TARANAKI COUNTY COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 November 1919, Page 2

TARANAKI COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Taranakl County Council waa held yesterday, there being present Crs. J. S. Connett (cißiii'ma/il, ~A E. Laurence, J. B. Simpson. J. YVooldrbige, 0. Andrews, S. Vickers, A. Morton. Q. Capper and J. Andrews. ' ENGINEER'S ItEI'ORT.

The engineer (Mr. H. D. Cllmie) reported as follows: Moa Hiding.—As ' instructed I liavo informed tho road fotcnieu in this riding to keep tho roads In as uood a state of repair as possible, and as no new works were to be gone on with tho whole of their time was to be Kivcii to the above mentioned work. No. 1 motor lorry delivered 1:4 yards on Foreman Knofflock's length. At the present time Ihero are 1200 cubic yards of boulders o! the three crushing depots oh the'.Mountain road and Foreman Laurenco has some 80 cubic yards of maintenance metal on hand. Now that the fine weather is at hand there should bo sufficient metal for all repairs until the end 'of March, All tho side noads in this riding ire in very good order. A culvert' on the Junction road, near Inglowood Bacon Factory, washed out during tho month, and was repaired by Foreman Heal with four elghreen-inch pipes. Foreman Heal has also carried out somo formation work on tho Kaipi road, Mr. Street and another giving their labor and also doing the necessary horse work. iMangorel Hiding.—During the wot weather at the beginning of the month the Junction road got into rather a bad state owing to the fact that no foreman was available. However. Foreman Laurence hopes .to shift from the Mountain road to this length in the course 'of a few days. Tho small roller has been working at this end of the road for about ton days doing vary nocosMry scarifying and forming up. Foreman Spenccs has been in charge of this work. X understand' that the ratepayers on Lower Mangorei road (Hospital road) are raising a loan to metal portion and I will bo glad to have your Instructions in regard to tho hill on this road. If I am delayed in making- a start on Allen's Hill deviation I will be able to put a gang of men on the nearer portion of Junction road to improve the worst corners and the few narrow fillings between tho Borough boundary and the dairy factory. Contractor Southcombe has made a start to pull 1000 yards of stone at Mangorei and hopes to completo tho work by the end of the month.

Waitara lading.—Owing to certain circumstances tho work of clearing road sides with the gTader was stopped for some weeks. Foreman Palmer has once more made a start and has completed tho Itlchmond road from Devon Lino to Leppcrton store. Ho is now working on tho Te Are! road and will then do tho Mountain road as far south as the railway bridge. Nothing further has yet been done in regard to Pennington road as I have been waiting to see Mr. Petersen to make necessary arrangements. Tho settlers on Johnston Street, which Is on the Waitara Borough boundary! ask that their road he rounded up as it Is very deeply rutted. No, l lorry was out for two days carting metal necessary for maintenance on the Waitara and Tate Toads and also on the Mountain road, Foreman Harvey's length. A start has been made to do the authorised metalling on Smart, Egmont, Henwood and Parite roads. Approximately 100 cubic yards goes ou'. to eacii road. As an experiment I have used tho Ford lorry to take men from town to do the lllling at the Mutton Tiaek cubcrt and it is proving fairly successful. \\ ith foreman Proud I inspected a lUlinu on. tiit> King road at Nita'g property The lvS-liich culvert put in soino tlmo ago to r&placo thr> old wooden culvert requires to be lowered. This can be done in a day if I send the men liy motor, lorry. It will be necessary to serve formal notice on Mr. Bishop to clean out a creek running across the corner' of Hurs'house and King roads. The water is backed up nearly two feet and in tho event of a heavy flood it is quite possible for the creek to wash out tho tilling on Hursthouse road, Jt will be necessary to provide Foreman Proud with seven nine-inch pines to renew an old wooden hex culver' carrying storm water to a frully head on Mr Richard's property, IT(imvoo<l road. Several of tho roads in this riding will soon require considerable attention Ihere arc many lengths on which iho motal seem.-; to bo almost worn out, however, thoy all will bo able to carry traffic through the dry weather, hut next winter will find them hard to keep in order.

Omatft Riding—The work on Tipper Carrington road was taken in hand by Mr. Bransprove, who has done a gTeat deal for the amou.it granted (£l7) I have prepared an cstima'o for the formation and metalling of this road frnm end of metal to Oainira rirer crossing. The work of re-surfacing and forming up metal on Main South road from end of tar to Allan's Hill will bo ■ started next week and the three, lorries will be used to haul metal from Wr.iwakaiho.

Ofca'o Riding.—Satisfactory arrangements have now been made in regard to the deviation of the Plymouth road at TCoru. Mr. Morton, the owner of tho iand, has agreed to the proposed new lino. The foremen in this riding have been engaged on usual maintenance and repairs As instructed, danger boaids have been erected at the Oakura bridge. It is to be hoped that tho drivers of heavy lorries will take some notice of Ihem.

