THE COUNTY ROADS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 179, 8 November 1910, Page 7

THE COUNTY ROADS

DISCUSSION OX THE CHAIRMAN'S REPORT. The chairman of the Taranaki County Coiracil submitted the following report to the meeting yesterday:— Metal.—There was deposited on the roads during the year 12,053 yds., as against 9226 for the preceding year. The amount of metal received by the respective ridings is as follows: Moa riding 6036 yds., Waitara riding 1961 yds., Omata riding, 2451 yds., Okato riding 676 yds., Hurworth riding 929 yds. The average costs were: Moa riding 6s 2d yd. 1910, against 6s 1909; Waitara riding, 4s 5d yd. 1910, against 4s 2d 1909; Omata, 7s 3d yd.; Hurworth 6s 8d yd. Okato, 6s 3d yd. The maximum and minimum prices tipped on the road were: Moa riding, maximum 9s lOd yd., minimum 4s lid yd.; Waitara riding, maximum 5s od yd, minimum 3s 3d yd.; Omata riding, maximum 8s 5d yd., minimum 5s lid yd.; Okato riding,maximum 7s lid yd., minimum 6s yd.; Hurworth riding, maximum 7s od yd., minimum 4s 4d. The average cost over the whole of the county was 6s 2d. as against last year at 4s lid, and 1908 at 6s Id. Foremen's Casual Labor.—The casual labor employed for the year throughout the county is: Moa riding (Foreman Jones): Length of road under supervision, about 13 miles; total cost oi labor employed, £lB7 0s 2d; average cost of labor per montk, £ls lis 8d; average cost of casual labor per mile oi road, £l4 7s Bd. Foreman Bennett: Length of road under supervision, about. 15 miles; total cost of labor employed, £76 14s 6d; average cost per month, £6 7s lOd; average cost per casual labor per mile of road, £5 2s 3d. Foreman Cheffings: Length of road under supervision, about 14 miles; total cost of labor employed, £6B 5s 4d; average cost per,month, £5 15s; average cost per mile of road, £4 17s fid. Waitara Riding.—Foreman J. Holmes: Length of road under supervision, about 18 miles; total cost of casual labor employed, £33 15s; average cost of extra labor per month, £2 16s 3d; average cost of extra labor per mile of road, £1 17s 6d. In this length, in addition,' there is a permanent man on the road | all the year round, whose time has not I been included in the above figures. If j we add his wages the extra labor in this) length works out at £9 14s per mile. Omata Riding. Foreman Huse: Length of metalled road under supervision, 14 miles, made of about seven miles main and seven miles district roads. Total cost of casual labor employed, £l2O 19s Od, of which £93 5s Od was expended on the main roads and £27 14s on the by-roads. £sl Ss was expended on the main road old length. Omatn. riding, for first six months, which is at the rate of £8 lis 4d per month, and £4l 17s 6d on the main road, new Omata riding, for remaining six months, or at the rate of £0 19s 7d per month. Okato Riding. Foreman Brosnan: Length of road under control, about 17 miles; total cost of casual labor employed, £53 lis 3d; average cost per month old length, £2 lis Id; do., new length, £6 7s sd; average cost per year, £4 9s 3d; average cost per mile, old length, £2 7s 2d; average cost per mile new length, £5 9s. (This is easily the record for this riding as yet.) Hurworth Riding. Foreman Eva's Length: Length metalled road under control, about 12 miles; total cost of casual labor employed, £33 9s 9d: av-! erage cost per month. £2 15s 9d: aver-, age cost casual labor per mile of metal.' £2 Lis 9d. Foreman Norris: Length of metalled road under control, about 13

