TARANAKI COUNTY COUNCIL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 83, 4 May 1909, Page 4

TARANAKI COUNTY COUNCIL

h _-» MONTHLY MEETING. ; ' The I'aranaki. County Council" held its usual monthly meeting yesterday. '» There were present: Councillors Jos. BroW (chairman), K. Stevens, 11. Hop- " sou, 0. Carter, C. Andrews, J. J. Carpenter, G. V. Tate, and J. K. Hill. OVERSMSKS' REPORTS. Engine-driver L'rry reported: The : crusher worked nine days during the. mouth, crushing- 702 yards, bunted crushing ut,Tapuue. on'the 7th of April, and finished" on the 18th. Hulled newmetal after crushing two days... iupuac and shifted duster from to Tiniaru on the 27th. of April. Foreman Jones iMua Suutuj reported that ho had been doing general work on the Mountain and Tai.Ki roads during the month, and had finished the depot at the Mariganui Kiver, lariki road; the dbat 6T casual labour oeing £1 Ba. With permission lroiu Cr* Stevens, ; h* employed W; (Smith with horse and dray -to metal the Munganui road, at a cost of il Is J. Neilson carted (10 yards of shmgle o\er the Tariki road- from Quiuton aud Haylock's to Hatapiko for the Moa Road Board. Foreman F. Chaffing (ilua nQing,

Junction road) reported that during the month he had been engaged in pawning .. the roads, repairing side-tracKs, and clearing Out water-tables. He had re moved an Old. wooden culvert, and put in pipes on Mountain road, by Browns mill. He had to hire horse and dray fo •

patching Mountain road. This road was , getting very thin in places, lie had to put notices up at Hcnui and Muiigurei oridgesj"arid>. Uisposed of old bridge umber for 79. He required a man with horse and dray for repairing the road. Contractors had dumped 60 yards of stone alongside the road at 8s per yard. The,foreman will be auynoriaett to shorten the Waiongoaa bridge ou th.

Hursthouse road, tne fillings ueing estimated to cost £l3.—The chairman re- * ported that the Moa Road Board would probably do the metalling required. Foreman Holmes (Waitam riding) reported that during the month lie nai carted out 57 yarus of metal for repairs—so yards on contract No. 132, Mountain,road,'and seven on contract Ko. 131, Devon tine. The rain uuring the month had started the roams in break' up' a' goodTdeal in places. During .. .the remainder of their time Uiey had eontiinreil lowering the grass on tne side ' of the road' to let the water off tlio , metal, and making up the sides of tne " roads and clearing out water-iables. Foreman. Huse (Oiuata) reported that

t ■ he had started inetalling on the 7th. inst. atuT finished on tue I'Jtli. inst... working 9 days, and putting out 70Z i, yards, an average of 7s yards per day. \, ' Xhe cost- <A~ counter-sinking, blinding, -.7 and spreading was sixpence a yard. Jie '• " also cleaned slips in cutting at Tapuae, % cleaned out the tunnel, and raKed in

metal,' etc. The stringers at nuriora and Plymouth road bridges were dc- , cayed. The -Plymouth bridge was the worst, but it was'safe for milk tartmg. He suggested that the Engineer driver pull down the old Oakura bridge, as it -■, could be done more cheaply than by i" bullocks. The planking and beams wew $ to go to Plymouth and Hurford wad bridges for repairs. > In a supplementary report Forenuva ■*' i Huse stated that no damage had been I caused by the Council's carting of metal •j, o\er Victoria road, as alleged by the 1 Oakura Road be forwarded

r to the Oakura Road Board. p Foreman Huae will be asked to cx> ', plain how he came to use 102 jaius in excess of metal granted for the Tapuae i depot contract. '• > foreman Brosnan (Omata south) re-

ported that through the month he had " - be,en engaged in attending to the new i metal at Oakura dairy faexory •trio' niK- ' ing in and blinding, etc. F. tf. .Sole had carted and delivered eight yards of boul-

r ders for the foundation of the wateringplace, at 4s Od per yardi Corbett Bros. *' had carted 7(1 yards of stone over the County road for the Okato Bond Board. ;,' The bridges were in good repair, 'lne crushing plant had arrived at the Tim--1,. aru depot. He intended using the metal plough on- the roads this time to save ' and to do' away with pick men; but it t, is very hard to get a team of bullocksj {■ to work the plough. k- It was decided to lease the Katakarai

reserve to Sir. T. W. Morris for five' ■£ years at 2s per annum, providing toe lessee keep noxious weeds down and 3p * allow; the Council free access for gravel. ,'' Foreman Eva (Hurworth riding) rc- ; ported that the roads under his^super-

