STRATFORD COUNTY COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 July 1915, Page 3

STRATFORD COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MKFTINO. The monthly meeting of the above l)i..[y wns In 1 Id ut Stratford yesterday; present; Mr. W. •Hathaway (chairman) and Councillors Ha-km, Worthington, Coleman, T. K. Anderson, Were. Walters, Smith and Christollel. EXCIXKV.Ii'S 1;KP( iRT.

General M'rface work lias in\.n considerably hampered owing to the continual wet weather, which has told its tale on many of the roads, some of which are decidedly dangerous. I here is a shortage of broken metal throughout the county. It will he absolutely neecs. sary to procure more to keep the, roads open dlirins the winter month*. During the month we have crushed •>) , cubic yards for tlfc Card iff-Pa tea bridge, IfW cubic yards have been crushed at the Cardiff Komi, and used as follows; Opunake Road No. 1 "SRyds. Opunake Cardill'-Waingongnra .'l2. Card :1V Xortli H, and engine s.bed -I. We found it impossible to use any of this metal in the Poto or Ronald Road, as intended. The i.rnsher is now at Ngiiere awaiting favora.ble weather. Regarding Midhirst Cemetery culvert, on examination it was found that t'he cause of the trouble was trimmings •from the cemetery fence, which bad Washed down the drain and partly stopped it. up. Regarding metal depot at Midhirst. a satisfactory agreement has 'been drawn no with Mrs. Wcybounie.

'Regarding county horse. West Riding. —This horse has been impounded at Eithani. Since being re'eascd. it lias been kept in a section on Manaia lioad. which is too small. ITo suggested .naking further arrangnionls. Regarding Sups. —The re..«nt heavy r.r'n has caused much trou,,le in the Man«aeliu and East Riding; in fact, right through the enmity. Cndcr separate cover he would report on tiic estimated cost of damage. Alkiul ilyds of stone, at ."is pit- yard, had .b"cn bought from Mr. Rirkeit, Sole lioad; also about 00 gallons of tar at (id per gallon.

The ibridgc gang has .omMeted the Te Popo bridge, and is now engaged at t'he Patea bridge.

The chairman reported on the damage done to the iMangachit ami Kast Riding, and said it would cost £.IOOO to put the damage in order, lie suggested sending a deputation to Wellington, asking the Government Tor assistance. Councillor "Worthington <|i;ite agreed with the chairman, and said that, sccimr the novernmeT.t was opening up Cr''iK) acres of Crown land in that load,

it should be asked -io assist. j A The engineer said it wonid mean ma';- i li ing fresh roads out of solid papa. in f other places it weald mean deviating [ w anil makimr a fresh load altogether. -He e exonerated the latl engineer regarding 'i tho big filling thai has just worked t awav. lie said the settlers threatened to sue for damages if the filling was c made, as the late, engineer suggested, g hence the engineer's hands were tied, i v It would cost OiOb to rcpa'r the fill- i t ing- at McLaughlin's, lie strongly re- iI I commended the council not to put in '' any more culverts, but. to put in 'bridges. 1 He estimated the damage in the Mansrae- f Im Riding at .02000, and Kast Hiding * at C3W. This was only the estimated « cost of putting the roads in order, and f did not cover the cost of the rtf.mage ' done. i t The .Jiairman also wished to draw the ' attention of the council to the loss of stock and fencing that the settlers have ( suffered. ■ Councillor Smith considered the estimates of the engineer were on tile low 1 side; besides, tlure is a great scarcity 1 of labor. I 1 Councillor Wallers agreed it was c.ul'M 1 right that the council should approach | ' the Government, although he admitted , ' it was a bad time to ask for its assis- | 1 tance. He hud no doubt other coun- i' ties would be asking for assistance also.! He thought they would have to Increase' 1 the rates by another halfpenny. lie j moved that the chairman and CouP'.-ilior I Worthington should proceed to Welling- I ton and ask the Government for assis- I tance. J Councillor Smith seconded the motion, j which was carried. It was further resolved that, the ue- I Mutation should wait ou the Minister ot ; Railways, regarding access across the I railway to the council's pit. j Mr. J. Jackson, of iPuniwhakau, wait- I rd on the council and asked for permission to iplaoc gates across the Tahora. I Road, ou account of bis fences being washed away by the recent rains. It ivas impossible to fence at the present time, and he only asked f or the gates for. say. three months. —1 emission was < granted by the council. I It was decided to grant Foreman Sav- ' ngc a bonus of £."> for the extra work. ! and the excellent way he had carried I out his duties, cleaning the slips, etc., ip ! the Mangaehu Hiding. I

CORRESi'OXDKXCR. 'From Taranaki Education Board, asking the council to accept the board as tenant, ill pla:e of School Committee, oil the piece of land ad joining Toko School which is an unused road.—Agreed to. From Anderson, Limited, confirming order for Aveling and Porter road roller, and advising that they hoped to give delivery of same in time specified. From Valuation Department regarding Mr. .Stockley's rates, and stating the matter of making a refund was a mauler for the council. The Department has no jurisdiction in the matter JxL.locjil rates.—lt was decider! not to make the" refund.

