EGMONT COUNTY COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 May 1920, Page 2

EGMONT COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING. The ordinary, meeting of the Egmont County Council was held at Opunake yesterday. Present: Crs. W. R. Wright (chairman), A. B. t'offln, R. C. Watson, M. O'Brien, S. Campbell. Cr. T. H. Sinclair was firauted leave of absence. ENGINEER'S REPORT. The engineer reported:— Ceo Riding (Northern) .—The foreman in this riding has teen engaged most of the month driving the motor roller in the southern portion of the riding, and In the Opua. Riding and the surfacemen have been engaged on the work of patching, and water-tabling at various places on the Eltham, Stratford, and Oeo Roads. Ceo Riding (Southern) .—ln tie early part of the month the surfacemen were engaged on the work of cleaning out the watertables at various places on the Main South, Patilti, and Skeet Roads, and repairing the Our! Bridge. On the 12th Inst., the No. 2 crushing .plant was moved from the Lower Waiteika 'Road to the top end of the Nopera Road to work on Contract No. 336 where It crushed 370 yards of boulder stone which was laid down on 35 chains of the road at a rate oMO% ynTds per chain, at a cost for labor, fuel, etc., of just under 4s id per yard, and a total cost par chain, including cost of metal of £9 39 iy.. From here the plant was moved to the bottom end of tho Nopera Road on to Contract No. 354, where, up to the present time it has crushed 374 yards of metal and 00 yards of screenings which have been put down- on the Main South Road, west of Mr. Lamble's senr. Twenty hardwood blocks are on order for repairs to the trusses of the Ourl Bridge on the Main South Road, and as soon as these are delivered the bridge will be tightened up Opua Riding (Southern) .—At the beginning of the month, Contract No. 373 was completed at the lower end of the Lower Waiteika ttoid, where 248 cubic yards of paddock stone was crushed and laid down on about 40 chains of the road at about six yards per chain, and at a. cost of about 6s 2d per cubic yard for machinery, fuel, team, and manual labor, and a total cost of £5 Cs 2d per chain Including the cost of the stone. '

Rahotu Riding (Southern).—A new suspension footbridge has been erected over the Pungaereere stream on the Rahotu Road to replace the old plank footbridge. Work in connection with the spending of £4O on the Lower Klna Road has been commenced, but had to be postponed on account of the men's attention being immediately required to renew a culvert, which had fell in. About fire miles up the tipper Klna Road will now have to stand until the men have dealt with about 100 cubic .yards of metal which is being crushed at the Waltotoroa Bridge, and laid down on Layman's Hill. In the meantime tho new formation on the Lower Klma Road will have a good chance to settle Itahotu Riding (Northern) .—Tho men in this portion of the Riding have been engaged all tho month with crushing plant No. 2 on various contracts, etc. Contract No. 359 on tho Paor* 1 Road was started at the beginning of the month, and the contractor put through the crusher and delivered on to the road 304 cubic yards of meta.l, 280 yards of which was laid down on 23 chains of the road at the ton end at the rate of 12 yards per chain after the road had been newly formed and ii yards were used at the approach to the Mnin South Road, the cost per cubic yards, Including cost of formation being just over 3s 9d anJ tho total coat per chain, Including cost of stone, etc, being £lO is 9d. The plant was then moved to tho Warea Road, where 100 cubic yards of river bed boulder stone was crushed and dumped on the side fur patching, at a cost, • for labor fuel, etc of Just over 2s per yard, and a total cost of fi.iO 3s for the 100 yards, the Barrett roller In the meantime, being occupied on the work of scarifying and rolling in tho surface over the new concrete bridges in the district etc on the Main' South Road. Plant and General.—l have rccentlv gone Into the question of a portable air coinpressing plant in connection with drilling rocks for road metal. There are thousands of yards of large rocks and boulders Iving about in disused pits, ami an the road sides Ibese rocks are tho verv best metal anil those on the roads are a danger and obstruction to traffic in many cases anil should be removed and madn use of, especially as river bod stone is becoming scarce Such a plant, say, consisting of a 3-h.p. engine a , n by Cln compressor with receiver, could easily bo mounted on a bogey like the pumping nlajits and taken anywhere with one or two horses, and It would drill up to Oft if re- | u ™' tUe cost would probably be about WIREMU ROAD EXPENDITURE. The Under-Secretary of Public Works notiHed that the Items nn the appropriations for road formation in the Egmont County were as follows:—Oknhu Road (Ngarlkl to Newall Road) voted £473, authorised expenditure 4. ,4, unauthorised balanco £401; Wiremu ? o *. B', r i t0 N enriki), voted £ISOO, authorIsed £,1)4, expended £2, unauthorised balance £,06. If the Council desired the arrangement to pay the. difference of 3s ner day would apply to the Okahu Road grant as well as to the Wiremu Road. It was presumed that the Council would take over tho expenditure of the £794, and if so an authority would be Issued as soon as plnns and specifications had been approved bv the district engineer If tho Council wished to proceed with the expenditure of the balance £4Ol in the Okahu Road, detailed plans and specifications would also have to bo submitted to the district engineer. The chairman stated that there was EI49R available for the Wiremu Road, from the \g'a rlkl to Klrl Roads, of which £792 was alr'eidv authorised He thought the balance would be authorised if the Government approved of the plans for Its expenditure. He bought tho engineer should be Instructed to prepare proposals for submission at next meeting. l L

It was decided to ask the district engineer to meet the county engineer and visit the BY-LAWS. The Taranakl Education Board drew attu'ntion to the danger of accidents to children attending the Punlho School owing to tbe turn in the road close by, and asked the. Council to have notice boards erected on each side of the school to warn motorists. The chairman stated that when the by-laws came into force it would bo the duty of the Council to erect notice boards. The matter would then be attended to. Cr. Green moved that the engineer' bo Instructed to see that the Council's Instructions re straying cattle were carried out.—Carried. KAHtTI ROAD. - The chnlrm/m stated that the Kahui Poad settlers were prepared to go In for a loan j for taT sealing, but they now found that the first year's Interest could not be raised by general rate, and this was delaying matters. The road was now beyond repair Tho Act provided that where the interest was less than £IOO it could be paid out of general rate, but this amount, was mora itsid it was unfair that the general rate should be raised when it would not ho required for malatenanee for yearn The difficulty might he overcome hy forming a separate riding, or fnlllntr that. Mr. Hnwken should be asked to get the Act amended., as tar sonllntr was not. thought of when that was Introduced The matter of attending to the road was deferred till next meeting. GENERAL Tl:e Department, of Agriculture notified that owing to the existence of prlcklv pear in the Wr:>ranul district, that plant had been added to tlie third schedule of the Noxious IVee's 4ct. It was resolved to bring the heavy truffle by-laws into effect. Messrs. R. .T. Bell and \V. Moffltt petitioned tho Council to take steps to raise a loan for metalling 35 chains of the Lower Punlho tto.id —Referred to tho Taramki County Council. The chairman stated that people were growling about the cost of road maintenance but there were contractors getting £3 per day for a team of four horse's and a dray.