WORK IN THE COUNTY.

Shannon News, 25 June 1929, Page 3

WORK IN THE COUNTY.

REPORT. The report presented .by the engineer (Mr. J. T. M. Brewster), to the Horowhenua County Council on Saturday was as follows: — Tokomaru Riding. ; Maintenance work by way of metal, r/ttehing has been carried out on Hume's, Akcr's, Williams'', Schwass and Tokomaru township .Roads. Drains in the township have also received attention. The contractor has completed the Albert Road bridge, with the exception of an extras coat of white paint to be put on the handrails. Traffic has been using this bridge for some time. Water channels have been cleaned out on Heights and 'Buckley ROads. ■ A quantity of maintenance metal has been put on the No. 60 Main Highway from Shannon Borough south. The plans for the re-construction of the. Main Highway from Swindlchurst's to Shannon have been amended and returned to the Main Highways Board ' for approval. Again, the importance of the No. 60 Main Highway as an allweather route has been amply demonstrated, on account of the blockage of the Levin-Foxton Road through flood waters. During the blockage of the latter road the No. 60 Highway has had to carry practically all through traffic, and so has suffered lyWirokino Riding. Maintenance .metal has been put on tho Levin-Foxton, Levin-Shannon and Lcvin-Hokio Main Highways, also on Fairfield and Muhunoa East Roads. Metalling of the latter road has been discontinued so that the work may be ' offered by'contract in accordance, with a resolution of the Council. The road grader has been at work on the unpaved portions of the Main Highways and Muhunoa East, Heatherlea East / and Heatherlea-Koputaroa Roads. Water-channels have been attended to on Wallace, McDonald and Muhunoa West Roads. Instructions have been issued to have the cutting on Wallace Road widened in accordance with ar- ' rangements come to by the members for the riding. ' Mr. R. Butt has now carried out the diversion,of part of the water carried by the McDonald Road race. The necessary signs limiting'loads on the bridge on Muhunoa West Road have been erected. The No. 3 crusher has been erected at the Ohau River on Muhunoa East Road and is crushing pavement metal for the Levin-Foxton Main Highway. This plant is being driven by the 25 h.p. electric motor. It is my intention to use the Anderson oil engine to drive the old crusher ' at .Tararua Road pit to crush foundation metal for the Main Highway. The plans of the proposed concrete bridge over thVKuku Stream are completed and, if satisfactory, may be forwarded to the Main Highways Board for approval. .This also applies to the second three miles of the Levin-Foxton Main Highway. Qtaki Riding.

Maintenance" work Has been carried out on the Waikawa Beach and Waikawa South Roads, 214 cubic yards having been spread in place. The metalling of the Waikawa Beach Road under Government grant has been'completed. The metalling of .Convent Road has also been completed. The No. 5 crusher has been installed in the Waitohu pit on the 'Main Highway and at present is crushing foundation metal for Bevan's and D'Ath's deviations. The foundation work in Staples' deviation has been completed. Before leaving the Waitohu pit the crusher will crush pavement metal to replace that which was taken for the Main Highway in the Tokomaru riding. The flood overflow culvert near the Otaki bridge has been completed and a guard-rail erected at each end of the culvert. x The plans of the Waikawa Stream bridge have now been approved by the Main Highways Board, and tenders for the carrying out of the work may lie called as soon as. possible. Te Hoio Biding.

The road' grader has been employed on the Waikanae Beach Road. Improvements to the curve on the Beach Road have been carried out. Repairs to the decking of the Waihoanga footbridge have been carried out. Water channels on Otaki Gorge and Mangaone Roads have been attended.to.

The survey in connection with the re-defining of the road reserve giving access to Mr. A. Seed's property in the Otaki Gorge has'' been carried out. ' The water races in Mr. B. L. Ellis' property are, in two places, giving considerable trouble through leaks. This, in my opinion, is caused through the ends, of the fluming not being carried far enough into solid ground. At the point higher up the race I would recommend that 12ft of 12in diameter concrete pipe be placed on the end of the fluming and concreted to same, the joints in the pipe to b'e made tight and an intake constructed. At the point lower down the race I would recommend that an apron wall be constructed at the end of the fluming to prevent the water leaking back into the low ground. Permission was given to Mr. John Fielding, of Te Horo, to place a threequarter inch water pipe under Te Waka Road. In accordance wrth instructions I have supplied an estimate for a water supply .scheme for Waimeha township. The Ranger reports that during the month he has dealt with 20 head of stock, and that for the current year, to date, he has registered 523 dogs.