; vision were in good order. He had been j ■ employed in cleaning footpaths, waterKj tables, and spreading metal, and was JT „ spreading metal on Henriekson's cou- -£ *' tract forjscven days, on the Carringtou

road. He was i'/ s days on the Frankley , road cleaning water-tables and general work. The contract for 32 chaps of metalling at jipper end of Carrington, ( road bad been completed.' There bad jj; been ahout 200 yards erfrted out of 330 s - jards on the contract for carting boulj tiers Cyclists made a regular track of i> the Carrington and Frankley road foot- - paths, and lie tiought steps ought to be taken to put a stop to it. lie re- ' quired the use of a horse and cart for » about ten days on the Carrington road i for patching and cleaning. The heap of i- r boulders (about 50 yards) on the top of ' Katanui Hill required breaking. - Mr.E. Richardson will be requested to ,* proceed with his contract at once. Foreman (Hurworth riding) reported that during April he had put down three chains of metal, and had been patching and cleaning water-tables. He had put out 45 yards in all on the . ' Frankley road. The roads were in good order at present, but there was no maintenance metal on the Klliot road. He would require 35 yards, at least for maintenance on the Mliot road, carted to convenient places and broken as

J": soon as possible. Mr. Richardson had g; " not started his contract yet, and tin; (J, - foreman suggested that he'be requested |, to start at once before the weathci" |; broke, as the heavy carting would affect ifc the roads. He had had a horse (ind dray y 'for six days, working eight hours eaeii '.*-. day, at 3s per day. I

It was decided to invite tenders for breaking 50 yards of stone at ltatanul •Hill and for carting 35 yards of crushed stone from the Waiwakaiho depot to the Elliot road. Foreman Bennett (Moa riding, Junction road east) reported that his time had been taken up principally in watertabling and channelling. Heavy rains had brought down slips on nio /ng-Zag. Owing to the gravel-pit being, under water, Mr> Neilson had not beei able to start his contract. On the Bth April. Mr. James Tarry, when crossing the Mauganui bridge on the Junction road, had broken a main joisli The l«-idge needed overhauling, and traction engine . traffic should be forbidden, as Mr. Tarry had a marvellous escape. INNOVATION. Mr. Andrews reported having engaged two men with ten bullocks at £2 5s a

day to plough up tne metalled .Wain South road. They were doing good work, ploughing up to a mile a dav on , a straight run. He thought the plough ing operations were saving the Council large amounts for wages. The system of.ploughing up the old metal iiefoiputting down the new stone was already proving vastly superior to th? old styl ■ of placing the new stone on without first breaking up the bottom. STRAY ANIMALS. Fifteen ratepayers in the Elliot road

portion of the county, petitioned the Council to put a stop to the nuisance/ of straying horses and cattle, and of . horses beirig hriven loose on the roads without proper control. They pointed J out that 41 chains oi footpaths Sad just been constructed and gravelled on ' the Elliot road out of. loan moneys, and

unless some action wore taken this would be seriously injured.—lt was decided to ask Mr. Laughlin to extend his supervision to the Elliot road, and to approach the Borough Council to see whether the new poundkeeper can undertake supervision of this area. GENERAL. The Council decided to accept the invitation of the committee to attend the ceremony of unveiling the memorial erected oil Marslaud Hill to those who fell iu the Maori wars. Mr. W. B. Davies claimed the refund of £lO deposited by him with the Council in October or November, 1005, in connection with a proposed alteration of boundaries which did not eventuate. —To be enquired into. Councillor Tate reported that Mr. \V. J. Clare would paint and tighten the steel bridge at Sentry Hill for £l7 The Council decided that the engine driver could do the work more cheaply. The Moa Road Board reported that the Board had metalled the road at the junction of the Junction and Suttolk roads, and the Board was prepared to' pay half cost of a culvert required. it was decided that riding members arrange for the disposal of the puriri timber at the Waiwakaiho bridge. Messrs. Wood and de Castro will be asked to cut scrub aud trees overhanging the road at Timaru. Foreman Norris was empowered to repair damage caused to Vealc Road by Mr. Johnston's traction engine, and the latter 1 will be charged with the cost. Mr. Fraser will be asked to discontinue the practice of yarding his milking cows on the Tariki road. Mr. W. K. Morris asked for permission to fence the approach to the old Oakura bri«l"e. on the north side—The Council had "no power to grant the request, as the road had not been stopped. Messrs. J. and A. Ducker wrote tliatl they would pav traffic dues on all timber carted over the county road for them bv Mr. F. Roebuck. ' 'On the motion of Councillor Hopson it was decided to apply to the Treasury for the balance of £350 due on tie promised Junction road subsidy ACCOUNTS. Accounts were passed for payment:— Administration, £12:1 Is lid; Moa riding, £l3l 2s 2d; Waitara ruling, £4l us; Omata riding, £317 Is (id; Hurworth riding, £24 Os.