COUNTY COUNCIL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 39, 16 October 1913, Page 2

COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING

The monthly meeting of the Stratfoord County Council was held yesterday. Present: Grs. Hatha way (ahairman), Rogers, Young, Walter, Were, Smith, Anderson, Christoffel and Thomson. ENGINEER'S REPORT. The Engineer jMr E. C. Robinson) reported: Tenders.—Tenders have b=en invited, closing to-day, for the followl.ing contracts:—Xos. 878 Ind 879 (supiply and delivery of boulders in South Riding), Xos. 877, 880, 881, 882, 883 (supply and delivery of boulders in West Riding). Huiroa Foreman.— Applications" closing to-day, have been invited to fill this position. Drainage, Standish Road.—Arrangements have been made to carry out this work thoroughly. Mangaehu Road Metalling.—The obtaining of the shellrock necessary to complete this work is now in hand, and as soon as a bulloch team is obtained the carting out of the material will be gone on with. Maintenance Metal Contract, Mangaehu Riding.—This has been completed and measured, up. Beaconsleld and Ahura Road Culverts.—These have been completed and make a further addition to the .permanent work of the Council. Metalling East Rid.i'n,g.—The contract for supplying crushed metal on trucks at Midhirst is progressing steadily, the metal being railed at present to Toko for the. purpose of re-metaljing fifty chains of Standish Road. This work.is reported on in the foreman's report. Crushing Plant.—This is still engaged at Manganui, as per foreman's report, and will continue there for Jieaconsfield and possibly for Salisbury Road re-metalling- Roller.— This is still in the South Riding,,.completing Cheal Road roiling, afcer re-' mefcalling. lsm PfW 56 il down to Standish and Toko Roaus. During the last two months the whole 01 South Mountain Road, except tne piece"re-metalled last year, lias been created. As during this season of the year the road rolling requirements far exceed the capacity of one roller; I have written to the'Borough Council to ascertain on what'terms its roller is to be hired. Cardiff, Cottage. —The repairs to this have boen completed. Subsidies.—As instructed, I wrote to the Minister for Public Works in ■ reference to a subsidy for renewal of the To Popo and Ahura bridges. His; reply is attached" here- i fy |fQREMEX"S ; REPORTS; /; North' Riding ,Wt'es—.Mzsß r ?mfw. North:■ Biding,:*. i Road.—Portions of i ihis road:' have '!pm patched and b'antfed ahd : the season's supply of .maintenance 'metal (leliyellod.r York Road.-,The: last sectjpn'i treimetalled 3ias b<jen«-raked and .bltiidefl with" gravel. The reforming of the small portions to be re-metalled and the driving of a : small tunnel . ! are 'in hand. Denbigh Road. —This has had repairs made to it, but without a lot spent on it the road will always, be t unsatisfactory.,.. , , n North 1 inai*? .fctoa- < ffi,nce nieM ;M ,#te ,Ml^&t*y%sS' flns been 'crushed'and' delivered:''fet4 nloy, Cross*a^' ! dwy4on ? :'loloyds &t t§& 3d; :Croydon West,; at $s ,6d ■; Kahouri,; ; 42Vds at.J 7s- 9d j'Jvent. Tef- ; race, 40yds at <3s'9d.' .'The'Mountain Road maintenance.metal is n.Qw crushed and a stari about-£o be made with the Beaeonsfield ' re-metalling.; . The washout, on •Manawaw.iri Road has, been attended to, also .a.slip.on' CfAydon, Road Sohth, and tJie .urgently necessary repairs to .other roads. South' Riding.—The re.-inetailing of Mountain Road has been completed, and Cheal Road re-metalling is in ' hand. Some person or persons have been talcing ston.e from the Council's reserve on Finnerty Road. East Riding, Toko.— During the #earty part of the month draining and, ordinary maintenance work was carried out. The re-metalling of portions of Toko and Standish Roads is well in ~band, about .thirty chains of the former and twenty chains of the latter having been spread, also a further twenty-five chains ploughed ready for metalling. East Riding, Douglas.—Patching and general road work has been carried out during the anonth. Fourteen 9-inch pipes have been put in on Ohura-Maugaehu Road and eight 9-inch pipes on the Douglas Road to replace old Culverts. East Riding, Hui roa -—The small bridge on Mohakau Road has been completed and .work discontinued.

West Hiding.—The new filling on Cardiff R.oad lias .been fenced, also the County reserve at Cardiff on South side ,of the Waiiigongoro bridge, to bo jis.ed .as .a horse paddock. It is, however, very small—only about half an .acre. Mr Blaokstock has completed his contract for delivering 100 posts. General road work has been carried out.

Manga eh u Riding.—-During the month general repair work has been carried out on all the roads in the riding. A new stringer is being prepared for the Taurakawa Road bridge, as instructed. MIDHIRST HALL.

| ?$r R. Hogg, clerk of the Midhirst Cemetery Trustees, wrote: The Cemetery Trustees instruct me to write and say that they would be pleased if your Council could arrange to relieve them of the custody of the Midhirst Public Hall. They desire to e to thank you fpr the .assistance the hall revenue has been in helping to place ' the cemetery in what might be called good order.—The chairman said there was a feeling in Midhirst that a company might be formed to take aver the hall. When the hall was built it was the only place of : nVlic .entertainment in the North Ridiag, but now ther.e were a number of schools in the Riding. It was c. good

hall and the Midhirst people should help themselves in the matter.- -Cr. Christoffol thought tenders should he called for the "building, and the re."dents epidd form a company and buy it.- The chairman said there \viis an overdraft of about £l3O on the hul', and at that price it would be a 6h<ia;> property.—lt was decided to recommend the Cemetery Trustees to expedite the formation of a company, the company to take over aii liabilities. MANGA ROAD AGAIN.

