STRATFORD COUNTY COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 309, 22 May 1913, Page 8

STRATFORD COUNTY COUNCIL.

At the ordinary monthly meeting of the Stratford County Council on. Wednesday there were present: Crs. W. Hathaway (chairman)J, Cliriatoffel, T. A. Anderson, .X. Smith, W. H. Were, | E. Walter, .1. Young and W. Rogers. Leave of absence was granted to Cr. Thomson, who is on a trip to Scotland. ENGINEER'S REPORT. ; The completion of. the Mangaehu 1 metalling contract had been proceeding | steadily, but, the weather having broken, it would bo a dillicult matter to get the | remainder of the metal on. Nineteen chains remained to- be done,, and about half the metal required for this was in the pit ready for carting out. Every effort would be made, should the weather take up, to complete the work.. The maintenance shell-rock contract in Ik Mangaehu riding was proceeding slowly. The south riding boulder contract had been eompletedi satisfactorily. The heaps were well stacked, and' had all been, well measured up. The Cardiff road' culvert and' filling, to replace small bridge, had been- completed. The Douglas Valley drainage cleaning contract required further work to complete. The crushing plant was again in tlw north riding. Denbigh and York road re-metalling had been completed, and Rad--nor and Pembroke road would be taken next. The roller was- at present on the Denbigh, road. Owing to the lateness of the season, he had stopped the gridcr for a time, as it could not work to. advantage just now. The timber for the surfaceman's cottage on the Manaia road had 1 been ordered, and the work would be put in hand as soon as this arrived.

FOREMEN'S REPORTS. North Riding (west). —The Mountain road had been repaired at the south end, and corners taken off, as lirreted, at Monmouth road. About half a wile ot Denbigh road had been re-metaile'i ar.d was being rolled. Maintenance stone had been delivered. The York road re-metal-ling had been completed. Over 100 cubic yards per day had been put through the crusher. Various roads had been repaired. The work on the Ratapiko rosd, for the Moa Road Board, had been completed, at a cost of £5 13s fld. A fcvj dangerous places on Croydon road south were being fenced. The work recently done on the Manmrau road was satisfactory.

In the East Riding, maintenance work had been done. Both Toko and Standish roads were almost without maintenance metal, and would probably break up badly during the year. Weather had caused a temporary stoppage of work on Sangster's Hill. Taihore road had ploughed and re-formed for 38 chains. Numerous pipes had been put in on the Makuri and Ohura-Mangaehu roads. In the Douglas surfaceman's district the roads were in fair order for the time of year. In the West Riding, the Hastings road had broken up badly, and extensive remetalling would be required on it next season. Brecon road had been remetalled, all but six chains, and the new filling needed fencing.

A PROTEST.

The Public Works Department notified that Hanga road had been declared a county road. Cr. Young considered it distinctly unfair to Gazette the road as a county road in its present state, and unfair to

ask the settlers to clear the slips therefrom. Further representations on the matter will be made to the Minister in charge. The clerk will point out that the Council spent £BOO on the road, but was not aware that it was a county road; and slips had occurred which would cost £2O to remove. It appeared now that a further portion of the road had been vested in the Council, and the Council thought it only fair treatment for the Government to clear the slips on the first portion, where the work was done by the Council on behalf of the Government. MONEY AVAILABLE.

The Under-Secretary for Public Works wrote in respect to the votes of £450 (£ for £ subsidy) for the Mangaehu road (Mangaehu Village tp Pnniwhakau Village), and £3OO under simliar conditions on the Makuri road, appearing on the current year's estimates and available for expenditure. If the Council would undertake the works it must be clearly understood that the cost of supervision, survey, engineering or clerical expense, or compensation for land taken, must not be charged agaijist the authorities, and should, therefore, not be included in the estimates of the cost, —Application for the money will be made. THE HOSPITAL LEVY.

The secretary of the Stratford Hospital and Charitable Aid Board forwarded the formal demand for the county contributions. Based on a capital value of £2,030,987, and amounting to £42 9s for capital expenditure, and £BO7 lis for expenditure other than capital expenditure, in monthly instalments of £7O 16s Bd. Cr. Smith said that the Council could do nothing but agree to the demand. He referred to the heavy cost to county ratepayers of hospital administration, and pointed out that last year the Stratford county paid about £2O in levies for every patient admitted to the hospital from the county. The law said that every patient was supposed to contribute fairly, according to his means, but many paid nothing at all, while the ratepayers still had to contribute their quota whether treated in the institution or not. He hoped that every hospital in the colony would fight for a ' 'Hpr system of finance, for the present was only a glaring anomaly.

MISCELLANY. On tlic motion of Crs. Walter and Were it was decided th*t the engineer should continue to drain and put in a culvert to connect on Makuri-Huiakama road,as prhi us Mr. Gray has completed the drain f' < i!ir road to the river, and that the dr :is on tl " top side of Mr. Watkin's fillings on the Makuri road should be cleaned out as recommended. The Commissioner of Crown Lands asked the Council to submit proposals for expenditure of accrued thirds amounting to £O2 7s 2d up to March 31 last.—Referred to the engineer. It was decided to renew for another year the contract with the New Zealand Loan an! Mercantile Agency Company fo" the supply of horse feed. .Mr. J. Tl. Hine, M.P., wrote acknowledging (he Council's letter relative to £ for £ subsidy required for the Taihore road, and stating that the matter would receive his immediate attention. But prol 'iMy the matter would not take practical form until the Estimates were placed before Parliament. East Riding members will inspect available sites at Huiron for surfaceman's cottage. The engineer will inspect the filling on the Taurakawa road, reported to have been washed out.

Mr. W. Wunsch wrote agreeing to contribute £4 towards cost of removing the bunk of earth between his shop and the Mountain road at Midhirst—Expenditure authorised.

The owner of the section adjoining the County Chambers asked for the Council to bear its share of the cost of an iron dividing fence—The Council will pnv 3l)s towards the cost of a legal fence. The engineer was instructed to expend

\ £l2 (the Councils ,C 4, Rorough CounI cil'.s £4, and t'4 raised by the Chamber ; of Commerce) on the Upper Pembroke l , road, the approaeh to the East Egmont '( Mountain house. An application for a footbridge on tlio 1 Cornwall road was turned down, on the score of "no funds available."