CLIFTON COUNTY COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 4 May 1907, Page 2

CLIFTON COUNTY COUNCIL.

The ordinary monthly meeting of tile Clifton County Council was held at Waitara on Friday. Present: Councillor,-, ,1. \Y. Foreman (chairman), T. .Mackenzie. 11. .1011, Caustad, T. ISishell and Wright. i'IKKAKUHF:. 'rile Commissioner of Police wrote thai there was no JJopartinemal objection to ihe. construction of iv new road which would encroach upon the police reserve at Piikearuhc, provided (lie old road was abandoned.—The sellers interested will lie informed of this communication. (JAPI-1 KOAIJ. Mr d. 1!. lioy, County Solicitor, advised with regard to the proposal to raise a loan of .i." 1000 for forming and metalling the Oapui road for a distance of about 100 chains from lho Junction road.—Consideration was deferred for a month. UiKXL'I l'(H'.\'l). The chairman reported the result oi an interview that had had with .Mr llitlcumlv iu eonnectiou witli the site of tile proposed I reniii pound site on his properly. .Mr Halcombc ltstd generously offered free use of his land f»r pound purposes, and to dunate all fees collected to ,thc Cremii public cemetery.— The draft agreement .forwarded by llic county solicitor will be submitted t(i

Mr llaleombe, and il approved by him «ill be executed by Messrs Foreman nn<; Mackenzie on the part of Ihe Council. KXCIXKEK'S EKPOIiT.

Mr (.'. 1". Dow.seti, County engineer, reported:—L have the honor to report for the month of April as follows: Waihi riding-.—K W. J [arch lias broken ami carted a further 132 yards of metal, covering a distance of alrout nine chains. The grader hail completed the

formation on the Middle North road, be

tween the Otorangi and Waihi roads, at an average cost of 2* Gd per chain for a width oi 20 feet, and 5s Oil per chain for a width of 40 feet. On the Epiha road the weather had greatly interfered with the work, hut endeavors would he made to complete the grading this week, after which the machine would be laid up for the winter. Ngatimarti riding, .junction road.—Mr Xeilson had satisfactorily completed his metalling at Purangi, and arrangements were made with W. Pennington to corduroy and metal a bad chain for the stun of M:\.

I'rcmti riding.—Newstrowski and Co. were progressing slowly with their widening contract on the Matiiro road. On the Matapo road work had been arranged with Falkner for clearing slips. Upon the Council's approval of tnc agreement for the, pound site he proposed starting the erection, and would recommend that Spun Bros.' price for lettering hoard in terms of the Act, bo accepted at ;C2 7s Oil. Mokau riding.—The metal chute, had been relined throughout with No. Hi guage steel, and the contractors reported they were well satisfied with the re-

suits. Rough weather haul prevented any further progress with the metalling contract. A portion of the road carted over was getting much cut up, and recognising that the contractors under their contract had a certain amount of liability for repairs, it was arranged that 200 yards of repairing metal should be put down, the eo>t to be borne equally by the contractors and the Council. Should the inclement weather continue he considered there was no alternative but to postpone tJic completion of the contract until next season. \V. 11. Foreman had wired that he was unable to proceed with his eontract for sandstoning the Ptitiki rond.

THE URUTI CONTRACT.

In answer to the chairman, the en-

gineer said that it wtuld doubtless be a good thing from the Council's point of view to compel the contractors Messrs Cartwright and Tarry) to maintain the completed work through the winter. It might prove hard on the contractors. They had to view the matter from two points of view, and to remember that the riding in wiiich the work was situated was very heavily I burdened.

The chairman said he was in favor of relieving the contractors of li.'jbility, and taking over the -(2 chains of completed work. They had got on witli the work as fast as conditions permitted, and it was unfair to hold them responsible for maintenance throughout the

winter simply because they were unable to complete on account of the untoward weather. It would be unfair

to hold them responsible for damage done by floods through the winter months. Mr Dowsctt suggested allowing the contractors a percentage of gravel and holding them liable for maintenance. The chairman declined to accept the suggestion. He was not going to indict unnecessary hardships on the contractors, for it was to him very gratifying to be able to get such men. He did not believe in making conditions so hard that people wounl not care to take up contracts. One or two contractors 'had told him they would not tender for works in this county owing to the hard conditions imposed. lie moved that the Council take over the completed workon the ordinary conditions. Cr. JolJ, in seconding, said that under the conditions, the contractors had behaved well. There had been no "pointing," and they had done their best right through tile piece. RIDING ACCOUNTS.

The chairman reported that at the end of March the Mokau riding funds I showed a debit balance of £533, Urenui £571, Waihi £1297, Ngatimaru £305, and Tikorangi had a credit of £174. To Mokau's- vlqbt must be added £!)00, for work paid since March 31st, or to which the riding had been committed since that ante. THE MIMT FLOODS.

The Council discussed the proposed means of preventing -damage or minimising damage to roads by the flooding of the Mimi stream, Cr. Joll strongly advocating the clearing of a channel through the native tmsh, and the straightening of the stream in places to accelerate the speed of the stream.

The Council decided to spend £2O on the work, on condition that settlers indemnified the Council in case of damage caused by the stream diversion.

An informal discussion took place on loading matters generally, and it i,vns decided to semi notices to propertyowners to cut back or lop overhanging trees on the North road, it being stated that these were ruining the roads bw keeping them wet. GENERAL.

H was decided to iaku4stcps to have lemiyroyal declared a noxious weed.

Crs. Joll and Wright and the enginceer were asked to inspect tile Council's two small reserves in the Crenui townshipt and report at next meeting, with <i view of leasing them.

The Treasury notified that £4!),") Ss Sd

[had been remitted to the Council's credit, being portions of subsidies and grams for various works in the county. Oluoroa road loan matters were deferred till next meeting. 0. N. Kowe, of Urenui, and Henry Mowbray, of Tai'ata, applied for renewal of slaughtering licenses.

Accounts amounting to ;CSO7 l'Js 8d ■ere passed ior payment. '