CLIFTON COUNTY COUNCIL

Taranaki Daily News, 2 March 1918, Page 3

CLIFTON COUNTY COUNCIL

iIONTIILY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Clifton County Council was held at Waitara yesterday. There wore jii-csiMit: Crs. 11. 11. l'iggott (chairman), T. .McKenzie, 11. A- Foreman, F. C- ,).>i>es, C. Musker, S. J. Kenuington, and 11. Sander. CORRESPONDENCE. The Public Works Department wrote intimating that £12:3 had been placed to the credit of the comity in respect of work done on the Kiorii to Matau road. —lieceived. \ The Manawatu County Council asked for support to a resolution applying for the reinstating of special trains for local race meetings, owing to the expense of increased road traffic.. —The resolution was endorsed. The Public Works Department forwarded a copy of a Gazette notice declaring a portion of the TougaporutuAlangaroa road, in the Clifton county, a county road— Received,The town clerk of Auckland forwarded copy of a resolution urging upon the New Zealand representatives at the forthcoming Imperial Conference the necessity of strenuously advocating the retention of that portion of the Samoan 2roup taken from Germany and vow in British hands.—Councillors generally approved tlie resolution, which was endorsed. A letter was received .from. R. .11. Jones stating that after completing the Uruti road contract he had some metal left, which he offered the council at Ss per yard. He stated that had the (.rusher come as promised two years ago, men were then engaged at .'ls per day less than they could 'be got for since-—-After some discussion it was resolved, on the motion of Crs. Kenuington and Zander, to take no action at present with regard to the surplus nielal spa wis in the pit on the Uruti road. REV EX UK FROM TOLL GATES. In reply to an inquiry by Cr- CMusker as to the treatment of revenue from the Waihi toll gate, the clerk reported having replied that the treatment of the revenue in question was prescribed by law, and that the revenue was general and 'had to be credited to the county general account, to be spent in the whole of the ridings of the county on a pro rata valuation basis, and not merely between the lidings through which the road passed on which the toll gate stood. Several councillors expressed some surprise at the information, and saw that if the law was as stated the matter should have been notified in council. The chairman said the information was not new. The matter of the allocation of the toll gate revenue over the whole of the county main roads was made clear by the balance sheets. He said that the first charge upon comity revenue was the maintenance of main roads. It was quite possible that the ridings chiefly concerned in the toll gate would get the revenue from it all 'back again in maintenance on the main roadOn the other hand, if main roads in other parts of the county needed maintenance. it- must he dore out of general revenue, into which the toll g.-tl-cs receipts had to go. Cr. Musker said lie had carefully considered the matter, and was convinced 11-nt it was not fair for the ratepayers of three ridings to be specially taxed h,v means of toll gates, and for those taxes to be devoted to the upkeep of roads in other ridings of the county. Cr. Jones said the fact that Ihe expenditure of the general revenue was in the hands of the council made it quite nossible that the whole of (he amount of the toll «ate revenue misfit come back to the riding through which the main road in question passed. SPECIAL RESOLUTION. A special resolution was passed, eonfirming a previous resolution to contribute £2OO towards a loan to be raised by the Waitara Borough Council for repairs to the Waitara bridge. ENGINEER'S REPORT. The engineer's report was as follows: Waihi Riding.—Tile Ohanga road metalling contract has been satisfactorily completed, and larger pipes inserted at the Inland North road junction. Concrete pipes have gone out, for the Epiha road crossing, and will shortly be placed in position. I recommend that a new scoop be obtained for this and adjacent districts. Tikorangi Riding.—The grader is now on the Waihi road, and will be used to carry out improvements where required, with the aid of local assistance. The open crossing opposite tlie library should be taken out, and the system applied here as adopted elsewhere. Ngatimaru Riding. Arrangements Were made with reference to improving the Mangaoapa road for horse traffic. I do not recommend it a3 a road for ladies and children after dark, but any inexperienced horseman could negotiate It without difficulty in daylight. In company with Cr. Kennington, we arranged the site and also the design of the new Matau south bridge, and plans aer in course of preparation. So far, I cannot obtain the necessary lengths for the steel girders, and am seeking information in respect to hardwood beams. Urenui Ridmg.—The district road engineer writes that the Upper Kaipikari road subsidy can be expended on the lower portion on a. £ for £ hasis. Further efforts to let the Onaero road metalling contract have not proved successful. The output from the Okoke -pit shows no increase and arrangements are In progress for accelerating matters. _ Mokau Riding.—The Urut? road metalling contract is now completed, and being unable to come to terms with the present contractor the balance of metal will remain in the pit in the meantime. Arrangements are in progress to improve two miles of the Mangamaeho road during the current month. With reference to the Tangitu deviation.? a meeting of settlers requested that the Government carry out the work on the co-operative principle. The sanding at Okan lias been proceeding satisfactorily, and during a temporary cessation attention will be given to .the Kiwi road, to he followed by sanding various sections of the Mangatoro road, which *1 have already defined. The pipes for large en] vert at Taylor's Flat and also the IT'itiwai tunnel hare gone forward. The IVai-iti metalling contract on my last visit showed no signs of progress. The two horsemen again scoured many nf the coantv roads and succeeded in impoundin? many head of stock. The report was adopted. Accounts amounting to £llBO Is 5d were passed for payment.