EGMONT COUNTY COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 January 1918, Page 3

EGMONT COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly mooting of the Egmont County Council was hpld at Opunake 011 Tuesday, when there were present,: Messrs W. R. Wright (chairnnin), S. M. Cornish, T. Harvey. T. H. H. Sinclair, W. C. G. Green. T. A. Rowe, M. O'Brien, A. W. Holden, R. W. J. McNeill. EXGIXEER'S REPORT. The engineer (Mr. Pease) reported: Oeo Riding (Northern).—Clay binding has been put, on short sections of the Kltham and Oeo roads. Patching has been done in places to the Kltham, .Stratford, Kiri, and Watino mad*. A large rock in the water-table of the Kltham road east of Punehu river, which was a danger to motor traffic, has been bla>.ted out and removed. .Men have, been engaged in the work of cleaning out several of the ditches on the Kltham road. On the 2:2 nd ult. a heavily-laden motor lorry broke through the top and under decking of the Punehu bridge 011 the Kltham road. This I had repaired early on Monday morning before any other heavy traffic had pased over, otherwise a serious accident might have occurred. The: whole of the top decking of the Ouri bridge on the Eltham road is in a worn-out condition, and should be renewed and the surface, along with the approaches to the bridge, afterwards tarsealed. The steel girders of the bridge require scalding, cleaning, and painting with "Siderostlien," and the parapet, rails with a good outside white. Oeo Riding (Southern).—Owing to the non-arrival of the spare parts for the Austin crusher the men have been engaged on the work of scarifying, knapping the large stones, and rolling on the various roads The Main South road has been so treated between Xopera road and the Oeo river for a length of SO chains, the Nopera road about (iO chains, and the Watino road about .10 chains. The approaches to the Ouri bridge on the Kltham road have been made good with new metal, and should now be tar-sealed along with the bridge decking, which has just been repaired. It is essential that we possess a small 50-gallon tar boiler for this elasiS of work, and not have to borrow one as at present. Decking has 'been repaired on the Punehu. Ouri, and Oeo bridges on the South road, and the Ouri bridge on the Skoct road. The spare 'parts of the crusher will take some days to fix up ready for work again on Contract No. ,'i 1 i>, the contractors for which will not be in a position to proceed with the Pihania work for several weeks. They have carted the 250 cubic yards of boulder stone from the Puketapu beach to the crusher site, ready for the Patiki road repairs. Opua Riding.—Early in the month the men were kept busy spreading clay binding on the South road, where the surface was plucking badly. The approaches and decking or the Haimama bridge have been tar-sealed,! The fences to the approaches of the Te Namu and Haimama bridges have had a coat of white paint. New planks have been put in the top decking of the two Taungatara bridges on the South and Eltham roads. After t)io holidays the Garrett roller was sent into this ridin" to carry on the work of scarifying and rolling in o n the Opua flat, and a length of 14 chains has been done, There has )*en great difficulty in obtaining water for this work-, but T have sent the bridge foreman's hand pump to be used until better arrangements can be made Opunakc Riding. A fair portion of the South road, from Opunakc to the Mamu bridge, lias boon covered with elav binding. Rahotu Riding,—Early in the month the men were engaged on the work of cleaning out the water-tables between Pungaroliu and the Waitotoroa river he- 1 twecn Warea school and Newall road, and north of Waitaha river. Several days were spent clearing noxious Mom the frontages between Rahotu and north of Pmigarelni; the time for this work will be charged to the various occupiers liable. The inlets and outlets to several culverts under the South road have been cleared. The approaches to several bridges have been cleared of vegetable growth, etc., in readiness for protection fences, which will be erected with part of the old timber from the reiki! parua bridge and fencing wire A small bridge south of Newall road'lias been repaired. The surfacemen are at present assisting the bridge san" fillin" in between the spandril walls 0 f the new concrete bridge over the Teikaparim. j river, and at the samo time lowering the approaches about 2ft. Sin. The road is being kept open for traffic, and I havo sent- out half a donon hurricane Uttips to keep the works well lighted n t nights to prevent arciatoU. Tlio

