CLIFTON COUNTY COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 188, 7 February 1914, Page 2

CLIFTON COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETIXO. At the monthly meeting of the Clifton County Council \esterday there were present:—Crs. A. M* Lowers'(chairman), Crs. Sullivan, llieks, Elliott, Kenning: ten, .lones and Sander. EXC.IXEER'S REPORT.

j The engineer, Mr. <;. F. .Dowsctt. r V ported as follows:

Waibi riding—Tnit and Paul had completed carting stone for the Xikorima road and had procured and stacked about .JOyds of boulders opposite the Ohangiv road. Crading had.been proceding on the Inland North. Main, and Turat|gi roads, and the Olianga road »■». now receiving attention. lie had communicated with a number of counties in an endeavor to obtain a competent machinist, and was advertising in the Hawke's Hay papers..

Tikorangi riding—Foreman and Richards were well forward with their.metalling contract, which would shortly be completed. Two men with the ploug;i and scoop were now engaged on the Ota run road and would improve it to the riding boundary. Various minor matters would receive attention this month.

Xgafimaru riding— Drake Pros, had commenced their metalling contract. a:i.l Rowan and Tlioinason were to sign specifications for the Tarata work. Tho erection of the North Miitau bridge was-, Hearing completion. The small 'grader : appeared to be doing useful work on light and medium soils. lie would recommend , sanding the Iwo cuttings south of Matau, on the .(miction road, the cost to be charged to "thirds/.' Urenui riding.—The Tupari road work had been let for CI7 3s, anil was Hearing completion. The two metalling contracts at Urenui, comprising 2000 yds. were obtained by Colcm.n'i, who. however, by reason of the senrcitv of stone, would not proceed verv rapidly. The Okoke road niclalli'hg was completed and maintenance and' repair work was now proceeding. lie recommended that, tenders lie enleld for 121)0 yds of gravel, to close in II da vs. an.! for 700 yds from the Okoke pil.'jWllvds from the Onaero pit. fiODvds to lie used 1 for the Main road aml'MOvds for the Okoke hill. His estimate for this work was from C-!.i(l to ,C.) 00. Mokau Riding. -On the Puk'eanihe road about four chains were covered with excess metal, and'on 11n- MimiMokau road 22 chains of sanding were completed. The crushing and spreading of metal at Uruti was proceeding Inday labor, but his experience was that contract work was better. He proposed shortly to take the■ bridge repairs systematically in hand, as some were urgent. Ho would recommend that before winter the portion of the MimiMokau road from the end of the continuous metal should be sandstone.! for 20 chains at a cost of C.IO. SUNDRY COMPLAINTS.

Mr. \Y. .r. llowmnn, of'.Mimi. wrote endorsing the remarks 1 made In- Mr. Martin at. the Council'.-!'December meeting in connection with the Wai-iti fence. If. the members of the Council had inspected this work, lie felt sine they would have agreed with Mr. Martin. Ife was not going into a description of the work, hut was quite prepared to meet any of the members .if the Council and show them the fence, even though it had Intel-,- heen sliglitlv repaired. ' Regarding the general state of the Mimi-I'nlcearuhc road there was room for improvement, but when mm were put on with a grader, who tilled in a natural water course across the road with loose earth, what could he expected but a bog? lie referred to the piece of road near Messrs Sorenson Bros.' and hoped tile Council would remedy it as soon as possible. The state of the Main South road between Mimi and L'renui had been a disgrace to the Council, but had the holes bad been filled with metal ns- soon they appeared one-tenth of the work which was now required would, have been saved. '-Why," lie continued, should not tlvf Council do awav with tlie toll-gate? Fancy linnnjr ,i„ pay toll for ti road which wa- no better than a bullock track!"

Mr. A. R. Davis wrote, -with reference to the Wai-iti fence, that the ratepayers in his district were quite satisfied that the fence was where it should he. and had it received fair treatment it would have been a credit to Ihe contractor. They protested against its removal. There was a feeling in the district that the engineer should get. more credit lor what he had done.—Or. O'Sullivan -aid that the erection of the fence had been necessary, and it was.in its proper place. Had it, not been then: there would have been no road.—Mr. Bowman will he notified that the Council is satisfied with the fence.

Mr. O. (.'ray, of Waihi. wrote that while tlm grader was at work on the Tnrangi road one of the worst pariof the road, that oppo.-ile to his gate, was not giadcd. Then: was- no reason why the whole length of the road should not have been graded. -The matter will he attended to. Mr. \V. Snell, of Waihi. again drew the Council's attention to the state of the road leading from the Inland North road to section 23, block (i. Waihi. Considering that over £IOO in rates had been collected from the laud during the last twenty years and nothing had'been spent on it, he thought lie was entitled to have some repairs done to the road now. It was not only in a bad state of repair, but was considerably overgrown with gnr.v. He failed 'to so why he should he penalised by being compelled to use such a road.--It was decided to write to the Inspector of Noxion- Weeds drawing attention t.i the noxious weeds on the. road.

