TARANAKI COUNTY COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 265, 7 April 1914, Page 7

TARANAKI COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING. At the monthly meeting of tlie Taraniiki County Council, held yesterday, there were present: Mr. .1. Brown (chairman), ami Crs. .1. R. Hill, J. Andrew.,-, A. Morton, I). MeAllum, C. Andrews, C. Billing, M. Hopson and K. .Stevens. ENGINEER'S REPORT. Tlie county engineer (Mr. R. W. Bond) reported as follows: Moa riding.—The crushing plant has been been in this riding for tlie month, crushing 1403 yards, which has been delivered on the Mountain and Junction roads, east and west, moved from Dur- | ham road to Clark's pit, from there to Bacon Factory, and on to Chain bridge. The roller lias been engaged scarifying and rolling this metal. A start will b" made with tlie earth work by Kurapete about the 7th of April. A portion of'the temporary bridge has been built at the Ivurapete. H. George is at present converting an old bus into the men's but. Mangorei riding.—The filling' by Letlibridge's is now about complete. A considerable amount of large stone has been met with ami hail to be blasted, which delayed the work. Some formation is required on tlie. Maude road, which can be done by the foreman when the crusher leaves his length. The contract for metalling on the top of the Mangorei road has not yet been completed, very little having been done this month. Waitara riding.—The settlers on the Smart road have given .a considerable amount of free labor in forming up on this road. The. deck of the Waiwakaiho bridge has been coated with sollar. The Waiongona bridge, Lepperton, needs repairs to the top cord, which will cost £3. This bridge is showing signs of weakness in several places. It has been posted dangerous against heavy traffic. Twelve feet of !)in. pipes are required to expend a culvert near Mahoetahi-Moun-tain road. There is also a culvert opposite W. Feaking's, Mountain road, which requires to be. extended, a portion having been covered with timber which had given away; nine 18in. pipes at a cost of £5, will be sufficient. W. Cartwright has almost completed his contract at Sentry Hill.

Omata riding.—Foreman Eva lias started to quarry the stone in Franklcy road pit and is making good progress. I have inspected the Tapuae road oft' Barrett road and find a portion of t'.ie present road runs across a corner of Mr. Burke's property, and lie lias promised to have the property put through the Land Transfer ollicc and definitely peg oft" the road. I would recommend thtvt it should stand over in the .meantime. The worst portion of the road can he greatly improved by grading the hill, tilling at the bottom, and forming a lew chains.

Oknto riding.—The formation on the upper Plymouth road has been started and good progress lias been made. <)n the end of the comity boundary by I'uniho road a very dangerous drain exists which could be greatly improved if pipes were put in to do away with the open drain. The cost would be U!) His. The Timarii bridge on the Beach road is now beyond repair at a reasonable cost and it being very dangerous to traffic 1 would recommcrnl that it be closed against all traffic. The swing bridge on Surrey Hill road requires repairs to the extent of .1.5. Xhie and a half chains of metal has been laid down on-the upper cud of the Carriugion road, and the balance of II) chains will be dune as soon as the contractor has broken the stone..