| miles; total cost of casual labor employed, £lB 2s 7d; average cost per month, £1 10s 2d; average cost per metalled mile, £1 4s 2d. The average cost of casual labor throughout the various ridings was as follows:—Moa riding, £27 13s 4d per month, £7 18s Id per mile; Waitara riding, £2 10s 3d per month, £1 17s Od per mile; Omata riding, £0 19s 7d per month, £ll 9s 3d per mile; Okato riding, £(! 7s 5d per month, £5 9s per mile; Ilurworth riding, £4 Gs per month, £1 18s 2d per mile. Note: The Waitara riding has not been debited with the additional permanent hand on the Main road. If this had been included it would have raised the casuai 'labor up to £l4 lis per month, or £9 2s lOd per mile. The average cost throughout the county of casual laboi per month was £49 Os Od, and the cost per mile £5 0s 3d. Cost of Crushing.—During the year the crusher worked 141 y g days, crush- | ing 10,189 yds., an average of 72 yds. for each crushing day, or an average of about 32y 2 yds. throughout the year. The engine staff were employed 19y 3 days on roads, 17y 2 days on rolling, 23 days on shifting, 18 days on repairing, 1 day with machinery inspector, 0 days Christmas holidays; 1 d/yy engine through culvert, 1 day Waitara for whare; total, 87 days; which, added to the time spent on crushing, makes a total of 229 days. I am unable to trace from the reports what has been done the other 84 days. Of the above amount of stone, 9049 yds. was crushed for the Council, and 1140 yds. for other local bodies. The items of expenditure in connection with crushing are as follows: Wages £27G 18s, coal £B3 4s Gd, sundry carting water to £59 lis 9d, oil for engine £l2 6s Bd, rent of crushing site £B, boiler certificate £l, engine supplies £6 13s 7d, renewals plant £2l ss, depreciation plant (10 per cent.) £62 6s, miscellaneous £l6 13s Gd; total, £547 19s. Deduct Recoveries. Crushing 1140 yds. at Is, £57; work roads, 19y 3 days, £7 16s; total, £64 16s; leaving the nett cost of crushing 9040 yds. at £483 Ss, which is within a fraction of Is Id per yard. The chairman, speaking to the report, said the roads were not in bad order, taken together. As to the financial position, he was very pleased to say that it was recovering. During the year there had been two commissions—in connection with Waipuku bridge and also with reference to the Clifton Council, and he was sorry to say both judgments had gone against them. The arrangements regarding the Council's new offices promised to be very satisfactory; the cottage had been let at 13s a week, and the offices to the Agricultural Department at 20s a week, bringing in £BS 16s annually, so they would see the Council was on "a good wicket." The loan of £6440 for bridges in Moa riding had been put through the preliminary stages, and soon the erection of the bridges would be put in hand. The financial position of the ridings was very much better than at the same period last year, as shown by the following figures: Hurworth riding, £345 overdrawn, now only* £69 9s 8d; Moa riding, £lO6 in credit, now £BS 2s; Waitara riding, £73' overdrawn, now £243 7s lid. available; Omata riding, £1458 overdrawn, now £3OB 10s Id