The Under-Secretary 'of PiiHJ?c Wrks wrote as follows' regarPn.S Manga Road: '! /have the* 'hoh ,; r + o ic knowledge receipt of your ]eUo>' convening resolution'passe'd by 1 ' the |VJ bounty'Council to 'the eftvcl that the Council declines to accede any responsibility with regard ( ) 'Manga Road if it is handed over to the Council in its present state! In reply, T have to refer you to Part 0 of 'The Public Works' Act, 1908/ which states that where there are no road boards, all public roads in the County arc- County roads under the control ol tip County Council, whether the roads aro formed or unformed. You will gather also from sub-section I of section 103 of the Act that the construction or repair of any road by the Government does not make ri'ch road a Government road. This being SO, you will seo that the -responsibility of your Council 'fpVthe'.)'oad to which you refer lids never been taken from it, and the object of for/nally declining any roads which' 'the' Government may have ' constructed or improved to be County roads is simply for the purpose of making it perfectly clear that the Government does fl.Qt' intend to do anything further ; iii the' matetr. Any v.Qrk done on such a road by the Government i.s to that extent a rejief to the local authority which by law would otherwise Have to impr.pve the road, as the Government can only expand the amounts wiiich may be voted by Parliament or loaded on the land.

Four Taurakawa settlers wrote as follows :—We, the undersigned settlers of the Manga and Whaka Roads, faij to see any chance of the Governnjent shifting the slips on the Manga, deviation. We understand that the'Council has possession of accrued thirds to the Manga and Whaka Roads, and therefejire we'think k advisable to fall back on our. .thirds for the purpose. ' Would the Council bo kind 1 enough' to '[&ss&& sil >' about' £4O-for the we think would be sufficient : to' put "the rojtl in repair. ' ' ' •'"''*-'

• The ;Engineer was'give;! Wltl&rity' fd : Bp'ei|d up to £ls:o*vt(ot thitcVsDl ] . [,_ .GENERAL-,,, ~,,1 0i • callfett 'or/, dog, collars, ;.,,,, ,!.>*„(•« ijm Raihyav offered, jto s?lK'*hfe"Council an old lever weighbridge.—Received. Tenders were accepted as follows;,, —Contract , ( 877 )|( jfc$fion tlI ,S 7& ~Xqr r v.is», 330 Nelison, "BSI Julian and Bennett, 832 Green, 883 Green.

W. Atkins was at ©fiairqa. " It lipu Regarding » site ;for ,a, fyfjfjafj's at Puiroiv r)J [)#>) ~,„,,, ■,..,,./, , Gi'Mj Lawn", ( Opunake R^ad,, applied 7of' psa-missionto lay. fypm 'tie ffprqugh, boundary. to : Jus ~ pyp.pehty.'—Request granted. ~ ~(

The Clerk of the Moa Road Boaaxl n'i-ote asking if the Council t haid any money to. spend on Mangaotea., Jlotiikawa, Salisbury . and ■ Ratapiko Ror.ds.—No funds in hand. . The Minister, for ,Public ~,Works; wrote that the application for pound for pound subsidy for the renewal; (of the Te Popo and Ahiira bridges would receive consideration when the Estimates were beilng considered.

J. O. Falder, Kahouri Bridge,, wrote that as he was putting in a, crop on his land opposite- tho Cemetery ho would be glad if the Council, would take steps to prevent surface water from the road draining into the in the h,ands of the Engineer.

H. Thrush, surfaceman, West Rid-, ing, wrote complaining, that the Ranger had seized his horse while it was grazing on the road. He understood thg Council's employees were entitled to graze horses on .the roads. He had been unable to get a "paddock for grazing.—lt was decided that employees' horses be not molested. W. Ward, Makahu, wrote'that he had felled over a hundred > acres of bush on sections 20 and 21, Block 11., Oinona S.D., and desired to erect a fence along the road frontage, but if he did so he would fence oft' a neighbor's access. He desired to know how he should proceed.—Cr. Young and Engineer to investigate. ■The Public Works Department forwarded a draft copy of the license authorising the Electrical Supply Co. to use water fr.om the Pa tea river, and to erect electric lines, A request was made that the license with any remarks deemed necessary should bo returned as early as possible.—lt was decided that no action be taken at present. <■■■■'

A number of Huiroa settlors wrote 1 asking tho Council to take .stops to havo a barbed .wire fej_c.e near the -township on Makuri Road repaired, and also to do something in reference to the old tramway. Complaint T.-as also made t!i'„t a settJer bad Keen "making a dairy farm and horse paddock of the roads for the last live or six years."—The fence and tramway are to be fixed up. The question of wandering stock was referred to the Ranger.