STRATFORD COUNTY COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 258, 22 March 1913, Page 3

STRATFORD COUNTY COUNCIL.

-MONTHLY MEETING. The ordinary monthly meeting of the Stratford County Council was held on Wednesday, when there were present: Crs. W. Hatiuiway (chairman), E. Marfell, I. Smith, F. Ande rson, J. Christoffei, J. Young and E. Walters. ENGINEER'S REPORT.

The engineer (Mr. C. E. Robinson) rc- ; ported that tenders had been invited far . the supply of 50yds of shell-rock oil . Stanley road. About 82 chains of metal - had been spread on the Mangaelm road, . leaving about half-a-milo still to do. ; Only about 12 chains had been knapped. , Kerrick had made a start with his main- . tenance shell-rock contract at Mangaelm and other roads. The Makuri Valley . drainage contractor had completed the work, but a little further cleaning up was necessary. The Waiwiri road metalling contract had been completed, and good progress was being made with the Pembroke boulder contract and the Finnerty bridge. Crushing operations had been completed on the Hastings, Palmer and Waingongoro roads and the roller had been ..following up and doing good work, besides rolling the boulders. The grader had been at work on the Croydon, Cardill' and Mountain roads. Cr. Walters remarked that the Makuri drainage was already doing satisfactory work. I FOREMEN'S REPORTS. North riding (west) —The foreman had been assisting the grader in banking up and levelling work. Three 9-inch and eight 18-inch culvert pipes were used in repairs, etc. Bridges and general repair work had been attended to on the Rutland and Derby roads, and repair work on the Surrey, York, Denbigh, Radnor and Lower Monmouth roads. North riding (east)--The Makara road work was well in hand. General surfacing work had been carried out on other roads in the riding and they were now in fair order. South riding—All the roads were in good order. Most of the time had been . spent banking up metal on the Mountain and Finnerty roads and blinding Victoria road. East riding (Toko) —Most time had been spent in metalling, and that on Toko road east, Mangaelm and Toko roads was now completed, except for some water-tabling, ete. The new pit on Mr. Bell's property, Almroa road west, was opened up, but owing to the recent rains a start had not been made with the carting. The quality was good, but the pit was hard to work. ] In the East riding all the roads were jin fair order. The Wailara river suspension bridge was in a very unsound condition. In the West riding the Palmer road metalling and the Waingongoro road crushing and metalling had been completed. It would pay the Council to • have another horse and dray for use at | the Mahoe end. , I Surfacing and repair work had been | carried out in the Mangaelm riding, ) The riding members were given author- ) ity to purchase a horse and cart. COLLECTION OF RATES, j The chairman of the 'Waimate Comity j Council asked the Council's support of a resolution urging the necessity of ob- ] taining alteration in the law relating j to the collection of rates by having secj tion 28 of the Rating Amendment Act, 1 1010, amended so that a charge of 10 I per cent, may be added on all rates unpaid at the end of two months. Thev I pointed out that at present 10 per cent, could be added after the expiration of . six months and fourteen days from the demand thereof, and this practically retarded payment of a large proportion of the rates until close upon the. expiry of | the time limit, many ratepayers witlij holding their rates for six months after i others had paid, often necessitating an j overdraft, for which all had to pay, which was obviously inequitable. On the motion of Crs. Marfcll and Christoffell it was resolved, without discussion, to allow the letter to lie on the' table. After the resolution had been carried the chairman remarked that it was treating the letter with scant courtesy, and. with the consent of the Council, the resolution was withdrawn, and it was resolved that the Stratford County Council regrets that it is unable to support the proposal, as the present system suited this district, where settlers had to wait for their milk cheques before being able to pay rates. MAKURI ROAD. Mr. J. B. lline forwarded a communication from the lion. W. Eraser, actingMinister of Finance, re the proposed loan of £3OO for this road. lie also suggested that the District Engineer's approval for the expenditure of the £3OO Government grant on this road should be obtained before March 31. so as to ensure the vote being available at any time. The Hon. W. Fraser wrote to the effect that the loan would come before the State Guaranteed Advances Board, with whom it rested. He pointed out that the Department was in no way committed to grant this loan, and that as there were a great many loans already promised, and as the Stratford County I Council had already exceeded its limit of £SOOO, it- was possible the Board may i be unable to entertain the application. If nimble to do so. he thought the country would have little difficulty in borrowing the amount from the Pulijie Trustee. The Council decided to adopt Mr. nine's suggestion. GENERAL. Air. H. P. Worthington, I'uniwhakau, drew attention to the stock grazing on the I'imiwhakau road, which he considered w;is getting too much of a good thing. —Referred to the ranger. The Commissioner of Crown Lands asked tlie Council to arrange for repairing, where required, the Raupnha road, over which the Council was carting gravel for the Toko road. It transpired that this road was under the jurisdiction of the County Council, and it was resolved to inform the Commissioner that this road would receive the same attention as all other roads in the county. W. Crcighton and Co., storekeepers, Midfiirst, asked the Council to attend to rt dangerous bank near the Queen's Circus, Midhirst. The Council resolved to pay a third of the cost, the Council's share Jot to exceed £2. Road Board asked the Council to allow its workmen to do work to the extent of £.j near Mr. A. Smith's, on the Ratapiko road. —The request was agreed to. R. D. Milne wrote offering £1 per an- ' num for the lease of a small reserve near Toko.—Applications will he called for the section in question. Messrs Grimmer and Chamberlain approached the Council and asked assistance in obtaining entrance through some property on the Skinner road, to enable them to get metal out of the Patea river. They liointed out that the lessee would not allow them entrance.—The matter ( was lelt in the hands of the chairman and engineer, with power to act. and. if necessary, to enforce an entrance under the Public Works Act.

Tito Wlinitpimomona County Council askwl tlie Council's support of a resolution, which tlioy are forwarding to the Crown Lands Board, regretting that the