EGMONT COUNTY.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 June 1921, Page 7

EGMONT COUNTY.

PAST MONTH’S WORK. MEETING OF THE COUNCIL. The Egmont County Council met at Gpunake yesterday. Present: Crs. S. Campbell (chairman), C. A. Trotter, R. Ferguson, A. F. Chapman, W. C. Green, J. S. Tosland, M. O'Brien, R. C. Watson, and W. R. Wright. ENGINEER’S REPORT. The engineer (Mr. Pease) reported:— Oeo Riding.—The Eltham Road has been patched from end to end of the riding. Very little work is proposed to be done on this r«ad next year, but it must be borne in mind that a fair amount of money will have to be spent upon it the following season, or it will again get into the notorious condition it was in during 1917. Oeo Riding (Southern). —The approaches to the Puneho bridge on both sides have been attended to.. A fair amount of patching n*s been done to the Patlki Road, and all the inlets and outlets to the culverts have been cleaned out. Opua Riding (Southern).—The Main South Road and the Eltham Road have been patched at several places. The Ihaia Road has .had a considerable amount of patching, etc., done to it, but is in such a bad state of repair that we were compelled’ to keep the. mert on it for a considerable period. The road is now completed. Opua Riding (Northern). —Practically the whole- of the month has been spent on the Upper and Lower Arawhata Roads. The contract on the Upper Arawhata Road was completed about the 20th. The plant was' moved to the Lower Arawhata Road, where it had to stand some time waiting for the contractors to get out boulder stone from the beach. In the meantime the roller was taken further up the Upper Arawhata Road to scarify up and roll in patches. This contract yielded 300 cubic yards of crushed pit metal, 250 yards of which were rolled in on the road, and 50 yards dumped for maintenance. The contract on the Lower Arawhata Road would have been completed by now had the weather been fine, but now that the weather has broken, I think it would be advisable to pull in the crushing plant and repair all necessary parts at once, as it is just possible that one of the plants may be wanted for crushing metal for bridge works in lieu of shingle, and the rollers can get to work early in the spring and: finish all scarifying and re-forming work before any stone needs crusting for road repairs. Rahotu Riding (Southern). —The contract on the Upper Kahul Road was completed during the month, 309 cubic yards of crushed boulder stone being laid down on the road 30 chains on each side of Mr. Wilcox’s gate, and 200 cubic yards below and near Mr. Baker's place about the end of the Tauru Road. To save time, whilst the Garrett roller was finishing off the work of re-forming the Main Soutb Road near the Rahotu factory, the Austin scarifier and Fowler engine were put to work on the top portion of this contract, and the tines being new and a trifle long, the surface was too much disturbed, and has given some trouble since in consolidating evenly. A considerable amount of loose stones have been raked up and used for patching. The footpath at the Rahotu Hotel will be tar sealed as soon as dry. Rahotu Riding (Northern).—The Main South Road has been patched twice, practically from end to end at this part of the riding. The road has been blinded where required and several culverts under it cleaned out. Paora and Stent Roads have been patched and portions blinded. Patching has ,been done on the Warea Road. The Lower Parihaka Road has been patched for its entire length. Repairs have been done to the Carrington Road. Mr. Chrlstofell promised to wait upon the council at its last (meeting re the repairs to die Newall and Carrington Roads, but did not do so. The only way to get a settlement will be for the council to close the roads to his traffic, and not to issue a license for bls motor lorries.

