OHINEMURI COUNTY COUNCIL.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 417, 6 November 1889, Page 2

OHINEMURI COUNTY COUNCIL.

The ordinary monthly meeting of the above Council was held in the Council Chambers, P^eron, on Saturday last. Present : Crs Nicholls (chairman,, Moore, Strange, Robson, Nash, and Quinn. The minutes of the previous monthly meeting were read and confirmed. Tenders : The following tenders were opened for works about to be can ied out • Contract 238 :— W. Co'lett, £32 10s :P. Keehy, £23 10s; C. Murphy, £16 : J. Sii'coclc, £14 15s s^l ; T. Quinn f accepted), *J9 I6s. Contract 239 :— W. Collett, £27 iiVli T - Q» inn . &™ JD. McCaulfield, ±18 15b. E . Bain, £9 10s; C. Murphy (accepted) £ 8 I 6«. Contract 240 :-E. Bam, XWj'fi. Cummings, £18 15s; C. Murphy fecce^ed). £15 13,. Contract £18 17a 6J ;T. Cun* lingB £ n 13r IQ J (158 chains at @IsOi ,' r i m s n \ . t Dougherty, £9 10,; E. £S I 10s Dougherty and Bain being iv.g f or t i,j s ' contract they retired to decide \, e tw«en them as to who should have the co>* rac - Bain afterwards infoimed the Council tw^ Dougherty had conceded the woikto him. Correspondence : From P. Sheehy, asking if any steps had been taken to mark off the road leading into his place. Resolved that the matter be left in the hands of theCh iiman to inquire into, and report at next mooting. Fiom John Phillips and Son ; re large drain recently made along the load in fro.it of their premised, and pointing out the necessity for having same protected forthwith ; also staling if any accident happened to either p.;m or horse in their employ they would hold t'.io Council responsible for damages. Cr Moore : I think the people who are benefited by the drain ought to bear part of any further expense incurred. Chairman : 1 hat is Messrs Phillips an* Son. One thhur we inuat consider and that is Messrs Phillips iind Son state H their letter they will hold the Council responsible for any damage that may occur, Cr Robson : The letter Rhould be referred to Council's solicitor for his opinion. Cr Quinn : The Council are certainly in fault in this matter in making tho drain against the wiMi of the ratepayer*. Unsolved, on thtt motion of Cr Mor re seconded by Cr Quinn, that the question ot making two crossings over the drun, provided Messrs Phillips and Son pay half the cost of the pipeT&f be left in the hands ol the Chairman to have cariied out. From J. MeCornbie, string that the County workman h,id left u^lot of clay alongside the Woodstock G. M. Comranv 's watenacb, and if left there much linger the side of t\ve race washable to give way, and requesting; Council to have same attended to at once. The Foreman of Works stated the matter had been attended to. Letter received. From- W-. Boden, re the burial of a horse, and stating the Foreman of Works promised him 2 ls f Or doing same, and af t*r completing hi 8 wor k & \\ he got wag The Chairman said he thought this busi. ness had been settled by Council at a previous meeting, but it appeared such was not the case The Foreman of Works stated he had promised Boden 21s for taking the horse away ; this he had not done, but had merely cut off the legs and buried it in the same plac. Letter received. From Propert}'-Tax Commissioner, referring Council to the Appropriation Act, stating that subsidy would only be paid on a fd rate, and that the amount due to Council as subsidy was £86. Received, From E. W. HoJlis, Clerk to Thames County Council, acknowledging receipt of letter handing over the control of the Hikiitaia bridge to that Council, and stating that all the documents in connection therewith had been duly forwarded to the Governor. Received. From F. J. Caslien, enclosing an account for £7 for woik done. Hold over till next monthly meeting. From W. Barrett, askiig Council to refund the fine of £1, imposed on his Komata Swamp oontnet, as it was through no fault of his that the contract was not completed in Rpecified timo. CrNash.; I think this fine should be remitted. Cr Moore : I thought a resolution was passed that no more fines were to be retained. After some further discussion on thie matter, it was resolved, on the motien of Cr Nash, seconded by Cr Quinn, that Barrett's fine of LI be refunded to him, but that no more fines were to be returned henceforth. From the settlers at Junction Mill, petitioning Council to effect oertain repairs on the Junction road, and to blind the facines laid down. CrQninn : We have already spent something like Ll5O in the Paeroa Riding, and what are we doing outside the Paeroa Riding ; absolutely nothing. Cr Robson : I am surprised to hear Cr Quinn talk like that, and I am sure that if he saw the state of the road he would vote for the work to be done. There is n large traffic on the road, and something should be done to have the fascines blinded . Cr Quinn : I will not vote for another shilling to be spent on that road. Resolved, on the motion of Cr Moore, seconded by Cr Robson, that the facines be blinded on the Junction-Paeroa road, but the amount not to exceed L 5. Carried. From J. W. Shawr, asking permission to erect a verandah on his premises, Normanby road ; also to place three horse posts in front of same, and stating it should be erected to the satisfaction of the. Foreman of Works. „ .

