CLIFTON COUNTY COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 161, 6 January 1912, Page 6

CLIFTON COUNTY COUNCIL.

_—.— — . j MONTHLY MEETING. < The monthly meeting of the Clifton County Council was held at Waitara yesterday, when there were present: Crs. S Elliott (chairman), R. T. Hicks, C. O'Sullivan, A. M. Bower, J. Gleeson, S. J. Kennington, and H. Sander. FOREMEN'S REPORTS: ForemanA. McDonald (Waihi) reported that bridges on the'Waipapa beach road, and, also by the Waihi school had been repaired. He recommended that the. latter should be replaced-by a concrete culvert. D. Paul's contract was progressing satisfactorily, though the weather was against him. T. Northcott was making slow progress with Ins <*>ntract. . Foreman A. Kolfe (Ngatimaru) reported that the -bridge on. the Matau north road required new decking and some pipes were required for a 2m. culvert. He recommended that these should be sent to Ngatimaru station, as they could be carted in- cheaply by a returning wool waggon. Foreman Kuhtz (Mokau) reported that owing to the bad weather the roads in his charge had got into very bad order. Most, of his time had been occupied' in clearing slips. He had had the assistance of a man, but if the weather took up he could do with two men, as all the road would want rounding up at once. About 60 chains of drain between Messrs. Fraser and Sutton's gates required cleaning. Foreman Dowman (Purangi) reported that he had resumed work. The bad weather had caused a number of small p'ips. He had the assistance of a man "or a few days on the Mangaoapa road I clearing slips. A bridge on this road was very dangerous, as the decking was rotten. Three sets of 9in. pipes were required to replace culverts on the Purangi saddle. •CY. Kennington considered that a tunnel and"filling could be constructed a 1 very little additional expense to repair ing the bridge, and would be a permanent job, as. the country to be handled was good sandstone.—Tenders will be callec ! for the tunnel returnable at next meet j ing. Foreman G. A. Smith (Tarata) re j ported that a bridge on the AutaWa roai near Bishel's was in a very dangerou state. Traffic was continually goto] through the decking. An old woodei culvert had. also caved in and carried away some filling. Pipes were neede , for repairs. A bridge near Vile's als required repairs. A small bridge o: , Pukeho road also appeared to be in ; state of collapse;'s234ft. of timber woul 1 be needed to effect repairs. He woul like to know who was responsible fo . noxious weeds on the road side, th Council or the adjoining owners, b< cause they required attention at onci He also required 'the assistance of . man to catch u» with arrears of worl MATAU SOUTH ROAD. ' • Messrs. W. H. Stockley, J. Wallaci J. T. Smith, A. G. Smith, T. A. Chapmai M. Welfslaner, Grace Muir, and W. I " Smith, settlers on the Matau south roa< petitioned the Council to spend the a< " j cumulated thirds in easing grades o the <road, which was now in a very ba ■ state. The secretary pointed out that abon " £46 was, available—lt was resolved, t leave the work in the hands of the sui faceman, who was authorised to empfo > J extra labor required. . ] A' ROAD OBSTRUCTION, ' I Mr. ,G. L. Young, of Matau, wrot raising strong objection to a gate o , { the Matau road. This gate was put u \ I some six or seven years ago, and' i * I has now become a public nuisance sine the road up the Waitara river an across the Tangitu had been opened u] It was in a very dangerous place, bein across the mouth of a papa bluff, wit a drop of fifteen feet into the Mata I stream, and he objected to leaving hi children sitting in a trap, while hiswif ' got out to open and. shut the gati He, therefore, asked that Mi 1 ! Grahai .; be requested to shift the gate withou delay. It was resolved that steps be take to have the gate removed. URUTI ROAD LOAN. C. Barnitt, secretary to the Uruti set r tiers, wrote stating that at a meetin ) held on November Bth, a proposal' wa :, carried to raise a loan to metal th j f Uruti road up to the Moki bridge, < I {distance of about two miles fiftee 3 chains, and accept the Government gran r of £IOOO. They considered that the ej - pense of opening up the Uruti road pi should not' come out of loan monej - for it would be of great advantage t the Council when opened, ajid they thert . fore trusted 1 the Council would conside s this and see their way clear to open ii ' A road 10ft. wide with lOin. of meta would, they considered, be a good on< ', and they asked the" Council to forwar an estimate of the cost per mile. Th proposed rating area was to contain a' sections abutting on the Uruti-Moki an by-roads within a distance of 11 miles c the Uruti road, and' they asked that fch engineer should be allowed to define th , s are*. On the motion of Cr. O'Sullivan, set onded by Cr. Hicks, it was resolved tha in the event of .the settlers raising th loan the Council would open up the pi as requested. The (engineer will visi the locality and give an estimate of' th cost'. The Council considered the set tiers themselves, should define the loai area. ENGINEER'S REPORT. The engineer (Mr. Dowsett) reportei as follows:—^ Kaipikari road: Waite had complete! hia, widening contract and had exbendei the work to absorb balance of monei available. ' " Otaraoa road deviation: Work ha( been commenced, and further work ii widening, formation and improving ; grades would be laid off durinV the current .month. . ° Matara road: Work to the extent. 0 ' gabout £2OO had been laid off, and befori "completion a further contract would?' be let for a similar amount.. Okoke road: Formation u:id metalline to the extent of one mile twenty-three chains had been laid off, carryiiv* the continuous metal practically to. the Kakfl road junction. Paul's •metalling contract on tins road requires further earthwork and instructions have been given to proceed with this as soon, as the weather permits. Piko road: Whittaker was making slow progress with his contract, and had been .informed jthat more expedition was required. Further work would be laid oft to carry the dray road to the Bull creek bridge. Kaka road: If time permitted durhi.o the current month the widening on this road would be laid off to the extent of the Government grant. Uruti stream bridge: Alternative plans and* estimates in hardwood and steel and ferro-concrete had been prepared, and were submitted for approval Mum-Mokau road: The burnt papa contract had been inspected and the different .sections chained off. Durint* the month, which had been a broken one the firewood had been hauled adjacent to the kilns. It was arranged that the papa at the 30-mile peg should be tested by a trial burn to determine its suitability He recommended that this year's- grant be used in putting down a 'similar covering from Jpll's gate southwards to the corner, a distance of about 20 chains

