TARANAKI COUNTY COUNCIL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 314, 2 July 1912, Page 7

TARANAKI COUNTY COUNCIL

MONTHLY MEETING. Yesterday's meeting of the Taranaki County Council was attended by the chairman (Mr. J. Brown) and Councillors R. Stevens, D. McAllum, C. Billing, C. Andrews, M. Hopson, WAIPUKU BRIDGE-AN ALLEGED DEFECT. Mr. Robinson, Stratford County engineer, wrote with reference to the Waipuku bridge, reaffirming that there was not a crack in the arch of the structure. The informants of the Taranaki County Council, who disputed his contention, appeared to be incapable of distinguishing the difference between cracks in concrete and surface marks indicating the junction of courses in the carrying out of the work. The engineer added that, in justice to the Stratford County Council the contractor, and himself, he was having 'the lines of junction opened out In grooves, in order to convince all who cared to inspect it that there was abso-

lutely no sign of a crack in the arch ring. Touching upon another matter, he stated •that an inspection of the old .steel trusses of the bridge just removed -would disclose the fact that the lower chord of one of these was completely eaten through with rust. Following on its inspection, the Council would realise that in spite of the opinions in the past of traction-engine drivers regarding the safety of the structure, the renewal just completed was a most necessary and urgent matter.

The chairman reported that he had in spected the? bridge, in company with Crs, Stevens and Hopson. To him", there cer-

•tainly seemed to be something wrong with the bridge, and. as far as lie could gather, 'his fellow councillors were of the same opinion. The county's bridge foreman, who held that there was a crack, and the Stratford County's engineer could not agree as to the extent and nature of the damage. Personally, as the result of the inspection, he had noticed what he took to be a long crack in the structure. Meanwhile the Stratford County engineer and the two respective bridge foremen would all confer together. Tf they were unable to agree, the report of an independent expert would have to be obtained.

MAORI COUNCILS. . The Whakataiie. County Council forwarded a copy of the following resolution, which it asked the Council to support. "That in the opinion of this Council', it is time that the registration of nil doss should be vested in European local bodies onlv, and not an at present where Maori Councils register native dogs, and local bodies register only dogs owned by Europeans." Councillors unanimously decided to endorse the action of the Whakatane County, the chairman commenting that the present 'aw on tli.e subject was "pretty rotten."

■RANK RATE RAISED. , I The 7nanager of the Bank of New I South Wales wrote stating that owing to the recent rise in fixed deposit rates j it had become necessary to put up the bank's lending rates. He therefore asked the Council to take notice that from July 1 the rate of interest on the County's property account overdraft would be s'/ 2 per cent. NOT FOR SALE. • Consequent/upon the Council's objection, the Commissioner for Crown Lands notified that no further steps would be taken in the sale of part of the closed Omata road by the Land Board to Mr. Marfell. ' Mr. Marfell and his solicitor (Mr. A. R. Standish) waited on the Council, and on his application it was decided to reconsider 'the matter. According to the chairman, the road was no use now, but the Council could not_ tell what might happen several ( h)en'co> '.' ■ ■. •-•■ -- ( The Council'decided that it could not' see its'w'av clear to alter its decision. ! ' ' COST OF A'IiRIDC.E. ■ ' ' ! Messrs. Sladden and Palmer (engineer* and surveyors) submitted the following statement of a steel girder bridge over the Henui river, undertaken by the Mangorei Road Board:—Conc'rete'piers" £lB6, steel girders £1(13 Is Bd, timber £jo 7s 4d, paints, oils, bolts', otc„ £0 Gs lid;'erection, £47. Total, £4M 16s'4d.,' The approaches were yet to be completed, and the work was being done by day labor, under the supervision of the Council's foreman. PETITIONS. '

Fifteen ratepayers drew the attention of the Council, by way of petition, to the dangerous state of Ilenwood and Upland roads, which they stated were almost impassable.

It was decided to defer consideration until members of the riding concerned were present, the foreman in the meantime to report on the subject.

Seven members of the maintenance staff petitioned the Council for half-time while waiting for water to go down, owing to floods.' ( According to the chairman it was not a question of wet weather, but of the river being too high. There was not much loss of time.

The request was not acceded to, GENERAL.