Notice will Ix- given to .1. 11. Magcc to < til.' cil'cct that unless lie proceed with his contract on the Mangorei road hv ■ April 30 the contract will he cancelled anil the work dom l at his expense. The offer of .1. lb Majict- of Is 3d per yard for stone on I he. .1 unci ion road near l.ethliridge's was accepted. Culvert pipes were granted for the Malioetahi-Moiiniain road. A pipe culvert will lie put in on the Kginont road near tin- llill.-dioroujh hall. The Waiongona bridge in l.opperioii will he repaired. Tin- suing- bridge on the Surrey Kill road will l;e repaired as recommended. The allocution for the Kginont road was increased ).>.■ ill} vards.'this lo he used on Marsh's flat'. One hundred \ard- of boulders will he obtained for (bo </nmt;t riding, to lie deposited between 11. durv's property mid the cheese factory. The upper Ilimord road will be rcraircil. As reconiiiiended. a culvert \vill Inconstructed at I he junction of Pnniim road and the Main South road, and the Wcickiim Head l',oavd will he asked io contribute half the cost, CMAIIiMAX'S TCKPORT. The chiniiinin re[ioried that during .'.he month he had made an inspection of the Mangorei and Okain ridings and a portion of the Oniata riding, and. inking file .rn.ids as a whole, thev were in verv fiiiv order. During the past few ..ears' they had been cnn.-dderablv improved, and when the new roller "arrived and freed the small one for the by-roads, sti'l more could he done and more oconoeiica.liv. lie hail accepted Crev and Merc dilh's tender of '.;,-, ls< ,- )( i ,„,,. (.],.,;,, for metalling tin- Cnper Plyiiioulh mad. The Chairman's actions during t'v .month were confirmed. II ETA KOAO AC AIX. ill-.' J'enoni White wrote again with reference to-the Mela road. It was n,iderstood. he said, that tile Kescnvs Agent was communicating to the (Joit'i--!! the result of exhaustive'oliicial m-iiivlii-s in the matter. On iiehal! of the pciitiogers, he had subniitled to the Public Trustee the advisability of his bean.:;: Lhe. legal costs, should I he Council pro-n-c-i! to lake posses-ion of the Ilea road under the Public Works Act. The Public Trustee's .-oli.itor would appear lci< having keen er.rrowed to this poi.ii. Liu- Council as l-ical hodv could overcome the present deadlock by applying to the Public Trustee for a guarantee of co-'.>. Xo action taken. OLD HOSPITAL l!OAI>. Mr. White also referred to the Old Hospital road, remarking that in a communication some months ago. the Council had expressed the inteuliuu of putting I he metalled portion in a failstate of repair, lie asked when this r:;n to he coiuiueuceil. Xothiiig had yet hecu done. Moreover, he asserted, some ten mile- on the X'ew Plymouth Mile of the Mangorei riding had' been absolute!. ■■ abandoned by the Council's Mali', while Mane I wo or three chains, of luxurious, cosily, ami unnecessary work near the Kent' road were still absorbing, as in the pasl month, the regular stall' and a as that were indulged in to hitler away the riding's revenue, why not let a "ontrad (or it. so that tile regular stall' could do necessary work?' Would the Council state, what, tin to the present,

' this luxury of forming a carriage drive I near the Kent road bad cosl?.—No action taken. LITER PLYMOUTH ROAD. ■ The Under-Secretary for the PublicWorks Department, in reply to an application tor a £ for £ subsidy on £OOO to be expended by the Council on forming and metalling upper Plymouth road, stated that a report on the application was being called for from tlie resident engineer, anil on its receipt the Minister would consider tlie matter. TENDERS. Tlie tender of Messrs Ward and Son was accepted for supply of coal during the coming year. \ GENERAL. A resolution was passed confirming resolutions passed at the conference of county councils at Elthani recently. Mr. Edward Wells wrote calling attention to tlie dangerous state of the culvert at the junction of the old Carrington road with the present main road. It was decided to remove the culvert, as it is not of much use. Mr. A. 11. .lobnstone, solicitor for Mr. T. V. Simons, drew attention to the fact that no work had been done on the Carrington road under tlie contract let to J. 11. Magee. He urged that the work be pushed on while tlie line weather lasted. —No action taken. Mr. R. W. Bond, county overseer, estimated the damage on Carrington road by timber traffic at £7 up to March 11. —The account will be sent to Mr. T. V. Simons.

Mr. John Brown, Mangorei, wrote drawing attention to the dangerous state of the foot bridge leading to his property, which carried a good deal of trallic and should be repaired, lie offered to pay half the cost of n now bridge. —The inspector was instructed to report, to the next meeting on the state of the bridge. Mr. Dan Koenan, through his solicitors, Messrs Standish and Staudish, applied for a lease of about nine chains of the Tahana road, adjoining his property, for ten years, or from year to year at 10s per year. It was pointed out that the road in question was not used •is a road, as both of the other settlers on it had frontages on the Dorset road also. It was covered witli stumps and weeds until, cleared by Mr. Keeniin.— Referred to the chairman and Cr. Hill to report. The application of Aaron Grillitha, '.it present in the employ of the Greymouth Borough Council, was accepted for the position of driver of the new road roller. Two applications were received. Accounts as follows were passed foi payment: —General expenses £273 9s, Moa riding £B4l IBs 9d, Waitara riding £l2O lis Id. Omata riding £Bl !)s sd, Okato riding £2OB, 3s 2d: total, £lO3 8s 10(1.