STRATFORD COUNTY COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 February 1918, Page 6

STRATFORD COUNTY COUNCIL.

arOXTBLY MEETING. The council met on Saturday. Present: Crs. K. Walter (chairman), I''. •'• Mackuv. ],. Baskin, IT. U. Worthington, \V. ll.'Were. K. \V. Hancock, T. H. Anderson, J. Chrisfollcl, and J. O'Neill. MOL'XTAIX HOUSE ROAD. Mr. Percy Thomson, secretary of the Mountain House Committee, stated that Messrs .J. Masters and C. Jackson would wait on the council with a view to having the last mile of metalled road on Pembroke road west put in order to co])o with the Easter trade. Messrs .Jackson and Masters attended the. meeting- After a short discussion it was'resolved that the road lie rolled and blinded as requested. The gate placed across tlie road to keep out wandering stock is to he removedHIGH SCHOOL SITE. Tlie chairman stated that the deputation that recently visited Wellington had been, very successful with the Minister for Education regarding the purchase of a site for the new technical high school. The lion. J. A. Hanan and !>. Anderson approved of the site, and the chairman thought they would find the amount of purchase available at the end of the financial year.—The chairman's report was received. ENGINEER'S REPORT. YV. J. Lopdell, county engineer, imported as follows: North Hiding—The Mountain road has been vi-metalled and t.u-iei from tlie York road to tlie .Mangiinui tiier, also n section in front of ;lic ".Midiiirsi dairy factory. The, rest of the riKiil between Multilist and Waipuku has been scarified and rolled, and lias now a good surface. Work which was authorised some time ago in front of Mr. Lister's store is now completed. York road: Tlie boulders for tills road are now out ready tor crushing. Monmouth road east lias been metalled at a cost of £77. Maintenance metal lias been put on the Kalmuri and ltutland roads With regard lo tlie latter road, 1 would r Minuend re-grading one or two of ilie vo-st hii .. before any metalling is done, as 'his is one of the poorest ! graded roads in ill; riding. Derby and Surrey n.ad: are ill urgent need of lepulra. Provision iias been made in the estimates and the settlers have promised to : gain assist in this yeai's work Tlie erusWng plant is now on the Pembroke road crushing factory stone, after which it will proceed up the Barclay road for the loan metalling, then back to lower Pembroke, the stone for which is now ready. South Ruling —The Wr. Ilia pa road contract !s Hearing completion; tlie contractors have pushed on with all possible haste. As there is tost ; it a fo.tnlßlifs crushing in this riding, j si'.v.e of tlie stone being out for two years, it would i>o sound bminess to have tills work | done before the plant leaves tlie riding, which would save tile expense of shifting back at a later per'od. This arrangement would work In witli tse Barclay road contract, where the West | .'Ud'n.; f'-eman will be engaged in about a .;» ' -. time The tar plant has shifted to the ( j"'-! .-.ad. \vhc--.e :i start will be made with t:v seali'ii; :s soi n as the weather permitsi i:.>: Hiding --During the month a fair also in' of clay blinding has been carried out o.i the niiotis raids. Decking has been ordered fur tiie Skinner road and Toko bridges '.his work will lie put in hand on the arrival of the timber Tenders were"called aome time ago for the cleaning out of the Douglas Valley crcl: and the work was held over. A very grod pi ice has been received for this and the S'aki.ii »'i;cli, which should be put in hand at mice, 'flic contractor has got out about 3110 cubic yards of stone on Finchnm's flat, and is starting o:t tiic Standish road I would recommoiul tlie advisability of trying to hire the borough plant lor Hie crushing of the Ohura road s:cuc. ;,s there seems little prospect of fcttm:' cither of our own for tlie remainder Hmr'ia.—Tim bridge gang hare completed the erection of the Makuri rond bridge, but as it wes too green to s'rip, the tirnher work was leu on in the meantime In company with the c,unman "ml O Were I made an' Inspection <■ he Mohakau ditches rnd creek, and find It . lei'.lj grown up willi weed."... etc. Satisfac"U rangeinen:- were made with the settlers i-..nc.>r icil in !a.e it attended to. iWr.r i!irtiii'!--(: (m ,ii I surt'ure work has been c. .n«i o.i. lunn.. the month. Boulders have .