STRATFORD COUNTY COUNCIL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 2, 20 August 1914, Page 2

STRATFORD COUNTY COUNCIL.

The monthly meeting of the Stratford County Council was held yesterday. Present; Crs W. Hathaway(chairman), W . H. Wore, E. Walter, J. Young, W. Rogers, J. Thomson, J. Christoffel, E. Anderson, and J. Smith. EXOINKER’S REPORT. The engineer (Mr TV. d, Lopdell) reported: In compiling my first report to your Council, 1 do not propose to make it a very comprehensive one, as there are many of the roads I have not yet had time to go over, more especially the unmetallcd ones in the back country, but will as soon as weather and tunc permit go over and become conversant with every road in the county. ft would be of considerable advantage to me if I had the motor car, as 1 then could take the Riding foremen round their respective Ridings and ascertain the handiest places to procure our metal, which is absolutely necessary, owing to the near approach of the contract season. General: As instructed at last meeting ! have examined several bridges and am preparing plans and specifications for same. Midhirst, Kelly Street: To make a good job of this street, which would include forming, straightening, adverting, metalling and rolling, would cost £125. Autawa Road, £SO Government grant: This work has been put in hand by day labor. Hcao Road, £IOO Government grant: F am submitting specifications of work necessary on this road to the Public Works engineer. Crushing plant; This plant is now out at Toko, where ivo propose crushing about .‘IOO cubic yards, TOO yards of boulder stone, and 200 yards of pit gravel. T have purchased about 25 yards of stone from Mr E. Zurcher at Gs per yard. Wharo at Toko: This whare is ou the County section, and without a roof, and in

consequence is exposed to all the weather. If roofed at a cost of £2 10s for material and labor it would bo a very handy hut for horse feed, etc. Mr Richards also complains that rain blows in under his door, and is affecting the house. Half a day would repair the trouble. Kaitieke Road bridge: This bridge is unsafe in its present condition. To erect a concrete span would be expensive, so I would recommend that a sill bridge be erected, there being Jjeams available in the district. This bridge could be erected for under £2O. Flint Road: Mr James Pearce complains that a drain on tin’s road, blocked by growth, causes an overflow in wet weather and affects his property. Ro purchase of new stono crusher: I would like the Council to go into committee to discuss the advisability of procuring a new crushing plant.

Decisions.—As work on Kelly Street would liavo to he done by loan, it will he held over at present. Where at Toko to he roofed, and Mr Richards’ cotta go to he repaired. Kaitieke bridge to he put in Land. Matter of Flint Hoad drain deferred. After discussion, in. committee, it was-de-cided to procure a crusher as recommended by the engineer, the chairman and engineer to arrange details. HIDING FOREMEN.

North Hiding (east): All our time has been spent in patching Stanley east, Ackland, Stanley Cross and Croydon roads. Mr Kerrisk lias com. pick'd his shell-rock contract, having delivered 89 yards on Stanley road east and 31 yards on Ackland. Another 80 yards is necessary to put these roads in order—4o yards on leach road. In the coming month, we propose patching Beoconslicld, Salisbury and Croydon west roads. North Hiding, (west):,A!! Lho roads under my care are in fair order at the present time. Repairs have been carried out on the following roads: Mountain, Monmouth, lower and upper Pembroke, Flint, Radnor, Denbigh, York and Rutland. Mountain Hoad: This road has given a great deal of trouble during the month, and broken metal is running short in places. Outlet to tunnel: I gave Mr Smith, on the corner o; the Mountain and Croydon .uuns notice to clean out the tunnel some time ago, but so far lie has not don;' so. J would like your advice on the matter, as it- is full of silt at the present time. Mr ,). Plows, Midhirst, wants a portion, of hank removed from in front of his place. It will cost about C2 to remove it to the portion of road south of Radnor

road. Radnor road: 1 have done the portion of road near Mr Recshy’s, hnt lie is not satisfied, now wanting it blinded and rolled. York Road: The upper end of this road is breaking up badly. I will attend (o it as soon as possible. Boulders for Radnor and Cardiff Hoads: I will get the boulders for those roads as early as eouveuient. South Riding: Ail the roads in my Riding are in fair order except the upper Skinner, which was damaged by tin l carting of stone from the crusher. Clmal Read: i have re-metal-hd about 08 chains on the upper Cheal road, and 13 chains on the lower portion. AVe will be finished on this road in about three days. [Cast Riding (Toko): Maintenance work has keen done on the following loads: Alniroa oast and west, Ohura, Wawiri. Toko, Skinner and Reaeousficld. Crushing: The crushing of 150!) yards at Skinner road is now completed, 1020 yards having gone to Hniron, 33 yards to Toko road, ]] yards to the Toko dairy factory. 20 yards to Skinner road, and 00 yards is left to repair damage done to Skinner road. The remainder has I boon sent in ’Reneonsfield mad, Crushing plant: This plant is now sot

