EGMONT COUNTY COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 January 1917, Page 8

EGMONT COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETIN9. The ordinary meeting of the Egmen.; County Council was hekl at Opunake Tuesday, when there were present: Cr. 1 .. M. Fleming (chairman), W. C. Dudley. Harvey, J. Young, S. Forsyth, W. R M'"ri.ifht, S. Campbell, and 1!. W. j. j.ucXeill. Ncill. An apology war received for the absence of Cr. Mcßevnolds. I FOREMEN'S REPORT. Oen Riding (Northern Division).—The staff lmd been employed at general surface work, spreading metal, cleaning outlet and d :, ""hes, and claj binding.tiie oh metal r;:.: ■. Minor repairs had been dorp to the Punelm bridge on the F.lthnm read. The roads treated were the v "l'atiki, and 000, ' 'g (Southern Division). —The I'' ' on contracts in progress, f r "'tnfei-sinking. ete. H. Mun-

>'<' ;'ted. Contract Xo, 203, I'aJ iving delivered 050 yards of c v iishrs! metal and 00 yards of screenings, for which final payment was reeomniv.rded. G. Keheley made good progress with contract No. 302, Oeo road Jsouthfrn), and would finis,b in a few da\~>. The portion of Watino road to be Renewed had been scarified, leaving it in .» longh statt, the contractor having failed tn stiirt owing to having been called up. The foreman recommended tenders to be railed for the following works:—Main South road. JiiOO yards of crushed metal'; Xopera road, 400 yards of pit gravel; Puketapu and Hone roads, each i! 5-1 Yards of pit gravel; Titahi road, 200 yai'-d -of pit 'gravel.

Kalintu Southern and Opunake Kid—The staff had been engaged raking loose stones, blinding, and minor brMge 1 epairs oil the Eltliam and Main South roads, pipe-making, ' also tar-dressing of Main Street, Opunake, had been completed, 1200 gallons of crude tar and 45(, gallons of No. 1 road tar being used and found to be of excellent quality. Filling in sm 4 ill bridge, which had been completed by bridge foreman, was being proceeded with, Repairs to the Taungatava bridge, Main South road, will be effected as soon as timber arrives. The foreman recomnlended tar-grouting all bridge approaches in the riding. The Koteoteo bridge was found to ]):■ in a dangerous state, and should be rebuilt in concrete.

Rnhotu Riding (Northern Division).— 'the stafi had been continually employed ••vidining. cutting, and utilising the material removed ill filling in lie.lowa and widening the road wherever convenient. The cutting on Layman's hill iiad been widened by twelve feet on .the northern side There had been used four ]2in. pipes in widening a culvert on ern side the full width of the road. On the southern end of the cutting the roadway had been widened fourteen feet, six --in- pipes being used to widen a culvert the full width of the road, so that when tho metalling contract is in progress at the Waitotoroa riv«r the road could be straightened to a certain degree. Another portion of that; bend' south of Mr. T. Fleming's gateway had been removed, the material bein<r utilised in formation work with the intention of straightening the- mad as «9 possible. The fori" man stated : ,that lie had not been able to procure ljibor to attend to removing fence on the' banks of the Oaonui rive?, on the Wirenm road, granted by Mr. Coo/lilies. He put in four days with the engine, driver, .overhauling the crushing plant at Opunake shed, before removing cut to his riding, and a start was made at crushing at Oaonui on the 10th ot this month, but not mucii progress had been made so far, the elevator having given' n great deal of trouble.

The bridge foreman reported: Bridge No. 22 is ;omp!eted v and bridge 23 will be completed in about a fortnight's time, weather permitting. I beg to call your attention to the unsafe condition of the bridge next to No. 23 bridge (Opunake side). I would suggest rebuilding this bridge if possible. I have not been able to effect repairs to Punehu and Taungatara bridges, owing to the timber not being to hand

Picport on crushing plant and roller The crusher has completed the contracts in the Oeo (southern) riding and removed to the Raliotu (northern). From December 11 to December 23 we crushed 050 yards of metal and 00 yards o/ screenings. Progress with this contract was very slow, owirig to having to shift the plant three times. The roller completed the work in the Oeo northern, also all the work in Oeo southern, and is now in the Raliotu northern.