Resolved, on the motion of Cr Robson, seconded by Cr Quinn, that the application be grunted, the verandah not to be less than 12 feet wide. From Commissioner Crown Lands, asking Council to forward proposal for the expenditure of per centime of rents accruing from deferred j r.yment settlers, and stating the amount would have to be expended for the benefit of the deferred payment selector ; also stating that if not attended to before Ist November l.c had no power to draw money again until the TT 8 t February, 1890. Cr Strange explained the position with respect to the settlers in Waitoa Riding. They iesired that the present lines of road be altered. The Chairman staled that as the Ist November was past and the amount 4 Council was to receive only amounted to about LI4, it would be ns well to defer consideiation of the letter until a future meeting. Letter deferred. From J. M. Robson, asking permission to erect a verandah in front of his premise 1 ?. Application srranted ; verandah not to be less than 12 feet wide. From Marine Department, Wellingtor, acknowledging receipt of Council's letter asking that the three whs.ryes should be placed under the control of the Council, and asking for certain information regarding same. Resolved, on the motion of Cr Robson, seconded by Cr Quinn, tlmt the Foreman of Works supply the necessary information asked for. Fro »n A. Bremner, Clerk Waitoa Road Boai'd, stating the Board proposed to extend the road from Morrinsville to To Mimi, Native Settlement on the Piako river, and to expend the sum of LI 10 6s 2d, and asking Council what steps they had decided to take in having their portion of the road formed. Resolvtd on the motion of the Chairman, that a letter of reply be sent to the Waitoa lload Board, infoiming them that tlis Council will give due consideration to the proposal to open up a road to the Native Settlement od the Piako River, when the allocation of Native rates has been made From "D. Bain, requesting that the amount of In* contract, on the Marototo road, be paid at once, as the work had been completed now over three montl «. J. n urraan : We cannot d j anything in lluMantter until the \vorkh a8 been parsed by air Geo. Wilson, Mining In^pecto •, as iho work was authorised by Government. Cr Quinn . It is a nvitter between the Council and Bain, as Bain took tVe contract from the Council, and he has nothing whatever to do with Mr Wilson. Loiter received. Finance Committee : The Finance Coin mittee teported ns follows :— 1. That the debit balance at the Bank New Zealand, which with unpresented cheques, makes the total indebtedness to B.nk, L 276 11s7d. 2. With gold revenue now due, and «mie small sunn anticipated, it is expected that the overduft can be wiped off during the current mouth, but anangements will require to be made t> meet the indebtedness incurred in October, The Committee recommend that the Chairman be authorised to obtain an overdraft for this purpose. The Committee would also urge on the Council the necevSsitv of Councillor* exercising the greatest care in undertaking nono \m.l me iiinbi pressing work, as apart from the fact that during the coming three months there is but little revenue to acci ue, sit the same time the Hospital and Charilaole Aid Board contribution, which has now been due for a very long time will hive to be paid. 3. The outstinding liability at the Bank is one provided for by the Chaiiman, J according to a reso'ution of tho Council passed at thei; last meeting, under which i lie obtained an overdraft of £400 ; this j overdraft to be a first charge on the revenue of of tho Council. 4. The outstanding liabilities of the' [ Council for accounts passsed but not paid ! are as follows :—: —