•?•■!! proem-., u complete Opunake No 3. The ''."'.','"'" '?' ''T '"', lf y ""^'S^ l "n the Pinnertv <il'.\ ~,'■ VV , . . plf;Bt wiU Proceed from ;»-; 'llll uibiig lo this work, and will continue us Vi'Vii""," "'' t,l ° ,V '" ter v;enther com VQte ,ii'' , 'i',','"v!o!".,' ;i ,'' i "- r '7T i , H ,r; ' l K° eang havceone li ■'• 1,.»n '.7 = . M Most of the tlml 'er ;:: b T.\ a " m . " l ," ."■' »"""■• lorry. Five steel 1i..... Halc .iinica ii-oin Chr'stchurcli and will be carted out by mrry. The other Ave joists ,'. ,: ? * '.',", f !'°!" Mlv Miir - e ' of "Toko. ' The «!M '"". °" " ie ,ilble ' ' "ave -,i.™Z r ,'■,' GOdkln t0 ° et ab °<« « tie I'unlwhaVn,, ,'oa,i r ° '°'' (he WaShoUt on lTT' : 'w r ;''n;?'\' i '"'- S ", " f Tnm,ar >- «<• '""tor en -in'n. ''n' ' "'"•" Knw 1>; -"«<»"h. and I.ns b. ...e a, rter'," - "ii."^^!" raetal »■><> Mr '" v "i 1 nurrell engine w'a" in »l«-'-.crt during the month. Engine-driver"fjnll ':,,,„.' ' ' •"">'•. "f Man-la. Tenders have been TAR-SEAUXfi ROADS. The chairman stated (hat he, with <-rs. Were ami Wortliinjjton, had gone over lh«, tat-scaled road near Midhirst. t mil been reported as being in a verv bail state. 11,. adtnitted it was a bit rougu, b„t i t W a s perfectly sound, and there was no breaking up of the road Lrs Were and Worthington endorsed the chairman's remarks. Regarding the South Riding the chairman stated that the West Riding desired the crusher, hut the question was whether they should have to keep the North, Biding work going or suspend it and go over to the West Riding Cr. Hancock stated that the cost of shifting was very expensive. They did not desire to have it in the winter time hut when it did get there wished to have everything cleaned up, Cr. Christoflel stated that the South Riding had not had the crusher for two years, whilst Cr. Were stated it was difficult to get the crusher out his wav (East). The chairman stated that the tenders ' received for cleaning out the Douglns Valley creek were too liigh, and the matter had been left to him and Cr. Were, and they had now arranged to have tlie work done. Cr. Hancock drew attention to the fact that the contractor had held up the work- of the crusher through shortage of stone. Tie (liou.o'ht that beofre the crusher went out thev should see that there was plenty of stone available. He noticed the Finnerty road work was held up through this cause. Under these circumstances the stone must 'be costing something, and thev should endeavor to avoid these happenings. The engineer's report was adopted. ENGINEER AND HOLIDAYS. The question of holidays was discussed. Cr. Hancock said he was informed that tho engineer was at the races. He did not say this was true, and if the engineer was entitled to a holiday well and good, but there was a danger that those were extra holidays. He was not objecting to the engineer having a day off, but they were hearing all sorts of yarns. The e'hairman said the engineer was putting in long hours and studying the interests of the ratepayers. It Would be a hard thing if they bad to tie their officials down to certain hours. Gr. Mackay said they should not take notice of mere hearsay If Cr. Hancock was positive the engineer was attending races and neglecting his work then they .should Inear of it. The eaejjie<r ihguld

have his day ol? if he could make the necessary arrangements. Cr. Hancock reiterated he did not object to any official having a holiday, but they would need a cheek on them; otherwise they might find them taking a week off and going south to the races. Cr. Mackay stated councillors hud their remedy and could treat their officials as they desired. The engineer explained that he frequently worked long hours seeing thai lorries got away, attending at night Lo clerical work, etc., and if he was absent from town he saw that the work was going on as usual. BLOCKED DRAINS. Cr. Were drew attention to the state of several drains in his riding. .Something should be done in the matter. There were three ratepayers whose drains were flooding other properties through blockages. He understood that notices had been sent out. Time was getting short, and the wet season would not improve matters. Cr. Christoffel said this was hardly a matter to leave to the engineer. The council should see that the work was attended to 'here and in other ridings. A motion was carried giving the ratepayers named a final notice lo have their drains attended to. CORRESPONDENCE). Kairanga County Council desired support in a resolution asking the Government to reduce railway freights on cement, tar, and bitumen for use in roadmaking, bridges, etc, to the same rate as coal, or at least to one-half of the present tariff. —Endorsed. Titos. P. Lister, New Plymouth, requested the council to have the drains cleaned and a little necessary work done on the Surrey road during the fine weather, so that he could obtain access to his farm, section 18, block XVI.