MOA ROAD BOARD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 396, 23 May 1910, Page 2

MOA ROAD BOARD

MONTHLY MEETING. , « 3 The first .meeting of the Moa Read Board since ™e election was held in the Board's office, Inglewood, on Saturday. . There mere .present: Messrs. H. Trimble, J Corkill, Anderson, Lawrence, Bishop, J. J Williams, ColMngwood, Virgin, and R. J. Williams. < I CHAIRMANSHIP. ] | The returning officer (Mr. Ogier) read il the result of the recent election, and s called for nominations for chairman. Mr. -i Corkill (proposed that Mr. ri. Trimble 'be < re-elected chairman. He referred to the |good work Air. TrdmMe tod dione during ' fc'.vi long: term as chairman. Mr. Lawrence seconded, and the motion was carried. Mr. Trimble, in thanking the mem- ■ bc-rs for their continued confidence, stated that a new Local Bodies Bill was • to be l-nongl'it forward in the coming ■session. The Government Bills were all in favor of making larger counties and giving them ■Wiuer governing powers, which generany meant increased rating powers. Counties formerly were very ' large, ibuit the trend had always been to make them smaller. Personally, he . thougjht large counties had proved unworkable. It was impossible for men elected over iai wiide area to have the same knowledge of local requirements as those in a smaller area, and, moreover, smaller counties were the means of a larger number of men being trained •for local government and so obtaining a •knowledge Oi Social •requirements, thus framing the best laws for governing the country. Then, turning to another subject, he said the Taraua'ki County Council was about to raise a large loan for .bridge-building in this riding, and they must consider whether that body's administration dn the past had been such as to lead one to 'suppose that it was wise to place in the Council's hands the ! expenditure of large loans. He did not believe in overlapping or dual authorities, and thought it would be better to hare smaller counties land! do away with road board's. The institution of a county here would not mean any saving in rates, but with their representatives spread over the wihiole district the rates would be spent judiciously, and the side roads would not be neglected He was against two authoiritiies collecting and! spending rates over the same area. He was not in favor of merging into the Taranaki County, but of forming a ne;w county. AN ANCIENT AFFAIR. . At the annual meeting of ratepayers Mr. Yeates asked whether certain rates had not been taken from the Kaipi road audi expended on the Egmont North road, and wlietiner 'the money couid now be refunded. The chairman stated that • he had gone into the question, and found that from 1887 to 1898 no separate account was kept for Kaipi road. Both ■rates from and expenditure on that road were credited and debited to Egmont road, and it was now impossible to separate tihem. In 1898-1899 the Board made a deviation on the Kaipi road and opened a separate account for that road, which started with a credit of £5 7s 4d, while the North Jugmont road 'had a debit of 5;9 Id. Since then Kaipi had made no payment to Nor-tih Egmont. Seeing the length of time that had elapsed since the pooling, and the fact that the Board of that time considered ( the arrangement test in the interests I of both roads, and also that unless l the Egmont road was ikepit in good order Kaipi would be unapproachable, he could ] not recommend the Board to take any action.—lt was resolved that the report be forwarded to Mr. Yeates. MONTHLY STATEMENT. The monthly statement presented by the clerk .stowed that there was a. credit in the bank of £990 17s 5d (general account) and £248 fls Od (loan account). Rates to the amount of £IOO 6s had been collected during, the month. ■ TENDERS. The chairman's aetion in accepting the following tenders was confirmed: 30 .yards broken stone, Waitui, L. Bishop, Os per yard; 30 yards' boulders, Mangaone, C. Schrieber, 4s per yard; 200 yards broken stone in pit, Motukawa road, Linklater, 2a 5d per yard. PROPOSED MANGANUI BRIDGE. The chairman reported that at a meeting of settjers (held at Waitui the fol- •' lowing resolution was passed: "That tu.e settlers at Waitui, providing that i'.w cost of building a ibridigje over the Manganui river (on the Bristol road) and making the approaches to it does notj exceed £IBOO, respectfully ask the Moa Road Board to raise a loan for that purpose under tllie provisions of the New Zealand State Guaranteed Advances Act, 1909." This would leave 56 chains of metalling on the Bristol road to,be done with a further loan in which the Everett -road and Bristol road would' be joined. He suggested thiat if a loan were raised for the bridge a portion of the Kaimata road should be included in the rating area. If a .suspension bridge were erected by-laws would! be required to regulate the traffic. At the time of the settlers meeting that class of structure was favored on account of the cost, but some of the settlers now favored a more permanent, if more costly, concrete structure.— A committee consisting of the chairman and Messrs. R, Williams, Bishop, and uawrence was appointed to go into tlie question. FOREMEN'S REPORT. The foremen's reports were adopted and the following 'work was authorised: Kaipi Road!: 25 yards of stone will be carted out provided the settlers break it and spread on the .road. Lepper and Bedford Roads: Metal is to be raked in and water-tables attended to on these roads. Lepper Road South: About 140 yards of metal is required for repairs. Mr. Williams is to arrange about this. Kaimata North: A culvert on the first creek is to be opened, and the foreman is to report on the state of the culvert at the second creek. Richmond Road: Culverts on this road arc to be cleared out. .Salisbury and RatapnKO Roads: Metal to be naked in and water-tables cleaned. Koihete road is to be widened where possible and filling to be done at second bridge. Ratapi'ko Road: Messrs. Lawrence and \mlcrsbn are to see what, is necessary to be done, to protect the tunnel on this road. MANGAONE ROAD. Mr A. E. Surrey stated there was £4 15s 3d lew due to the Board up to 31st Mamh for carting timber on this road lie asked if he offered the Board an advance of lew would the Board prepared to spend the amount he _ad-i vancodi at once in metalling alwnt eight chains beyond, trie present metal. —lt; was resolved that the Board cannot accept the offer, as it was' considered the levy .would be required to keep the preIseiit metal in repair. ' GENERAL. It was resolved to inform Mr. Meßae