TARANAKI COUNTY COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 February 1919, Page 7

TARANAKI COUNTY COUNCIL.

I ORDINARY MEETING, The monthly meeting of the Taranaiu County Council was hold yesterday, when there were present: Crs. J. S. Connelt (in the chair), A. E. Laurence, J. B. Simpson, J- Wooldridge, C. Andrews, J, Andrews, A. "Morton, G. Capper and. D. MeAllum- . I . CHAIRMAN'S REPORT. ! The chairman reported: /Since last meeting with Crs C. Andrews and Wooldridge I have inspected the property at Okato under oii'er to the council and, being satisfactory, we have agreed j to the purchase. 'l'he matter of footpath formation at Waiwakaiho, referred to Cr. J- Andrews | myself, has not been approved, as it was felt that the Council was not justified in spending money on a path that would probably only be made use of on one or two days of the year, and which would need a considerable annual expenditure to keep in order. Cr Wooldridge and I have inspected the upper Plymouth road, and found that the work asked for is reasonable, though not now so urgent as was represented by ratepayers at last meeting. We recommend that £oo be spent on this work under the supervision of the County Inspector, provided the settlers ihteretsed guarantee not less than three men to assist. This does not mean free labor. Foreman Bennett will proceed with earthwork at Mangaoue immediately la'hor is available • The Saunders road bridges will be put in 'hand as soon as crushing is completed at Oxford factory, and it ia hoped that settlers interested will da their utmost to assist with the work so that it can be completed before winter. Teams have been engaged for cftrting boulders at Baker road, which is completed, and Foreman Batten, Heal a,nd Keast have them now at work in Matthew's getting out the requirements for Kent and Albert road. I have authorised the purchase of river boots for this work.

The sub-committee, consisting of Crs .McAllum, Morton and myself, sot up to deal with applications for road inspector land for lorry driver have appointed Mr R. Branch, of Tnglewood. a 9 inspector, and Mr George as lorry driver- The latter commenced work on January 27th. and has assisted in the assembling and painting of the IorTV, which should be ready for the road in a few days. The report was adopted.

TARRINO OF ROADS. The chairman stated that the committee appointed to make a report on road construction had not prepared their report yet. Opportunity was taken of another meeting at Ilawera to endeavor to get the committee to resit thereThree members attended. Cr McAllum could not attend owing to short notice, and it was impossible to get in touch with Cr Wooldridge. It was intended to sec the Hawera tar-sprayer at work, but the weather was against it. They s:nv the plant, and ascertained that Hawera County had made arrangements for the rights'of an improved process of tar preparation. A supply of this could be obtained by the local Council from the Ha..'era County Council. It was more* expensive, but the extra bulk 25 per cent —more than compensated for th>s. The report would be presented ne\t meeting

FOREMEN'S REPORTS. The following is a synopsis of the various foremen's reports on work done during the month: , PLANT.. F.nginedriver Mackie—Crushed: Chain bsidge depot days, 384 yards; liipuae depot 3 uays, yards- At the Chain bridge in all 73ti yards was crushed. Kngir.edriver Stewart: Scatilicd and rolled. —Junction road 33 chains, Alfred road 11 chains, Souux road 25 chains, total chains.

On the 13th broke through culvert near old toll gate at Henui. Engiuedriver McDonald's report is no> to hand.

Mm, F.iding.—Foreman Laurence: — Mads a road into the Mangaiuawhete rivi!" u-i:d fenced the crusher site. Fore-

man Mallon had been assisting at the crushing ai chain bridge. Foreman Ileal had been assisting at the crusher and spa-.vling r.tone at Kent road. 'Manger;! Riding.—Foreman Batten liud''lwr'l est&tUsg with crushing plant,