— Resolved that the.Moa Road Board's attention be drawn to Mr. Lister's letter, mid the settlers on the Stratford portion of the road be given notice to attend to drains. Edward Cain, postmaster, Douglas, requested the council to do something in t]ie way of fixing up an entrance to approach to the post office. He was willing to pay £ for .£ to have the road improved.—Left to the chairman and the engineer to attend toG. E. Noble, Makahu, drew attention ,to t'lie need for painting the gables and framework at Noble's bridge.—The engineer is to attend to the matter. The Manawatu County Council staled that they desired the Stratford County Council to endorse a resolution that the Minister of Railways' attention be drawn to the large amount of extra motor traffic upon the roads in consequence of the refusal to run special trains for ri'ces, the cost of repairing the extra damage in the Manawatu county amounting to £IOOO per annuni.-*-Kc-ceived. The Public Works Department reported on the position of McLaehlan'.s bridge. The resident engineer bad had an interview with the county engineer and pointed out that sufficient care had not ebeu exercised in the preparation of the plans, and that the Department would insist on the erection of the bridge being carried out in a more satisfactory manner. The engineer explained that he had made slight alterations, but in the main had not departed from the original plans, —ReceivedEltliam County Council requested copy of the county by-laws, together with a memo, of such alterations and amendfents as may be desirable—lt was decided t 0 reply stating that the Stratford by-law g were out-of-date and that the council approved the suggestion to hold a conference relative to new by-laws. Elthani County Council also granted permission to Stratford ranger to impound stock from far end of the Wingrove road to Eltham county.—Received, The Stratford Borough Council desired the use of the council's tarsprayer for a few days.—Granted, at the end of the month, the charge for same to be left to the engineer's discretion. The Commissioner of Crown Lands , stated that the Land Board intended to claim royalty on stone and gravel removed from the half of the bed of the Manganui river bounding the education > reserve, and any gravel removed from i any part of Rum Keg Creek within the ] education reserve and for 10 chains between the reserve and the railway gravel , reserve. , The engineer stated the council had . made arrangements for paying royalties ', with Mr. Weyborne, who held (he land. . He believed they would have to pay ' royalty and lie* would find out the , amountThe chairman thougbt if they paid - 2d per yard royalty it would be fair, and ■ n motion to this effect by Crs- Baskin and O'Neill was carried. , The chairman, referring to the prob- ■ able shortage of oils, kerosene, petrol. • etc, advocated obtainuig supplies, and as ho did not desire to see their motor lorries stuck up for want of fuel he had ordered several cases.—The chairman's action was confirmed. The chairman mentioned that the motor lorry was doing good work, and he thought the council had every reason to be satisfied with the results.' Tlie chairman read a letter from a county council desiring information regarding the road roller the county wanted to sell.—The council went into committee and, on resuming, resolved that the road roller be offered for sale at a fixed price. Cr. Were stated that the chairman, engineer, and himself had inspected the Standish road where there was a depression. He tliouht the road could be built up and tar-sealed- He moved that the work oh Standish road be proceeded with and the road be tar-sealed in that locality.—Carried.