EGMONT COUNTY COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 January 1919, Page 6

EGMONT COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING.' The' ordinary meeting of the Eginont County Council was held at Opunake yesterday, when there wero present: Crs. W. R .Wright (chairman), H- W. J. McNeill, A. J. Holder, M. O'Brien, W. C Green, T. H. H. Sinclair, T. Harvey, S. M. Cornish, and T. A. RowcENGINEER'S REPORT. The engineer (Mr. A. C\. Pease) reported us follows: Oeo Riding (Northern). —I'Se contractor has completed the work iu coimection with contract No. 33G, the No. 2 plant having crushed 380 cubic yards of crushed metal, which yielded 4.0 cubic yards of screenings. The wlnale of the metal, with tile exception of 10 yards, which were dumped on the upper Oeo Road for repairs, has been laid on the Elthara Road from the late S. Cameron's place to east o'f the Oeo Road. Some patching has been done and rolled in on the Eltham Road, and the newlycoated portio of the Oeo Road has been re-rolled. Clay blinding has been put on portion of the Eltham Road at places and some clay banking and watertabling done- I have not yet received any satisfactory answer from the New Zealand Farmers' Co-operative Bacon and Meat Packing Company with respect to motor-lorrv traffic over the Punehu bridge on the Eltham ftoad-

Oeo Riding (Southern). —Only about 10 days' work was dtmu in this riding during the month on account of the forema being down with influenza and the surfacemen being engaged o hospital and other work Clay blinding las btoii put on the Main South lioad Ibetwecn the racecourse and Oeo. -A quantity of new bridge decking has been delivered at the Oeo, Ourl,_ and Punehu oridgea on the Main South Road. The No, i crushing plant has beeu moved to, and set up, on the Watiuo Road, in readiness for contract No. 338; in the meantime scarifying :* being done, and all large boulders taken from the roadway to the crusher, about 40 cubic yards of th&e having already been moved. Opua Riding.—Contract No. ISO, pr»'t of which was for this riding, wjis completed early in the month. The total amount of stone crushed being 1182 yards, producing IS4 yards of screenings. Of these amounts, 418 yards of crushed metal and 82 yards of screenings wert laid «n 30 chains of the Eltham Road from the Main South Road eastwards, and 151 yards crushed metal and 26 yttfds of screenings were rolled into the Main South Road for a length of 13 chains southwards from the Walaua bridge. The rest of the materials were used in the Opunake Riding This contract was very much interfered with by the peace celebrations, the recent epidemic and Bad weather, so that it would ba it difficult matter to ascertain the actual cost of the work. Whilst the Fowler engine was incapacitated through tb& breaking of a gland, opportunity was taken to scarify and roll in about 25 chains of the Main South Road south of the Eltham Road, and a length of the same clsis of work" was done on the Eltham Road, east of the new metalling. The >o. !. crushing plain was moved to the Main South Koaa on December 18 to crush about 350 cubityards of paddock and beach stone near the Maungaliume bridge. This work was completed but the quantities have not yet been returned. The plant is iieirig moved to-day to Maungahume, or. the Eltham Road, to deal with contract No 325. A guide or linger-post has been erected on the Main South Road, at the junction with the Eltham road.

Opunake Riding.—The metalling of the Main South Road irora the Upimal'e Hotel to tlie Waiaua bridge (part of contract No. 326) has been completed, the length being chains, on which 61(1 cubic yards of crushed metal and 7ft yards of screenings were used. Rahotu Bridge. A considerable amount of work has been done at tho northern approach to the Vr'aitotaroa bridge. About 6ft of the cutting on ilie east side has been removed to give a clearer view of the bridge, and the spoil used to bank up the side of the new diverted road. The spoil also yielded about 90 cubit yard:, of good rock, which has been spawled and dumped on the south-east side of the bridge for crushing. The stone is worth about £3O. The old decking to the Mangaore bridge has been removed and thß roadway filled in over the new concrete culvert, the approaches widened ar.d fenced with old timber and wire. The approaches to the Waiweranui bridge have been widened out to 25ft and fenced with old bridge timber and wire.