General.—l expect the bridge foreman from Hamilton on Friday next, and work will be at once started on tho Taungatara and Waitelka bridges, on the Eltham Road. If several of the bridges on the main roads are not rebuilt at the earliest possible date, the roads are likely to be closed to traffic. ESTIMATES AND RATE. The estimates based on a rate of were submitted as follows: Opa Riding.—Receipts, £5883 IDs (rates £4745 Is 4d, Government subsidy £520, miscellaneous £llB 17s 8d) ; expenditure £5222 10s lid (road works £2395 2s, material, etc., £548, Hospital and Charitable Aid £648 Is 54* interest £592 18s 6d, proportion general expenditure £lO3B 9s lOd). The debit balance at end of year would be £4710 16s 6d, as against £4872 4a 7d. Opunake Riding—Receipts, £695 8s lOd (rates £670 5s Id, miscellaneous £25 5s 9d) ; expenditure £646 Os Id (road works £lO6 4s, material £ll5, Hospital and Charitable Aid £137 5s 9d, Interest £67 9s 4d, proportion general expenses £220) ; debit balance £l2O 4s sd, as against £169 18» 2d. Opua Riding.—Receipts £4458 2s 4d (rate at 29-16 U £4152 Is, Goverament subsidy £250, miscellaneous £76 Is 4d); expenditure £3726 15s 8d (road works £2094 2s, material £350, Hpspital and Charitable Aid £414 10s lid, interest £203 14s Bd, proportion general expenditure £664 8s Id) ; debit balance £2OBB Os 4d, as against £2819 16s. Rahotu Riding.—Receipts £9033 15s 5d (rates £8266 17s 9d, subsidy £555, miscellaneous £lBl 17s lOd) ; expenditure £7019 4s 6d (road works £3116 2s, material, etc., £836, Hospital and Charitable Aid £991 8s Id. Interest £487 Is Bd, proportion general expenditure. £l5BB 12s 9d, debit balance £2034 19s lid, as against £4019 10s 10d. The chairman gave notice to move at the next meeting that the council strike for me ensuing year the same rates as last year, viz., Oeo Riding 2%d, Opunake lV*>d, Opua , and Rahotu 29-16 d. The council, he said, coiild hot afford to Increase the rdtes, and must take steps to economise where possible. He proposed to ask the works* committee to gc over the roads and ascertain where it was possible to curtail expenditure. Cr. Green pointed out that it was proposed in rhe estimates that Oeo, which had an overdraft of £4872 4s 7d on a valuation of £506,144, should reduce that, overdraft by £162 8s Id, whereas Rahotu, whose overdraft on a valuation of £774,264, was only £4019 10s lOd was asked to reduce that by £1984 Ils. Opua was also asked to reduce its overdraft by £731 6s Bd. The Oeo rate proposed was 2¥ l d, against the other ridings 29-16 d. Cr. Wright said ’t was possible that at next ■meeting he might move an amendment to strike a rate of Id for the main roads, and Id for the by-roads throughout ’the county. They would have to have 10 per cent, reduction and 10 per cent, mqre efficiency, which would more than equalise the reduction in rates. There were, he said, many people not engaged in dairying . who would not find it possible to pay the rate. GOVERNMENT GRANTS. Tie Public Works Department asked the council to submit grants to be applied for. It was resolved to apply for grants on the Wirenni Road as follows: Between Arawhata and Okahu £2OOO, from Wafilu River to Kiri Road £2OOO, bridge over Walau £3OOO, bridge over Heimaire £7OO, canal £l2O, Kabul to Newall' £l5O. It was resolved to apply for £lOO -for the Cape Road and £2OO for the. Kahui Road. * THE WIREMU ROAD. Mr. O. Hawken, M.P., in enclosing a letter from the Minister of Public Works in regard to the Waiau bridge and the Wiremu Road, stated that he had been unable to see the Minister personally, but he considered that the position was most unsatisfactory. He expected the settlers would prefer the traffic bridge, and he would endeavor to obtain a promise fro<m the . department for the additional amount required. The letter from the Minister of ' Public Works stated that a four-feet suspension bridge would cost about £6OO, and a reinforced concrete traffic bridge with protective groynes and approaches would cost approximately £3OOO. The resident engineer had conferred with the county engineer, and both

were of opinion that with the completion of the Wiremu Road a suspension bridge would be inadequate for the purpose. The permanent bridge was required for prospective requirements rather than for existing requirements. and as the provision on the estimates was only £lOOO, he regretted that under existing financial conditions the erection of the bridge would have to be held over for the present. A GOOD OFFER. Mr. J. G. Chamberlain wrote offering to supply 500 yards of boulder stone on the Ihaia Road at 4s 6d per yard, offering to wait for the money. It was pointed out that the road was at present in debt. It was decided to accept the offer, the quantity being reduced to 300 yards. GENERAL. The State Advances Department notified that tl:e loan of £650 for draining, fonming and metalling a portion of the Ruakere Road would not be available until May, 1922. The Works Committee was authorised to inspect the fence at the Walau bridge with a view to safeguarding traffic. C. R. Julian wrote agreeing to accept x3O as compensation for accident. Messrs. O. Cross and H. Young asked that some work should be done on the Turn Road. The engineer was instructed to inspect with a view to diverting the water. Billiard room licenses were granted to Messrs. E. Callaghan (Opunake*), Des Forges and Sons .(Opunake), and Momona Taunihana (Rahotu). The question of the appointment of an inspector was brought forward by Cr. Chapman, wi:<A|uggested that arrangements should be the Inspector of an adjoining county to act as ranger, etc., in the northern portion of the county. Some meunbers considered that it would be advisable to appoint an inspector for the whole of the county, and Cr. O’Brien moved in that direction, but there was no seconder, it being pointed out that the cost would be too high. The Government forwarded a cheque for £422, being payment .in account of Wiremu Road grant. t The Pihama School Committee wrote thanking the council fox the machine-gun which had - been allotted a» a. war trophy.