CLIFTON COUNTY COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIV, Issue 103, 3 May 1902, Page 2

CLIFTON COUNTY COUNCIL.

'• The Council met at Waitara on Friday. Present: Messrs Webb, Elliot, j Hicks, Murley, Oliver, and Foreman, j i In the absence of Mr Piggoti, Mr) , Foreman was voted to tho chair. j I D. Rogers wrota drawing attention , I to the daugorous state of the approach ' ;to the Koahingamoa bridge; also to; the culvert in fcontof Mr J. O. Coul- ' son's gateway.—Referred to the Hiding Works Committee with power to act. I. 0. Smi'h applied to be exempted from the rating area for the special loan of £ISOO for metalling the Okoke > road. 1 Mr Oliyer stated that applicant should not have been included in the , area in question. ! The Oloi k reported that no steps had' 1 been taken r« raising the loac i As a deputation was to wait on the Council further consideration was postponed till later in the day. ; J. Lucena wrote inquiring if there w?g not a fund for felling large traes \ left ou the road line, and pointing out i that when such trees were left fencing became a very expensive matter. l j In the discussion which ensued it was stat ed the road formation and 1 , felling had been done by the Governr! ment. [ Mr Webb moved that the Council i is unable to accede to the request, cs ■ ■ the road iu question had not bsen i handed over to the Council. • | The Secretary to the Treasury wired ' j statiDg that the minimum number of 'ratepayers required to carry a special I loan was fixed by section 50 of the Ac. [iof 1901. . I Mr J. B. Roy, County solicitor, s j wrote in relation thereto, that the number must exceed one, therefore - two adjacent ratepayers could constiI I tufce a special rating district. \ Mr Walter Symes, M.H.R., wrote . asking to ba ioformtd as soon as pos--1 sibU as to any nyw roida or bridges f required in the County, and the money 9 required for each work where the County did not intend to find any p*rt \ by way of subsidy. \ Mr Murray, Roads Department, r notified that the time for sending in 3 estimates had been extended to the I 24th May. I The County Solicitor wrote with i, reference to the Mimi-Moksu-roid - special rating district, advising that an 3 additional 10 per cent, eould not be j charged on loans effected under the . present Act. 1 The Clerk stated that the effect of 1 this opinion was that a special rate could only be collected on the net amount of the valuation. " Thomas Wright wrote asking the i, Council with reference to an applica- » tion to the Government for a grant for e the formation of about four miles of ' dray road from section 12 812, Pekoe- „ road, to the Okoke-road, and also t.hu - formation of the Kuka-road, to poict i- out to tha Government the hardships 1 suffered by the settlers. .. The Engineer of Roads wrote with reference to the Council's application for a re-issue of authority in roe spect of subsidy for the Junction and a Okoke roads, stating the grant had not " heen cancelled, and asking for vouchers for work done.

a The Health Department forwarded a - supply of forms with envelopes for notifying cases of infectious disease. The Department of Roads forwarded extract from Gazette declaring that portion of the Junotion-road from l Puraugi Village eastwards to the conr fiscation line a county road, about r three miles. r A circular was read from the Surveyer of Roads asking the Couucil to f forward a schedule of all public works in the district, in respect of which it was desired sums should be placed on the estimates for 1902-3. A. Govenlock wrote applying for payment of work done by him but not authorised by the Council. f Mr Webb stated that applicant had a firewood contract, and there was little doubt he put the road in order mostly for his own ben fit. The Council declined to recognise i th« claim. A petition was road from rat«payrs at Matau asking the Council to take steps to raise a loan of .£IBOO and apply for a Government subsidy for metalling . the Junction-road from Furangi bridge to Hogg's store at Matau, the rating area to be extended to the confieoition line, Mr. Webb explained the position of the arei and pointed out that some of • the settlers objected to be parties to a ■ new loan as they were already paying for two special loans. He moved that the petition be acceded to on the area being altered so as to exclude these settlers who are now rated for two • special loans for metalling —Carried. W. Tompsitt, TJi'enui Hotel, wrote ■ asking whether if he contributed £lO a year for seven years to the Council's funds they would fill up a bog hole in the road leading to his stables. He ' estimated the coat at .£4O. Mr. Oliver suggested it was possible applicant knew his ratas would be increased at the next valuation and that his off.ii' included such increased rates. Had the offer been one apart ft om all j rates it would have been very favourable. He pointed out that the riding was already in debt to the extent of about .£4OO. He moved that the Council subsidise Mr, Tompsitt up to £{s for metal to the lengfh of four »bnins, Mr.) Tompsitt to provide 100 yards of metal j i the minimum of which is to be 9ft. by i 9in , the Council to call for tenders on | applicant signifying his acceptance of | the terms. Mr. Darke waited on the Council nnd on behalf of settlers on the Okoke-1 road objected to Mr. Rogers beiog ex- ) eluded from the £650 loan. He siid I there were two other sections which j would be paying three sp<ci»l rate",' and Mr. Rogers would get the benefit J of the new metal, | The Chairman explained why Mr.; Roger's application to be excluded was I Acceded to, and suggested that notice I of motion should be given to rescind the previous resolution and the matter re-opened.—This course was adopted. Mr. Darke then urged that the Council should apply for a subsidy and ! make his ro -d, the expense of which he i estimated at £IOOO. He thought itwas bard that aft<»r holding his section for sevea years there should be no road, there being only a narrow trick which was constantly being s r opped by slips in the cuth'nga. The Chairman promised to b°ar the ' request in mind when applying for subsiding. |' Mr Darke said £llOO was wan tod for a subsidy, and £IOOO for giving i access to the sections. It was the in- , tention of the settlers to ke«p on agi- i tit.ing and to send a deputation to ( Wellington. Mr Southey Baker, on b»half of him- j self and Messrs MacMahon aid Wat- 1 kins, applied for permission to raise a loan on the security of their proper- i j s for extending and fenoiog the Puke* aruhe-rad from tin print where the