iii Biunga pit’ and a stait has been made. We purpose getting ouougli metal to repair Toko road, ioko east and Huinga, owing to :l;e amount of heavy carting ou it. s ariacemau Clifford, who was working > .tk me, lias left to go to the A\ . aiding. He was laid up for a week owing to a, piece of shell rock rolling off tho hank on Ahuroa road and striking him on tho back. East Hiding (Hi: iron): Dumping of tho necessary m" d for 11 portion oi. tho Makuri r. h! vest has been completed. Mat i" Hoad east: General repair work >s anout completed. A pipe culvert Ims been put in near the railway station. Akama Hoad: Necessary repairs are in progress, including about two chains of widening of roadway at a narrow place. About 30 chains of drain cleaning is necessary at the far end of the road. Repairs were also carried out on the following roads :—Douglas north and south and Tunupo. Autawa Road: The authorised repairs to this road are proceeding. The mleeit and the filling are completed. Mobakau Road: Portions of this road arc in a-

very had state. I propose having the worst places fascincd uvor with

scrub if 1 can obtain same at reasonable cost. I respectfully suggest that the Council reimburse me for stationery, stamps, etc., _ used in forwarding Council matter. East Riding (Douglas): All the roads are in very lair order witn the exception of a small portion of the unmetallcd piece of the Strathmore Saddle. We have been engaged on water-tabling, patching, etc,, on Maiigaotuku, Gordon and tho main roads. West Riding: All the metalled roads under my cure are now in good order for this lime of the year. Opunako No. 1; 1 have taken about four yards of shingle from the crushing site (Cardiff) for repairing this road.

Cardin' Hoad north: I have procured four planks from Syme’s yard for repairs to dock of bridge on this road. Opunake No. 3: The wing wall of

a small bridge on this road requires some attention. There are a lot of complaints about working bullocks on the roads at Mahoe. Three died on the Palmer road. There is also ■i complaint of a herd of cows grazing on the Hastings road. Mangaehu Hiding; During the month all the roads have been generally repaired. Pipe culverts: Two sets have been put in on the Tututawa road and one sot on the Manjga.ehu south road. Willows have been planted on the Puniwhakau, .Mangaehu south, roads and opposite smith Bros.’ on the Mangaehu road. All the metalled roads are in Mailorder.

Decisions.—-Engineer to report to next mooting’on the possibility of getting metal from Makara stream ,ii repair Ackland road. iongineci ro procure metal for Mountain road north, hut not to exceed the annual

estimate. Engineer to report on work asked for by Mr Plows. Rerarding payment, for stationery and tamps, the Clerk said foremen could 'barge the item in their vouchers or orocure the, material from the office. Engineer to inspect Puniwhakau road and report on the culverts, and to confer with Or, Young regarding olio sale of old timber from the Pnni bridge. RANGER’S REPORT, The ranger reported; Gn the loth alt. I impounded 11 weaners and one horse from Bird road and one horse com Solo road; on the Itith, two horses Toko, and one cow Stanley o.id ; on the 18th, 5 cows Denbigh road; on the 20th, one horse Midhirst; on the 21th, 3 weaners and one horse Croydon road, and 1 horses Salisbury road; on the 20th, 2 cows

Strathmore; on the 2nd mst., one horse and one cow Pembroke road: on the Bth, one cow Pembroke road; on the 10th, one horse and one cow Toko, and 7 head cattle Dnniwhakan ; on the 11th, one horse Toko. Owing to complaints I took Milner and drove iround the AVest Riding on the night of the loth, and impounded eight bullocks, three cows, and one horse.

The chairman brought up a. complaint made by Mr Walsh about tho impounding of his cattle, which ho said he saw in his paddock live minutes before, and he asked for a refund of fees paid. The chairman mentioned the fact that they had complaints that the ranger did not Impound snfiiciontly and now there was this complaint about too much impounding.—On Cr. Walter’s motion it was decided to notify Mr Walsh that no differentiation in tho matter could ho made.

