EGMONT COUNTY COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 February 1920, Page 8

EGMONT COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING. The ordinary meeting of the Egnu.nt CountT Council was held at Opunake yesterday Present: Councillors W. 1!. Wright (chairman), A B. Coffin, Jas. Young, H. H. Sinclair W c' <>rcen, S. Campbell, #. C. Watson, 'and' m' u linen. ENGINEER'S EEror.T. The engineer reported:— Oeo Biding (Northern).—A considerable amount of water-taliling and clay binding lias been done to the Eltham lioad east of the I'lineim bridge. The Klri Itoad will shortly require sonio attention owing to the heavy traffic on it by reason of the removal of the old saw mill plant, to a fresh site, and the Oeo Road is much in need of pa ti-hin-' Oeo Riding (Southern) .—Early in the mon'h tho Acme crusher was moved into this riding on contract 35S on the Watino Road, where the contractor delivered 162 cubic yards of crushed boulder stone and 36 yards screenings which were laid down on 20 chains of the road and rolled in at a total cost of £lO3 sj (he cost for scarifying, rolling, labor, fuel 'etc being lis l%d per yard, the amount of'metal being just over S yards par chain, and the total cost per chain being £8 3n .'id. From nore the plant was moved to I'atiki Road to contract 357, which yielded 100 cubic yards crushed metal and 40 yards screenings; of this I:i2 yards metal and the screenings were rolled in on a length of 20 chains of the road after being scarified at a total cost, including metal, of £lB7 175,, tho cost for labor, fuel etc., being £Ol 17s or almost Os per cubic yard. Just under 8 yards per "chain were laid down at a total cost of £9 2s 3d per chain.

Opua Riding (Northern).—During the early part of the month the men were' engaged on the work of banking up the newly metalled portion of the Main South linad on the> Opua Flat north of the Opua Road, and a considerable amount of this work remains to be done, but owing, to the crushing plant being relieved from work in the Oeo Southern Riding tho men were diverted to contract 347 on tho Main South Road in the Opunake Riding, where they are at present engaged, cost of which work on completion will bo given next month An old dangerous wooden culvert at the bottom of the Arawhata Road has been replaced with ten 36-Inch pipes.

Rahotu Riding (Southern).—The contract work (part of contract 346 and 368) have been completed, tho total amount of stone put through tho crusher being 350 yards. 30 yards of which was boulder stone lying on the roadside which was tipped for maintenance, and 30 yards being large stone taken from the road after being scarified, put through tho crusher and laid down on a length of 7 chains of road This was under contract 34G. Under contract. 365, 230 cubic yards of pit stone were crushed and laid on 44 chains at the bottom eiwl of tho road after scarifying. Tho total cost of metal and labor was £242 15s 6d, the cost of labor, fuel, scarifying, rolling, etc., being £B6 8s or 4s ll%d per cubic yard, and the average cost per chain (including the metal dumped for maintenance), being about £4 IGj 2%d. From here th^, -plant. was moved to Ngariki Road where, It crushed 133 cubic yards of boulder stone under the old contract 340, when woi'k was commenced on a new contract, 3f>6.

Rahotu Riding (Northern) —A greater portion of the surfadijiien's time in this end of the riding has been taken up on the Slain South Road, which lias been clay-blinded for a distanco of about GO chains between the Bayly and Ware?, roads. Some filling and sidehanking has been done at Wares, and the blackberries have been cut on the reserves. The new concrete bridge erected by tile' hue Tarihaka. Road Board over Dirty Man's creek mi the Upper Newall lioad, requires some attention.

General—l would suggest that the Council' place Its position with respect to reinforced I bridges bol'oro the Board of Trade, and endeavor to ftct a sufficient supply of cement to Keep a reasonable gang of bridge-builders in employment, as it is becoming imperative that some of the bridges should ha renewed, otherwise great expenditure will be needed for fepairs. It was resolved to make application to the Board of Trade for cement. STRIKING THE RATES. Tha chairman brought up the question of striking rates before the valuation rell was received. Cr. Young suggested that, prior to striking a rate the Council should be given an idea of the amount that would he required to main- j tain the roads, and also reduce their lhhility I somewhat. They must guard against getting i deeper in debt each year. Settlers, he con- j sidered, must have roads, and they were able j to pay for them. I Cr. Green said that they should first con- j aider getting in outstanding rates. j The chairman said there was only £2OOO i outstanding, all Maoris, who would not pay I till they were summoned. In a few- weeks 10 per cenMvould be added. GFA'ERAL. Rev. C. Strand wrote offering to negotiate for the purchase or exchange of the section now us2d as a pipe depot in Opunake, for the purpose of erecting a minister's residence. The Council favored tho opening of negotiations, and a cciinniittce consisting of the chairman, Crs. Coffin, Young and Sinclair was set up to deal with the matter. Tho chairman moved that, when allocating expenditure on roads, they should take into consideration the claim* of roads carrying foreign traffic. This 4vas seconded by Cr. O'Brien, and carried. Mr. G. W. Rogers, clerk, applied for an increase of salary of £75, making the salary £:JSO per bers made eulogistic reference to Mr. Rogers' excellent work, and it was resolved to grant the application.