WIREMCJ ROAD. In connection with the expenditure of the vote of £IOOO appearing on the appropriations for the Wiremu Road, Mr. 11. Okey, lIP., forwarded a letter from the Minister of Public \Jjorhs, stating that the resident engineer had recently been over tile line of road, and reported tiiat in his opinion it was not of sufficient urgency, considering present conditions as to'authorisation of moneys, to warrant the whole of the work being proceeded with. The Minister also stated that he was at present, authorising works in Counties up to onehalf of the amounts allocated fot roads to the County on the appropriations, and in the case of the Egmor.t County there was about £BOO nvailablo fot further works, but as the County Council had not yet informed him what works they wished t(T"go on <vith no to that amount, and as the resident engineer thought that £3OO would improve the worst places on the Wirenui Road, he had author/ed him 'ft prccecr with work to that extent accordingly. ' The Chairman stated that they had never been given ail opportunity of recommending where the money should be expended, as the Council understood that they were to have the expenditure of the iIOOO grant.

The Clerk stated that he had met the resident engineer, whom he understood intended expending the money between the Ihaia and Xgariki Roads. Cr. Harvey considered that the Council should make application br the remainder of the money but Councillors did not think this advisable.

& veto of thanks was accorded Mr. Okey. TI-]]? OAOMJI FORD. James l\. Law acknowkdaed receipt oi information that the Council luul decided 10 form tins crossing over the Oaoiiui lliver. on the Wiremu Road, through Air. Coombes' land. 11.- asked the Council to /econsi.iei the matter as from observation of the a -tion oi' 'the tlvei lie was convinced that the ;-rossin" 0.-.i'i; u onh] not only be foi many years, subject tc scour, but that it would be wore dillieult to dear, and wore liable to deep mud-holes t.lian the closing through .Mr. iEn lines property. Cr. Vouiife stated that ilr. Holitas had given him the same information ,\lr. Liolme:. had also given the Council per mission to'make the ford through his property. ° it was pointed out cnat the overseer had recommended the upper site. The matter was referred to tils chairman.

THE 4'L'EOA ROAD. Messrs. Ewing, Vonllaire. and Catchpole waited oi l the Council in eonr.ee tion with the state of .he Aurar. Road, the boundary road between t!:;> iT!riiam and Egmont Counties. Tlu read was now almost impassable, there Having been four accidents in the ias. few weeks. In the winter the road .vouid be impassable. While cue settler-' \,ouid prefer that the Commission s'i>,i.:d cit and adjudicate on the road, the,, fel, lliat they must have a road, and so had ftgned a petition to raise a ban The settlers on tlie Eltham fide Dad .aisec a hian of £llOO as then siuue oi the cost. Personally, he feit thai was unjust to expect ten settlers U j a loan of £llOO for a public The Chairman stated that tin Council's hands were tied up, pending the Commission.

Councillors pointed out chat ii3w thf.t the settlers were prepared to saiso a joint ioan, there was no 'necessity !.o put them to tfle expense of h Commission. The opinion w«i»cxpros--al that it would be advisable to withdraw the application for a Commission. Members of the deputation wished to be assured that there would be no difficulty in raising the loan money if the Commission was not held.

It was pointed out that the Commission would only apply to tile maintenance of the road, and would not affect the loan. Moreover, a Commission mish&i not be held for months.

Finally it was resolved, on the.motion of Cre.. McNeill and Wright, to instruct the clerk to write to the Elthan. County Council, pointing out that the settlers were favorable to a loan, an;\ asking that the application for a Commission be withdrawn. THE COUNCIL'S LEGAL WORK.