nd that the Council, failing a further J ontribution, should form up and sand-1 tone the worst places .between the papa ' ,nd the metal, or a lighter coating of lurnt papa would suffice in the meanime. Something should be done in this leighborhood this season, and he recog- ( lised it was purely a question of finance. Wai-iti deviation: Falconer Bros, had , ommenced the drains on this contract. 1: Che work had been impeded by the * ieavy rains, and the swamps at present ( vere holding a lot of water. _ l Fencing Rowe's deviation: He inter- J riewed Mr. Parsons re the above, and 1 f Mr. Parsons had suitable access by - »ates, a fence on one side of the road < TOuld suffice for his requirements. ' Metalling Uruti road: In. reply to his ] inquiries and contention that the £2OO ' m account of £2OOO was for metalling 1 ind not for the deviation (which Mr. J Murray also supported), the Assistant- ■ Under-Secretary replied that he was ; misinformed,, and that the grant was ■ without doubt for the metal, as origin- • ally stated. I The report was adopted. TENDF/RS. Tenders were dealt with as follows: Metalling Okoke road, P. Taylor, £794 (accepted); D. Paul, £BO2 ISsi 10; Henrick&en, £IOBS. Metalling Matau: R. W. Drake, £SO 0s 8d (accepted); W. F. Dowman, £63 os. Formation Matau road: T. O. Waite, £l5O 10s 8i (accepted). Quarrying and metalling Uruti: P. Taylor, £4BO (accepted); D. Paul, £OOO. Two tenders were received' for quarrying and carting metal at Urenui and were lelt in the chairman's hand's to deal with. GENERAL. W. B. Newton was granted a slaughtering license on section 9, block 16, Waitara S.D. at Tataramaika. ' . The Council agreed to allow L. George to transfer his contract for carting boulders from the beach at Urenui to Parris (Taylor. • A. D, Banckham (Ashhurst) asked permission to erect a wire fence .on the road Side along, the front of section 2, block*i2, Waitara, Matapo road.-Kxrant-ed,' subject, to approval of member for the riding and .no barb wire to be' used. W. H. Foreman, Okau, wrote offering 3s 6d for the gate, wjthoui hinges, which | was rotting on the road side opposite j his property.MJffer accented. Chas. Turner was appointed surfaceman for the Okau road. There were two applications for the position. Mr. W. Armstrong i Commissioner of] Crown Lands, forwarded a plan showing I land taken from Crown lands to give! access to the suspension bridge across the Tongaporutu river, also the land, access to original 'bridge, which it was now; prepared to close, both roads being through, Crown lands.—The chairman' was authorised to. sign the consent. The Treasury Department notified payment to the Council's account of £ll, balance of £2OO grant for construction of low level bridge and formation of approaches, etc., on Mangaowata creek bridge, Ngatoto. E. K. Blundell (Okoke) complained of damage done to his paddock by scour caused by water from a road drain. — Foreman to attend to the matter. Jas. Smith, pound-keeper at Urentii, was appointed ranger for the Urenui aid Waihi ridings. J Accounts to the amount of £692 15s, j were passed for payment.