CLIFTON COUNTY COUNCIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 May 1921, Page 7

CLIFTON COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING. The Clifton County Council met yes■terday. Present: Crs. R. H. Pigott (chairman), R. L. Harrison, S. J Sutton, F. C. Jones, C. Foreman, F. H. Bamitt -and T. McKenzie. ENGINEER’S REPORT. The engineer (Mr. C. F. Dowsett) reported as follows: Tikorangi Riding.—The Nikorima Road (installing - contract has been completed from Mr. Draper's to the Main Road junction, a distance of 57 chains, and taking 1168 yards of metal which has been blinded with screenings and rolled. It is proposed that as opportunity offers the balance of stone will be obtained from the foreshore and the work finally completed next season. A small quantity of boulders left at the Walpapa depot were crushed and used for the deviation at Waipapa. The boulders quarried in Mr. Bevan’s pit have been carted to the top of West's Hill, where crushing Is expected to commence shortly, while the broken Stone from the same quarry will be carted to the depot on the Bertrand Road. The stone quarried in Mr. Sarten’s pit will be carted on to the hill at the Bona Road junction with Otaraoa Road.

Waihl Riding.—The construction of the Parlhaka concrete culvert is proceeding satisfactorily; the floor is already completed, and the walls are receiving attention. On the Allen Road extensive work has been done in cutting fern and stumping, and forming up over 60 chains of road, ranging from 15 to 60 feet wide, and in addition drains have been cut and widened out,, and a 20-inch pipe culvert put in, for which the council were asked to pay £l5 only. On the Mataro Road the gravelling contract has been pushed ahead, 93 chains having now been covered with 1600 yards of gravel. By reason of no further money being available, owing to the cancellation of all grants and subsidies, any further work must for the present be paid out of ordinary revenue and refunded later.

Ngatimaru Riding.—The usual maintenance work has been proceeding in the Purangi and Matau districts. On the Tirangi Road arrangements were made to put In all concrete pipes recently sent forward, and also to Improve bad sections, payment to be made out of’ “thirds.” Somewhat similar improvements were also arranged for in respect of the North Matau Road, and an offer was made of £ for £ for deepening drains on the Rako Rako Road. Various requests for widening tracks to dray roads would require to have Government assistance, as it is beyond the finances of the council at present. Urenui Riding.—Owing to no committal of liability on the Kaiplkari Road, I fear that in the meanwhile this contract will require to stand over. Further supplies have neen quarried from the native reserve. The contractor guaranteed to put out 100 yards per month if an increased price were given. The council have kept faith, but the contractor is somewhat behind. On the Okoke Road the formation work has been completed’, the culverts put In, and the gravelling has commenced from tie Hogan Road seam, which is producing a good sample of its class. I am awaiting timber for the shoot before we can proceed with the maintenance metal. On the Piko Road the piles for thd Black bridge are already on the site, and the balance of timber is nearly all cut at the local mill. Timber for renewing the kerblng in Urenui township has been ordered. The permanent man has started work on the Pukearuhe Road and is attending to necessary requirements. Uruti Riding.—The roadman at the southern end has been patching metal and watertabling, and at the northern end receiving repair metal from the Public Works lorries for repairs to the Main Road disturbed by their traffic. A large concrete culvert has replaced a wooden one on the Mangahla Road. A truck load of deck timber has been forwarded to Uruti for emergencies. Mokau Riding.—During the unonth the roadman has been assisted by casual labor in attending to the various roads under his charge, and will be sanding weak portions where required. On April 22, in company with the resident engineer, an inspection was made of the Paraninihi tunnel with the intention of probably reducing the cost of the proposed improvements, but the fact of the tunnel awaiting attention may possibly rather add to its ultimate cost.

WANDERING STOCK. A complaint was received from F. E. • Watersoil regarding the number of stock which were grazed on the road between Pehu and Matau, a distance of about eight miles. He said that last year over forty head were on the road at one time, and in view of the bad state of the route he thought something ought to be done to put a stop to the practice. A letter was received from A. Johnson, of Uruti, stating that there were a number of stock wandering on the Mangahia Road. Cattle on the roads, he said, were becoming a pest, and he asked the council to appoint a ranger.