The Secretary to the Treasury notified that the late Fitzroy Town Board's debt of £Bl4 hnd been apportioned as follows: Taranaki County Council £IOO, plus half year's interest £1 Lis; New Plymouth Borough Council £714, plus interest £l2 9s lid.

Mr. J. Spenee, Carrington road, intimated his refusal to accept the sum voted to him by the Council in compensation for damage done to his property bv certain of the Council's contractors.

The Council declined to alter its previous decision. The Commissioner of Crown Lands informed the Council that the Land Hoard had approved of its proposals for the expenditure of £55 lfis 4d'of thirds accrued to March 31, mid that the sum had been passed for payment. The chairman was authorised to purchase a motor-cycle for the use of the liewlv-appoiiited road and bridge inspector. .Mr. K. \V. Bond.

It was decided to levy a. special rate over the Tiri special rating district, to secure a .special loan of ,£<!(). being 10 per cent.-on the original loan of £(i(lll. Mr. F. W. P. Lister drew the attention of the Council to the approaches to his store at Omata. The matter was left to Cr. MeAllum

to arrange. On the motion o! the chairman, it was decided to levy a special rate of one farlhing to secure interest, on the Carring! on-TYankley enws roads special loan of .CIS.").

It. was resolved that Mr. .7. West attend to Carringtou road in the Oakura Road District. Mr. Abraham's tender of 3s 3d per yard was accepted for breaking fifty yards of metal on the Mangorci road. On the motion of Mr. MeAllum, it was decided to seal and sign the agreement involving the adjustment of accounts between the Borough of New Plymouth and the County Council. ACCOUNTS.

The following accounts were passed for payment: —Administration £l3fi 8s lid, Moa riding £252 lfis 4d, Waitara riding £2SS 3s lid, Omata riding £IOO Is :iu\ Oka to riding £123 17s. Moa riding bridge loan £3(15 fis 4d. Upper Carringtou road loan account £SO. Total £1273 Os Bd.

■ ENGINEER'S REPORT. Tliu engineer (Mr. Orbell) reported at follows:—Henui bridge earthwork: The work of making the approaches to this bridge is now completed, and the new roadway opened to traffic. Waitepuke bridge: The work of erecting the concrete bridge of the Waitepuke stream has been completed. Mangaotea bridge, Tariki road: The excavations for the foundations have been made on both i sides of the stream and one of the abutments built up to the springing of the arch. TWO NEW BRIDGES REQUIRED. In his monthly report, the bridge foreman (Mr. R. W. Bond) stated that he had inspected the Timaru bridge, Beach road. It was in a bad state of repair, but could be made passable by renewing four beams on the eastern end, and putting in some new undcrstrutting. Some 350 ft of 3in decking was required to replace some of the present decking, also spikes and bolts. The Mangaoni and iMahara bridges, on the Junction road east' were of the same size and were, reported Mr. Bond, beyond repair at reasonable cost. He recommended that they should be replaced with 20ft arches, in concrete, at a cost of £2OB each. The bridge at the north end of Tariki required four new stringers 13ft long. These could be replaced with four from the Maketawa bridge. The present decking and piers were sound. New side rails wore required. When this work was done the bridge would be good for some years. The cost of this work' would'be £S 15s. It was decided to repair both the Timaru (Beach road) and Tariki bridges, and action regar.'.ing the Mangaoni and Mahara Jv-Mt.-p was deferred. FOREMEN'S REPORTS. Foreman M. J. Jones (Tariki) reported that the Tariki and Mountain roads were in fiiir order. His|time had been taken up in doing general work during the month. Foreman E. Bennett reported that the weather had been very hard on the roads during the month, and there had been several slips on the Zig-Zag, and it had taken a lot of time keeping it clear. Portions of the Junction road broke up badly, and he bad to employ labor to cope with the work, patching, and clearing oil slips. He had also repaired decking on the Ngatoro, Maketawa and Manganui bridges. Two culverts on the Zig-Zag required replacing with 2in pipes and three 9in pipes were required at Kaimata crossing. . Foreman Harvey (Moa riding) reported that during the month he had been j patching, clearing water-tables, and rak- i ing up loose metal. Owing to the continual wet weather, the Junction road was breaking up very badly at both ends. The metal on the Puketotara road was prac'asally worn out. He required an j extra 250 yds of metal at the Chain 1 bridge; at the bacon factory, 100 yds; chain bridge, 50yds; Mangorei depot;, 10.0 yds. Foreman J. Holmes, junr. (Moa riding) reported that he had to engage a man, with horse and cart, for three days. j during Uie month, assisting to repair the Mountain road, Moa riding, on account of it breaking up very badly through the continual wet weather. He asked if any person had been given authority to cart away broken metal from the side of the road near Brown's mill. Several loads had been taken. It would not do to let the metal go, because this piece of road would require a lot of attention before the winter was over. There was not a stone too many to keep the,road in repair. Foreman J. Holmes (Waitara riding) reported that he had reecived 314 yards of metal during the month for metalling and repairs. The roads broke up very badly through the month owing to the continual wet weather, and 'there were large, stretches of road wearing very thin. He had exceeded the quantity of metal a little to join a piece near the Egmont, road. The rest of his time he had'been .assisting the others on Egmont .and Smart roads and clearing out watertables, and, .lowering the gross from the side of the metal.