Plant.—The lar?e roller Is a: present workins on tho Smart roiul and will bo used on these small metalllns jobs until a start is made oil Main South road The small roller will be kept at v.ork on the Junction road for some considerable time. Delirev.y of the new White lorry was taken ibis week, and at present a now cab is being built for It. Somo 1800 cubic yards of shingle has been put llirough tho crusher this month.- J>eforo the larger works are started It will reqitiro ail overhaul. When tilts has boon dono the whole of the plant will bo In Rood order to commence the summer's programme of work. General —Work at the tar boiling depot ha? been continued all the month and a start. Is row being made to build in the boilers This wnfl: should be completed and also a storage tank for tar before tho cud of the month. Delivery of 10,000 gallons of tar can then bo taken. I am endeavoring to have all work completed to enable tho tar-sealing to bo started after tile New Year. If sufflcint supplies of tar come forward we should completo from eight to ten miles during the season There aro sufficient supplies of shingle in sight t'o do this amount of work. 11. will soon bo time to consider the question of ordering a chip, crusher as delivery of this will bo slow. It was decided to send a letter of thanks, to Mr. S'reet for tho services rendered by him and another man for work done on tho Kaipi road. It was agreed that as soon as the necessary signatures were obtained for the Lower-Man-gorei loan of fiino, the Council would proceed with the regrading and formation work. The chairman was authorised 'n make arrangements for hous'n; the foreman who was to undertake Foreman Patten's ienjth. It was decided to give formal notice'to Mr N. I!. Bishop to clean out a creek Tunning across tiie corner of llursthouso and. Kjjig The chairman and fr.'j. Andrews were empowered to interview Mr. 0. Pitt, with a view to obtaining a portion of his land f-r a quarry. It was f.ecidod to place the danger no'ices at the Oainira bridge hack some dis'anee fr u in the bridge, and also to limit, the maximum lord to six tons (including weight of vehicle) and the speed to six miles per hour. I', was also decided to place similar notices and restrictions upon tho use of the Maketawa and Xgatara bridges BRIDGE CAHPEXTEII'S ItEPORT. 'Pile bridge carpenter (Mr. w. ,T. Clare) reported ' that tho benzine store, the cab ' fur No. 2 dump truck, and one of tho men's huts were completed and i*eidv for use, and the second hut would be ready this week' The Saunders-Carringtoii road bridges bad been inspected and passed by the district en-iueer (Mr. Sharp). DEPUTATION'S, Mr Webby waited on the Council to ask if something could be done towards forming and metalling about half a mile of tho Dover road approaching his property. Ho ottered to put tho stone out. and form the road, if the Council would do the rest. During tho discussion of the inatrer it was urged that while tl)e County's finances were in thoil present position now- works should not be dono out of rates It was further pointed out that tho principle of subsidising such work out of rates was not fair to settlors who made themselves liable in respect to loans for such special work. It was decided to inform Jfr Webby t.liat the Council was not prepared to assist liftn to the amount suggosted, and recommends that he consider the matter of raising a special loan for tho work. A deputation of Saunders road settlers Includipg Messrs \Y. and W A. Corbett'and Whitehead, waited on the Council to ask assistance for metalling 'he road. A loan bad laen aareed to for £101)0. and the Covornment bad offered £3OO as subsidy, but they felt the work required to be done could liot be completed for that amount, and they therefore asked If the Council could assist, them in any way. It wns pointed out that bv subsidising the road the Government evidently looked upon It as a main road, and that It. would eventually become tho main road to Opunake as It saved a distance of eight miles. ' It wns decided to get the engineer to Inspect tho road and report to tho Council at next, mnet'np, giving ;-n estimate of tho cost of the work to the settles „s early a« possible Mr Tlicbardson waited on tho Council In regard to the need for something to be done on the Upper Pitonn rend, nnd also the . Carl'iugton road bridge—The matters were left in the bands of tho chairman and engineer to report upon. GENERAL. "■ h « action o' ciuiirman In unnobilJne

Mr. P. C. Raill to collect dog tax In the county was approved. It was decided to inform Mr. Hare that the Council could not entertain his offer to sell land required for the deflation at Allen's Hill, aiul that steps would bo taken to acquire the samo under tho Public Works Act.

Tha Taranakl Education Board applied for exemption from toll fees for the motor vehicles used in its when passing through the fates in the county. The cars were used In connection with the erection .and repair ot buildings with money granted by tho Government,—Application declined. Mr. D. D. Matheson, chairman of a conference of local bodlos, representative dairy companies, farmers, unions, and fruit growers, held at Levin on July 26, wrote enclosing copies of two resolutions passed lor which it was decided to ask the support of all local uodies along the coast In urging the Government to take (ho matter up. Tile resolutions approved the regulations recently enacted by tho Minister for Forestry for the regulation of tho export of, and for conserving the remaining timber of the New Zealand forests: and it was also urged that the Government should at once acquire all suitable land along tho Wellington West Coast lino and establish a State forest, in order to provide for future timbeir supplies and to prevent the rapid destruction of valuable land by drifting sand The Council endorsed tho resolutions. Mr. A; Mclndoe, toll collector. Funlho, wTOte asking for certain repairs and improvoments to be made to his quarters lit the toll gate Tho matter was left In the hands of the chairman and riding members with power to act.

The New Plymouth Gas Company wrote that they were prepared to give the County all tho tar in stock at the end of October, estimated' at 10,000 gallons, at 25s per barrel of 42 gallons, provided delivery was taken within one month, with a farther undertaking of supplying 14,000 gallons within the period of twelve months at the rats of not less than oipht barrels per week, at the same price. Seven ratepayers of tho Ahu Ahu road petitioned the Council to take the necessary steps to raise ■ a special loan of £IOOO for metalling the road. They undertook to do all the formation work provided tho Council gave equal value in crushing the metal and metalling. It was decided to take tho steps asked for by petitioners.

The State Advances Office wrote approving of the loan of £BOO for the fofmation and metalling of Klrihau Eoad. The tender of Messrs F. 0. Eeld, Wellington, at 8s Td per dozen, was accepted for the supply of dog collars. Accounts amounting to £2090 103 3d were passed for payment.