EGMONT COUNTY COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 April 1920, Page 3

EGMONT COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING. The ordinary meeting of the Egmont County Council was held nt Opunake vesterdav. Fresent: Crs. W. It. Wright (chairman), A. B. Coflln, Ja«. Young, T. H H. Sinclair, W. C. Green. S. Forsyth, M. O'Brien, R. C. Watson', and S. CampbelE. | EN'CINEER'S REPORT. The engineer (Mr. C. R. Pease) reported:— Oeo Riding (Northern) .—A considerable amount of w.iler-tabllnc has been done at various places on the Elfham Road, also a little clay h'indlng. Patching has been done to the Stratford, Oeo, and Klrl Roads. The foreman in this riding wa« engaged nearly half' the month driving the motor roller in the Opun Riding. Oeo Riding (Southern).—With the reception of two days work clearing- water-tables on the Pntikl Road, the men have been engaged the whrte of the. month cleaning watertables and day blinding on the Main South Road between tbe Tnungatara and Oeo Rivers. Opua Riding (Southern).—After flnlsnlrfr nrushing stone at the Walaua River for the Ihala. Road, tbe plant was moved to the Lower Waitelka. Road opposite tho factory where we crushed 114 cubic yards of boulder 9tone which was laid down on 23 chains of the road at a rate of about six yards to the chain, and a cost for scarifying, forming, watering, rolling, and blinding of Ss o%d per cubic yard, and £1! 2s 8d per chain, including the cor-motor's price for the me*.al. From here the plant was takdn up the Main South Road and crushed 24S cubic yards of paddock stone supplied by M. Brophy, which was also laid on the 40 bottom chains' of the Waitclka Road. Opua Riding (Northern).—-A considerable amount of work has been done on the Main South Road on the Opua Flat. Including blinding, cleaning out water-tab'os and forming a portion of the side track, ustng the material to bank up the metalling. Rahotu Riding (Southern) —Earlv in tlie month two short lengths of the Main South Road opposite Mr Dawson's and F. Fleming's properties, totalling l:i chains in length were scarified, rolled In and blinded. On completion of the abore, (ho crushing plant was taken from Xgnriki Road tb Ihe Opourapa Roml. where it cuslicd 101 cubic yards of boulder stone, 78 yards of which were laid down on l.'i chains of the road. The new cs'.'i~.ate for the widening, metaling, and tarsenling of the Kahul Road has been banded "u to i.;. 0 County Clerk, the amount bolng £fiooo. Rahotu Riding (Northern) —As Instructed I have examined the Waiweranui bridge at Warea and I. am of opinion that tho craolc showing in 'he southern haunch on the westerly side has- sligKly widened. I will keep tho Ivridje under closo observation and report, further If necessary. An amended i tiniate fcr the widening, metal'lng and tar sealing of the Warea Uoad amounting to I £4OOO has besn handed en to the County cleri;. General.—A considerable amount of damage I was done to Hie ■ surface of the whole of tho main rondi on the 27th. 2Stb, and 2dth or Hie month, the whole of the blinding bein"j washed and blown out. This wlk continue a; an enormous cost to the. Council until a bei>r ' means r-r sealing the surface is adopted 1 have been endeavouring to get rlio district engineer lo visit the Wireniii Road ami app'.iv.i of the work already done and at the name time approve of the further proposed work*, but owing to extreme pressure of bushier.* he was unable to coie before, the Council meeting. At. the renipsi. of tho chairman I have prepared en eslnnltc for tho tar scaling of 1li? Main South Road from tho Waiaun bridge to tbe Omma!:e Hoto, and from Allison Stret', to the !j mid M sale vards for n width of 13ft. Inclmiini the too dressing of Main Street Tor its full width," the amount l:cins £620.

