STRATFORD COUNTY COUNCIL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 61, 17 July 1913, Page 3

STRATFORD COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING

Tho monthly meeting of the Stratford CoTiiity Council was held yesterday. Present: Lis Hathaway (.chairman), Rogers Young, Walter, Were Christoffel, Anderson, and Smith. ENGINEER'S REPORT. Tho Engineer (Mr E. C. Robinson) reported:—Tenders: As instructed, 1 have invited tenders, closing to-day, for GOUO cubic yards of crushed metal on trucks at Sentry Hill Station. Work in Progress: The roadman's cottage, Manaia Road, is well in hand and progressing steadily. The building of the concrete culvert, Beaconsfield Road, is being pushed ahead and will be out of hand shortly, when a start will bo made with a similar culvert on Ahuroa Road west. The shell-rock supply contract at Tututawa is still a long way from being finished.

Road Roller: During the month, about half a milo of South Mountain Road has been scarified and re-faced. Brecon Road has been re-rolled, also Pembroke Road. The roller is now being sent up to Radnor Road to complete the rolling of a length of new metal there. I regret being unable to send the roller up to- York Road to complete there, but the Te Popo bridge. until repairs have been made, is proving too unsafe for its transit. The York Road metal will, however, be blinded with gravel and rolled as soon as opportunity permits. When the Radnor Road length is completed, I am sending the roller to East Road until the metal is broken in the South Riding and ready for re-facing some lengths of the main road, which will be in about a fortnight. General: I would ask for authority to put in hand tho following works: (1) The re-decking and general repair of Kahouri and Te Popo bridges on Mountain Road. With a thorough overhaul, T hope to make these structures last some years longer. (2) The gravelling of new engine-shed and approach thereto. This work is very necessary. (3) The renewal of a large culvert (in pipes) on Mohakau Road at Huiroa. The culvert in question takes the outfall from main road drain. (4) The renewal or substitution of a small bridge on Oru Road with large pipes. (5) The renewal of string or bridge on Wingfove Road opposite Mr N. Brown's with hardwood.— Tho Council authorised the work on the bridges on the main road, but the other works were held over, owing to present lack of funds'. 1 FOREMEN'S REPORTS.

North Rifting (West): -'Earth i has been, remdved from bank in Queen's CirCßst ' MitTMr.st, idf banking ■ metal on Mountaiii RoM south of Radnor Road. | About £8 Mis ; been spent■to date, but more work requires to be done. An old wooden culvert has been replaced with fifteen 9-in. pipes. Repairs have b'een ; 'carried out on the following roads : —Rutland, York, Denbigh, Denmark Terrace, Radnor, Monmouth,"Fiin'f, and t ? ppeV and Lower Pembroke. 'Mr G'. Meads offers about fifteen to twenty cubic yards of stone i'reo if the" Council' will -haVo same broken and put on Denbigh Road above Derbv Road.

North Hiding (East):' Nearly all our time this month has been spent in patching, chiefly Stanley East, Ackland, Croydon south, and west. A drain has "been cleared on Beaconsfield Eoad near Mr Shotter's farm. The roads are breaking up "a little owing to the showery weather. We will, therefore, have to continue patching. South Biding: Fourteen 9-in. pipes have been put in and a small bridge re-decked on Skinner Road. Fillings have been widened and fences repaired on lower Finnerty Road, and a portion of Mountain Road rolled and scarified.

East Riding (Toko): All the roads under my control are in fair order except Standish Road, which is breaking up very badly, and maintenance metal is getting scarce. Wawiri and Beaconsfield roads have been thoroughly water-tabled during the past month, and general maintenance work carried out on the various' roads.

East Riding (Douglas): The roads under my caro are in very fair order. Wo have been patching and doing general road work on Gordon, Ohura, Ohura-Mangaehu and Mangaotuku Roads. Thirty-three 9-in. pipes have been put in on tho latter road. The three-foot pipe culvert has been put in on Makuri Road and the necessary drains dug.

