TARANAKI COUNTY COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 2 July 1907, Page 3

TARANAKI COUNTY COUNCIL.

The Taranaki County Council met on Monday. Present: CrsV. Brown (chair-, uian),R. Stevens, 11. Ilonson, A. George, O. A. Adlaui, U. V. Tate, and J. R. - Hill. A special meeting decided to pay the bridge rate out of general revenue. ORDINARY MEETING. OFFICERS' REPORTS. ». The engine-driver reported that up to asth June the crusher had worked ten days, crushing 4UU yards. K'orcman Joins (.\loa riding south) reported that Hoods had caused slig-it damage. A culvert on the Mountain I 'o-id had been washed away, and it cost . I CI to replace it. The bridge over vile - stream on tjc Tariki roid - was rotten. I An additional 1011 yards of stone was ! authorised for mainLenance. Foreman Rennet (Junction road east,) ; j '■ purled that the heavy rains had caus- '. Ed tiie road on the Zig-Zag to .slip away, and the road should be fencetl at thai point on account of wheel • trallic—Wire for ieiiiiug was a.uth-jr-i.-«l. ; Foreman Kveils (Ouialii riding) re- ' poned the road in fair order," willl slight exceptions. He had metal in . hand lor repairs required in ncxl . inoiilh. Willi respect to (he Taptue conlract and its junction with the m.m f road on the Oakura side, he .suggested ' an extension of about liiree chains with V a view of lowering the met il to make , good the side roaJ. Improvements to Looney's crossing !' were left with Cr. Adlam to arrange. Cr. Adlam was authorised to arrange ' for forming and metalling the road ; through .\lr Morris' property 1o t.'iej beach. ' I

Hie iaranaki Producers' Freezing Works Company was granted permission to lay water mains along the county road at Moturoa. Foreman Walker (Junction road) )e----portcd the completion of Mr Uunt\> contract, Xo. SO. Hie east end of liie Waiongona bridge on the Hursthousc road had fallen away, and needed Immediate attention- He proposed cutting away ISft of tne bridge and filling in with earth, at an estimated cost it about t-l A subsequent report showed that the contract for this work had been let and complied by Mr Clongli. Foreman Holmes (Waitar.i riding) slated that there lad been no repairs to bridges required during the mouth, but some of the cross-plunks on ilie Waiongona bridge on the Devon roid were" becoming rotten and needed ;e----pbieing. The top planks from tiie old Waiwakaiho bridge would do for this work. Thirty yards of metal bad ln-n carted for repairs on the Devon jine and 214 yards for the Mountain and .Richmond roads for re-metsiling.

THE WAIWAKAIIIO HUIIXIE. ilr Stanley Smith, in reply to the Council's letter concerning stock croijsing ill.- temporary bridge over the \V liwakaiho, wrote that ho was sorry that the Council iiud given full control 10 the contractor without lirst considering the safely and convenience of stock drovers- He understood the new bridge would not be open for traffic for five or six months, ami lie hoped the Council would arrange with the contractor with a view to allowing a limited number ot stock to cross at a time, the Council to engage a man and place him in charge on sale days. The so-called road approaches to the bridge were worthy ol inspection; one bad l>arli?J wire lying about, and the other was very bad. C'r. Hill said that llr Smitli complained that the contractor was partial, in that some people were allowed to drive cattle over as they liked. The County engineer said he had ben at the bridge when a settler arrived with a moli of cattle and courteously asked to be allowed to drive the heists across in lots of ten. -Mr Spencer gave permission for live at a time, and this proceeded without the slightest inction. Councillors derided that it would be unwise to interfere, as the temporary bridge was in charge of the contractor. A suggestion was made that there was some private feeling between the parties.—No action. Cr Hill reported that up to noon in Satu day the two men engaged in splitting timber had split -'!4O ordinary

fencing posts, 85 piles, and about 40 straining posts. lie had sold a good deal of tiutlbelSß'lle recommended Mi auction sale on a Thursday afternoon, not on an ordinary sale day.—Adopted-

MOTOR CAR SPEED. C'r. Tate drew attention to the excessive pace travelled by motor-car:- mi county roads- On many occasions he had found it absolutely dangerous to pass them liecaiise of their speed. lie understood that in most countric- the regular speed was lifteen miles an hoar, and he thought the Council should mrve in the direction of making it cump il»ory to exceed that.—To be discussed at the Counties Conference.

