STRATFORD COUNTY COUNCIL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 38, 20 January 1916, Page 2

STRATFORD COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Stratford County Council was held yesterlay. Present: Os. W. Hathaway (chadrman), T. E. Coleman, J. A. H. Anderson, J. Smith, E. Walter, W. H. Were, H. B. Worthagton and L, W. Buskin. ENGINEER'S REPORT. ! The Engineer (Mr W. J. Lopdell) 'eported as follows:—Notwithstanding he Christmas holidays and scarcity if plant, good progress has been made litli the work in the respective ridngs. North Riding.—General surface vork has been done. The*contractor tas all the boulders out for the Pemtroke. Road contract. The crusher rill be available by the end of the veek. Kelly .Street is now sufficiently Iry to carry the roller, and this work ill ho put in hand as soon as possible, i start has been made to procure tone for the lower end of the Salisbury Road; also, f intend obtaining netal for the Ratapiko and Stanley {one's while the teams are available. out.i Riding.—Work is progressing avorably in this riding; boulder conracts are being pushed on. East tiding.—General surface work is proceding very well; the Ahuroa RoaC las been formed and is now ready for. lie metalling. West Riding.—Conider.ible work has been done in this iding. General.—Owing to pressure 'f time-, several matters have been leld over. FOREMEN S REPORTS. I The foreman in the North Riding Mr I). Brown, reported.— fountain Road: A -fair amount of unking up had been done during the iont:i, and very little repair work redoing. Kelly Street is now eady for rolling. Derby Road : Some •ridges and culverts had to be attendd to. Light repairs were done to iutland, Cardiff, North Pembroke and lonmouth Roads. Pigs have boen doig damage on the York Road by ooting in the water tables. One of ho men has been off work since Doember 17, through having his fingers rushed at. Palmer Road.—A motion ■as passed that the names of the ownrs of the pigs be ascertained and he Council sue for damage if any furiier trouble is reported. It was also ecidxl that foremen, if they see pigs andering on the roads, ascertain lie names of the owners and report o the Council. Foreman J. Kovaleski (North Hidlg, East), reported.—Croydon West ■as been blinded and water tabled hrou .diout. Croydon South: The aeta] portion has been blinded. Stanly, Cross and Croydon Roads have ;een summer blinded and water-tabled here required. Ackland and Croyon Roads have been patched, banked ip aid water-tabled. Banking up nd blinding have been done on Salisury Road. Two teams have com'lenccd carting boulders through Mrs Mew's property for the lower end of Salisbury Road. Mr Vickers intends tartiig his road leading off the Sal•sbury Road, and will require the.two fft. concrete pipes which were horrowd for the filling near the cemetery. Foreman S. Parker (South Riding), eported.—All the roads are in fair orler and most of the month has been pent in blinding the. roads and surace work. The Robson Road bridge 3in a state of disrepair. If the Council can see its way to put in a 'oncrete bridge, Mr Grimmer, who s going to cart boulders on the Robion Road, would he able to cart the gravel for it. Thirteen fiin. pipes were ~mt in on the Win'grove Road. Some danks are broken on the Skinner toad bridge and it is very dangerous. Foreman R. Richards reported that general maintenance work has been lone throughout East Riding. The ormation work on Ahuroa West Road uis been completed. Foreman S. Rogers reported that die roads in the Douglas Riding were genendly in fair order. Banking, ivatertahling, and general road work had been done on the main road. Foreman J. Savage, of Mangaehu Riding, reported.—That during the month approaches to Mv McLauehnn's tilling had been put in hand and •learing the slips on all the roads, repairing bridges at Puuiwhakau, and jetting metal ready for Tututawa bridge had been put in hand. Foreman W. Atkins (Hniroa Riding), reported. The metalled, roads hroughout the riding have been trimmod up and all metalled roads, other than shellrock, have been blinded with ■•lay. The necessary repairs to Akama Road are in progress and should be completed in a few days. Mohakau, Douglas, Tunupo, and Autawa Roads have iilso been attended to. Foreman R. E. Plews reported that luring the month about one and a-half viiles of surface work on the Palmer Road had' been done. Sixteen and ahalf chains on the Upper Palmer Road had also been relaeccl. He had had a very strenuous time keeping abreast of the work. The crusher is now at foot of Hie Cardiff hill and the work would he completed during the next few days. The Upper Manaia Road had also received attention. All the reports were adopted. CORRESPONDENCE. A letter was received, signed by W. R. Bredow. E. Howat, W. E. Watson, Arthur Needham, and Alfred Needham, requesting the Council to raise a loan under the Public Works Act, sufficient to metal OKuru Road and Bredow's private road, for the purpose of giving access to sections lately cut up by Mr Bredow.—After studying the plans it was decided: That the' Railway Department be asked if it has any objection to part of the rail- ( way reserve (about 40 acres) at Doug-

