed to do some work on Tararua Road for

■which no provision was made and which they did not know how much it would cost. Cr. McLeavey seconded the motion. The chairman suggested the following amendment: In order to minimise as much as possible the expense, necesI sary in the raising of a loan, especially where the amount of the loan may be j small, that the cost of the erection of ; a bridge be provided by means of a 1 special work's rate over a special area, ■ for a period of two years. This was 1 agreed to. j Lengthy discussion, which will be reported in next issue, took place ,on clause four, which was adopted, the matter of the .overseer’s wages and I conveyance being referred to the ’t Works Committee for report, j The other recommendations in the re- , port were agreed to, with the following j additions: That the engineer be | authorised to expend up to £lO in proI viding au approach to Mr. Hennessey’s i property at Shannon; that the petition from Muhunoa West settlers in conj neetion with a bridge be referred to the - Works Committee. J The Works Committee presented the engineer’s report as follows:—“I have very little to report on since'resuming duties after my, leave. During the past week I made an extensive inspee- ‘ tion of the roads throughout the I County and found everything in very fair order. Good progress has been made with maintenance metalling in 1 the Te Horo and Wirokino Ridings and in the southern portion of the Tokoluaru Riding. A start will be made at an early date with maintenance metalj l'ing in the northern 'end of the Toko- ' maru Riding. Very good progress has i been made with the formation work i on the Waikanae-Otaki bridge and the Levin-Potits creek sections of the main highways and a start can now be made strengthening the present foundations, way at Tokomaru,' I have inspected i same and would recommend 'that the present twin nine-inch pipes be xemov- , ed and about 3 chains of -12-inch pipes - be put in, the remaining part to be left open. The approximate cost of same 1 would be £75. At the beginning of the j- w'cek heavy rains caused floods through- ■' out the district but I am pleased to t report that no great damage has been Uljone so far as this County is eoneernI eel. Between Levin and Tokomaru the 1 road has slipped away in places and slips hav'e come down on‘parts of the road. These matters are now being attended to. As regards bridges, only minor damage has been done and in ■ most cases repairs have already been carried out. ’ ’—Adopted.