TARANAKI COUNTY COUNCIL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 187, 6 February 1912, Page 7

TARANAKI COUNTY COUNCIL

MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Taranaki County Council was held yesterday, the chairman (Mr. J. Brown) presiding. Councillors present were: Messrs. J. R. • - ill, Tate, 1?. McAllum, R. Stevens, W. Uc;;son, C. Billing, C. Andrews. FOREMEN'S REPORTS.

Reports from foremen were read as follow:

Foreman Jones.—The Mountain and Tariki roads are in fair order. He had re-docked the bark whare at Tariki. He required four 9 by 4 bridge planks' for the Kurapete bridge.—The request for bridge-decking was granted. Foreman Bennetts—Most of his time had been taken up in banking up metal, blinding, gathering up metal, and clearing off slips from the Zig-zag. He had ha,d to put a man on to assist -him in blinding, as the hills were getting very rough. He required material to lengthen a culvert near Mr. E. Vicker's, as there is a very dangerous place there which needed filling in. He also required ten 9in. pipes to replace an old wooden culvert on the Zig-zag.—Granted. Foreman F. Clieffings.—The road in his riding was in good order. The most of his time this month had been taken up in bridge work. He had widened the filling at each end of the Mangorei bridge and fenced the approaches. He was filling in the approaches to the new bridge on the Hursthouse road, and about two days more would finish the, job. He had replaced an old wooden culvert with three-feet concrete pipes near the £gmont Village Creamery, and had pir some 9-inch pipes in across the road 1) ' the Chain bridge. He would advise th the Council sell the old timber at Man i gorei, Cunningham's and Hursthous. road bridges.—His recommendation was adopted. Foreman J. Holmes.—During the pa.3t month he had been engaged in making up the side of the road and blinding metal on the hills. The dry weather and motor-cars were causing the hills to break up very rough, and he would require a horse and cart to cart clay to blind a lot of the road during the coming month.—The matter was left to the chairman.

Foreman F. Holmes. During the month he had been engaged in cleaning out water-tables and digging off grass from the side of the road. He had also formed up several of the worst parts of Upper King road. In company with Cr. Hill he had inspected the Kapi road, which is in a very bad state, and the old road is not in the right place, and when his neighbor puts the fence in the right place it will leave about half a mile to stump and form, and it will take 13 9in. pipes. In connection with Mr. O'Burne, Cr. Hill suggested that the Council should spend £lO, Mr. O'Burne to do the work. —The Council decided to fall in with the requests made by the foreman. Foreman Seamark. —The roads under his control are all in fair order, with the exception of the Main South road, which is continually breaking up, mainly through the Transport Company's steam waggons continually grinding the metal up. In his opinion, if the grip bars were taken off the waggon wheels and the speed reduced, the damage done to the roads would be less. His time during the month had been taken up chiefly in forming and grading Barrett road and Upper Hurford, opening and stripping gravel pit on Sealey road. He was now engaged in spreading and breaking metal on Barrett road, which was being carted on E. George's contract. He recommended that notice be given Sole & 01liver to push on with their boulder contract, as lie wanted to get them napped and on the road while the roller is there; (2) that Mr. Bamsbotton be requested to cut and clear gorse on Sealey road, and also Mr. F. Baker, Upper Barrett, be requested to cut gorse, blackberry and fennell; (3) that Hurford road bridge be repaired at 1 once if the work of rebuilding is not commenced at an eatly date. The metal and shingle is getting silted over by each heavy rain, and they were losing a little eaeh time the roads flood.—The recommendations of the report are to be carried but.

Foreman Bronon.—For the whole *tif the past month his time had been taken up in spreading new metal on the road from the crusher and blinding game with good pit stuff from the bank near Puniho. All the new metal is being laid down 15 and 16 feet wide and a foot thick, and when rolled in makes a perfect road. The chairman, on a visit of inspection, granted an extra 500 yards of metal for the Punio, which will help to j maintain this road for the winter; it is the worst piece of road in the riding. He also arranged for the metal to foe screened and the screenings carted out by the contractors for blinding.. The contractors Rowan & Thomason had made good progress with their contract, and had taken advantage of the fine weather. They would complete their contract at Stony Eiver, of 1309yd$, ,in. a few days. The Vincent contracts had also been completed. The crusher would now be engaged in crushing, for the Werekino Road Board for a few days. Kaihihi Depot will be the next place for the crusher to work at, and 500 yards of extra metal would be badly needed about Ben Gray's Hill,