barn hive '..een Ueliv'rcd on the site of the new concrete bridge over the Witilotn:op„ river, and the contract for the supply of shingle has been signed, Plant.—Tile (Janet roller been fitted with new curtains (or use when not working. A new -gallor. gel vaiii/.i*! iron tan!; lias been procured tor Iced filter for the h'owier engine. The iron work of the road grader has been cleaned and painted and rqwirs luv.been done to the uhari; and Ibe (bu ret roller. Geiieial. —The concrete door »r the en trnnei- lobby ill tile council ofiiccs falls the wrong wav and holds :i rnu-idcrabl« amount of water in w, I weather. This should be backed up and re-laid to a proper gradient outwards. 1 submit for your consideration an estimate of the '•ost of laying down the main roads with tar-sealed metal out of revenue, without borrowing money except for tar-boilin" and general depot and the purchase of necessary plant.

WIREMU ROAD. The Public Works Department notified', that- an authority for £ouT)'bad been issued to the resident engineer to enable liiin to proceed with the widening of the Wirwnu road, and that, as there was a shortage of labor, the resident engineer would be pleased to let small contracts to the settlers. The resident, engineer notified that he, bad been unable to get settlers to take small contracts. If the council would give him the names of any settlers who would take small contracts lie would approach them. The engineer (Mr. C. R. Pease) stated that be bad met the district engineer, with Crs. O'Rricu and Sinclair, on the road, and had suggested that the Keiniama should be bridged. This the engineer had promised to consider. So far, lie had received no notification from the engineer, who was at present on holiday. The money available would erect the bridge and also complete the work to the Arawliata road. The resident engineer had assured him that the money 1 would not, lapse, even if the work were not completed by March 111. The chairman said that they could only be certain the money would not lapse if they bad assurance to that effect in black and white from the Minister of Public Works. Cr. O'Brien understood ihe resident [engineer did not propose to call for public tenders, but proposed to let the work by day labor on the co-operative principle. The wages bv day labor were limited to 10s, with is per ilay war bonus, and it was utterly hopeless to expect the . work on Wiremn road to be done on these lines. They should write emphatically to the Minister of Public Works urging that a public contract should be let for specific work. Cr. Sinclair said that the resident engineer was prepared to let contracts for the removal of dirt at fld per yard and stone at Is Gd. Cr. O'Brien; No man would be prepared to work on the co-operative principle. The chairman considered it was a simple shulflc to hold over the expenditure of the money. Cr. O'Brien said that t.wo farmers were prepared to tender for a specific contract, but not under the co-operative principle. Cr. O'Brien stressed the point that the opening of this road would mean increased revenue to the council, as it would mean the opening up of hundreds of thousands of acres of land between Te Kiri and Oakura. Dairy factories would spring up, and the valuation would be increased. The chairman suggested that Mr. C. A. Wilkinson, M.P., who had interested himself |in the matter, should be again approached This was agreed to. On the motion of Crs. Green and McNeill, it was resolved to ask the Minister of Public Works to call public tendSrj for small contracts on the road.

PUNEHU BRIDGE. The engineer reported that he had prepared an estimate of the cost, of the proposed concrete bridge over the Punehu river 011 the Eltham road, from the plans submitted by the district engineer, and had forwarded a copy to him. The amount was much greater than anticipated. He was now awaiting further instructions from the resident engineer as to the method of carrying out the work. The chairman stated that the estimate given by Mr. E. C. Robinson for a suitable bridge was £IOOO, and he understood that the plans provided for a heavier bridge, specially 011 account of the proposed Government grant. The Government had agreed to give a £ for £ subsidy up to ;CSOO, but the estimated cost of a bridge built ill accordance with the Government's plans and specifications was ,€34fi(i 10s, Unless the Government was prepared to increase the subsidy it would probably be advisable to build the bridge without a subsidy. He suggested that a deputation should wait on Mr. C. A. Wilkinson, M.P., and ask his assistance in obtaining an increased subsidy. Cr. McNeill considered that it was an urgent public necessity that the bridge should be erected before the winter. There was, morover, the probability that the grant would be lost if not expended before March 31. On the motion of Crs. Cornish and Harvey, it was resolved that the chairman, Cr. McNeill and the engineer be appointed a deputation to wait on Mr. C. A. Wilkinson re the matter. It was also resolved, on the motion of Crs. Green and McNeill, that application be made to the Minister of Public Works for an increased subsidy.

