STRATFORD COUNTY COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 174, 22 January 1914, Page 7

STRATFORD COUNTY COUNCIL.

.MONTHLY .MICFI'INi;. The ordinary monthly meeting of llu> Stratford Comity Council was'held at Stratlord on Wednesday. Present: ("rs. ■I. Christ oil'el, T. 1!. Anderson, .1. Smith, AY. 11. Were, 10. Walter, .1. Is. Young, anil W. Holers. In the absence of Cr. Hatha way, - Cr. Christ oil'el was voted to tin- chair. IO.ViHXJOKirs KKPOKT. Tin- county engineer. Mr. 10. C. Hobinson, submitted his monthly report as follows: — North riding- Crushing opiM'atioii.-ihad been completed at Mam-.-.uui and Denbigh road, and the. jilniit sent round to West riding. Kc-tlecking and repairs to Kahonri bridge, Mountain road,' had been completed. Kerbing footpaths in portion of .Midhirst township uould he done nearly as cheaply in concrete as in lolara. and lie suggested that the work he put in hand when I'e Popo bridge, was being renewed. South Hiding.—Tim county boundary had been delineil in Orn roail. 'Die .two boulder contracts were in steadv progress, 'i'hc renewal of the small"bridge on Orn road with u concrete culvert was in hand. Thf foreman would attend to repairs to the second bridge on the road, using some timber which would be available from Orn and Wiugrove road bridges. " Kast Killing—lie had inspected the upper part of the Moliakau road, and arranged with the foreman to carry out necessary repairs and drain cleaning, lie h-.d hi'.d the work of drain cleaning ami foisaing tip of Alakuri road (lluiakama block) put in hand, j Having; found it impossible to arrange with the contractor on trucks at Midhirst at a reasonable rate, lie hail ar- . ranged to get out the necessary stone I (together with what was required for lioaeonslicli! road rem.-tailing)' at Skinner load, and crush it there with the council's own plant. The work of procuring stone was now in hand, and the crushing would be commenced its soon a< the plant came out of the West riding. Instructions had been given to carry out minor repair work on Ohura. Mangaehu and Taihore roads. The road roller had completed work, for a time in this'riiling. having treated to date about 7 : j.'| miles of road. It had now been sent to the West rilling to follow up remetalling work. The building of afoot suspension bridge over tin: Patea river near Toko would be commenced in a few Jays. West Hillings—Cni.-hing operations were about to commence near the western county boundary, the plant gradually working towards Stratford. The boulder supply contracts here anil at Hastings r.'-.v.i were about completed. ■ The completion of re-formation on ■ Opunake road". No. 2. m out the worst j hill on tin' road. Maiigarhu Piding.-Two bullock team* had been sent out to complete' the | metalling of Mangaehu road and to deliver maintenance metal in Puniwhakau riding. (li-nerah—-luiian's contract for the supply of nielal on trucks at Midhirst was completed. It would lie necessary to provide for a supply of shell-rock maintenance, nielal for Waiv/iri and Ahuroa-cast roads. V'oKl-'.MKX'S ISIOI'ORT.S. North Killing (west).- -Hough portions of Mountain road nevween Kahouri and flint road had been scarified and rolled in. Crushing operations had been completed on tTie Denbigh road, the portion between the two creeks having been re-metalleil. This still required trimming up and water-tabling, which work would lie carried out forthwith. The necessary boulders for maintenance of Radnor road had been got out and the amount required for Upper I'embroke and Monmouth mails would lie procured. The completion of the last hill on the York road would ;ilso hs' put in hand. North liidiu<r(east)-The total amount, of metal crushed this season at Manganui site, was i'Vi cubic yards, and 1!I0 cubic yards of screenings. This .had all been delivered. lOiglit nine-inch pipes had been used on the Sali.-hury road to replace an old culvert. Croydon road had been patched right through, and the necessary repairs made to Kent Terrace. Patching on oilier roads was now in progress. A small ' bridge on Croydon road needed re-deck-ing. On Salisbury road, near Crovdon road a creek had silted up, and" the water was now coining over the road. lOilher the creek (in" Mr. Skcdgwell's - property) would need to he opened up, ' or a lilling of the road put ill. '

South Hidings Most of the month .had been spent in blinding the various metal road-, which" were breaking up with the bad weather; The two boulder contracts in Ike riding were proceeding steadily. Kast Riding (Toko).—During the past .month scarifying and road rolling operations have been in progress on Ohura road, and with the. exception of a few chains near Kahonri bridge and Sansslor's hill. the. road was completed from Toko school to the Uorough boundarv. The grader had been working on ,(he Makuri road, cleaning out watertable- and re-forming the road. Draining on S'tandisli road was in progress. Part of the recently re-melalled 'portion ol Ibis road had not set down vcrv well. The roller went back over it three times, but. owing to bad foiinilaiion. could not do good work, lie suggested that when the srarilier came to scarify Sang.-lrr's hill, a little further work be done on Staudish road. A start had in I'll made to get. boulders from the .l'atea river at Skinner road. lOiist Hiding i Douglas).--Thcv had ■been blinding and doing general road work on Ohura road; had carted metal .from Cordon and Douglas stations and deposited it along the main road: completed work at Dongas creamerv. and had now made a shirt willi Makuri road re format ion. Ka.-i llidin-_ ; liuir ci\- The necessary repaiis ha.l b -eii carried oat on the follosviug nil.'.-: Hondas north and -out ii. Makuri ea.-i and v.e-t: Mohakau and llaeo. A iarge loncreie culvert was inserieil on Mohakau road, (lorsi-cut-ing on Tiiiiupo ro.id was almost completed, ha! (In- n.-ces-arv work on Autawa road had been il,-laved owing to scarcity of lab.rr. A .'id-feet by I'i-inch diameter pipe w.'.s inserted on Makuri road ea,i. Wes{ Hiding. -Oi.unnke road No.' 2. The work of re-t .rmalion and tilling near Hasting road was completed. Metal a) lop end nf Waingongoro road, was n-nii-t ailing. Mangaehu Haling.--During (he month thr.-e bridges on Mangaehu road and on.- on I'liniwhakan road had been screwed up aval rcp.-ired. Tuirwhakaii road had keen widened where iT hud slipped away and general repair work done where required. Cr. Christoffel will confer with set-