Foreman Eva.—Roads are in fair order. He recommended that tenders be called for the breaking of boulders. Messrs. Sole & Oliver had not yet started, ahd he could not get any satisfaction as to when they were going to start. The road will'require a good deal of attention when the weather breaks, and he had no maintenance metal on this portion of the road.—The matter of stonebreaking was left to Cr. Billing to arrange. Foreman Morris.—The roads are in very fair order. For the month his time had 'been occupied cleaning water tables, blinding, banking up sides of metal, repairing side roads and by-roads. The Barret road, from Frankley road to Mr. X. King's property, had cut up very badly. As part of this road had never been formed, it was very hard to keep it in any order. He was doing all he could to keep the worst part in repair. Mr. G. Todd's buggy tipped over at the place where the slip came down, but how he managed to drive over it the foreman could not understand, as there was ten foot clear road there where there was no danger whatever. There are a few property owners who have not as yet cleared their frontages. They had received notices, but simply wouldn't. He could not clear the water-tables in fronf of their places.(yflie foreman was requested to report on the state of Barrett road, as to the extent and the cost of repairs. Foreman Bond. —As instructed, lie had removed his plant from the Ngatoro-Wai-wakaiho bridge and made a start to sheath round the eentro pier. His men had been employed turning the water from the pier, sand-bagging, removing the temporary bridge at Mangorei, and using timber from the same on this job. Nine temporary piles have been driven eight feet each. He has examined the two cylinder piers, and on looking up the original plan found that it shows them eleven feet below the present riverbed; the two end piers are in good order, excepting a portion of one wing wall. This at some previous time had an apron put down; now the water has started to get underneath it will require to be made good. The centre pier is in a very bad s*atc, a portion being quite undermined.

ENGINEER'S REPORT. The engineer (Mr. W. Stanley Orbell) J reported as follows: Te Henui Bridge.—The beams of the centre span and the two spans on the New Plymouth side are novr practically completed, and with fine weather the whole of the structure should be completed by next meeting of the Council. Te Henui Earthwork.—A good start has been made with this work, Mr. George supervising the work, while at the same time acting as clerk of works on the bridge. VAKiOUS WORKS. On the motion of Mr. Tate, the tender of E. George was accepted at 3s 7d per yard for the supply of metal on the Wairika and Allan roads. Mr. Burke again waited on the Council in reference to the road to his property—Nothing was done in the matter. The action of the chairman in Withdrawing Ngatoro-Iti bridge from sale was confirmed. It was decided to write the Hosnital Board regarding the damage, jnt to Elliot road and David street at Wes- i town.

A motion was passed to the effect that Mr. Okey, M.P., be requested to get a further portion of the subsidy for the Upper Carrington Road. ; , Four applications were received for the position of surfaceman for the Okato riding. Mr. T. Collins was appointed. SUBDIVISIONS APPROVED.

Messrs. Sladden & Palmer notified thai; '■hey had been instructed by Mr. W. T. Morpeth, of Auckland, to subdivide his property at Vogeltown for sale as building allotments. It was proposed to make about seven chains of new road, arid lie was desirous of knowing .'what the Council required in the way of forma- , tion. Tracings of the road were sub* : mitted. The road is over flat, level : :;round, and it would answer the purpose of a road for light traffic in its present condition of. grass better than if ploughed up and formed. They understood that the Council, in previous cases of the kind, had agreed to accept a sum of money equal to the estimated cost of formation, and to dispense with the work in the meantime. The same firm also wrote, stating that they had been instructed by the proprietors of the Dartmoor Estate to submit plans showing grades of the proposed streets to be formed on the estate. A part of the estate was in the St. Aubyn town district. In Tegard to the Morpeth estate' the Council decided to approve of the plan of the proposed roads, provided he deposited the estimated cost of construction with the Council. The Council also decided to approve of the grades submitted by the Dartmoor Estate and that the owners be requested J to form the roads the full width, and■ that the necessary pipe drains be put in. Mr. W. J. Neilson, of the Royal Oak Cheese Factory, Omata, forwarded the sum of £3 15s towards the cost of metalling from the Main South road to the factory. WAITARA COUNCIL TURNED DOWN. The solicitors (Messrs. Roy and Nicholson) to the Waitara Borough Council, wrote enclosing a statement showing the estimated details of cost of rebuilding the bridge and the annual cost for interest and upkeep during the 36y 2 years currency of the loah, and the following respective annual contributions thereto: Waitara Borough Council £l4O, Clifton County Council £l4O, Taranaki County Council £l2. The Borough Council trusted that the county would readily agree to the payment of its small contribution. The Council resolved to decline to re- ■! cognise any liability, the chairman pointing out that the Waitara Council had not even complied with the conditions in any shape or form. The county had never been consulted or shown anv plans.

