CLIFTON COUNTY COUNCIL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 244, 15 April 1912, Page 7

CLIFTON COUNTY COUNCIL

MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Clifton County Council was held at Waitara on Friday, when there were present: Crs. S. J. Elliott (chairman), R. T. Hicks, C. O'Sullivan, A. M. Bower, S. J. Kennington, H. Sander and J. C. Gleeson. (FOREMEN'S REPORTS. A. Hutchins (Okoke road) reported that P. Darke had been working for 12% days on the Okoke road ~'ove Wright's. It was useless doing work from the Piko road to Wright's unless the cattle were kept off the road. He also complained about stock running on other roads. He had put hand-rails on two bridges on the Piko road, but one bridge on this road required a new wing. He hud the necessary timber on hand for the job, which he would complete as soon as it could be carted.

C. F. Dowman (Purangi) had been occupied most of the month clearing the road to the pit. Owing to the bad weather slips had come down as fast as he could clear them away. He could not get a man to assist. He .had carted about 30 yards of metal during the month, and with two or three weeks' fine weather would have his quantity out. He had made a start on the Pita road, and had also spent £4 10s on the Domain road. Graham was getting on well with his tunnel. He asked asked for some timber and bricks to repair the cottage in which he was residing.—The latter request was left in the hands of Cr. Sander to attend to.

A. Rolfe (Matau) reported that Drake Bros, had finished their contrast. He got nine yards of stone extra. He also a3ked for a fortnight's leave of absence. Cr. Kennington stated that at present the foreman was working in a heavy slip, which was urgent.—Left in the hands of Cr. Kennington. W. Kulitz reported that most of his time had been taken up putting down ljurnt papa and clearing out watertables on the unmetalled portion of the road, which had cut up badly owing to the wet weather; consequently he had not been able to attend to the metalled road. He had been absent from work two days owing to ill-health. -Some bridge decking was badly needed at various bridges.—Timber required to be procured.

C. Turner (Okau) reported tliat lie had been engaged in sandstoning during the mouth. STONE CONTRACTS. Parris Taylor pointed out Uiat he was placed at a disadvantage in his shellrock contract at Ureti and Ms stone contract at Urenui, owing to the crusher not being available. The stone was on the ground and his men were waiting. He asked the Council to grant, him progress payments on both contracts.—The request was acceded to, the Council granting hirn a progress payment of £l5O on the shell rock contract and £SO on the boulder stonp-contract. TIME ROAD.' : '• Mr. H. Larson wrote forwarding cheque ion rates on his section. He also asked the Council if it had any money available for repairs to the Puke road, as seyeral punga bridges needed and a bad slip required removing. It was resolved to inform Mr. Larseri ; that £l2 7s was available in third*; and ; to leave the matter of arranging repairs' in ,the hands of Cr. Kennington. > ■-■■ WAI-ITI ROAD. '<^-t Mr. H. R. Fanner, Wai-iti, asked t,he. Council to form a five-foot track in con-"' tiiiuation of the Wai-iti' road to his sec- j tion, No. 68, block 10, Mimi S.D'. Vrjei pointed out that he had already'lo'sl'a'j horse and several cattle. He only re-' quired a track on the worst plaqcs, and, to' ! say the least of it, it was darigefim's'J to go up to his place on any dark nitfit,'' It was resolved, on the :..>...v/.t ojfCri O'Sullivan and Cr. Sander, to ask My. Farmer what was the lowest price at, which ho was prepared to form''the sledge track as suggested in his letter. - URENUI POUND. r//_ James Smith, poundkecper, Urcriui, nojjified that he had executed urgent repairs to the Urenui pound at a cost- of. 17s Gd—Payment was held oS-er until the work had been passed by Cr. (ile£ son. Councillors were unanimously of opinion that no work should be done without authority. DEPUTATIONS. Mr. Pukere, of Urenui, waited on the Council and asked if they would fence his property at Wai-iti, through which they had taken a road. He pointed out j that some time ago a road-was--Ween through his property. He fenced it, and now that the Council had taken another road through he did not tare about fene-1 ing it. j

The engineer pointed out that it was never intended to fence the road to.the beach, which had been r ade in the interests of the natives principally, though also as an access to a picnic ground. It was intended to put a gate at the beach and also at the road, which should be sufficient.

THE WAI-ITI DEVIATION. Mr, W. J. Freeth waited on the Council re the financial position of the Wai-iti deviation at Pukearuhe. He said that the settlers understood that there was only £350 left for fencing and metalling, which came as a surprise to them. The chairman pointed out that there was £390 left for metalling and £l4io set aside for fencing. 'Mr. Freeth stated that the late Minister of Public Works ('Mr. 1!. McKenzie) had promised to subsidise ti,.m £ for £ up to £IOOO. The settlers had raised £SOO, whereas the Government had only placed £3OO on the Estimates. They would, therefore, a.sk the Council to apply for the extra £2OO. Cr. O'Sulivan was doubtful if there was a definite promise for £SOO. Mr. Freeth said the settlers also understood that, the Council did not intend to metal the deviation across the swamp until after the winter. If the road were not metalled before winter it would be impassable. The chairman pointed out that the Council intended to keep the old road open till the new one was metalled. It was a bad time to call tenders for metal now.

On the motion of the chairman, seconded by Cr. Hicks, it was resolved to appi to the Government for the remaining £2OO promised by the late Minister of Public Works. ENGINEER'S REPORT.