Plant.—Messrs Booth, Macdonald, and Co. have forwarded a new 14in drum to he fitted on tho engine of the new pumping plant in lieu of the Bin drum, which was not large enough to drive the pump at a proper speed. A new pentertylv injector is on orffer for "the Aveling and Porter engine. The late contract* for mails on the Eltham run has arranged with a local blacksmith to repair the Oeo bridge on the Eltliam Road at an early date. Tne local temporary hospitals have several times been supplied with water from the local aerated water factory with the council's plant. I have just learned that the contractor is making a start contract No. 338, on the Watino Road, to-day. As soon as this is finished it will relieve the whole of his plane to proceed to tho Rahotu Riding to caTt out the boulder stone for contracts NO3. 343, SH, and 315. It was resolved to notify the manager of the New Zealand Farmers' Co-op Kacon and Meat Packing Company that <ifter 14 days from date the foreman will be instructed to sec that the regulations re motor traffic over Punelm bridge are complied with, unless a guarantee re damages is received.

NOXIOUS WEEDS. In his report, the engineer stated that notices to settlers to clear away noxious weeds from their frontages were expiring, and in many cases had not ueen complied with; also, the notices to cut baclc and lower box-thorn nedges, particularly al bends ana corners, and as the council had not any men to spare to carry out the work, it would be better to enforce the penalty of £1 per day Some dihCttEaioa ensuea, during which reference was mad? to the need for scheduling various weeds, so that the noxious weeds inspector could take action. Councillors appeared to bo doubtful as to what had so far been scheduled, the Gazette notices, etc., having been destroyed in the fire.

A member considered that inspection in tlie past three years had been a farce. The chairman said the council wan mainly concerned with the clearing of frontages. Weeds were spreading on some sections. Xext valuation would see the values of those sections go down and the sections that were kejpt clwtu

The engineer was instructed to takesteps to have the penalty imposed.

- Or- O'Brien considered that settlers should foe given mora time, as it was impossible for some of them to get the work done in time.

The chairman statc-d that they had already had two months' notice. Tlie motion was (tarried.

Cr. Sinclair considered that the council itself should set a good example, and, on his motion seconded by Cr. Green, the engineer was instructed to see that all county reserves were cTean.

PROPOSED WAIMATE MERGER. In connection with the proposal to merge a portion of the Egmont County into the Wairuatc Gouty, Cr. McNeill said tliat It had bec-n reported that lie had moved, in this direction. This he emphatically denied. Never by word or deed had he given any assistance. ' The chairman said that it was a pity that Cr. McNeil) had not contradicted the rimior. To enable hliir to do so, he had written and drawn Cr. McNeill's attention to the inattef.

PUBLIC HEALTH MATTERS. The Minister lot Public Health, in acknowledging receipt of the council's letlci, lecocimendmg, oil behalf of the council, that the Public Health Committee should under take an inspection ol all dwelling-houses everv six months, stated that tlie suggestion would receive careful consideration. He also drew the council's attention tn th# provisions of the Public Health Amendment Act, in which there were some important provisions on that vesy question. In reply to a resolution passed toy the council urging that the Public Health Department should undertake the control and care of all incurable tuberculosis patients, the Minister for Public Health stated that lie would be glad to look into the questiou again for the purpose of seeing whether some satisfactory arrangements could not be made.

The Hastings Borough Council asked support to a resolution urging the Gov-crmnr-t to strengthen the financial position of the Public Health Department, so as to extend its powers and functions and enable it at all times to successfully coinbat and control any epidemic; also, to evolve a scheme for extending bacteriological researcch. On the motion of Cr, Cornish and the chairman, the resolution was endorsed.

GENERAL. The dog tax was fixed at 2s 63 for cattle dogs and 10a for other dogs. A special rate of :!-I.ld in the £ ws,s struck to pay interest, etc., on the Carrington Road metalling. The clerk stated that there was only £l7l 13s Id available from the bridge loah It was resolved to raise another '£looo of the loan, and the chairman and clerk were authorised to sign the debentures.

It was resolved to a3<l file a3ditiorTal 10 per cent, on rates unpaid after Fein ruary 10. The clerk was authorised to sue for outstanding rates due after February 15. Ail amendment by Cr Harvey, that a month's grace be allowed, was not seconded. Twenty names will be selected by lot for being sued. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company applied for an auctioneer's license. The clerk stated that the council could not legally grant the license, as the place of residence was with; in the Town Board area. It was resolved to inform the company to that effect. Mr. H. H. Sharp asked for information as required by tiie Act regarding the standard that was insisted upon for the construction of private roads before the county would accept dedication, in particular as regards metalling or gravelling. The chairman's honorarium was fixed at £62.

Accounts were p.-sed for payment as follows:—General £llO9 7s 6d, bridge £lO5 7s Id.