■ A LOAX WAXTJ'D. Four ratepayers of the Kotiirc district requested that accrued thirds for their Jiiiid lie expended in carrying on th« formation of the Okau road from tlic ond of the present formation, near the Kotarc township, towards its junction with the Mangapapa road. Further, thai a loan" lie raised on all thirds due from their sections for the same work. It was decided to inform (lie settlers that they should ask the- Government to continue widening the road, and thai .the Council will assist them in this a* far as it can. AXI IX.TURED 110ns 15. Mrs. ti. Payne, Okau. complained iii.it the surfaceman who had power to impound cattle was not impartial. Moreover, she thought stock was allowed on the road in the slimmer, hut when she let her horse run for three days on the Okau road liecnu.se she couldn't get across the bridge, the surfaceman took her horse away from two others which were on the road, and let two dogs c.liasc it through a V.arli-wire fence, injuring' it severely.—Tlie chairman will enquire into the matter . WAIFU SCHOOL The Reserves Agent at llawera advised that the school site at W'ailii was taken out of Mr. Mmm White's farm, which had rather dismaved him. If the Council could suggest, another site be would do what he could, mil fea~ed

the hind would him- to. he taken uuiW Urn- L'uijlii! Wwks Act. A VVAllli I'JCTITKJX,

Thirlh'm settlers iind rnt.e)m yors. who. daily used. th,c Inland North'road, in Ihe Wailii riding, drew the Council's attention to. the urgent necessity Tor having the mail metalled at the end in the Tikorangi riding- length.. Theroad, whs piu'taulaily bad. at this point in wet. weallier„iulu they requested, that lit dining he laid down this autumn.. In making theapplication, thev pointed: out tliat the road hud virtually been a. mam road for. the past 4(1 or 50 vcars, I hat close settlement had taken'place irt its vicinity for over £.) veins, and that during im that time tlie cost off maintenance had been iuliiiitcsiimil in proportion to the amount of rates paid. Messrs..-Siirleni and Whitehead wailed' on the Council in support of the petition.

On KHiiifc favored the application, although he donlited if the Council couid all'ord to metal ]•() chains.

Tlie deputation pointed' out that there was a lot of stock traffic, on the road!. It was decided to nietnl live chains of the roadl the portion to lie- metalled to he decided by the 'engineer and: thesettlors,. AJWKKR DEPUTATION, Mr;. Daveney, representing a number of settlers on the Moeraugi, Kaipikari and'Okoke roads, waited or. the Come cil to, complain of the state of these roads. They were going to pieces from neglect; The grader had' been promised to 'tiliem last year, lint hud' never arrived, hut if it could' not ho spared' he thought men should he put on with plough- and sjcoops. He offered' to supply the ploughs. : The engineer pointed out tliat there was a ilifliculty in obtaining a man for •the grader, and' promised to'do th> best he could in the matter; 1/)XG-STA\DI.\(i PETITION".

'I Mr. Thomas .Moody wrote reminding till' Council of the 'petition that the I Matau suttlers- w-iit to, tin-: (Council last I year, asking that in future their thirds ~ should be spent in saudstoning tne .'function; road: from tin- school to. the 'confiscation line, the worst places to I"." idonc first. He hoped tin- council would iattend to this.—Referred to the. engineer:. UUUTI LOAN'S. The Superintendent of the State Adances ...Department advised that .his Hoard had granted the Lriiti loans <v C>U) and .CIiOII. I ' TKXDEKS.

-Vo tenders were accepted' for t!i■» Okoke and AVaiatt metalling, and' it was decided to call for fresh tenders, to. clone on February '2l. CKXKRAL. The- engineer's report was adopted, with the exception of that portion relating to sandstoiiing propu.suts. Crs. I licks, Klliott anu dones were uppointed a committee to accept the tenders' for gravel mentioned in (he rcI port. Messrs Sladden and I'atmer, of New Plymouth, forwarded a letter received from the solicitors of the Mokau (o-il and Estates Co., setting out the conditions unilcr which the'subdivisions of the estate were oll'ered for sale. These conditions provided that the purchasers were only charged with the actual cost. The conditions are similar to those which had ben approved by the president of the Waiknto-Maniopoto Mauri Land Hoard. The Commissioner of Crown Xew Plymouth, advised that neither fin; Crown nor the local authority had anv power to lease any portion of rou'd reserves. l!efoi-e the land could be leased it would first have to be closed as a road. Roads, along a river eouid only be stopped by the Governor, under the Land Act. The power of closing was subject to the condition that the road was not required. The engineer was instructed to remove Mr. Soll'e'*. fence at once, and charge him with the cost. Mr. C. P.. Stead, solicitor to the Council, wrote advising as to the necessary steps to be taken to raise a loan for Ihe Council's contribution to the new hospital. Mr. David 11. Howe applied for a year-to-year lease of two small pieces of'bind between the Mangutoro road and th-' stream, containing (i acres, at 7s Gd per year Left to the chairman. It was decided that lindcliffc and Co.. the contractors for the Uruti work, be notified that the Council will not accept metal under their contract from the Uruti pit. The Commissioner of Crown Lands, Xew Phinouth, advised that the Land Hoard had approved of the Council's proposal for the expenditure of accni'd thirds. Accounts iimounting to £Bl-1 -Is _!d were passed for payment.