, GENERAL. The secretary of the General Post Office at Wellington advised the Council that a telephone dffice would be opened at Ratapiko, subject to a. guarantee being given to pay a subsidy of £8 a year for five years, or on payment of a lump sum of £32) and on a suitable person agreeing to provide the necessary accommodation freo'ttf cosfto 'the Department, and to conduot the office gratuitously until the revenue reached £lO per annum.

Mr. A. Fraser also wrote, stating that the postmistress at Ratapiko was agreeable to provide the necessary accommodation and giving her services free. It was decided to forward a copy of both letters, to the settlers interested. Mr. A. E. Surry. wrote,, stating that the mill at Mangaone road had been cut out and pulled down'some nine, mdnths ago, being now stored in Inglewbod. Regarding the Waiwakaiho bridge, the Council's solicitors (Messrs. Govett & Quilliam) recommended that the following resolution (which the Council subsequently agreed to) be passed: "That notice in writing be given to each occupier of, land abutting dn the Waiwkkaiho river, situated within ten chains of the Waiwakaiho bridge, Devon road, not to remove or permit ttf " be" reijioved any stone, earth or other material from any part of the land of sufch occupied within ten chains of the . said byidge, in;. sueli manner. as to be likely to cause damage to the said bridge." In reference to the same matter the town clerk of the New Plymouth Bor- I pugh Council wjrote stating that tTTe municipality would be pleased to co-operate j with the county with a view to prevent- 1 ing the removal of stone. A resolution authorising notices to that end being' served on owners of land abutting the river had.been passed by the Council. Formal notification was received from the Under-secretary for Internal Affairs that "that part of the Fitzroy Town District that has not been added to the borough of New Plymouth shall form a part of the Moa Riding of the County of TaraHaki."

Attention was drawn by Mr. B White, Lower Mangorei, to the conditions existing at the Cross roads, where the Junction Road is intersected by the Mangorei Road. The abrupt "fall" from the crown of the Junction road to the "bed" of the Old Hospital road is, he said, a source of danger. Metal required for forming a crown could be obtained from him free of royalty. It was decided to inform Mr. White that, the road complained of is under the jurisdiction of the Moa Road Board. Seven ratepayers of the Barrett road drew the attention of the Council to the great inconvenience and loss they were subjected to owing to the extremely unsatisfactory condition of the upper portion of the road. The road had never been metalled, and even at the present time was in an almost impassable condition. The foreman was asked to report 011 the cost of the work: Hearing that the Borough Council was erecting an electric light 011 the western side of the Waiwakaiho river, fifty-two ratepayers wrote asking the county to erect one on the opposite side of' the river, at the junction of the roads and the railway crossing. The petitioners understood the cost of supplying the lamp was £3 15s per annum. —The request is to be complied with. Messrs. Sladden and Palmer reported that work in connection with Henricksen's contract., Carrington road, was progressing as fast as possible. The contractor had a tram-line laid down, and was dragging up the stone by means of a steam hauler. They hoped that the whole of the stone would be collected in ten or fourteen days. There appeared *

to be some difficulty in gathering the \ stone from the stream bed, as the boul- J

ders were large and required blasting. A certificate for £75 progress payment was enclosed.

Accounts amounting to £IBO3 fis 4d were passed for payment. HEAVY TRAFFIC QUESTION.

The much discussed question of the traffic of the Motor Transport Company on the Main South road was again considered by the Council. The upshot of a lengthy discussion wa? the placing of a resolution to the effect that, providing the company signed the proposed agreement with the County Council, the latter body would reduce the toll charge to 10s for each engine and ss. for each trailer.