TARANAKI COUNTY COUNCIL

Taranaki Daily News, 8 February 1921, Page 7

TARANAKI COUNTY COUNCIL

MONTHLY MEETING. The Taranaki County Council met yesterday. Present: —Crs. J. S. Connett (chairman), J. Wooldridge, J Andrews, S. Vickers, O. Penwarden, and. A. Morton. OVERSEER’S REPORT. The overseer (Mr G. Meredith) reported as follows on the work during January: Difficulty was experienced to procure sufficient labor to complete the crushing at Sentry Hill Pit, to carry out the metalling of the Cross Road. The work had to be completed without any casual hands. By employing the foremen from the surrounding lengths, the engine driver and water cart man from the small roller, the work was duly completed. The small roller has completed rolling Cross Road, and is now scarifying and rolling the Devon Road. The large roller has been engaged scarifying and rolling in the Okato Riding, scarifying and rolling two days on the Junction Road, and is at present in the Omata Riding, on the Hurford Road hill, where the metalling* work is being carried out. No. 2 and No. 3 trucks have been very busy from the 21st instant to the 31st, carting material as follows: Shingle to Devon Road 164 yards, shingle to Junction Road 104 yards, bitumen and tar to Omata 168 barrels, tanks to Omata 3, firewood from Carrington Road to Tar Depot 2 cords, cement from Railway to house on Hurford Road 3 tons, to sheds at Waiwakaiho 16 tons, metal form Gaol Quarry 108 yards, distributed as follows: Omata Riding—HuAvorth, Elliot, Frankley and Cowling Roads 84 yards: Mangorei Riding—Junction Road 16 yards, Carrington Road 8 yards. Horse teams: Foreman Jury is now, hauling stone for the Kirihau Road, and | has about 250 yards out at present. ! Mangorei Riding:—General mainten. ance work has been carried out in this riding. The foremen are at present engaged with the bitumen work on the Junction road. The corner at the intersection of Tarahua and Junction ■ roads has been widened out about five ] feet and the curve improved. A start was made on the Junction Road with the ; bitumen plant on the 28th instant and j to date about 30 chains has been treat.ed with the first coat. i Waitara Riding:-—During the month • 524 yards of metal has been quarried j and crushed at Sentry Hill Pit and dis- ! tributed as follows: Cross Road 512 ’ yards, Devon Road 4 yards and Kelly ; Road Creamery 8 yards. The Cross : road metalling is now completed; a total j of 885 yards has been laid on, the 52 I chains and the metal rolled in. Most • of the foreman’s time during the month I has been taken up with the crushing plant, i Devon Road: A start was made with the bitumen on the 21st inst. A considerable amount of trouble was experienced with the pump the first two or three days, but now the difficulty has been overcome and the spraying machine is working well. 29 chains has been treated with the first coat, 27 chains laid down last, season which had broken up badly has been repaired and the edges reinstated, also a light coat sprayed over most of this and treated with a coat of shingle; about 25 chains laid down last season has received a coat of shingle only.

Omata Riding:—General maintenance work has been carried out in this Riding including formation work on the top end of the Hurford and Barrett Roads. Foreman Seamark is at present engaged metalling the Hurford Road hill. The crusher is set up at'the Tapuae for this work. Okato Riding.—The foremen in this riding have been engaged practically the whole of the month blinding the various roads. Foreman Hayes has completed scarifying and rolling the main road, which is now ready for treating with bitumen. He has also rolled the Komene Road. Foreman Sefton has also completed the scarifying and rolling in his length. Foreman Rusling is at present engaged with the crushing plant at Tapuae. Plymouth Road Deviation: Mr. Krutz has almost completed his contract. According to the plan several of the bends are left very sharp and with the chairman’s consent I have arranged to cut back four of the most acute angles. ROADING REQUIREMENTS. The state of the Pennington Road was referred to in a -letter to the Council from P. J. Petersen, Brixton, Waitara. He expressed the hope that this season the council would see their way to carry out the promise of last year, namely, to form the road and put in pipes in a broken culvert. He stated that if the job was not done he would not be able to go to the factory next spring, as the road became very bad in wet weather. The overseer was appointed to inspect the road at the earliest opportunity W. J. Gray wrote on behalf of himself and two others, asking that the council construct a pipe culvert across the lower Komene road, and it was decided that an estimate be obtained as to the cost of the work. A letter was received from Bresiek Bros., Okato, drawing attention to the impassable state of the top end of the Korito road. They stated that they owned section 5 and 8. and could not ge't within a mile of the farm with a vehicle. It was decided that the overseer go into the question of the cost of making the road fit for vehicle traffic. Eight ratepayers of the Albion Road petitioned the. council to take steps to raise a special loan of £3OO for regrading and metalling portion of the road. The necessary steps are ! to be taken to raise the loan. WORKERS’ DWELLINGS LOAN. Advice was received from the Public Trust Office that the amount of I £799 14s 9d had been paid to the council on account of the workers’ dwellings loan. UNIFORM WAGES. The subject of securing uniformity in the scale of wages paid by local bodies ; was dealt with in a letter from the secretary to the Taranaki Counties’ Conference, in which was forwarded a resolution passed by the conference fixing maximum wages of surfacemen and casuals at 15s per day for time worked, exception to be made in special circumstances. All other employees would be remunerated as fixed by each individual council. HEAVY TRAFFIC BY-LAWS. Seven settlers on the Oxford Road waited on the Council, directing attention to the heavy traffic to which the road was being subjected through cartage of timber. They considered that

something ought to -be done towards securing . compensation for the upkeep of the road from those who were carrying the heavy loads. It was decided to instruct the county solicitor to take proceedings in the matter, notifying the mill owner that the council requires a royalty of Is per hundred feet for timber carted, this to be retrospective. MT. EGMONT QUARRIES. The Taranaki Progressive League wrote with reference to the opening of the Mt. Egmont quarries, stating it was desired to obtain further information regarding the requirements of local bodies and asking the council to give an estimate of its probable wants as a guide for the Minister. It w r as stated, during discussion by the council, that the only localities where the stone could be used in the Taranaki County were the Waitara and possibly the Omata ridings. It was decided to inform the League that the council’s requirements would be 2000 yards of broken stone, and 3000 yards of metal chips. GENERAL. In response to an enquiry from the New Plymouth Borough Council’s hy-dro-electric department, the council decided that owing to work on hand they would be unable to hire out the crusher. T. Williams wrote asking the permission of the council to put in a ram for water supply from the Waiwakaiho River to three houses that were being erected just over the river, as there was no water supply laid on in the vicinity.—The matter was left in the hands of the chairman to act. The consulting engineers (Messrs. Sladden and Palmer) forwarded specifications regarding proposed expenditure on the Plymouth and Surrey Hill roads prior to these being submitted to the Public Works Department for approval. The chairman was authorised to secure sufficient land for the Plymouth Road deviation. In view of a report from Messrs. Sladden and Palmer the council decided that no deviation be made on the Kirihau road, as previously proposed. The chairman said that a satisfactory grade was not obtainable on the deviation, and he thought the ( council could make better use of the money available by expending it on the present road line. A resolution was carried authorising the raising of a loan of £5OO for payment of work on the Cross Road. Security for the loan will be a special rate of 3d.