las between the railway and tin- old Ohura Road, being specially rated for ;i proposed loan of £9OO tor metalling about fifty chains of the Ohura Road and thirty chains of a proposed new road branching oast from the Ohura , Road, the occupier of the reserve having forwarded a petition, to the Council to have a part of it included in the special rating area. it was also decided: That the matter of the loan \ of the grader to Mr Bredow be left in the hands of the Mangnehu and East Riding members and the Engineer. On the Chairman's motion, seconded by Cr. Smith, it was decided that the clerk, draw the attention of the Goverriment: Valuer to the proposed new road. P. Morratti, 7th Platoon Reinforcements, Rangiotu, wrote as follows: I wish to notify you again about the culvert which has been the means of 'flooding my land. Do you think it is a fair thing to me, as 1 have been , good enough to volunteer to tight for my country instead of staying at home [flying banners for others to go and , 'fight.— The Engineer was requested to , report on the matter. Ellis and Co., Ltd., wrote quoting ' for Union asphalt.-—Received. j A letter was received from Mr H. 111. Sharp (Resident Engineer), asking jfor the position of works being carried J out under the Government grants, or' subsidies. The Engineer was instructed to reply to the letter. >■■■■ ; W. Richards wrote regarding the I agreement between himself and .the.. Council in connection with stone, taken from the Waingongora River. Fit stated) that the small royalty pai.d s would not near compensate for laud destroyed—washed away. ; Cji.' Soiiibjj said Mr Richards had ju'/t eausV for 1 ' complaint. According to the agree- , ment contractors mnst work to the middle of the river and not interfere with the banks. There was plenty of stone available if the contractors would go further np the Iriver. It was ultimately decided to write to Mr Richards stating that the Council regretted the occurrence and it would not occur again. GENERAL. Cr. Were suggested that a sub-corn, mittee be set up to meet a committee from the Taranaki County Council regarding matters concerning the northern end of the County, which comes under the jurisdiction of both Counties.—lt was decided to holdover the matter till next meeting. The Acting Chief Engineer wrote that the!'Department could not see its way to grant the Council a private level crossing near Midhirst. To meet the Council in the matter of granting access to the deposit of stone : jin the Manganui stream from Denbigh : Roiid, tlie Department was prepared to grant the Council a lease for seven * Iyears, terminable at... six months' notice, of about throe acres of land adjoining Rum Keg Creek with a right of Way to Denbigh Road,, at a rental qf £|T K -y<|arly. If the Council accepted"s}o/Wer the Department would cancel Mrs Woylmrne's-lease and would grant her a fresh one,' at a reduced rental of the land not required by the ' Council.—A motion was passed accepting the offer ; .of the Department. It was decided to pay one of the Council's workmen, who' had been injured on the erushing plant, full pay from the date of the accident. Cr. Worthington moved: that the Engineer expend available money in extending Kaitieki Road as asked for by Mr James.—Carried. Cr. Worth--1 higton stated that it was impossible to get the work done by day labor, and tenders should he called. The speaker also 'said the work of clearing the slips on Mango Road should be put in hand; £250 was in hand for |the work. | Or. Smith said the roads in the AVest Riding were in a bad state and needed attending to. Cr. Anderson said that to the large amount of stock ma| was ' being d'i)vm^£^^rejeßi^ffi|go^ of late./ \: } " y *.:-i : j ■ M;/>:< A '.':S The Chairman moved; ;Ou.l-(&^asfcht : seconded: That as soon as tttV stone . is. carted'out, and a crusher available; • the Engineer carry out the-'WwkvOfrj constructing a new bridge on Stanley j Koad.—Carried. ■'•/•' I The Chairman reported that the j Ranger had told him that there Wore j a large number of people who had not I paid their taxes.—lt was decided to j notify the Ranger that he w d •"• authorised to prosecute such persons, j A number of applications for reduc- ; ed toll charges were received, and it was decided to. ask the County solid'- j tor-if they had power to make the re- ( ductions. Opinion was expressed that the Council had no power in the matter. It was decided that culverts and approaches be made in Cambria Street from Stanley Road South. Cr. Raskin reported that work authorised at Kent Terrace and Walker's bridge by the Council had not been put in hand. He complained that it iwas useless to bring .matters: before the Council if they wore not attended to. Cr. Smith said he'had the question of the Cardiff*Road bridge to bring before the Council. The bridge had to ,be charged to the riding because no, bridge loan had boon raised. He gave 'notice of motion :That £l5O be charged to the special fund account. j Cr. Anderson said a notice of motion 'was necessary in such matters. If they made concessions to the Cardiff people, the Palmer Road residents should lie treated the same. Cr Smith said the West Riding was , £.•1000 in debt, and £IOOO of that had been spent on the Palmer Road. | The Chairman said if Cr. Smith was . referring to a job done near Cr. Anderson's property he thought'-it was most unfair to Cr. Anderson. He had , inspected tne road with the Engineer ( and could sfe by metalling ten chains, g metal could 1 be got out of-the pit win- v

ter or summer. Cr. Anderson.'had never spoken to him on the matter, and if any blame was attached to anyone, he was quite prepared to take part of it. Cr. Anderson said Cr. Smith was most unfair to him to say that be had placed £IOOO on the estimates for the ■Rainier Road. The Eltham County had paid for half of it, and the Stratford County had taken all uie stone required for the Dutehie and other roads, and lie had never < barged the Council a penny piece for royalty. He had never abused his position while on the Council. Cr. Smith: "I have stated facts and they can't be refuted."-The matter then dropped. It was decided to appoint Mr C. MiLner dog tax collector on the same terms as last year. I TENDERS. Tenders were accepted as follows: Boulders, Wingrove Road, Grimmer and Chamberlain; 101)0 yards crushed shellrock lor Waiwera and Ohura Roads, d. Neilson. The matter of accepting a tender for forming IS chains of the Oruru Road was left: in the hands of Cr. Worthington and the Engineer with power to act. It was decided that the Engineer be empowered to hire a traction engine for"the season. j It was decided to procure a crushing 'plant from Collett and Co., . Danneivirke. Accounts amounting to £1302 were passed for payment.