CLIFTON COUNTY COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 91, 7 October 1911, Page 3

CLIFTON COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Clifton (VmiitT Council was held at Waitara yewterday. Present: Councillors O. -O'SulJivan. T. McKenzie. S. Keimington, iind 11. Sander. C'r. U'Sulliviin was voted to the chair, in the absence of the chairman through illncs*. Crs. Foreman, Julian, and Musker were pitmtcd leave of absence. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT. The 'following letter was received from tlie ehainnan:—On acwnnt of illness being unable to attend to-day's meeting. I beg to submit the following report anil suggestions in respect to some matters that will come up for your consideration today. Mr. Stratton, of Toiigaporutu, wishes to obtain use of a strip of land above his frontage similar to that of Mr. Astwood's. and asks for a yearly tenancy of the land. Mr. Schmidt estimates the area at ten to twelve acres, for which one pound per annum is offered. I recommend .the application be granted. I have authorised Jlutchins to hire dray for a few days to make tip a piece of the formation t that requires doing before Paul can go on with his contract on Okoke road. I received a complaint that throe dead cattle in a putrifying conditon are lying on, or close to the Piko road .creating a sickening stench. I instructed Hutehins to make inquiry as to the owners, to abate the nuisance, and report. Mr. Kuhtz also reports that a dead beast had been left in the Pukearuhe tunnel. I suggest that the surfacemen be instructed to report to the office the name and address of persons guilty of this kind of offence, with a view of prosecuting the offenders, as the practice of leaving beasts unburied is not only a menace to the public health, but is also an outrage on all persons in the vicinity of the. nuisance. lie 'A. Oorkill: Messrs. Malone, Anderson and Johnstone have again submitted the draft agreement that was before the Council at last meeting. Thi* is in .reality a proposal to surrender whatever statutory rights the Council has to obtain stone or gravel from pri-1 xwie property and substitute an agreement which contains many provisions that would, if given effect to. prove of a burdensome and harassing character. There ought not to be any difficulty in complying with the reasonable requests of the' owner, such as the disposal of spoil, closing of gatp, etc.. but the Council should object to become party to an agreement that would enable Mr. Corkill to dictate to them as to the manner in which their work should be done. No local body would submit tu such a position. I ghould suggest that Mr. Malone ' be notified that the Council are not prewired to concede any more than they I have already offered and that tlioy are more than weary of the endless correspondence that,is being thrust upon them over this matter. By-laws: According to instructions, T placed the two cases in our solicitors' hands (for prosecution. Abml a week afterwards Mr. Orey pointed out a possible defeat in the by-law. I advised that the cases Ik> brought on and tested. This has not been done, and T have been unable to meet our solicitors since. Mr. Vaughan will explain the position, which resolves itself into one of two things, either to test the matter in court, or to amend the bv-law before doiii" so. UPPER URUTT ROAD." •Five settlers at Uruti wrote with reference to a portion of the Upper Uruti mad. in front of Mr. Miller's section. The hillside, they pointed out, was continually creeping down into the watertable-, causing the water to flow on fo the roadwav and >o make bogholes. There was still £4.1 of third- especially :'earmarked for the purpose of timbering I the worst parts. Several years ago j about one chain of timbering was done! I at a spot that was always more or less i bad. and ever si nee that part of the) ! road bad only required the water-tables ' clemred out now and again to keep it J in llrst-cla-s order. The foreman had I been in-trm-lcd to do the work la-l summer, but as he could not get any men at the time owing to the scarcity of labor, he'had to h < the work stand over. The settlers now a.-ked that the workbe gone on with at once. Mr. C. "Mils-lit r initerviewed the Council on the matter, and it was decided to instruct the foreman to proceed with the work as soon a- labor is procurable. EN.ITXEEirs REPORT. The engineer. Mr. V. V. Dowselt. reported that on the Piko road W. J. Clare had satisfactorily completed the erection of the Mangorci and Pull Creek bridges, and Whitt.'iker is now com-J pleting the formation to nive access to the latter. Work had been laid off to widen (!fl chains of this road, and tenders would be called in due course. On the Ngatoto road- the Mangaowata bridge had been satisfactorily completed, and also the lmrge culvert on the -Mangaminni crek, and Lowe expects to complete his contract giving access to the -bridges. On the South Matau road Avers and Dewar were well forward with their work, and anticipated finishing up this week. The specifications for metalling the Junction road at Matau out- of Ooveriinient grant had been submitted for approval. The report was adopted. GENERAL. Mr. V. J. Webb wrote on ltehalf of the Purangi cemetery and domain boards asking to have some formation work done on the road (Purangi Terrace) giving accc-s to these places. At present the Idlings were vrev low. and the grades steep.—Or. Sunder 'said that the workwas very necessary, lie will report to next meet in-.:. Ten ratepayers petitioned the Council for repairs to portion of the Waihi road between tin- Inhnd North rmid and the j Tikornngi road, and il wa- only fair that something -Inuild be done to'make the road pa-Niblc for traffic so that they could get to their bonus without going through private property.—Surfaceman Kulitz wrote that lie. was making extensive repairs to the Okau road. The Okau bridge was in a dangerous state. Timber was King alongside to do the work. .Foreman Tel far reported that L. George bad sufficient stone available on the Urenui beach to warrant the contract being proceed-'-d with.—Contractor to proceed forthwith, the Council contributing IT towards the cost of clearing (he roadway. Foreman McDonald reported having dealt with the stray stock nuisance on the Apia road. The Council decided ti- accept Mr. 0. Xorthcotc's offer to as-i-t in removing a point on the t macro hi' 1 -. Cr. MoKenzic said t'u- slaten>(-nt.s made by the petitioners were quite «,p. trary to fact, at lca-t a- far as some of them were concerned. Those ratepayer* could not all truly say thai they had to cro.-s private properly to get to their homes. Al the -.line time, the road needed atlc'lion.- Held over for inquiry hv the riding member and hi- report. 'The muffler of proceeding with the hv- ! laws prosecutions was referred to the chairman with power to act. after consulting with the Council's solicitors. ( On the motion of Or. Kewiingtoii, seconded- by Cr. Sunder, a special order was made declaring foxglove a noxious weed in the county.

I A resolution was passed to the chairman for his report, and his action in S authorising various works, etc.. was continned. ■>. The State Guaran-tecd Advances Hoard 'notified that the £.">< H) loan for Puke-i.-iridic deviation had. been finally ap- ' proved. | Mr. W. T. Jennings, M.P., -wrote that he had made representations in the proper quarter ojid hoped the result would ,l>e satisfactory in regard to the opening up of Okoke road to Ngatoto road, Pita road-, and the subdivision of the Waitara harbor district into wards. The Minister of Public, Works wrote that the Council's application for a grant of £4OO for the Pita road, the petition of the settlors in the Tangitu Valley for a grant to enable the Okoke road to be, made available for traffic to its junction with the Ngatoto road in the Waitara Valley, would -be con-' sidered when the Public Works Estimates for the current year were being framed. i Surfaceman Topping wrote declining to ' withdraw his resignation, which was ac-' cepted, and steps are to be taken to' fill the vacancy, j