ol'c formatio ■. end d to the £»<» pust Mr Wutkius' He stipulated tbe feucing should be done ( fiwt. | Mr Baker waited on the Council and ! stated that three months back he! wanted to do what he now asked for. ' A pstition was also re*d from Messrs j Gilbert, Raby, and others desiring to ' participate with Mr Baker and o'hera ;in the lean proposed to be raised for ; thfl deviation ro>d from Wai-iti-ro>d to Gilbert-road at an estimated cost of I £650. Considerable discussion ensued, tbe ( Engineer- advising that the loin asked ' for by Mr Bakor should be for £IOOO, Mr Baker expressing an opinion that the loan should be spread over 40 years at 3| per cent. He pointed out J.haf, the petitioning seMlars would only have to raise £SO to complete tbe road. The Chairman thought it would be better for one loan to ba raised for tho whole rond and all the eetfcler* to join,' as the smaller holders would be unable to raise a loan for the portion they wanted done if the larger holders opposed. Mr Baker said that the interests of vhe smaller holders were really batter looked lifter by their sitting ti*ht and allowing his proposals to be carried out, especially as the loan of £650 proposed by them would not do the work required. Mr Webb moved that the petitioners be informed that as Mr Baker and others propose to raise a loan to extend the road without including their p o-' perties, the Council does no*; propo.va to take any action on their petition. —: Carried. ! Mr liver moved tha f . tho requ»s k , of Baker and others for raising £IOOO loan for forming and fencing d-vatiou of the main North-road to Pukearuhe be acceded to. —Carried. Mr Baker urged that the Onaero bridge should be made fit for an eogiae 1 ' to go over, as the settlers were unable ; to provide their ottle with winter food ' until they could get a chaff-cutter to • their stacks. i Mr Orbell, engineer, explained thj i difficulty of strengthening the bridge • unless at considerable expense, as the i 1 stringers were more or less rotten. I A discussion ensued as to using the! ■ old ford. Eventually the engineer was instructed to inspect tbe bridge and rei port to the chairman, 1 J The Engineer reported that the coni tracor on the Mimi-Mokau-roid h*d muds little progress. The Onaero ' j bridge had been started, but the first > pile bad been driven in tbe wrong i p'ace. Mr Stark asked for some drain pipes > for a culvert.—Referred to Works - Committee with power to act. On the motion of Mr Murley the ' special order re Mimi-Mokiu loan was 'toonfifm^d. >1 A proposal by Mr Murley th*t teni ders bo called for quarrying and beaki ing 800 yards of shelt rock in th« pit j on Mr Giesen's property was held over i until next me* ting. ' i It was decided to hold a special - meeting on Friday, 16th inst., for pre--1 paring schedule of amounts required ; for Public Works. I i Mr Oliver n?p»r'el on the state of the road past . Accounts amounting to £BO4 lis Sd ' were passed, and the Council rose a l . 6.15 p.m.