MEETING OF RATEPAYERS. RE ROADS AND CONTRACTS ; TE AROHA RIDING.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 213, 30 July 1887, Page 2

MEETING OF RATEPAYERS. RE ROADS AND CONTRACTS ; TE AROHA RIDING.

Om Saturlay afternoon last «a pnb! ; c meeting of ratepayers was held in the school hou^c, Shuftoshury ; t.'io followill Uf being 1 present: Messrs E. Y. Cox, X bVHoohe, J 1\ W. IL Herries, (Thompson svhd ILerrias) D. Craig 1 , S. Davey,, U. j^quifrejl, H. Baskett, J, Munro, B. M'ontaquo, anil W. Faulder. Mr Munro stnto.l that nuny wljo would have';n(tende 1 tlio meeting had it boen held at Waiorongonui i-istend of at Sh a ft osbury, would not probably be present 1 owing to the inclemency of (be weatber, ami state of the roads. On the motion of Mr Uoche, secoiuleil by Mr J).»vcy,Mr E Y. Cox, (convener) was voted to tlio chair, and opened the meeting by reading tbo following requisition : June, 1887. E. Y. Cox, Esq., Sir. — Wo tbc undersigned request yon to convene a meeting of the ratepayers of the district, either at Waiorougomai or Shaftesbury, to take into consideration tlio present state of the roads and contracts, and such oilier steps as the meeting may think advisable. We are Sir, yours faithfully : E. F: Tioche, W. 11. denies, Percy Gage Brown, Malcolm Robertson, A. Jj. Forsman, L. F. Foreman, Qco. U. Bceson John Mo Lood, G. Gapes, 11. Montague, N. Basket!, W. F. Hunt, John Squirrell. The C lairman said : Consequent on receiving this requisition be inserted an advertisement C which be then read) in tbe Auoha and Oiiinbmuui Nrcws convening tbe present meeting. He should have convened the meeting for Waiorongomai as more convenient for the majority of tbe ratepayers to attend, were it not that just at tbe time he met with an accident and broke bis collar bouo, and in that state be could not travel over tbe toal.shi their picsent coalition. Lie regretted that nu)iv of the Wnioroueoin.ii resi Knits had not attended, but nevei theK'SS the meeting was a representative one, an 1 lie woul 1 lie glad to hear .my sUggesUuns from those ph^seul as to thu bo it eouiM' to pei'sue with respect to the hardbhipb they labcuied un Itr. lits'.luiions —Mr E F. ttocho niMvr'd tlio fiisl U's')lutioii us f-illowh : ''That this meeting i> of op 11 " ul l -' l<ltl l '' u> moiii'v devoted to the 'i'e Aioh.i-Shalti's-bury-Gordoii Heltb'mcnt uu.j li.i^ ben uinvi.sely expended. That th" lions Mere not sulii-'ienlly drlinite,, and thaf the woik ba^ noL been I idly c.uriod out in accordance 1 with the piovi-ioas hpecili<'d. Also, that me engineer is much to blame for allowing all the fine weather to jvi** without m-isting on tbo prompt performance of tlio contract from that portion of (be road between Waioron^omni corner and Waioron^omai stream, in consequence of uli'mh del.iy the small sprinkling of road metal w'huh hud be u put on is now buiied in a sea of mud." Ln mining the resolution Mr lloche sail: Our money has been wr.stcdto d very extent, our roads are poifectly impassible and of no use to us, and a gieat deal ofwoik has Ken done (hat is Useless to us. Mr llenies seconded tbe resolution, and said: It was pretty plain to anyone passing over- these roads that something must be done regarding them. Several of the contracts, amongst them Edward Q'linn's, bad not been propeily carried out, and it seemed to him the engineer was very much to blame. The bridge erected over Waiorougomai stream was quite unnecessary, except at the time of a fresh, and then it was of of but little use, because the approaches curried away. He could n« fr say the sumo, however, of the becoud bridge,, ,cjver Wairakau siream, as the engineer had taken such d.ire in this case, that no appioachos at all had been put and their was no means whatever of crossing it: ' The Chairman said : As well as he could remember the specifications provided that if the contractors did not go on with thq uork properly, and in prope time, moil .would be pub on to do the work- at tlidir (Ui«* contractors) expense. Instead ol 'this one man, Shine, got he believed no less than three contracts, Mr Murjro : In the case of another man who received two contracts, specifications distinctly stated the work was to bo completed within eight weeks, whereas the timber to be used was not taken up until about t<?ri weeks after (he contract was let. 1 Mr Baskctt said : He had within the past few days spoken to the engineer, 'Mr Piivitt, and asked him if it was a fact that bush culverts were being put in on one contract, whereas the specifica- ■ fcion* distinctly stated that pipes (he believed* to the Qiuount of about .-£7O), were to be used ? Mr Pavitt had told him bush dul verts were being used instead of pip-** am l & avc lls a reason ' that a great deal mow water would pass through the culveits than be at first supposed, and consequently thn pipes specified would be 100 small. He (Mr

Baskcft) considered ifc wag a great hardship that ihe ratepayers should have topay for pipes, -and then h.'ivo to put up with such temporary shurhnv3 asbnMi ml verts ; intact he couriered ifc one of the most atrocious things ho had soon for a long time. The resolution was then put an.' carried uu miinously. 2. Mr Basked next proposed that: This muring request the l'mLo Couniy, Council to appoint a committee to investigate (lie manner in which recent? contracts h.ive been let and ennied out, and if it be foun 1 that the engineer — I'rom incompetent or otherwise., has not spent the money for the b^t interests of the ratepayer?, requests the Council to make a fre^h appointment " Tn turning the resolution Mr Bnskett said he thought it would provi lo for a great deal that they had to complain of, and the County Council conld not well f'-fuse so reasonable a request ; and if a committee wore appointed, all the inaccuracies and injustices they complained of ftnd wotc trying to •vonfil.ito woull b« brought to light. Air Craisj p.aqonded the resolution. The Chairman said it was not pleasant at an y time to 'have to fin 1 fault with public men ; but tlio settler* found it Jj.ird wok en ju^Ji -to find the money wnerowith (o pay rates, even if they #ot value for the amount. Many portions of the Waioion^oinai-Shaftesbury road had jnst got passable, and bad worn down hard pi it r to the letting of these contracts, when they were just ploughed up again at the boginiug of winter and left ; and how any one calling himself an engineer could do such a thing as that he could not nndei stand. The resdution was carried unanimously. Mr Ilcnies said : He had no doubt the County Council would have the specifications before them and he thought it would bo advisable on the part of the ratepayers to appoint a sub-committee, to point out hard facts, wherein the contracts had not been carried out according to specifications, etc ; he would therefore propose— (3) That a sub-committee consisting of Messrs E. F. Roche, W. F. Hunt, N. Baskett, the chairman, and the mover, be appointed to lay the resolutions before the Council, meet the committee to be appointed by the Council, ami to take such other stepsas they mi<>;ht deem advisable." Mr. Roche seconded the resolution, which was cariied unanimously. Mr Montague said he had vory carefully gone through the specifications for the contract aff-eting the Gordon Settlement portion of the road and observed that pipes was dihtinctly specified to* the value of somewhere about £5') f . to which fiieght would have to be added ; whereas he bwlieved gieen timber from the bn«h was being used instead ; this wa* a mutter to be enquire.! into. Some of the grading also was vary b.i I. After sonu; f'uit'iur geneial con vei nation with respect to the several contracts a\\A the specifications, the meeting closed with a., vote of thanks to the chair.