STRATFORD COUNTY COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 October 1919, Page 3

STRATFORD COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING. I The monthly meeting of the StratforA County Council was held on Saturday. Pres" cut: Councillors Mackay (chairman). Bsiskin, Worthlngton, Were, Hancock, Anderson, O'Neii, and Coleman. Tho cluitrman reported on tho Dominion Conference, and said that if the Government would only do what they desired local body work would be vpry easy. Tho main efforts of the conference was directed towards, obtaining further aid from the consolidated fund for the maintenance of main roads. There wefe no less than eight remits on the subject, including their own. There was a strong feeling that tho Government would grant an Increase in the subsidy on main roads on the basis of the Stratford Council's remit —5s la the £1 on all rates collected.

ENGINEER'S REPORT. Tr, J. W. Silence, County Engineer, reported as follows: North Riding (east). —General maintenance work has been carried out on the Kahouri, Croydon West, Beaconsfleld, Croydon East, Stanley Cross East, and Salisbury Roads; also on Cambria Street, Mldhirst. Croydon Road, which was broken up during the wet weather, will be attended to as soon as possible. North Riding (west).—Portions of Mountain Road have been repaired. The concrete kerb in Mldhirst on Mountain Road, extending from the Junction of Kelly Street to the junction of Erin Street, with pipe crossings where required, has been completed. The footpath has been brought up to the grades of the kerb and covered with a coat of screenings. A start has been made with the work of refuting the Waipuitu Hill, Some delay has occurred in car.ryhig out ' this work, owing to the contractor not having sufficient boulders on tho crushing site. Crushing will be resumed when stone is available. South Hiding.—The roads In this riding have been attended to in the way of maintenance work. Several bad corners on Wingrove, Robson, and Bird Roads have been cut off. The culvert near the Wingrove Road dairy factory has been re-decked. East Riding (Tokp),—The Mangaehu Road has been repaired. Ahuroa Road west has received attention in the way of patching. The largo boulders have been taken out and napped, and the surface generally improved. On the Ohura Road a Considerable amount of patching has been done, and where necessary the metal portions have been banked up. Several other roads in this riding have also received attention. East Riding (Douglas) .—General road work has been carried out, in tho riding. The Taihore Road as far as Mr. McCulloch's whare has 1 been water-tabled. A track has been cleared to the top of the Talhoro Saddle. Preliminary work in connection with opening up the shellrock face on Gordon Road is well in hand. Eastl Riding (Hulroa).r—Repair work has been done on the Makuri Road east, and some small slips on Douglas Road north havo been cleaned off. Portion of the Huiakama Road has been dressed, and a. good deal of watertabling and metal patching lias been carried out on the Makuri Road west. West Riding.—During the month maintenance work has been carried out on the upper Hastings, upper Manala and Opunake Roads. The upper. Manala Road is In a very weak state and to put same into anything like good order would Involve a considerable amount of work, and material. . A set of pipes on the upper Hastings Road has been repaired. A portion of tho decking of the Knupokonul No. 2 bridge has been removed. An additional suppiv of boulders is being taken out of the Kapun'i stream and carted to the top of the cutting cn tiie lower Palmer Road. In connection with the surfaceman's cottage on the Manala Road I would recommend that porches be' erected at tile front and back doors, and that the windows receive attention, to prevent the rain from finding its way into the house. uis very necessary that some provision for bettor drainage of house water should be made before the warm weather sets in. Mangaehu Riding.—Owing ft the wet weather and tho motor traffic on the upper or clay portion of the Punlwhakini Road, tho formation has been considerably cut up. The filling on the Taihore Road has been finished The slip on the BrewSr-Taihoro Road has been cleaned off, the cleaning of water-tables and general repair work has been carried out where necessary on other roads, On the motion of Cr. Coleman, it was decided to request permission from tho italhvhv Department to remove some earth at a corner near Taylor's gate, north ot' Xgne.'e, so that a better view might he obtained nf approaching trains when passing the enri'or. With regard to the cottage for the foreman at Huiroa, Cr. Wero said that they had been unable to obtain new bunding materials, and two cottages had been puchosed at Toko from which sufficient timber would bo obtained for a good five-roomed ecliage, and some timber Would bo left for shed;! nr bridges in o'hnr parts of the county. In regard to the shell, rock on Gordon Road bo said an agreement had been entered into with .Mr Henry's tenants for a lease of 4 or a acres for the crushing machinery, etc An arrangement, had also been made with Mr. Henry for tho paying of royalty He and the chairman were of the opinion that by developing the shell rO"k they would \be able to use it in all parts of the county. The engineer was authorised to proceed with necessary Improvements to tho surfacemen's cottage Oil the Manilla Road The engineer's report was adopted. A special report by the engineer on mountain stone was considered in committee. It was resolved tbat all men \vho3o duties Include attendance to horses, receive Is per day extra. ' •Cr Hancock gave notice of motion that the ■ranger's diitics bo altered sot tliatl estra payment will not be necessary when ho is relieving the toll-gato keeper. TKNDKRS. The tender of A. R. Reed for trecting a cottage for 'lie foreman at Huiroa, was accepted; and George ICeheiy's tender for metalling 98 chains of the Pukengahu Road was accepted conditionally.