THL WIREMU ROAD. Tin :if!n;sler of Public Works (Sir W. Fni'sr) notified that the aeturfi i'ems appeiri)i..- on the current l'ublie Works nnproi.Tint'on lor road and bridge works In the. County were Okehu (Xirarlkl to .Newall Road). C 475; Punlho Bridjte (Eltham-Opunake Koarl), £.'ir,o, and Wlremu lioad (klrl to Ngarlk! Itoad), SI3OO. An nntbcrlty for £74 out. of the £475 for ill? Xgarlkl-XewaM section or the Okahu Road had ncen held by the Council for some considerable time without any expenditure coming to charge. The balance of the Item was offered to the Conner for expenditure In .Inly, but he understood that tlrre was difficulty In' obtaining labor at reasonable, rates of wa»es A formal authority for £4Ol. the unauthorised balance, would bo issued directly the County informed the district engineer that they were aHe to secure labor at 13s per day, the ne.w Tuhlie Works rate fcr laborers. The Council had received the subsidy on the I'uniho Bridge The district engineer held an authority for £794 fcr expenditure on the Kh-I-Xgarlkl Road section of the Wlremu Road, but hnd been unable to make a commencement with the working owing to the shortage of labor and as the Council had so far been unable to secure workmen for Okalm Road nothing would apparency be gained by transferring the authority to the County Council Or. O'Brien said that the road 'was highly Important, and shoukl be dealt wllh at once He considered it was for the Council to subsidise the amount up to the current ratej of wages, and he suggested that they should' inform the rublic. Works Department to (his effect, aud either carry out the work themselves or else ask the Public Works Departmen't to carry out. the work, tho Council guaranteeing to flitd the difference between 13s and the current rate of wages. He preferred the former method, and considered that tho ratepayers were entitled to some expenditure for their rates. The chairman pointod out that this would necessitate an expenditure of £IBB and he considered the Council cond not afford that amount. He would favor £IOO. The chairman pointed out that (no rat.vi went to the uiiliejp of the main road, anil tho by-roads. He farored calling a meeting of settlers and offering to subsidise £ fur £ up to £IOO any sum raised bv the settlers. After further discussion, it w«s deeldeJ that the Council should mako up the dlffcrea"e of 3s per day.

UPPER PAIUHAKA ROAD. In connection with Wo Kupe/s application that. the Council should opon up the uoper 1 portion of the Pftrlhaka Head, the chairman stated that the Council had no funds in hrnd for the work, which would !ie??ssiUt? considerable stumping and formaV'on, but as tlie Coverrunent hnd recently take.i up two secticns ifl the centre of the block for returned pc Idlers, he considered that the Government should be asked for a gra.it. I'i tw? course of discussion, the riAirmaii stated' visit no rates were coming -iff the PdrJ.&ka b'ock, and the only way iho work cou'd bo dono would either bo ty the settlers b&Trowlnp the money thenusives or obtaining a grant from the Government. TARAXAKI VEHICLE LICENSING BY-LAWS The New Plymouth Borough Council asked the Council to apimint delegates to give evidence at a Commission which the Government Is setting up to hold an inquiry as to whether the Taranakl County Council's powers to make by-laws under the Counties Amendment Act. 1915, should be revoked. The chairman said that he had sympathy with the Taranakl County Council, who must raise revenue for the upkeep of the ro:>ds. but thought Egmont were paying sufficient, through the toll. Personally, he thought the difficulty of foreign .traffic wou d lie got over by the Government paying 10s in tVj £ subsidy as'suggested at the conference, I'he license would not get at foreign traffic, its cars from Wellington or other outside p!;icis would not be taxed. Ihe chairman and Cr. Green were appointed to represent tho Council on the Ccro•mJjsion. Cr. Young to act in the event t.f tUe chairman not being available.

STRIKING THE RATE. The chairman gave. notice to movo Hie next meeting that the Council'. stri'rj the rate for the onsulng year, an Increase of *4d oyer last year. As soon as information was aaulable, loan proposal?. would be before the ratepayers based on rotnyi:t.>'it foi 15 and ;!G% years respectively. He also c-m----?.'dered that In the event of the innn not heliis carried, a higher rate should l«\« siruc); In Opunako Hiding, so as to enable rho main road in the township to bp tarred, irrospcethv of whether the loan was oarrk«l or not Cr. Cottln said ratepayers lu flip rid'ng favcwHl the tarring of the main road by an Increased rale. The chairman stated that an extra ',£ d rsito would be required. Cr. Green suggested that Rahotu RHir.g should bo treated in the same way. TV' reads were becoming a disgrace, and :f iti«>! Opuußke people were prepared to pay frr i their roads being tarred, let them have it, arxi Jic would say more eredl*. to t-vn. I The matter was deferred, the tiialrman stating that the loan should be a riding out THE BY-ROADS. The chairman said tha£ Cr. Green had 'r.f(rrcd that nothing had bei*n done 10 ihe by-roads since the Council took thi'-n wr fmr the Parlhalca R.'hul Board, but hj- ;jui-i»od J out that £2500 had be<w spent, in th» Rahotu Riding, and £!* D."» in the Opua KidCr. Green said that the money may hava been spent but the work had erst. e*>n•Utoratf? tlua under the Board* Tat

Council had crushed metal tbe, 3oard had got out. Cr. Sinclair held that the by-routs ivero In better condition. GENERAL, On the application of L. A. Young, it was resolved that the engineer be authorise,! to expend up to £4O in repairing tho Lower Klna Road. The engineer applied for an increase in salary of £)oo. The matter was dealt with in committee, when it was decided to grant an increase of £SO per annum as from January Ist.