East Riding (Huiroa): During the month general road work has been carried out on Douglas North, Makuri, Aikama and oilier roads. Draincleaning on Akama Road. I shall bo commencing to make repairs to Tunupo Road suspension bridge forthwith. West Riding: The roads under my control arc in good order except the Hastings Road south, which has broken up badly owing to a lot of firewoodcarting by Mr J. Xeikon. The new filling on Cardiff Road urgently requires fencing. Mr C. Lofroth left the cottage at Cardiff on Juno 30th. Mangaehu Riding : During the month T have been cleaning water-tables and clearing slips on the various roads in the riding. The Taihore and BrewerTaihore Roads are in very fair order for this time of year, except for a culvert which has broken in on the Taihore. This will be repaired in a few days. The decking of the Mangaehu and Puni stream bridges near Puniwhakau has been repaired. The Puniwhakau Road is cutting up badly. The work on Puni and Taurakawa Roads is in progress. The metalled roads aro in fair order. The man I had with mo at Tututawa has

left me, and I had to dispose of the Puniwhakau surfaceman. I have put on Mr Ryan until I can got-a, suitable! man. Decisions: The offer of Mr Meadsi was accepted.—Mrs Hodgkinson is to he called upon to Hoar out the creek at the upper end of Standish lload. j Cr. Were reported that the crock had '•

silted up, and the water was on a level with the metil.-Thc Engineer was instructed to go into the question of repairs to the roadman's cottage

at Cardiff, and the matter of erectin" Stable.—Cr. Were, drew attention to the state of the Makuri Road as | a result of the carting operations lin connection with the Huiroa oiljwdl and the Engineer was instructed it) look into the matter.

COTTAGE AT HUIROA. Cr. Walter reported having visited 'Huiroa with the object of recommend--1 ing a site for a roadman's cottage. He | recommended that the Council ..should | apply for sections 4,5, 6 and 16, Block ill., Huiroa township, of an I area of two acres. He had been | told that the land was a Council reserve, though the rate-book showed 1 it to bo Crown bind.

It was decided to apply to the Land Board for the land. MAXGA ROAD.

The Acting Under-Secretary of the | Public Works Department wrote: Referring to your letter of 21th ult., in which application was made for a grant of £2O to remove slips on Manga Road, I have to state that the Resident Road Engineer's report on this application has now been received, and" apparently the application refers to work which was carried out by your Council practically eighteen months ago. "You will recollect that at the latter end of 1911 your Council included in a claim for work done on Manga Road the sum of £ls for clearing slips. After investigation tha claim was duly allowed and the amount paid. It now appears that the claim for £2O for clearing slipsrefers to the same section of road. In a case where a road is being handed over to a local body, and during the progress of formalities necessary to the handing over, slips came down. the Department does not altogether object to making a certain allowance to clear such slips, but in this case as 't appears that the original construction was carried out over eighteen months ago, and the road vested in your Council, the Minister regrets that ho cannot favorably enter! tin your application. \b was decided to refer the mat tor back to tho Department, explaining that the piece of road in question has not yet been vested in the Council., ..,-..

The -Engineer stated ,that the; wad 'liad'jflofc vet been of use to the Coun- • I) it ty s ratepayers. --.*T ■'■; f " IJ ' GENERAL. .; ; n ' TJ{<? Te Awamjtflft'ClKimber of Commerce asked: for eoAop'onltion in nrgihg p;i the (iovenmien.fc-.tlie necessity of minimising risk of accident at railway level crosisngs.—Received.

Tie D.O.A. (Ml- A. Coleman) notified the bankruptcy of' ChsrlVs' ' McV Phee, contractor, and stated thai moneys duo to McPhee by the CounciT/#olild, be payable to* him-(the \JI f i, ,S 1 ■ v ). >| '! (Mil ■ . i«.Ji lil D.O ; A.). , ffne ! Stratford Dairy 'Co. ' wrote, ia£kingi to hire the._ Council's i Koad ■rolhv to enable them 'to repair the road, round the faptory".^—The" roller, is to lie lent as soon as it is available nvi

Tenders "ere opened for ( j;he'sup? ply of 0000 yards of broken metal .-on trucks at Sentry Hill railway station. Only one tender was in order, but this was declined. A committee consisting of the Chairman, Engineer and East Riding, members war set up to endeavor to make arrangements for the supply of metal.

The local noxious weeds inspector notified that a patch of gorse on n Council reserve near the Waitara river was in [lower, and needed cutting; also that a patch of blackberry on the road near Douglas would need attention about January.—Left to the Engineer to deal with.