STRATFORD COUNTY COUNCIL

Taranaki Daily News, 23 December 1919, Page 3

STRATFORD COUNTY COUNCIL

MONTHLY MEETING. Tho monthly meeting of the Stratford County Council wns held on Saturday. Present: Councillors' Winter (clmlrman), Buskin, Were, Coleman, Hancock, O'Neill, Worthlngton, McKay imd Anderson. THE LOAN MONEY. Reporting with regard to the loan, the chairman said that no money at 5y 4 per cent, was offering so far. A letter was received from the Minister of Finance stating that he was' not prepared to authorise tho raising of a loan at a greater rate of interest than 5% per cent. Cr, Hancock said that If the Government .would not permit a higher rate It should find the money. A letter was received from Mr. Buxton, financial agent, stating that money was available, anu It was just a question of interest. He pointed out that Napier Harbor- Board was offering 5% per cent, for a loan of £160,000. The chairman said they might try and get along on tho £IO,OOO available from the Government. They might eventually get the whole of thß loan froai the Government, The best way was to make a. start, even If they hat to draw lots to decide which riding should have the money available. Cr. McKay thought they would be able to get £ 20,000 for the first year from the Government. It would bo better to go or. with the work. Thoy could not, in any case, do much during the present summer. No further action was taken. ENGINEER'S REPORT.

The engineer (Mr. J. W. Spence) reported! as follows North Riding (east): During the i last period the Ackland and Croydon roads h.avo received attention, the unmetalled portion of the north end of; the Stanley road has been put in fair order, and the pipes leading across the Croydon road opposite Mr. Agent's gate are being put in. In connection with proposed metalling loan for the north e&d of Stan.ey road, the ahellrock deposits have been visited and from what can be seen the handii est deposit exists In Mr. Savage's property. |To get the rock to the road would necessitate the formation of a dray track about a quarter of a mile in length.. North Hiding (west): General maintenance work, consisting of patching and water tabling, has been carried out! on the Fembroke and Denbigh roads. About: seventy yards of sand have been railed to Gord®n road; a further lot of forty yards will be forwarded when trucks aro available. About 400 yards of boulders have beon taken out of the Te Popo stTeam b®low the dam and deposited on Denmark' Terrace. South Riding: The roads generally in the riding are in fair order; clay blinding where necessary has been carried out. One of tho old culverts on the Waihapa road gave way and has been replaced with a set of nine-Inch pipes. The metalling contract for 98 chains of the Pakenganu road should be finished before the holidays. East Itiding (Toko) : General work haa been carried out on the following roads: The Walwivi road, portions of the Ohura, Toko and Sf.andish roads, Manga eliu Toad and Toko, road (East). The levels have been taken and j a plan and estimate prepared in connection with proposed deviation through Mr. MarfeV.'s property. .East Riding (Douglas) : Water tabling and banking up has beon done on tho Ohura read. The restar required for dressing Ohura Toad, between Gordon road station and New road, has been distributed on the road The seven truck ioa'da of sand railed from Midhirst have also been carted to the most convenient places. Tho formean has drawn attention to the state of the fence round the County section and has asked for thirty posts to replace old ones. Kast IJidlng (Hulroa) : General repair work has been carried out on tho Dourlus Noith and Akama roads and a cul-, vert, placed in the Douglas south road The \ portion of tho Makuri road (east) has beon raised from tho Kioro Tunnel to the railway station. Tho foreman and surfaceman on the riding have both given up their positions. This, I regret to state, has been done without giving due notice. Arrangements have been made to till the foreman'? position as Boon as the cottage is completed The bridge on the Akama road opposito Mr Stanford's property is in an unsafe condition; arrangements have been made to have repairs' effected when the new decking which has been ordered comes to hand. West Riding: It has been necessary to do a considerable amount of patching on the Upper Palmer road The Lowor Palmer iias beon water tabled and blinded Surface work has been done on tho Ronald and Opu* nako No. 11l About 61) chains of the Opunake No. ,111 have been Tofaced with stono taken ' out of tiie Kapunl stream. The crusner haa been moved to the Kaupokonul crushing site and a start made to put through 500 yards of boulders, part of which is to be used for refccini? and tho balance for maintenance. Mangaohu Hiding: Repair work has been carried out on the Mangaphu, Mangaehu South, I'uni-

