HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Shannon News, 24 July 1928, Page 4

HOROWHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

REPORTS OF THE ENGINEER.

The following reports on work done s during the past month were submitted to the Horowhenua County Council by the engineer (Mr. J. T. M. Brewster) on Saturday, and were adopted:— Main Highways—No. 1 Highway. Waikanae River to Otaki Bridge.— Yery little'work has been required on this road during the past month.

Otaki River to Manakau Stream.— The crushing of metal for D'Ath, Bevan’s, Staples' and Manakau'bridge, has been'completed and the metal de'i livercd at the respective sites. The twin pipe culvert at D'Ath's deviation has been taken out and the necessary crossing constructed over the ditches in Mr. D’Ath's paddocks, as agreed to. The banks of old cuttings have been' battered down and ,4arth spread over the road. General maintenance has been carried out. on the unpaved portions of this highway. Dirty metal from the No. 4 crusher haS been > plaeed on the side of the road near the Otaki railway crossing, where the shoulders had been cut up by horsedrawn vehicles. The metal for the main highway through Otaki Borough has been delivered. The Waikawa stream' bridge is causing a consideri able ainount of trouble to .keep the decking planks/on. This is caused by the Spring in the long, light steel girders. . A Levin to Wirokino Bridge. —General maintenance work by way of metal patching, cleaning out water channels and grading, has been carried out on i this road. No. 60 Highway. Levin to Wirokino Boundary.—General maintenance work has been carried out on this road. Theypower grader was used to take off grass on the shoulders of the bitumen so as to allow the water to get off the pavement. Wirokino Boundary to Shannon.— General maintenanie has been carried out on this Toad by way of metal patching and grading with the power machine. . Shannon to North Boundary.—General maintenance work by way of metal patching and grading has been carried out on this road. The foundation work near the ndrth . boundary has been gone on with. The contractor has completed the Kara stream bridge, and fillings at the approaches are almost complete. I would recommend that traffic, be allowed over tjhis bridge on July 14th. No. 373 Highway. General maintenance has been carried put on this road. A new hauling rope has been installed on the Waihoanga cage. , No. 374 Highway. Levin to Hokio Beaeh. —Maintenance metal from the Tararua Road pit is being placed on this road. Riding Matters. Tokomaru.—Metalling and cleaning out of water channels has been carried out on the Kaihinau Road. Water tables have been cleaned out on Kingston and Buckley Roads. A small • amount of metal patching has been carried on Hume ?s Road. This work has been considerably hampered by freshets in the Manawatu River. The roadman appointed for the Shannon East Road did not start. Applications have been invited so as to endeavour to get a suitable man for the road. Wirokino.—‘Metalling patching has' , been carried out on the Paiaka Road and Koputaroa-Foxton Road. KawiuFoxton Road has been scarified in the roughest places, graded and rolled. Also a small amount of patch metal has been , put on the foad. A box culvert has been put in on Hokio Beach Road. A box culvert has been put in on Kimberley Road to replace an old culvert that had collapsed. The metalling contract on the Ohau West Road is-com- . pleted. Arrangements have been made with the contractor to do a, small amount of metalling to the west of / (Soldiers 1 Road and also on Soldiers 1 Road. Metal patching has been Carried out on the Muhunoa West Road. Tararua, Gladstone and Queen Street roads have been patched with metal and graded with the power grader. ; Otaki.—General maintenance, where required, has been carried out on the roads in the Otaki Riding. Te Horo.—SoldiersTe Horo Beach, Swamp, Addington and Gorge Roads have had the power grader over them. Two stringers and six decking planks have been placed in the Swamp Road '■ bridge. The Waikanae, Waimeha and c Waikanae Township roads have had the grade over them. General maintenance work has been carried out on the roads in this Riding. General. ' . The cost of installing machinery at the depot, referred to in my report of last month, is as follows: —One 6ft . lathe and fittings £92 8s 9d; 1 drilling ' machine and fittings, £42 ss; 1 grinding machine £4 16s 3d; 1. set adjustable reamers £9 7s; shafting, pulleys, freights, etc., £3O; to cost of power, including motor and wiring £25; total £203 17s. Road at Pukehou. Mr. J. Pohio, Otaki, acting on behalf of his wife and others, wrote in refer- . enee to the road through Pukehou 4B and 4G, in which they are owners; .asking if the Couneil would compensate the Native owners in respect of ■y , the land over which the road had been ’ ; taken. On the motion of the chairman, it was'resolved that the writer be invited to attend the next meeting of the\ Works Committee and place the posi- ■ tion before them. ..Dog Tax and Wandering Stock. . A letter was received from Mr. W. H. Weggery, asking why the dog tax / was not being collected in the Wai£anae district. He stated that it was ,seven years since a collector had been • near him. The writer had spoken to |he .chairman some time ago about the

matter, but it seemed that nothing was likely to be done until it was brought before the Council. He also complained of stock wandering on the Waikanae Beach Road, particular reference being made to a bull being at large. The chairman stated that, about three months ago, Mr. Weggery spoke' to him about no dog tax being collected. The chairman then promised that he would see that Mr. Weggery's tax was collected during the current year. Probably the reason why it had not been collected was that where Mr. Weggery lived there was no access by road, and it was a long way round by the beach and back across country. The ranger may not have known that Mr. Weggery lived there, but he would be instructed that he must make the visit and collect the tax. . Cr. Barber: Going back seven years'? The chairman: If the taxpayer likes to pay it, we will be quite prepared to take it. It was decided to instruct the ranger in accordance with the chairman’s suggestion; also to instruct him to patrol the beach road iu search of wandering stock. Cr. Jensen remarked that there may have been other dog taxes uncollected. Thanks were due to Mr. Weggery for being so honest in the matter. Mangoane Valley Road Bridge. Mr. Carkeek, manager of the Kaitawa Timber Co., Ltd., wrote stating .that, in his opinion, the Mangaone Valley road bridge should be thoroughly inspected to ascertain if it was in sound condition to stand heavy traffic. He would like the Council to authorise the engineer to make the inspection, and, if it was found necessary to strengthen the structure, give an estimate of the probable cost, and cprry out the work. Cr. Jensen: stated that Mr. Carkeek had communicated with him by telephone, and he (Cr. Jensen) had advised him to apply to the Couneil by letter. The company were quite prepared to pay for the work. ' On the motion of the chairman, the application was referred to Cr: Jensen and. the engineer, with po\ver to act. Trees on Waikanae Beach Road. Mr. A. H. Burgess wrote with reference to the intention of the Council to cut back the sharp corners on the Waikanae Beach Road, stating , that .there was one such corner on his frontage. As he had a lawsoniana hedge, he wished to know how far the Council proposed to set back the road line, so that he could move the line of trees. He also wished to draw the Council’s attention to the hedges along the Beach Road. In places the road was ,0n1y.13 or 14 feet wide between overgrown hedges, which constituted a danger to traffic..

The chairman stated that this was a half-chain road, and several of the corners on it were acute. The. Council might get the Highways Board to agree to the setting-back of these corners next year. It was left to the chairman and the engineer to interview Mr. Burgess and see the hedges that require attention.