'From K. MarM: and family, thanking the council !or letter of sympathy. From Rangififc-ei Council, informing rouneil that it was opening a metal .pit I'iid would .be in a position to sup-ply/ the council with metal at, a reasonable price. Councillor Raskin moved that the council be informed that they did not require the metal at the price quoted. From G. Ryan, Punpaebu, asking for permission to use tihe roadman's oottage, ,';o that his children could attcijd school. -The matter was left in Councillor Worthington's hands, with power to net.

From Assistant-Fmto-Sfvrotary for PuWic. Works, informing l the council the Department intends issuing a now lirense for Stratford Electrical Supply Co. and asking for an parly roplv from tlic. council.

I'rom Loyal Midliirst Lodge. asking the council to metal few chains of the "road to the Oddfellows' Hall at Midhirst.—lt was decided that the lod«e be informed tliat the council was unable to "rait tlie request at present. I.nt would ilo so when the cnune.il is u funds. The Manawatn Comity Council wrote, asking the council to support tlic following 1 resolution: That the Tclcgrnnh Department should amend the regula-

tious so as to allow telephone exchanges where there are over thirty subscribers to be opened 'between the hours of S a.m. and 8 .p.m. In small townships, where the majority of the subscribers an' farmers, it is very often Impossibleto obtain fifty subscribers, and farmers art! thereby penalised, as the Department will not allow the exchange to be open other than between !) a.m. iUlf) ."> p.m. unless there are titty subscribers.

FOKFMF/.VS UF.PORTS. Foreman Hrown reported that the Mountain lioud had given considerable trouble during the month. If some metal were obtained, tie road might be held, for the winter. A culvert on the Monmouth Road, which was blocked by lops, had been attended to. The Yolk Road was cutting up badly. Repairs had been carried out on. this l.'pper and l.ower Pembroke, Radnor, Denbigh, llutlaiid, Denmark Terrace and .Midhirst township. Foreman Kwaliski reported that the Salisbury and ISeaconslield Roads had. been patched. A set of sixteen nineinch pipes bad been put across tiiV l'uad at S.Midliirst Cemetery. The eleven pipes at the outran. e had been sent back to the county yards. ,A number of slips on t'iio Stanley and Aekland Hoads had been removed.

Foreman Parker reported that all the roads were in good order, and that he had metalled fifteen chains on the Lower ilird. Road.

Foreman Richards reported tihat general surface work had been done on the Ohura. Beaconslield. Skinner and Wai-n-era Roads 1 . Stumps had been removed from the. corner of the Standish am*. Ohura Roads. Drain cleaning on the Ohura and Standish Hoads had been completed, lie had replaced a wood culvert, with live nine-inch concrete pipes ou the Ohura. Kast. also four nine-inch pipes to the entrance of the Toko Hotel. Foreman Atkins reported that the Makuri Road West oil bore tralliv caused the metal to break up. The necessary patching- was in progress. JTo had been engaged in opening up -bridle tracks throughout the district, which had suffered dining the heavy rains. The licao, Tuinrpo and Autawa Roads were still hhx'ked. but he hoped to have them open ;n a few days. Portions of tile metal on the Makuri Road F.a»t Had scoured considerably'.

'Foreman il'lews reported that crushing of boulders for the Patea bridge had been completed. Two bundled and twentv-scveu ci-bie yards were crushed. The by:]■ weather had played havoc with the reads. The lack of proper watertables was prolonging the evil effects of the wet weather, lie intended to liegin pat- hing at once. CK.VHRAL