THE HALF-HOLIDAY QUESTION. The secretary to the Saturday Half-Holidav Committee mole asking for a contribution of M* towards the expenses The Council was a'so asked to appoint. Saturday as the weckiv f.alf-holiday for tlieir district tn January next. In conjunction with the letter, a petition from the Council's employees was considered. The employees asked that work should start every morning at 7.30, Instead of 8 a.m., so us to allow a half-holiday in each week, or, as an alternative, that work should stiiTf at 8.20 a.m., and one whole holiday, preferably on pay day, be allowed each month. The engineer pointed out that the latter proposal was preferahlo from the Council's point of view. To take the teams out. for half-a-day's work meant a certain amount of loss of time. Those" in the north riding favored the monthly, holiday. The letter from Mt. Kirkwood) was recelled, after a proposal by Gr. McKay that the 10s be par. lapsed for want of a seconder. It was decided further that the Council could not see Its way to declare Saturday the halfholiday. In repard to the employees' petition, the engineer said that the arrangement, if agreed to, would only apply to the summer months. The alternative proposal providing for a whole holiday on each monthly pay uay was agreed to, the men to start work at 7.40 n.m. in order to make up their time, and the period to bo from October 1 to April 30.

APPLICATION FOR CONTRIBUTION. The Taranaki County Council wrote applying for a contribution towards the maintenance "f the Mountain and Junction Roads, under soction 10!) of the Public Works Act, 1908. It was pointed out that the three tunclamentnl things which must exist before tin apportionment could be made by a commissioner did exist; namely: (a) That, the road must be largely used by or for the purpose of traffic tn or from the district to ho charged: (b) That the road must afford access to or from such district; and (c) It must be shown that it. Is equitable that the district to be charged should contribute. The Council would, the latter stated, doubtless admit n and b, and perhaps, clause c. At the present juncture It was only necessary to point, out that nix counties which opposed the Taranaki County's vehicle licensing by-law laid great stress on the fact that the only means of 'access to and from the port, and town of New Plymouth was over the Tar a naki County roads. —After a discussion in committee, it was decided, on the motion of Cr. McKav. seconded by Cr. Coleman, to defer consideration till the end of the financial year.

CORRESPONDENCE. The Hon. ,1. B. nine wrote thanking the Council for their congratulations on His appointment tn the Ministry. Mrs. M. J. Bell wrote asking for information as to where Warwick Road ended, and drawing attention to the state of the road from hor house to Mrs. Rodgers'. ' She had boon under the impression that. Hie road dii hot belong to the Council, and formed par! of her property. 11 ov pony had been impounded from tho road by the ranger.—Left to the engineer to report upon. The Education Board applied for exemption from toll for tho Board's motet- vehicles used In the conveyance of material for the erection and 'repairs of school buildings.—Cr McKay moved that tho Board be informed that tile Council had no power to grant exemption. Tills was seconded by Cr. Coleman, I'lid canted. Mr. .0. W. Oane wrote asking the Council to clean out the drain opposite his property, wgtlsM 6 »ud f, blank XV,, Jtulm atuvty

District.—Permission was granted Mr. Gane to do the work at his own expense. The Turanaki Hydro-Electric League forwarded o copy of the flrat annual reportIt. was decided to discuss electric power at the next meeting. Mr. W. Lawson applied for a subsidy on a booklet he intends publishing on the Tar&nakt district, of £2O, the Council to receive 200 free copies.—Received. The Stratford Farmers' Co-operative ASSBclatlon appllod for 40 yards of shell. rock for the Tplto factory.—To be supplied when metal is availublo. The District Health Officer (Mr. Watt) wrote stating that it had been reported to him tbat nuisances existed on premises used as a bpilingdowir works, situated on Monmouth Road; near Bradford Ho racummencied that notice be served on .the owner requesting him to abate, the nuisances by (a) Cleaning Up the works and maintaining them in a thoroughly clean condition; (b) Covering over with at least four inches of soli all refuse in the paddocks adjoining tho works.—The clerk was instructed to have the necessary notice served. The chairman said that so far no favorable reply has been received to Inquiries as to the possibility of raising "the proposed loan. The Hon. J. B. Hine had been communicated wltli, and he did not think that they would be able to get the money at per cent. The A.M.P. Association had applied for particulars, and their charge would be 5% per eentj plus exchange, which would bring it up to 5?4 per cent. They had security worth £3,000,000, and- they were trying to borrow less titan £ 1 fin mHi They had given an undertaking to the ratepayers that the money would not cost inore than 5% per cent., but the. Government fixed the rate at 5>,4. On the motion of Cr. Were, the chairman was thanked for his services at the Wellington conference, and for his report, reply to a question, the chairman said that' a remit had been brought fonirard favctrlng the payment of members of the Council for attendance at meetings, but It had been turned dowh absolutely by the conference. A sum of £7 7 s was voted to the chairman to cover out of pocket expenses. Cr. Baskla moved that the engineer report at the next meeting on the cost of metalling a portion of Cambria Road, at Mldhirst (3V4 chains).—Carried. Accounts amounting to £1219 were passed for payment.