TARANAKI COUNTY COUNCIL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 195, 7 January 1913, Page 7

TARANAKI COUNTY COUNCIL

MONTHLY MKKTIXO. The Taramiki County Council met yesterday, the chairman (Mr. J. Brown) presiding. Other members present were: Councillors 1!. Stevens, M. Hopson, C. H. Billing, 0. Andrews, D. MeAllum, A. Morton, J. Andrews and.,J. R. Ilill. COWLING ROAD. A request that the metalling of a portion of Cowling road should -I>r immediately put in hand was received from Messrs A. J5. Monro, W. Autridge, W. B. Grant and A. K. Knight, settlers in the locality. They offered to hand over their contribution of £25 towards the work as soon as the Council gave a guarantee that it would be done this summer. Mr. Monro waited on the Council with I the intimation that he. was prepared to write out a cheque for the £25 and hand it over to the Council at once. The Omata riding had, explained the chairman, to face a heavy overdraft, and the work could not possibly be undertaken this year. ]t was suggested .by Mr. Morton that the settlers should raise a loan to do ■the work, but councillors were generally of the opinion that it would be unfair to turn down the settlers when they along and offered to contribute towards the cost of the work. The distance to be metalled is about 21 chains, and, reckoning 15 yards of metal to the chain, it was estimated that the cost would <bc £ 12G. Ultimately it was decided to proceed with the work on receipt of the £25. CARRIXGTON ROAD TRAMWAY. On beliaf of Mr. T. V. Simons, sawmill - er, of Carrington road, Mr. A. H. Johnstone applied for a license to lay down, construct and maitain a private tramway along the eastern side of the Carrington road for a distance of three miles and seven chains, approximately, from the terminus of the existing tram--way, if laid down, would be used in connection with .Mr. Simons' business only. Permission was granted.

CARRINGTON - FRANKLEY CROSS ROAD. Messrs Sladden and Palmet were instructed to prepare specifications and accept tenders for the construction of tiie new Carrington-Frankley cross road. ■ EPENUI ROAD DISTRICT. Mr. B. White presented a petition to the Council, on behalf of seven ratepayers, representing nine votes, asking that the Henui road district he merged in the county. The petitioners, he affirmed, represented a majority of the ratepayers concerned. 1 The New Plymouth Borough Council! has applied for the abattoirs reserve to be included in the borough, and until that matter is completed the County 1 Council could not, explained the chair-J man, move in the matter. I GENERAL. i ' Mr. IV T. V. Simons, sawmiller, New j Plymouth/wrote enclosing £BO 5s 8d for J road levy to October, 1912, in respect to > the maintenance of the C'arrington road, j This sum would, he said, enable the) Council to commence putting the metal on the road % The balance of £IOO would be forwarded by next meeting. As trustee lor Veale's Estate, Mr. T. Vcale asked the Council to pass on to 'the Boro'ugh Council a sum of money which it had received from the St. Auliyn Town Board. He pointed out that the town district had been merged iiv tlie borough, and he asked that the money should be spent by the borough • towards 1 tliti completion of Lorna street! —The request was not entertained. It was decided to authorise the riding members to wait on Messrs Skelton 81-os., of -Smart road, to ascertain if they were willing to contribute anything towards the cost of metalling the road near their respective properties. On the understanding that the settlers affected were willing to contribute £lO towards the, cost,, it was decided to metal j six chains of the Corbett road. t The Waitara West Road Board notified that it had.no objection to certain sections being transferred to the Moa j road district. The Moa. Road Board also advised that it \vas> prepared to pay the cost of the suggested alteration of the boundaries.—A special meeting of the Council will be held to pass the necessary' special order. Mr. 11. T. Bishop, of Bell Block, intimated his willingness to bear all costs in connection with increasing the width of the right-of-way leading to his property to half a chain, so that it might be declared a public road. —The necessary steps will be taken to give effect to bis wishes. Mr. A. Herbert, Ivorito, drew attention to the. bad state of the old Korito road leading to his homestead. The road, which was unmetalled, was impassable in wet weather.—Referred to the inspector. On behalf of Mr. Kelly, Messrs Sladden and Palmer asked the Council to consent to the deviation of part .section 82, Omata. In one place it was proposed

to deviate tho Ilurford road from the line of the original survey, on the land held by .Mr. Kelly, who raised 110 objection to his luiul being taken.—The request was acceded to. Mrs. L. J. Crompton, Omata, wrote asking the Council to purchase about half an acre of land that would be cut oil' from her property by the deviation of the Waireka road. The land would, if cut off, be of no use to her. Her price was £ 10. —The oiler was accepted. Complaint was made by Mr. F. R. Tliggins that owing to a drain -having been cut through the bank on the hill,

surface water from the llurford road, just ]i;ist the dairy factory, was flooding his property. —Referred to the inspector. Mr. Bcnoni Whites waited on the Council with a request that it should reconsider its decision not to take any more metal from his property.— Refused. ft was decided to call applications for the position of toll-collector at the I'uniho toll-gate, vice Mr. A. E. Sadler, resigned. DOG-TAX. Mr, Chas. Warren, of Westown, was' appointed dog-tax collector for the whole county, and the tax was fixed at 2s 6d for cattle dog's and 5s for sporting animals.

INSPECTOR'S REPORT. In his monthly report, the inspector (if roads and bridges, Mr R. W. Bond, stated:—Owing to the dry weather the roads throughout the county have worked up ,badly, causing a good deal of loose metal. The main south road is. still being broken up with heavy traffic. Moa riding: The earthwork on theMjiJvctawa Hill has .been well pushed on and during the next fortnight I hope to have the greater portion remetalled. The old wooden 'bridge has been removed. Foreman .1. Batten has taken up his duties in place of 13. Thomas en Ken I. and Albert roads. The following bridges now require new decking for repairs:—N'ga"toronui. 300 ft spr.. Chain bridge 1000 ft Kpr., llill road 300 ft spr. Decking on the Kurapetc bridge has been repaired. A start has been made with the crushing plant at Kent road depot; Junction road. Foreman Bennett has received 100 yards of metal on the Junction road east, and has cut back most of the scrub on the Zigzag. Waitara riding: The excessive rain on December 2nd caused . considerable damage to the Mountain