CONTRACTOR'S COMPIiAINT. Mr. H. Miuiro, contractor, Te Kiri, notified that he intended to forfeit contract No. 312 (Eltham road), and relinquish all claim to any moneys due for material delivered on the crushing site at Punehu river. He regretted taking this step, us it -was the first time he hail thrown up a contract; but, owing to the action of the late council in refusing facilities for paddocking boulders during the winter, when his teams were idle, it w»k impossible for him to do the job in the summer at the price, and he considered that it was his duty in the interests of ratepayers to take this course, instead of waiting until the plant wfta ready to start, and thus delaying the council's work. In the course of discussion, it was stated that the progress payment made to the contractor would be equal to the inetal delivered. After considerable discussion, it was resolved, on the motion of Crs. Holden and Sinclair, that the matter be placed in the hands of the engineer, to inter-, view the contractor, with power to act.

general. Application, for the transfer of a slaughterhouse license from the trustees of the late W. C. Dudley to S. Campbell, of Pihftma, was approved. The Paribaka Road Board wrote asking the council to subsidise :C for £ the cost of a coacroio channel along the Ka'i)iii road, as far as the saleyards, in order to prevent the flood water from South toad, doiug d%mage,

On the motion of the chairman and Cr. McNeill, the flatter was -referred to the engineer and the forenran of the Parihaka Road Board, with power to act. The Secretary o£ the Treasury notified that as a resvilt of whole areas of the Waimate West County being merged into the Egiucnt County, the inscribed debt of the latter hail increased by £3307 15a Id and the half-yearly interest by £7l 5a ;)d. A. E. White, bridge foreman, asked for an increase of 10s per week, owing to cost of upkeep of motor-cycle, etc. It wasystated that the wages at present were £5 10s per week.—Application not entertained. The chairman was authorised to sign land seal ''debentures for the £IOOO bridge IcAn. The,--council formally agreed to the proposal of the Parihaka Road Bostrd to stop portion of the Pungarehu road. The permanent hands of the Oeo northern and southern and Opua ridings asked for an increase of Is per day in wages. As the council increased the wages in the Rahotu riding at the last meeting, it was decided to grant the increase, the matter of dispensing with the services of any men not considered worth the rise being left to the engineer. •Subject to the consent of the auditor, it was resolved to strike a rate for various loans in the Oeo riding, over the whole riding. A rate of 3-13 d was struck over the Oarringtou road special rating area. It was resolved to vote the late chairman an honorarium of £SO. The .engineer was instructed to call tenders for ten chains of metalling on the Oeo road, near the Waimate boundary. / The chairman, Crs. McNeill and Cornish (the committee set up for the purpose) recommended that, a 350-gallon water cart be purchased from Reed and Gray, at £75, and a pump engine from Booth, McDonald and Co., at £97; also a valve from the same firm at £S 10s.— Approved. The engineer's estimates for metal requirements were agreed to as regards the Opua, Opunake and Oeo ridings, and tenders will be called. In the Rahotu riding members were of opinion that it was necessary to reduce the overdraft, and the engineer will meet the riding members, with a view to reducing the estimates. A committee of the whole council was set up to accept tenders in a fortnight, five to be a quorum. The committee set up to report on the question ,of obtaining teams was : sjiven extension of time, i .r W(ire passed for payment as follows: (jeneral, £5lO 12s lid: bridge I account, >