Mr. E. Marshall, solicitor, Ommakc, wrote, stating that, after reading the report of the last Council me' ting, he had made inquiries, and found that at a previous meeting of the Council Ml. Dudley proposed a resolution that he (Mr. Marshall) should not be employed by the Council in future, owing to the fact that lie brought a case against the Council on behalf of a client It would, ho said, hav£ only been common comtesy on the part of the Council to have given him notice that such a resolution had been passed, and to have enabled him to reply thereto. Alter alluding to personal matters between and Mr. Dudley, Mr. Marshall added: "My connection with the Council is as follows: Some years ago 1 transferred the section on which the Council Chambers now stand to the Council. The next business of the Council was given to Air. McDavitt, so was the next; the next to a New Plymouth firm of solicitors; the next, the issuing of a few summonses:, to me. Mr. Stohr had instructed me in his case prior to the Council's instructions to issue these summonses. After issuing these summonses, and before issuing the summons for Mr. St.'lit, the Council again left nie and employed a New Plymouth firm, and when called' upon to defend this ':ase they employed Mr. Bennett, of Manaia. There is -)robably other Council business done by other solicitors of which I know nothing. It will be-dearly seen that the Cowfcil has been very cosmopolitan in the granting of their legal favors. Do the Council imagine that they have a mortgage on each of these firms to take no cases against them ? It "will be seen from the foregoing that the Council's business is of very little importance to me, but to pass such a resolution is uncalled for, and is a reflect ion on my character. I trust that Mic Council will, on consideration, follow the correct course, and rescind the resolution. If the Council are desirous that a certain solicitor shall not take cases agsiinst them, theii proper course is to appoint him theii solicitor, and.-then give him all their work.

Civ J. Young gave notice to move at next meeting that the resolution be rescinded. ROAD ROLLER. The Chairman stated that he hat) inspected the Clifton County Council's Austin motor road-roller _ and scarifier, and was quite satisfied that it would be eminently suitable for the Council's worok. A reply had also b;en received from the Cook County Council, stating thfji the roller they had used foi three years had given satisfaction. Unfortunately they had just received intimation that the price of the roller had increased from £lUf)o to £1220. Or. McXeill stated Uiat he had inspected tlie roller that the Eltham County Council had for sale at £BSO. It was in good order. A seaiifi.ii could be attached for £lO4. Cr. W. R. Wright pointed oat that this had risen £IOO. Cr. Dudley thought that, even with the increased price, it was advisable to obtain the motor roller. The cosl of coal here, about £4 per ton, was prohibitive, In a couple of years the saving in file! would compensate 'or the 'increased "cost. It was absolutely necessary that they should obtair a roller.

The Chairman was very much impressed with the work ione by the TaraiiaKi County Council with the scarifier and roller. If they had another roller in this County they could scarify and roll scvoral miles of road very quickly and effect considerable improvement, without using so much metal.

Cr. Campbell did not favoi secondhand machinery, though he was inclined to favor steam in preference to motor, owing to the difficulty of repairs. In the course of Vurther discussion, it was stated that the terms in payment of the motor roiler, spread over two years, were suitable. Later in the meeting Air. Barroll, the New -Plymouth representative of Messrs. Booth, McDonald and Co., interviewed the Council, who decided to purchase a motor road-roller. GENERAL The Commissioner of Crown Lands notified that the lease of sub-section da,

Kltliam-Opunaße Railway T!,we: vc, hc-id by Mr. Green, would ierminnte in April, and if the Council still required it, the Land Board was now prepared to consider an application for a yearly tenancy. It was decided to apply for a five years' lease, with right of renewal. Mrs. Layman notified that a cow, valued at £l2, had falbn over a gravel pit opened up by the Hoad Hoard on Her property. 1 She had a*ke;l the Board to allow her something for the beast. The Chairman stated that the pit \Vas opened by the betcne ever the land was sold. The foreman was instructed to report on the ma'ttcr. The l'etone Borough Tor.neil asked for the co-operation of fte C'lincil in an endeavor to have the single Men of the Motor-ooat Patrol Service phiecil on the same footing as the umgle men in the New Zealand Expeditionary l'Vice On the motion of Ors. Wright and McNeill, it was resolved to support this. The Council agreed to the transfer oi Watiui Road contract from J. lliggar to J. Munro. It was decided to oall tenders as recommended by the Geo Riding foreman, the Chairman, Crs. Dudley, Young, Meßeynolds, and the Oeo Hiding members being appointed a committee to deal with same.