i.1408 overdrawn, now sauH ivs id overdrawn; Omata and Okato ridings, £1458 overdrawn, now reduced to £674 —a gain of £784. The Council's overdraft last year was £OB2B, which was at present, £5139, so that was £10,87 : better off. Cr. Carter complimented the chairman on his comprehensive report, and also Y the c lerk on the figures presented, t ("Hear, hear," from members.) At the same time there were certain things t taking place in the work of the Couns cil that should be put on a better foot- '. nig, and which called for serious comb ment. For instance, there was the quesi tion of casual labor. Cr. Carter gave I j the following figures in regard to the 3 various ridings:—Moa riding: Jones' J length (1 l-3rd men additional), average - miles per man 5 l-7th; Bennett's length ; (over y 2 man additional), average 10 II miles; Cheffin'gs' length (y 2 man addilj tional), average 9 l-3rd miles. Waitara - riding (1% men additional), average 8 3 miles; Omata (7-Sth man additional), 3 average 7 7-15 th miles; Okato (under i % man additional), 12 4-llth miles; 1 Hurworth riding, Foreman Eva (y 4 man , additional), average 10 2-oth miles; • Foreman Norris (%man additional), av- ; erage 11 5-9 th miles. The benefit of , the report, continued Cr. Carter, was ! in the fact that they were able to put > their finger on the weak spot in the > administration, and let them see which foreman deserved commendation. ForeI man Brosnan, whom last year he had ; occasion to mention as unsatisfactory, i i was this year to be commended; but Foreman Jones should be asked for an] explanation as to the abnormal increase. I i Then as to the cost of crushing; twentythree days had been taken up in shifting the plant, which represented a sixth of the time of crushing. Eighty-four . days were unaccounted for at all, cost- , ing the Council £74 5s 9d, and for which they had no return. It was a very serious matter for the Council to consider. If 12 or 14 men broke metal throughout the whole country, with an average of three to four yards a day, they would have done as much as the crusher. The Chairman:, You are taking every •day as a fine day. Cr. Carter: I am taking your figures, sir, showing by comparison what could be done in the way of men working all the time, as some days the Council get no return from the crusher. Continuing, [ Cr. Carter said it was exceedingly un- | satisfactory that those days had notbeen tabulated. He had referred to the same matter before, and now the same old game was beginning over again, and he wanted it brought to a head. Cr. Stevens said he wished to draw the attention of the Council to the fact, that last year Foreman Jones had no casual labor, and that it was very heavy this year on account of the crusher being there for the first time for a number of years, which meant extra labor in spreading, etc. Further, Foreman Jones had put in a culvert at less than contract price, besides doing other work. As far as the formation was concerned, j he was not to blame, as the Council had, granted the extra labor. Cr. Stevens said he could show that Foreman Jones had saved the Council money many times. Cr. Hopson said he considered Cr. Carter's remarks were unnecessary. The foremen could do with more labor than they had. Jones had not been extravagant at all, having done a lot of extra work. Cr. Stevens pointed out that Foreman Jones had a heavy job. owing to the traffic from the sawmill. Cr. Andrew said that wherever the crusher was, extra labor was required. An account of every day should be given. Speaking of the time taken up in shifting the crusher, Cr. Andrews referred to an occasion when the elevator broke, and again to the time taken in

i- strengthening one of the bridges. These r must not he lost sight of. i' Cr. D. McAUum said he was rather in a fog as to the.position, on account of r the Omata and Okato ridings running s together for six months. He referred r to a drain that had been put in by the iv foreman, which he considered unneces--1 sary. He was not an expert, and that r was his reason for advocating an experiI- enced man to look after these things r all over the country, r Tn reply to Cr. Tate, the chairman : said the engine-driver kept a diary, and • it could be obtained if required. i Cr. McAUum said that considering the - number of days not accounted for, the ■ price of the metal (Is Id per yard) r was fairly cheap. When it was not t crushed, the price was very much i greater. The foreman in Waitara ridt ing (Foreman Holmes) did not get credit for what he did, as the Vwid f was much longer than 18 miles, as stat- ■ ed. It was time the Council thought '•■ of making a new appointment of en- £ gineer. Private funds were often used • to keep the roads in order, and it would a pay ratepayers in some cases to have a ' loan raised for the work. Cr. Hill agreed with Cr. Carter tha'i 3 some information was wanted in eonnec--3 tion with the crushing department. Too f much time was taken up in changing > from one site to another. The crusher i was not capable of doing what was s wanted, and he advocated the purchase ' of a smaller crusher if the Council t could see its way to do so. The roads | were not being looked after as they 1 should be, and if they were once put in order they would be more easily main- - tained than at present. The chairman did not altogether agree - with the strictures passed by Cr. Carr ter on Foreman Jones' work. Last year 3 he had the lowest average, and now ■ it happened he was the highest. He , was satisfied, however, that time hao ' been wasted on crushing. » Cr. Carter: Thank you, sir. The Chairman: They are rather too > particular about knocking off at nights. . Cr. Carter moved, "That that portion s of the chairman's report wj% reference • to casual labor be referred to Foreman L Jones for explanation, and, failing a satisfactory reply, that his services be • dispensed with." I Seconded by the chairman, pro forma, • and carried. > It was also resolved, on the motion ' of Cr. Carter, seconded by the chairman, • that that portion of the report dealing I with 84 days that cannot be accounted ■ for, be sent to the engine-driver for re- ■ port and explanation.