making read h.io river, spawling stone, and received SB yarda of metal from clmia Irklgc c.-idga which were placed on the JußvtiOn and Alfred roads. They j wer* now getting out boulders at Kent road,. Forenii'ii Keast - time had been lakEii up chiefly a:si3tiii;i Foreman Batten. ionaai Splicer had been assisting iii ] piiui Batten':! 11 With assistance ci Fireman Evr, he procured a further 2it> javda at Be.fe.ev read, making 3JO jarus in all. Waitara Riding.—Foreman J. Holmes' time had been taken up with usual maintenance worh Foreman F. ...oiaies had been engaged at general repair work. Foreman Proud had been two days getting out sand fc- Manutalii bridge. 1"'"" rort of his tinv :au Ive'i taken a;) <ri i''- uv.l m.'-liviiiivct v.- ,I'"orevr.a.'. WV'.!..'W time lir i been take.i up w:tli genera 1 ' road wciK. Foreman Palmer hud be.m assisting at the suspenribn bridge repairs. A culvert on the York road near the Council's boundary required' i '.ising and some filling done, Messrs Bennett ami Melirieus would supply horse and cart free if the Council payed for their labor. Oniat.a Ricfog —Foreman Seamark had employed a man 4J days to assist in blinding and raking up. The tarred portion''requires top dressing as soc-.i as .possible. There was a large amount or ..stock wandering over the roads after dark . Foreman Eva reported that the roads, in his length were in fair order. I Okato Riding.—Foreman McGrnth was at preesnt assisting at the crusher. Foreman Scft-nn reported that Mr W. Richardson ploughed about 8 chains of tho lower Weld road frec.of charge wliioh he had formed up. Mr W. Eraslie ploughed some lwd places qn Ahu Ahu road free Of cost. He had also 1 formed tills up- Foreman Anderson had been fts-si-.t'mg Foreman 'Haves and MeOrath with metalling. Foreman Meredith had been bu«' with tho at Kalhlhi depot- Ho had received' 110 yards on the main road and 30 yards oh Dover road. and was carting dumped metal from Stony river to lower Kiiilriii road. Foreman Haves hitfl had 1012 yards crushed at Kaihihi. S7- of which had been nut on the Oxford road, and 14" went to Foreman Mer»dith, Thee would be ready to crush at .Brophv's in a few davs as soon as Andrews Bros had the elevator fixed up.

Cr Capper's action in authorising ex- i tva labor for Foreman Mallon was ap- i proved. j A voae of thanks was accorded Messrs i Emslie arid Richardson for help on Ahu t Ahu road. -Riding Councillor's action m authoris- . ] ing the carting of boulders out at Stony s river was confirmed I The new inspector is to report on the s question of substituting tunnels for two 1 culverts on the Junction road in the Mangorei" riding. : A settler on the Tariki road ;s *to he 1 requested to remove obstruction from 1 Mfingaonc stream. The suggestion re King road bridge ! wi'l be carried out. 1 Necessary shingle for top-dressing the < tarred portion of the roads will be pro- I cured. i • CLOSING ROADS. > l The Mangorei Dairy Co. applied for 1 permission to extend the fence across 1 the unused portion of the Korito road, 1 leading to the Kent road. Permission was granted. F J, Shute, Korito complained about 1 a fence that had been placed across a 1 road recently. The road was formed but unmetalied, running from Kent road 1 creamery to hia boundary corner. Ho understood the fence was erected by the local' creamery manager as a paddock for horse 3. He strongly objected to the road being used as a paddock and to the fence being placed across it at the open end. The creamery manager, whom he had spoken to, practically defied him. Cr. Morton thought that it was rnj ther bad taste on the part of Mr Shute to offer any objection, as he was using several chains of the same Toad at the other end. Referred to the chairmaij ai>d inspector. BRIDGE CARPENTER'S REPORT. The repairs to the Manganui bridge, Junction rpad, were resumed on January 7th, and all the repairs to this bridge were completed, with the exception of one road transom, which was showing signs of crushing when the suspension rods were being tightened. The faulty transom was a rimu one, which was placed there a few years ago. He proposed renewing the same with Australian hardwood as soon as time permitted. He had stacked all the timber which would be required for repair work at other bridges. All the material and gear for the erection of Tarurutangi bridge was now on the site. The old bridge had been dismantled and re-ereeted for a temporary bridge and the foundations for the concrete piers were now in course of preparation.

lie had inspected the bridge on the lower King road and found it to be in a very decayed state. As it was only used for a stock bridge and only six feet in width he recommended that some of the old timber now in use for the temporary bridge at Tarurutangi, on completion of the new bridge, be transferred to the above site and used to replace the present structure, and widen it to ten feet. The total cost would bo £0 10s. The timber for the' repairs to the Ngatoro bridge, Junction road, was expected to arrive shortly and if labor was available the repairs would be carried out immediately. The chairman stated that arrangements were being made to make a new depot at Tanuaea. as the present depot was unsatisfactory. Very shortly they would have to consider the alteration of all their depots to make them suitable for lorry traffic- Thcv would have to reduce the number of depots and mate main depots. In reply to Cr Laurence, the chairman stated that the crusher would be in the Mflfi riding in time to crush before the winter.

DEPUTATIONS. Messrs Warner and Sitmnonda waited on the Council and asked that a piece of the lower .Mangorei road (Old Hospital road), about. 10 chains on the hill near Mr Wempsey's, sUould ue metalled. They were unable to get to the Mangorei factory with their milk and wero accordingly selling their cream to au outside concern.