The police will be asked to take action against the owners of unlicensed motor-cars.

ilr John Skinner, County engineer, reported that the contractors for O-i----kuni bridge had completed their contract, with the exception of minor details. The bridge would not be ready for use for several weeks, as the parapets were still green. These had to take their share of carrying the.bridge, <ud he had no wish to take risks in a structure of this kind. The Taptt.ie contract was Hearing completion, and he had hopes of having this out of hand before next meeting. While the teams and men are on the job and before metalling and fencing, he wojld ask the Council to consider the advisability of widening tile big filling from ■U feet to .'lO feet. This should not cost more than, say Oil), and would very much improve the road. TheWaiwakaiho contract was progressing more rapidly. Most of the iron work was in po-dlinn, and the concreting following on- The weir was doing all that it'was expected to do, and considerable quantities of stone and silt were accumulating behind it. lie believed 'ehe piers were now safe from scour. Til Waipuki-ili bridge was practically lin-i-hed. nnd-a; i- u.-uul wilh the eoulractor. Mr Crayling-well under contract time. ll,■ hoped (o have the road open (o U'allic bv next meeting of the Council. I'll.- Mangatiui bridge t.is Hearing com]iletion. AU iron work was in position, and the concreting of the beams and struts ncarlv completer!. This contract -hould 1"' completed by

n-\l nu-iiiie.- 'Hi- 1 yy Hn»ds »f '-''is winter ha.l undermined the protccli.ia wivlls tn the old hrid-c. Those lie had propo-d iisin-; us retiiiiiiiisr walls inr th- tilliii'.' a: w-.-t approach, hut lie r now advi- d new i-etainiiiL' walls being ■built frmii we-t. ainiitineiit. This should nut e">t r.iuri. ilian 'Ju. and would make considerable savin-; in lillin;.'. With rc-.ird to I hi- livid"-, be was i.l-'tni-in-il b.' Me-sr. HK'.y mid Kollo, the -ul. ...iilia-'or- for the ironwork, that ! tin- fr:i-lil cliar-i- on iron beams annnml..! in over UiHI move than th.'V would lime been hud ilu-re been direct -hinpin- from l-:ni-i>]i- to bai-boi- at Motur'oii. As instructed. If had Mji.tin vi-in-d S nnv river and inspected brill--pier-, -i-. tie sa-.v in. dnimer to th ~■„,-,. ~- th.-i v.er- well 1,,-low t'iclivr be,?, and had no pmp"-ul to make witli r- L r.ir,l |o I hem. Tin- river ua- J.'r»'t"allv working baek to its old bed. and lle'r-eonmieiideil thai, a coiiiraci be l-l for deliveriiiL'. -a\. l«Mif» yards of boul-d-rs from the riw-i bed below the hri,l-e and in old channel In crusher site. TliN would assist in drawin- tin- river luck to the west side and probably stop erosion of the east bank. The engineer's rcconiinenilaiion sc Tapuae will be carrii-d out. (is. Tate. Hill, Adlain and <b-or-e were appointed a eominiUee to ileal with tender- for I h- "Maii-araka brid-e. r-tiunable on Titli in-l. Hie enL'ineev's r-eoniniendatioii ve•'iinliim Stony liver was adopted. " 'j'lie'eiejine'er was -iven a month's extension «f tin'" ill which to report n the lleiini bridue and ileviaiioii, .linicii.,i, ro-.1. 'I he eiiL-iueer bavin-- repori-d that li„. -,.-t of th- Manti'iimi bviil.-e bid !,..„ -r-allv in-rea-ed owiii- lo eimr,lh,m. ',1,-plli of the piers, lufl »in ('-2 f-ei uud-r wat-vi. it was decided to apply fov tin- HI per cent, on the loan 1 monev. (:;'.\Ki:\r,. < T)r. Walker nolili-d the -xisl-iice cv '-upposctl existence of scarlet fever at ' a bouse on the Unrrolt road, Omala. The Chairman gave, notiej to move

at next meeting that a general rate ol %& in the £ and a hospital rato be a struck. The, allocations for the year will be , made on last year's valuations. ' Mr Fleetwood, clerk to the Franklcy Koiirt Board, reported that the general rates collected during the year ainount- " ed to £232 10s sd. The chairman will procure a typewriter for use iu the oilice. I'r. lleudricksen's tender whs accepted for supply of boulders and .breaking them on i lie Breakwater road, at 2s (id and 3s 2%d per yard respectively. ,'. 1 Nielson's tender for 100 yards stone en Tiiriki road was accepted at Js 5d per yard. Mr Lister, of Or.iala, asked for improvement of the approach to his she.) consequent on alterations, a.nd for a J few yards of stone.—Cr. Adlam sup. j ported the application—Left with Cr. Adlam (o arrange. .Messrs Pickett and WiJkic, at t'r. Adlam's request, suggested a concrete' culvert nt the W'airau, Oakura.—iiefcrrcd to tile cngilfccr, with power to call tenders.-—The engineer said some repairs were absolutely necessary. It was decided to place the Council's accident policy for this year with the South I'ritisa Insurance Company. I). .McDonald claimed for accident, lie bad crushed bis fingers with a hammer when driving a bolt on llic Waiwakaiho bridge contract—The clerk said llr coutr.M-lor had insured the employees, and this notice to the Council was merely formal. Accounts were passed for payment: Adminisl ration, ClOl 12s lOd; Moa riding, V.Mr, ils: Waitara, CSS -Is 3d: Omnia, C 242 10s 3d; tnt-tl, CBO3 2s lib Loan accounts: Mangahui bridge, I £157 10s; Waiwakaiho bridge, £5lO.