Councillors' Cohuaeiits.

Cr. Jensen said that the Main High

way was getting into a bad state again. i He ,had understood that it was going to be sealed early in the next season; he did not see any preparation for any thing in connection with paving it. He would like to know whether the Council intended to go on with this

work; he understood they had been authorised to do it. The engineer: As-soon as the plant is finished at D'Ath's deviation, it is going there. Cr. Jensen also sought information about straightening the road near the hospital. The chairman: It will be straightened on either side of the hospital in accordance with the Board's plans. Te Horo Beach Road. Cr. Jensen further said that he would like to see something done to the Te Horo Beach Road where it was likely to flood. It appeared to.him that the Council would have to maintain and perhaps place maintenance metal on that road, and it would cost nearly as much for maintenance as it would to kc;ep the ilocdwater off the road. Every time they put metal on that road it washed away. The cost of doing the work vvould not be much more than maintenance by metal for two years. There was quite a danger to traffic there when the road was flooded.

The engineer offered to aceompany Cr. Jensen on a visit of inspection to the road.

Utaiii Bridge Culvert. Cr. Ryder asked the engineer the cost of the culvert at the Otaki bridge, also the cost per yard of the metal put on the Convent Road.

The engineer replied that the total cost of the culvert was £2Ol 15s 2d. 'He_ promised to supply information on the other mattor at the next meeting. Blair's Crossing. Cr. Btyant reported that the Councillors for the riding had inspected the Waitohu ford at Blair J s Road and had come to the conclusion that a bridge would.be out of the question, but that the ford could be improved at a small cost. They proposed that that be done and that Cr. Ryder see the work parried out.

" The course recommended was agreed to by the Council. Cr. Ryder stated that "the intention was that the work be done in the summer. Annual Inspection. Cr. Catley said he wanted to revive the .matter of the annual inspection. The Council had been in the habit of making this in the past, and it was a necessary thing, allowing the Council to see the state of the roads. This year the inspection had been allowed to lapse, not through any design, but perhaps through the present engineer not being informed that it was the custom. The chairman: It is a matter for arrangement between the engineer and individual Councillors in the various ridings. Owing to the County election, we thought it would delay the preparation of the estimates. When I put the estimates before you, if you desired 'an inspection then or subsequently, there was no reason why you should not have it.

Cr. Catley: I was wondering whether, it was in abeyance or not.

The chairman: That is not the desire.

Maintenance Metal.

Cr. Catley asked if the engineer was going to .give effect to the Council's resolution that tenders be called for maintenance metal.

The engineer said he wanted to know from the riding members how much metal they wanted "for the roads. One road had been wellunder-way and he had stopped the metalling on it. Cr. Catley: I did not know you. had this metalling under way. To call for tenders for a little bit is a disability, hence the resolution. The chairman: It was carried on the understanding that the Councillors were to consult the engineer as to what amounts were to be called for.

Cr. Catley: It was to be put where necessary. Roads should not be allowed to get into such disrepair that it takes a lot to get them back again.. T would like .to know from the engineer whether he is going to call for tenders. The engineer: I will call for tenders, unless you r.eseind it. Cr. Gimblett expressed the opinion that the resolution to call for tenders was rather over-riding the engineer's assurances concerning the work to b>' done on the roads. He questioned very much whether any of the tenders that might come in would be accepted in competition' with the price at which the Council could itself put the metal on. The question was asked by Cr. Gimblett whether there was- any indication as to when the Highways Board was going to. help with Queen vStreet. The chairman: I don't think they have met yet. Cr. Gimblett: The ruts are getting pretty big. ' Arapacpae Road also wants attention, I think it requires maintenance metal. The holes are bad in Potts Road under the hills, and probably in one or two other roads, but we have the engineer's assurance that he is going on with the roads. Tokomaru Valley Road.

Cr. Barber stated that the Tokomaru Valley Road would require some supervision, following on the recent rains. In one place a culvert had been washed out. No. 60 Highway. Cr. Barber also mentioned that the Council had .granted an increased amount for the unbitumenised portion of No. 60 Main Highway north of Levin. The whole of the extra grant over and above the engineer's estimate was practically gone already, owing to increased amount of traffic due to the flood on the other route. There had been comparatively few floods in the last two or three years, so some more could be looked for. He thought that No.'-60 Highway had been stinted, even though it had received extra money. The road to-day was not in good order at all, but in a very rough state.

The engineer: There is a lot of metal to go on it. The engineer's report was adopted.