Cr. Young said a settlor on the Puniwhakau road made a good deal of use of the roads for grazing his ,. (nV s. Willows had been planted in the vicinity, and these would suffer if tlio cows were not kept off the road.—lt was decided to draw the ranger’s attention to ihe matter.— The Chairman said the ranger was not to he hiamed for the amount of ■grazing which went on. In some eases the ranger was paid fees, and the cows were turned out again as soon ;-.s the ranger was gone, the settlm* believing that he would he immune lor another week. It was decided to draw the ranger’s attention to a moh of working bullocks, which Cr. Smith said he had been informed had been grazing on the South Riding roads for four months. DERCTATIOXS. Messrs Smith and Schofield waited on the Council regarding work they desired to ho done on Kelly street. Midhirst. 'The Council owns or uses n pood number of the sections on the read, and it was decided that the Council’s sections he included in the lean area, the deputation lo meet the

•engineer on too ground and arrange tiio area. Mr Hocsby waited mi the Council and asked that the new metal oil .Radnor road bo blinded and rolled. Tins, ho said, would malic a good road which would hist for years. Ho offered to give bis own services, with another settlor, in doing the blinding, material' for which could be got on the side of the road without oxpense.--jt was decided to do the work it it could be done within the annua! estimate of expenditure. Mrs Bonner waited on the Council to point out the condition of upper Skinner road. It was explained to her that repairs wore to lie earned out. She also spoke of the crushing site, which was on her land, and ii ; . was stated that the agreement provided for its reinstatement. TOLL-GATES AX!) .MOTOR TA-v. Mr J. E. Mine, M.P., wrote that the Minister for Internal Affairs had told him that for the present ho did not intend to grant any application., for toll-gates, owing to the proposals j of the Government regarding a motor tax; but if the motor tax was found to bo not sufficient then applications would lie considered.

Cr. Anderson said be bad discussed the matter with the Minister, and had asked that the County might hove a gate to put it on ini equality with neighboring Counties. He (Cr. Anderson) said the Stratford .County would erect a toll-gate for only six mouths, if it was decided later on ,o abolish all gates—personally ho thought the Motor Hill would not he passed. A vote of thanks was passed to Hr. Anderson tor his report on his interview. GIiiTTRIIAL. The engineer was instructed to report on the question of Mr Smith’s drain on Gordon road. A special order was made levying a special rate of a penny on properlies in the Hastie road separate rating area. J. if, 11. Kidd, Huiroa, applied for four yards of metal for the approach to Ins cheese factory.—Left to the engineer. J. Kippenhergcr, Huiroa, requested that the drain along the front of his section, No. 7, Block IX., he cleaned out as soon as possible— Engineer to inspect. The Mayor of New Plymouth wrote regarding the protest against the elimination of the 'Taranaki Education (Board.—lf was decided to heartily endorse the protest. It was decided to notify Mr Corrigan that the Connc’JTdid not hold itself responsible for the accident to Ids horse, on which ho had previously waited on flie Council. The Chairman announced that the committee set up to purchase a motor yar for the use Vrf the engineer had negotiations' "for a car, which would arrive in a'week.

Tlirot l ratepayers applied for tbo inishwg of the patching on Aeklaml road. They said that owing to tlie ■aiding of timber and rock over the

and, Lite road was in a bad condi-

tion and unless it was patched • people on tbo road would not bo able to get their milk to tbo creamery.— Dealt with in foreman’s report.

Mr -I. Graham, solicitor, Feilding, wrote asking regarding an unopened 'road leading to the back of sections Dk 20 and’ 21, Block XII., Huiron S.O. luconvonionce was caused through the tenant not being able 10 use the road.—Cr. Were said tbo road traversed very rough country,

:ud the settlers would really need to raise a loan to make it.—lt was decided to notify Mr Graham of the

The Secretary of the Department Vi Agriculture wrote stating that the

resolution by the Council relative to tbo classification of districts with a view to the extermination of noxious weeds bad been referred to (bo Board of Agriculture, who would, no doubt, be able to give some valuable advice when the whole question of dealing with the eradication of noxious weeds has been gone into.

The Public Works Department rote asking the Council’s intentions

regarding Authority No. blot), an available balance having been unbundled for three years.—The Department is to be notified that tendons were called for work on Taiboro road, but the tenders were so high Dud ;f would have been inadvisable to do the work. Tbo Council hoped to claim tbo grant next year.