5. The Council has on hand not included in the above, contrict liabilities to meet as they fall due, M\2U Is 2d. The Committee recommend that accounts to the amount of £199 7s be passed for paMnwit. Resolved the Report as read be adopted. Notice re Striking a Rate : Resolved on the motion of the Chairman, seconded by Cr Quinn— That this Council notify their intention to levy a genornl rnte of six farthings in the £, such rate to be for the year ending 31st March, 1890, payable in one sum on the 21st December, 1889. A letter was read from Mr Tetley, Foreman of Works, stating the contract of Messrs K^lly and Polton, on the Karangahake Gorge road, did not include bridges, et2., only the formation ; and suggesting that before the work was taken over by Council tenders be called for their construction. Consideration deferred. It was resolved on the motion of Cr Quinn, That the Ohinemuri County Coun« cil adopt the By-laws of the Wanganui County Council with respect to the width of wheel tyres. Resolved on the motion of Cr Robson, That the resolution passed at the adjourned ordinary meeting of the Council on the 14th day of Sept, 1889, relative to not taking over the Rangiora Punt be now rescinded. Cr Robson then moved, That this Council take over charge and control of the Rangiora Punt, remove and repair same, and fix a sca'e of charges for working the said Punt. f i The Foreman of Works stated he had bfeen up and examined tho Punt and found that it needed repairing, and also a new rope ; but he could not state the cost. Cr Quinn : It will ta«e about £25 to put the punt in repair and supply a new rope, and what will the Counoil get out of it. The Chairman : We havo done nothing for that portion of the County, and I think the punt should be fixed up as requ as ted by the settlers. Cr Strange : It is the duty of the Council to provide some means for traffic from that portion of the district. The settlers at Rangiora have no proper road or bridge, and if the punt is not put in repair for them they have no means of crossing the river. Cr Moore also spoke in support of the

motion. Aftefcsome further discussion Cr Bob. son's motion was put to the meeting and carried . Notice of Motion T3 "Road Mointenance : — Cr Rnbfton moved, and Cr Nash seconded, That contiacts for the maintenance of certain roade, viz., from Paeroa to Hikutnia, and from Paeroa to Knrangnhake, be let for a period of twelve months. Cr Moore : Ido not think it would answer. If the roads were in good order we might then be able to do it, but in their | present state it would be impossible. Cr Quinn : The idea would not work well. Why, to let a contract for the maintenance oi the roads in their present condition we might as well pay men for nothing. The work would be tendered for at so low a price that no man could make anything out of it, *.nd would perhaps cost him more than the contract money would amount to, and he would aa a consequence be the loser. Cr Robson • But I propose to makecertain conditions to protect the contractor, such as for instance that i* Council see fit to let a contract on any portion of theroad, and any damage is done thereby, the Council make that good, etc. Cr Quinn moved as an amendment, That consideration of the proposal be deferred for twelve months. Seconded by Cr Moore. The amendment on being put to the tneeting was carried by the casting voteof the Chairman ; the voting being : Fur the amendment— Chairman, and Ors Moore and Quinn ; against— Ore Robson, Strange, and Nash. The Chairman was instructed to procure a miner's right for the Council. Mr T. E. Shaw was appointed to revise the electoral roll at a remuneration of £5. The Chairman ; The annual meetingtakes places this month, gentlemen, and I take this opportunity of informing you that I sh.il 1 not be eligible for re-election; at the same time I think you for the assis tance yon have at all times given me relative to the Council's businpss. Cr Quinn : I hope our Chairman will reconsider hjs decision, and offer himself for election for another teim. Cr Robson : I concur with Cr Quinn,. and hope the Chaiiman will occupy the position for the coming year. Chairman : No gentlemen, while I thank yon for the honour you have dona me, my mind is fully made up not to take the position of Chairman again. The™* nre others qualified for the position, and t have taken this opportunity of telling you so that you may have time to choose another. Fcrest Ranger's Report: The Forest Ranger submitted his repoit. He stated he had gone to the various places, and the infoi mation he had t btained was from reliable sources, but he could nit give the names of his informants yet. The number of kauri stumps counted was 10,153, and he expected to be able to make thatnumbe up to 10,500 ; and estimated the amount of kauri timber taken out of the bush to bo about 17,000,000 feet. It was decided to inform Mr Geo. Wilson, Mining Inspector, of this fact, and get him to make enquiries into the matter, and ascertain where the timber is all going to, This concluded the business and the -Cuum-il rose.

£ a d Hospital Board, 1888-89 87 8 3 Charitable Aid Board „ 24 19 0 Hospital Board, 1889-90 103 10 8 Charitable Aid Board, „ 103 10 8 319 8 7 Travelling "Expenses 10 2 0 Tottf ... 329 10 7j