whnkau, Brcwer-Talhorc roads —Adopted. The engineer was authorised to expend up to E;i"i In improving about 40 chains of the Makaru road. Consideration of the proposed deviation through Mr. Marfeil's property was held over till the' chuirnura had seen the overier Mr. Smith, Cardiff, was gran'.ed permission to take | a quantity of eartli from the road subject to (lie engineer's approral. rNT FORM BY-LAWS. Mr. W. .T. Tristram, secretary to the Taranaki Counties Conference, notified ttyit n meeting of the Conference would be held in the Aihanenum Hall, Eltbam, on Monday, in» --'id Inst. to finally dea. with the uniform by-laws. —The chairman was appointed delegate to the conference HYDRO-ELECTRICITY. Referring to hydro-electrlclty the chairman said the Council would have to watch their interests, and see that no one acquired the right apart from the Council to sell power !n their district. GENERAL. It was decided to offer without prejudice 25s to Mr. Knox, whose fence had been destroyed by fire, allowing Ills stock to get out on to the road. The engineer reported that the ncT Ford truck had arrived. Cr. O'Neill urged that a statement should l)e prepared showing the proportion of toilgate revenue expended In cacti of the south and north ridings. Tho South Riding was debited with £:!(I0, -and probably tho north hud spent tho greater part of it. The chairman said the toll gate had never been treated as a riding account. The toll gate was granted on the understanding that the road should be tarred and sealed, and one third -,t:is to be spent in the South, and twothirds in tho Norih riding They had always asked tho engineer tu balance up the account ' fairly. Cr .McKay said that Cr. O'Neill had had a much bigger share of the expenditure 4lian his riding was entitled to. Cr, o'Xeill said his riding was to have a

third, and now the c.crk aaii he could not let them have a statement because ho did not knew the position. The chairman: Xo one asked for separate accounts before. fleeing that you desire it, the engineer will keep separate accounts in future.

Thy Stratford Fawners' 00-operativo Association .applied for 15 yardp of shell rock for tho Makuri road creamery.—Granted, subject. lo tho engineer's approval. A copy of a resolution passed at a meeting of Kaponga business people urging the Council to immediately proceed with the bridging of the stream crossing the Upper Palmer road "was received. —Work to bo don- as soon aa the loan money is available. Mr. .1. Bishop wrote offering to clear the surrey road near his place of timber and agreeing to pay a royalty of 2s per cord for rata and twopence each for posts.—Loft with tho engineer to deal with. The Taranakl Education Board wrote asking the Council to won«ider its decision not to grant the Board exemption from the payment oi' tolls. It was pointed out that we Hawara and Clifton Councils had agreed to ! grant exemption,—Deferred till next meeting. The N Z. Society of Civil Engineers wrote requesting the Council to grant such facilities as lay in their power to enable their engineer to be present at the annual conference In Dunedin on February 24 and 28.—1t was stated that the time and place of the conference were unsuitable and it was decided to suggest that they be altered for next year. iMr Budge and Mr. Hancock, Makara road, who have sections on the Makara road, waited on the Council, and asked that something be done to the road. Mv. Budge also desired that some attention be given to Croydon road. Mr. Hancock said he had a section of 132 acres and intended to milk on it next season, but tho road at present was only fit for a pack horse. Cr. McKay said It would be very expensive to put the road in order. He could not agreer to the work being done out of general rates, and the only way was a special loan. Mr. Budge said he was quite prepared to wait, till the engineer and the riding members had been given an opportunity to look into the matter. Possibly the ratepayers WQUiti agreu a special loan. Tho engineer was empowered to spend up to £25 on the Makara Toad.

A copy of a Gazette Notice, eitendlni; the operation of the third schedule of the Noitous Weeds Act to the plant known as "lantana" was recoived. In a covering letter Mr. C. J. Reakes, dlrec-tor-uencral of the Department, stated that he had been advised that "lantana" was spreadins In seme parts of the Auckland district, and it was desirable that It should be dealt will) before the Infested area assumed large proportions —Received. = On the motion of Cr. McKay it was decided to join In the mutual employers' insurance and fidelity guarantee fund. Mr. R W. Dlnswall wrote asking for some small Improvements to the Makurl toad.— Decided tn do the work. Messrs. Spenee and Stanford wrote stating that they had prepared a dl&Nof dedication of s public toad mar Douglas under instruc-