. tiers- relative to draining work on Uru 'Pile engineer's recommendation with re»ard to (Ini road bridge v.-.s adopted. Tenders will be culled for the supply of maintenance nvilal for Waiwiri ami Ahuroa roads. The rebuilding of the TV Pcpo bridge ' will be l'urlher considered at next meeting. Work on Autawa and metalling on Waingong'oro road was authorised. ALWL'S'I'MKXT 01' LOAN'S. Mr. Ceo. Stringer, Clerk to the 11awcra County Council, wrote, forwarding noliees of transfer, as required under section a of "The Local Bodies ..Loans Amendment Act, 11112," of the Opiinake-Stralford road No. 1 and Opunake-Stratford No. 2 loans, the whole of which had b"i'oine. wholly merged in the Stratford County. The notices were given without prejudice to this Council's claim to have any adjustments in respect of payments made in connection with these loans. A notice in similar terms was received in connection with (1) Mountain road, No. 1 area: and (i) Anderson road, the areas of which had become partially merged in the Stratford County.-He-ferred to the clerk. APPRIXIATIOX. The Eight J Ton. W. V. Mnssey, Prime Minister, wrote:—"l desire to acknow- ] ledge the receipt of your communication conveying a resolution passed at a meeting' of the Stratford County Council with regard to the Co.venmicul's action in connection with the late strike. In reply, will you kindly convey to the members of the Council my sincere thanks for the resolution, which I appreciate very much. It is to be liopfidi the Dominion will not experience a recurrence of such trouble- for many \"o;««'-.* I to come." '•STIUTIIMOIiIC YVKKIV I -Mr. F. S. Pope, secretary to the Do- | , partment of Agriculture, wrote with <. reference! to the Council's request to have a plant known as pimelca (locally known as "Strathmore weed") added to the third schedule of I lie Noxious Weeds • Act. Information had been obtained J in regard to the properties of the plant j and the extent to which it was spread- » big. and it was fell thai the danger to j be feared I'r it was not sullicient to | warrant its being declared a noxious j weed. i'ro'.u the particulars to baud, J he diil not consider the plant likely ) to spread rapidly and become a serious menace to the country, and in the circumstances the Department could not ■ sec its way to move in the direction desired. Members said there was no doubt the weed was spreading, and Cr. Walter, who had moved in the matter, said that practical men in his district were alarmed a't its spread. -\o further action was taken. j | HUIRQA OIL WELL, ;.' I 'The engineer in reply to a question, slated that be had received no reply to his letter from the representative of the New Zealand Consolidated Oilfields, Ltd., asking for IUO yards of metal, or 1 the equivalent in cash, for the rem- '• statement of Makuri road, damaged liy ) the heavy trallic to the lluiniu oil novo. He had made u further application.— The Council expects a;i ans-vr in a week, else further action must be takm KLECTRIC LICIIT FOR TIIK COCXTY The petition of countv ratepavei's to i the Minister of Public' Works ' asking I the (ioverument to confer oil the Strut. J ford Electrical Supply Company such ] powers as will enable it to supply electric light and powei in the county in the terms of a recent resolution of the county has been signed by 170 ratepayers. The petition was placed before the County Council yesterday, and will be forwarded to the Minister, OEXERAU Mr. Keightley waited on the (,'oun- . ci! and asked to have eight chains of ' dyne on Denmark Terrace, Miiliiiiot. He if'ei'ttl to foim the road ready for the metal, and to spread the stone.—Request acceded to. Messrs. Simpson liros. will he asked to clear out the ereek on »ect ! on 7. block 7, Xgaere. The Stratford Chamber of Commerce invited the Council to send a reprcso.iv talive with the party organised by the Chamber to make a trip to Oliura next mouth.—-One or two members will en deavor to make the (rip. Mr. I). Hrown, Midhirst, c-IVcrcd .CI for old timber at the Kaliouri bridgesite, Mountain road.—X-ot entertained. Mr. T [Larry Pemi. secretary of tin Lowgarth Dairy Company, asked if the ('ouncil could supply -II) yards ol crushed .boulders from the crusher when at work on the Hastings road. -Refer red to the engineer. The) nllciition of the Inspector of Noxious Weeds is to be drawn to the spread of SI. John's wort (ragwort) and blackberry in the. county. <