The engineer (Mr. C. F. Dowsett) re-, ported that satisfactory progress was being made at the Otaraoa road deviation. This had been surveyed and the fencing arranged at a reasonable price. Paul's metalling contract on the Okoke road had been comr-H'ted. Taylor's contract had been somewhat hampered by wet weather conditions, but the engineer was of opinion that greater progress might have been made. Paul 'had almost completed his widening on the Kaka road. Whittaker had completed his widening contract on the Piko road and a further 70 chains had been laid off. which would carry the dray road to WliiMaker's house and Bull creek. F'alcombe Eros, had almost completed their formation contract on the Wai-iti deviation. The fencing of Howe's deviation would shortly be completed. Bellshaw Bros, had now put out about 550 yds of burnt papa on the JVlimi-Mokau road, and .were now completing their final kiln.l

The steel girders and the majority of the timber for the Uruti road bridge were to hand a start would bo made shortly with this work. Messrs Drake Bros, had satisfactorily completed their contract for metal oil the Junction road. MANGAOAPA ROAD. Mr. G. T. Murray, resident road engineer, notified that there was a balance of £6lB 2s 10d, Government grant, available for expenditure on the Mangaoapa road, which was now wholly within the Clifton County Council. He wished to know whether the Council intended to undertake the expenditure of this grant, because otherwise he wished to apply to have the amount transferred to his Department. The Council resolved to leave the expenditure of the amount to the Roads Department. Or. Kenning'ton asked what had become of the £M2 grant on the Matau to Mangaoapa road. It was resolved that the engineer be instructed to make a fresh application "for this grant. BRIDGE REPORT. The engineer (Mr. C. F. Dowsett) forwarded a further report on 34 additional bridges that he had inspected, and which would need repairs to the value of £2357. Last meeting he had reported on 17 bridges, which would require an expenditure of £2IOO, and there were yet 33 bridges to report on. In supplementing this report, the engineer stated that son* of the bridges yet to be reported on were practically new. He pointed out, however, that some of those already reported on needed urgent attention, otherwise therie would be trouble. Held over for the full report. SURFACEMEN'S WAGES. R. N. Knuckey was appointed surfaceman for the Waihi riding.' The question of raising the surfacemen's wages to Qs per day was also discussed, as some of the surfacemen had applied for a rise. Cr. Hicks considered s hut they would bo unable to keep their men unless they gave 9s per day, ( Cr. Kennington said that' some of thV men were worth 9s; others were not.

Councillors did not see how they could discriminate. They would have to pay the ruling wages. Cr. Hicks then moved that they pay their permanent surfacemen 9s per day, wet and dyr, from Mry 1.

This was seconded by Cr. Gleeson and carried.

THE TUI TRACK. Mr. W. IT. Foreman asked the Council to take steps to expend the thirds accruing from sections 3 and 29, block 9, Mimi, in widening on the Tui track before winder, as agreed to by the previous Council. He understood that if thirds remained unexpended after a certain time they reverted to the Consolidated Fund.

Mr. C. E. Raby (Rerckapa) wrote that ( in tlile report of the last meeting of the [ Council there was the suggestion of poor work and waste of money by those who had done work on the Tui track. As lie had worked there at most inconvenient times to make the road usable, when hi? had plenty of his own work to do, he objected to the statement. He had seen two of the settlers who wrote about the road and they did not question the work 5 donevby him. As the matter appeared 'in the, paper, although no names were rnontumed, he did not intend to allow it ■' to pass without protest, so far as he was concerned, especially as he had only go»e on when no one else was available. • Iti'was resolved to write Mr. Raby to J't&e effect that no reflection was intended von his work.

TENDERS. Tenders were received as follows: Metalling at Wai-iti: David Paul 15s per yard,:,Parriss Taylor 8s 9d per yd, John 'CbfeWu 8s <9d per yard (accepted). Mataro road formation: T. 0. Waite £203 ■l7s 4d, J. Falconer £199 lfis, T. Falconer £22,7 15s (id, C. A. Rumball £231 18b Od, E. Gibson £lB6 lfls (accepted). Two tenders were received for the metalling, but neither was accepted. •-It was resolved to invite tenders for 280 yds earthwork on the Waihi road •fTifc'orangi riding), to close next meeting. Tenders will also be invited for carting metal to and from crusher in the .Waihi and Urenui ridings. GENERAL. Mr. R. McKcnzie drew attention to a bad corner on the Mimi-Mokau road, near the Uruti dairy factory. In these days of motor cars it was a particularly .dangerous place.

The Treasury Department notified payment to the Council's credit of £lo9>l 5s 4d, viz., on account of metalling at Okoke, £ for £ (account of £700), £107; •earthwork, etc., Otaraoa, £25; earthwork, etc., Piko, £101; earthwork, etc., Pukearuhe (£ for £), £150; supply and delivery of metal, etc., at MimiiMokau, £7O; formation, etc., Mataro (£ for £), £7B 6s W; final payment on account of £ISOO, Okoko metalling loan, £SOO.

'Mr. B. G. Mahoney, secretary of the New Zealand Legion of Frontiersmen, which, the letter stated, was a purely military force being raised throughout the Empire among certain specially qualified men, wrote asking the Council to give the movement their support, either officially or privately.—Held over for further particulars. The action of the chairman in hiring the grader at £1 per week was confirmed.

It was resolved to write to Mr. H. Jury, of Rerekapa, asking him if he is in a position to substantiate the very serious statements he has made against a Council employee. . It was resolved to obtain a dobbin for the Okoke road surfaceman.

The toll-gate keeper was granted a fortnight's holiday owing to ill-health. The chairman was authorised to sign and seal agreement for alteration of boundaries between 'Stratford and Clifton counties.

The Under-Secretary for Public Works notified an amendment to the Public Works Act, 1911, section 2, re information required .to be submitted when applying for license to construct and use electric lines.

Accounts to the value of £I47C 7s 2d were passed for payment.