The chairman said that the work was a big one and the Council had not funds, moreover it was felt that, the settlers should help more than thcv had offered to do Cr. Morton said that it vras the policy of the Council to keep the metalled roads in repair out of rates. When new metal wan required the settlers were expected to find half the money. There was the oilier alternative to raise a loan-

The deput" lion said that thcv were willing to go in for a loan, but they questioned if sufficient settlers would agree. It was pointed out that the ten chains could be metalled for £1"0, and tne deputation agreed to cons.der the question oi a loan. Mr E. Marsh waited on the Cc-nnnl

and asked that a bridge should he erected over a stream on the Mutton n was rerolved to obtain an estimate of the cost, when the settlers will ho asked what thcv are prepared to contribute.

Messrs A. Wood and T. A. Taylor presented a petition from 1-2 settlers on tkc Hurfurd road asking that the Itiirford road should 'no deviated at the hi!'. They pointed out that the road had not been i'-ocoe.ted for ti:i or '-e-or. year- p.nd it wev.ld be wlvii ?i>lo i» do the vor.: before new metal was laid Jo. n. It v.as understood that Mr Epauce would give the necessary land Referred to the chairman and riding members to report on at next meeting.

Mr W Revcll, Waren, wailed on tho Council in connection with a notice ho had received re heavy traffic on Puniho road. He said that iie held a license and only carted seven loads last month. 1-Te did not think he h3d done any damage, as lie carted light loads and never went- on the road in wet-weather. Tile chairman stated that as as applicant held a license and exercised care 'in c.omplyhig with tho by-laws he would be alright. 1 ' Cr Andrews said that the settlers had complained. Mr Rc.veil said that if necessary l|e wn'il.l put on a horse and dray for a day 0J two • •'

RENERAL. ; Tho Mangcrel Dairy Co. asked to be juppiied with a few yards of crushed metal for repairing the road into the Kent road creamery, when the crushe* ;s in the district—Granted, Cr. Laurence reported that he had interviewed Mi'ssrs Harding and Morattl on the Tau'n road and had firianged to have two-thirds pf the erect; cleaned out, —Approved.

Cr. reported that ha had arranged to fence road to the crusher site at Mnngamawhete—ApprovedA. Mclmlnp. tcll-gato keeper, asked that the jnteric:' of the toll-gate house should ho renovated The chairman and Cr Wooldridpro considered the request wns a reasonable cti-j ;.nd it was granted. Mr M. Ditgpan drew attention to the ctntp of the Timaru road. Nothing had been .done t« it for two yews

water was running down the centre of the road. Altogether it -was almost impassable du»:*"? wet weather. Hiding Councillors wcr«, to visit the road and arrange for repairs.

E Ashman, Kaimiro, asked that repairs be carried out oil Alfred Road south. He was prepared to work wiLh the roadman at 12s per day if they were short of labor.—Foreman Batten will attend to the matter.

A M. Fairfax Cholmeley complained about water backing up ditch at Bell Blouk.—Referred to the chairman to look into and arrangeJ. H. Lyon and thirteen other settlers in the Wuitui and Bristol road districts wrote objecting to the inclusion of their properties in the proposed bridge loan wea for bridges on the

Junction and other roads in the Moa | riding of the County, on the ground that they do not provide access to their property or add value thereto. The chairman said that this would be dealt with at the poll. The Publb Works Department notified that it was advised that ratepayers of the Moa Eoad District strongly opposed the proposal of the Council to erect a toll-gate at the Junction road within the Moa road boundaries, and they would bo glad to know whether it was a fact or not that the Council contemplated establishing a toll-gate on this road. —Deferred till nextmeeting. The Public Trust Office asked what was the position of the Surrey Hill Rood Loan of £350 which was granted on November 13th and the interest on which would start from January, 13t1i.The work, is to be gone on with. Foremen aTe to be requested to furnish the names of ratepayers with noxious weeds on their road frontages, particularly those witli weeds obstructing drainage traffic. S. McDonald forwafded Sis reaigna-

tion as enginedriver. The resignation was accepted, and steps will be taken

to fill the vacancy. Fresh tenders are to called for metalling on lower Petone road. Accounts were passed for payment as

follows: General .€385 16s sd; Moa £137 153 3d; Maitgorei £207 7s Cd; Waitara £197 10s 3d; Omata £35 4s; Okato £4B-4 4s 3d. Total £1482 14s M.