The chairman said there was no doubt the straying stock were very troublesome, but it was a difficult matter to deal with. It would be a heavy tax on the ratepayers if the council had to provide a ranger, as it meant the payment of 15s to £1 per day. Cr. Barnitt suggested that the council employ a casual ranger to pay visits intermittently to various parts of the district. The- engineer was empowered to take action against owners of wandering stock, and to employ a part-time ranger. THE TANG ITU TUNNEL.

A letter was received from T. Henry asking that the attention of the Minister of, Public Works be drawn to the necessity of pushing on with the Tangitu deviation work, as it was pressing, and an injustice was being done to the settlers who were paying interest on loan money while other works were proceeding. On behalf of the Tangitu deviation committee, H. Larsen also wrote directing attention to the unsatisfactory state of affairs in connection with the deviation and tunnel, “Work is absolutely at a standstill,” he said, “in spite of our having raised our portion of the money years ago.” The chairman said he had interviewed the Public Works Engineer at Stratford on the subject of the delay, and was informed that men were put on the work of driving the tunnel, but as they proceeded with the work, it was stated, they found there was a danger of the earth coming down, and would not proceed unless the tunnel was timbered. Consequently the men were transferred to other work. The cost of lining the tunnel with timber would be about £9OO, and as this was an unforseen expenditure, for which there was no money available, the department had to hold the work in abeyance. The work was certainly a very necessary one. On the motion of Crs. Barnitt and Sutton, it was decided that representations be made to the Minister for Public Works on the necessity of completing the tunnel. k PARININIHI TUNNEL. Intimation was received from the Public Works Department to the effect that the subsidy for the Parininihi tunnel, an amount of £875 (£ for £), would be granted directly satis-, factory proposals had been submitted by the council as to the expenditure of -the money. The engineer’s report showed that a visit to the tunnel had already been made preparatory to submittLu< .2£g-.,

posals. It was decided to ask the other contributing bodies (the Fanners’ Meat Company, Borthwick and Co., and the Awakino County Council) to pay £225 each towards the cost of the work. CURTAILING EXPENDITURE. In consequence of the financial stringency, and the necessity for national economy, the counil was advised by the Minister for Public Works that it was necessary for the Government to limit all expenditure to such works as were absolutely essential, and this rule would also apply to votes made for road and bridge construction. In the event of unemployment arising later, he said, the Government being in control of the expenditure of votes would be in a better position to deal with the difficulty. He did not, of course, intend to embarrass local bodies by cancelling all unredeemed authorities, but he had found it necessary to cancel every authority, or portion of authority, in respect of which no definite obligation, or contract, had been entered into. The chairman reported that the council would be affected in respect to only two road authorities, these being the Mataro, £275 (on account of £1250 £ for £); ond Okoke £193 (on account of £lOOO £ for £). GENERAL. Henry Jury wrote bringing under notice the state of the Mangatuna road, and he suggested that the council authorise a week’s be done there. He understood there were some “thirds” available for expenditure. The • engineer reported that the work had been attended to. ,

Regarding the proposal of settlers in the Matau district to secede from the Clifton County, The Inglewood County Council wrote stating they had decided to leave the matter in the hands of the settlers to decide as to which county would best serve them.

Replying to the council’s representations in regard to the delay in the erection of a telephone line in the Ngatimiro district, the General Secretary of the Post and Telegraph Department wrote stating that it had not been possible for the department to proceed with the line as it was reported that the settlers, owing to pressure of work, had not commenced operations for providing poles as agreed.

Advice was received from the Defence Department of the allocation to the county of two war trophies (machine guns/, and the chairman reported that these had come to hand; one was sent to Urenui, and it was proposed to place the other gun at Tikorangi. The Public Works Department advised that the following amounts had been placed to the credit of the council’s account: Otararoa Road loan £150; Kiore-Matau, £5O. »

It wab decided to place warning notice boards in the vicinity of Motunui, Urenui and Tikorangi schools. The Public Works Department wrote stating that they could not arrange to hire lorries to the council as the vehicles were in constant use. In regard to the suggestion made by the council that the department could loan lorries during the summer and in winter use them in Hawke’s Bay and Canterbury districts, it was stated that the volume of winter work in the places mentioned was not sufficient to justify the special purchase which would be necessary to carry out the arrangement.