Foreman F. Holmes reported that dur- ■ ing the month he had received 374 yards of metal, 280 yards for Smart road, 88 .yards on Egmont road, and six yards on Pariti road. He exceeded Haskill's contract by OS yards in order to complete a-, kid piece by the Egmont road '.railway crossing, and also to finish off a had piece on Smart road. During the past wet month the roads had broken tip ifrom one end to the other, and if the weather continued wet the biggest part of the roads would be impassable. Foreman F. Seamark (Omata riding) .repotted that all the roads under his control were in fair order, excepting a few of the unmetalled roads, which were a bit soft, owing to the large amount of rain during the month. With the authority of Councillor McAllura, he had made arrangements with Mr. A. Cowling to cart out 100 yards of boulder stone.

Foreman D. Brosnan (Okato riding) reported that throughout the month his time had been taken up chiefly by carting out -metal for repairs and patching, as the wet month had been exceptionally severe on the roads. A pipe culvert near tho Okato Hotel had been completely squashed -in, apparently by the steam lorries. It had been replaced by a double sot of l'2in pipes. The road narrowly averted being washed away. Tho Timaru beach bridge was very shaky and the decking of the bridge was in a very rotten state. Heavy repairs were needed, as at present it was not safe to go on it with 25cwt. The contractor for carting out the metal from the old road, Oakura Hill, had used the plough, where the scarifier had been used, mixing up a lot of clay with the metal. He had stopped the contract, as the work would be unsatisfactory. Foreman W. Eva (Hurworth Tiding) reported that he had broken up a good deal of metal during the month, especially on the Carrington road at the top end. A few more days would clear all metal on this end, and would require more maintenance metal. Unless he got the ( metal the road could not be kept up. Therefore, if the present rate would not allow the metal to bo 'granted, the county would have to charge more royalty on'the timber, as the Carrington road was only a thin crust of metal to carry such traffic. The time for the month was spent in spreading metal, clearing watertables and general work. He required 101) yards of boulders at the top end of Carrington road for maintenance. Engine-driver J. Toms reported that the following days had been lost through bad weather: May 2!). .Tune 1. '.), -1, 5, li, 7, 8, 13. 20. 22. The total working on the road was 12 days, the total lost through bad weather being 11 da''s.

Foreman J. Urry reported that the crusher worked on nine days milling ('llß yards, at the Waiwakaiho depot. lie finished crushing there on June 21 and started to repair the crusher and engine on Juno 22. Arising out of the foremen's reports Ihe following decision; \v»re arrived ill: That Messrs. Rowan find Thompson lie requested to proceed with their metal contract at Lang's Pitt, in the Moa riding; that the mnU"r of metal on the Old Hospital road !»• referred to the chairman to enquire info: that Foreman .[ "Holmes he authorised to construct a drain to drain Maho; lahi Pit; that Cr. McAllnm's action in authorising (he acceptance of A. Cowling's tender at 5s Gd for the snpplv of houlders at Omata be. confirmed; that the surplus timlier at the Tfurford road bring;- he left to the chairman to sell, and that the bridge he