the letter from tin? Und.-r Assistant of Public 'Works, re (lie new licence, the i-liaiiitKiii .slid what the otiu<ifil wanted was .a licnise in accordan ~v with the agreement made with the council, but lie (lid not see what use the license was to the council considering that it was only for a term of 41 years. Mr. I'orritt, at the request, "of tli<; chainnaii, explained the position as regards the company, saying the company were opposing the license on the "round j that the license was no use to the company for the short term. Cr. Weir asked if the company were not meeting the Borough Council shortly with a view of further negotiations. Mr. Porritt said they had met the borough council so often that the company were not hope--ful of any success. The company have had to turn down new business owing to their not bring willing to extend tlk' lines in such a short tenure. The chairman said the only thing they could see was that the whole matter should be reopened. Mr. Porritt said the idea of the license was that the P.W.I), would have th> whip handle of the company as regards regulations. At present they were not working under a license. Probably they were the only company working without, a license, because they came into exist- 1 cnce before the regulations were ever thought of. | Cr. Walter moved that the chairman and Cr. W'orthinaton interview the I Assistant Under-Secretary of Public Works, while in Wellington, asking him to grant the Stratford Electrical Supply ■ Company a license to enable it to meet I the growing demands of the country for ; ! electrical account. Seconded J)j Cr. WVrc, and carried. | | A long discussion took place over a | I letter from the Wellington Patriotic. '■ | Conference, re disposition of patriotic, j funds. It was agreed that the conn.-il , | is in favor of a national fund, and that I the local patriotic committee be asked | to appoint Cr. Coleman as a member of i (he local committee to look after the county's interests. It was decided to have tin l engineer's residence connected witli the telephone. Mr. W. S. Perry wrote asking for the i road to I'iriwhaka to be made passable | for cart trallie, so that he could get i his wood over in November, and offering, if it would help the council, to pay his rates, amounting to something ' like in advance. (t was decided to thank Mr. Perrv for his offer, and. further, the council liopc-1 that, all the ratepayers wllcould would help the council by paying their rates on demand. It was pointed out that the , council are badly in need of the money, especially at a time like this, when such damage had been done in this (li-U'er- | cut rillings. It was suggested that power should be given by Act of Parliament, making a discount to these ratepayers who paid promptly. Cr. Cliristoffel moved that the other councils lie written to far their support, and that the deputation should also ask the (Government to consider the matter. lt,.\vas euggesled that J~i -i'ii' .discount lie given to ratepayers rates within one month after the rates hail been stitu'k. Mr. (».' Marehaiit asked that repairs slurtjlft be made to the Makara road,-so that lie. could use same for cart traffic. Me suggested that between -Cls and C2O would do the work required. The chairman said this was one of the roads that had never been looked after by the council, and he was afraid that the amount suggested would not go very far. At present, they had not the money to spend on it. Cr. Smith suggested that if Mr. Jlarehant paid his rates in advance the council might help him. It was finally decided to leave the matter of a reply in the chairman's hands, the opinion of the council being that they should not spend any money on unfenced roads. A petition was received from Pumwhakai settlers asking the council to open the road as soon as possible. At present they are isolated, they protested against further increase rates, because they ha ve already sustained a considerable loss in stock, fences, etc. Cr. Ohristoffel suggested paying off the present overdraft and geeting a fresh loan over the whole county. It was decided to instruct the ranger not to impound any stock east of Douglas, or where slips have carried away the

fences. Mr. Milncr was appointed dog tax collector at a remuneration of (id per eolb" for cattle dogs and 2s fid for sporting dogS. (Jr. Christoffel moved, as per notice of motion, that the rates proposed in the South Riding be reduced by -}< l. He said he had no objection to withdrawing the motion providing the rates were spent before March 31 next. He instanced the difference in the North Riding particularly, and said he considered the rote should be reduced. The ceu'n-

the South Hiding's share was less than .0)0 for the three years.

Cr. Smith seconded the motion, pro forma, although he had no intention of supporting it. He consider! d that Cr. ChristotVel would have shown mill'.' kindness if he had not pressi d the matter and helped the East .Hiding in the predicament they were in. Cr. Walter said there was one poiui he wanted disabused from Cr. ChristoU'el's mind, and that was the South Hiding had been carrying the other ri I ings on its back, but lie forgot they received a subsidy of 5s in the C, whereas in oilier ridings they only got lis 111. He assured (Y. ChristoU'el that the money would be spent.

'I he chairman said there was no need to ask the council if the money would lie spent by March :il. New bridges we>v needed in the riding, and lie contended that, the amount would be overspent before that time, if the engineer's estimates and schedule of work was carried ou. The chairman thought that perhaps Cr. ChristoU'el'"* idea was to keep the expenditure down and then raise a loan of, say. ,£20,000 to tar, seal, and put the roads in order. Cr. ChristoU'el said it was ridiculors that bridges should be liuilt out of revenue instead of loan money.

'Che motion was ln.-l, a division lieiuii;: Ayes. Ors. Coleman and ChristoU'el; noes. ( rs. Were, Wilier, .Smith, Anderson, Worthington. liaskin, ar.d llalhaway. Accounts amounting to CMO-l were passed for payinci.