INGLEWOOD COUNTY.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 July 1921, Page 6

INGLEWOOD COUNTY.

PAST MONTH’S WORK. MEETING OF THE COUNCIL. The monthly meeting of the Inglewood County Council was held yesterday. Present: Crs. A. Cork ill (chairman), G. Capper, J. Hair, A. Cowley, J., B. Simpson, H. Jones, J. Hunter, and S. Topping. | ENGINEER'S REPORT. The engineer (Mr. G. S. Whiteside) reported as follows: Mountain Road.—During the month- the road plant crushed 716 cubic yards of boulder stone at the Maketawa river depot. Most of this quantity has been used for strengthening up the main road and has been rolled down. However, some small quantities have had to be transported to other roads as first aid to maintain thoroughfare. This course was found to be necessary, as the heavy rains ,ar<- causing the traffic to break through the W.«ney places in the macadam. 200 cubic yards boulders Included in the above tally. *rcre provided at Mr. W. Thomason's cost in consideration of the damage done by -him in carting some thousands yards of stone over the road to Norfolk road station for export. This is equivalent to £4O or 200 cubic yards, at 4s. John's Road.—s 9 cubic yards stone spauls were hand napped for this road. Hursthouse Road.—l estimate metalling the half piece required by the settlers at £360. This portion of the road as originally laid cut is badly located and some of the grades are steep. Wortley Road.—l estimate one mile of metalling to cost £lOOO. The proposed work begins at the junction of the Davis road and extends from then in a northerly direction. The grades are good. I could not learn of any metalling material in the immediate locality. This renders stone for the purpose costly, as boulders would have to be procured from the Waiongona River, which is a costly river to obtain stone from, and up the Daris road which is sleep in places. The cost of hauling would also increase the ordinary cost. Autatva Road Contracts.—The earthwork is well forward. Only a i'iile more work requires t<> be done at the second papa bluff to make it wide enough for the metal. The contractor has ceased operations till the winter is passed. Toi To l . Road Contract.—Further work has been carried out on this road but tVe work should now cease until the winter is past. Tarata Zig Zag.—Work is now in hand improving some of the dangerous bends on the west side of the Waltara River. Mangaoter. River.—A cons’derable portion of the road drains have been cleaned out. Mr. Long who is equally benefit ted by this road work, provided one man while the council provided two men, and the work was thus carried out.

Ratapiko Road.—This road requires more •maintenance metal, but as the council lias but one lorry, It !s difficult to properly attend to the many such requirements. Kohote Road.—l have prepared the plans end specifications and submitted them to the Co. rnment for approval. A strong appeal has been made for authority to expend the Government Grant of £3OO appearing on last years parliamentary appropriations. Durham Road.—Some repairs have been • •.tried nut on this road, and the plant is now s. t up ready to break a quantity of boulders for repair purposes. Norfolk Road -Work of drainage of the road on the upper portion has been carried out. King Road.—lmprovements to the extent of about £25 have been carried out on this road. General Maintenance. —The copious rains, combined with the heavy traffic, has caused a grunt call on the maintenance service, which has been responded to as well as the means at our disposal would allow. The many weak spots showing up on the various roads radiating from the Borough would suggest that a central metal depot should be established from which it woiild be possible to transport repair stone with a lorry to repair these roads as cccasinn demanded. Ngatoro-it:. River Bridge. This work is now completed, the approached filled in and metalled, and the Government has paid o\cr their, grant of £4OO toward# the cost of th© work. When opportunity allows, the concrete should be plastered. Waiongona Bridges, Bedford Rond.—The earth filling forming the approaches to the No. 1 new bridge has been completed. The metalling has yet to be done. At No. 2 bridge, 1 arrangements have been made to have the earth work done which is now in hand. The Government has paid oyer the grant of £4OO In respect of these two bridges. Everatt Road—Arrangements have been made to restore the fences to the proper boundary around the crushing site and boulder depot. The Government has paid over the grant of £2OO towards the metalling work. Motukawa Road.—l have suspended the metalling contract owing to the unfavorable weather for this class of work, until next spring. Egmont Road.—This work was completed at the end of last month and the Government has paid over ttb grant of £lOO. Grants—The following is a list of the Public works Grants for which application has been made to the Government, and are generally on a £1 for £1 basis’.—Maketawa River bridge (Junction road) £750, Ngatoro River bridge (Junction road) £756, Manganul River bridge (Junction road) £1650, Manga - orake River bridge (Kaimiro) £4OO, Bedford south of Lepper £4OO, Waipuku River bridge (Derby road) £2OO, Richmond road £5OO, Kohetc road £4OO, Hursthouse road £2OO, Surrey road £5OO, Autawa road £l5OO, Kg-, mont south road £2OO, Mangaone deva it ion £2OO, Mountain apd Junction roads £lOOO, Bedford road (Durham to Norfolk) £2OOO, Mana road £lOOO, Norfolk road £4OO, Wortley road £3OO, Otarao road £750.

It is recommended that the following be asked for on h supplementary list; Puniho bridge (east riding) £2OO, Oapui bridge (east riding) £2OO, King road £5OO. LOAN ADVANCES. The State Advances Office wrote stating that the department was not authorised to lend money for the purchase of road-making plant, and that the maximum amount advanced to any one local authority during one financial year had been reduced to £5OOO. The State Advances Office further sated that the debentures for the loans Waiongona-iti (£700), the Kohiti Road (£1000), and Motukawa Road (£1000) were now in order and that payment of the loan money would be made as soon as convenient. In regard to the council’s application for a loan of £230 for the purpose of completing the forming of Everett’s Road and building an arch over the Kurapiti stream, the State Advances Office notified that the application was being entertained, and that it. would be necessary to strike a rate of 45-100ths of a penny in the £1 as security for the loan. In connection with the Ngatoro-iti bridge loan of £5OO, the State Advances Office wrote that the consent of the Governor-General to the raising of the loan had been obtained. HOSPITAL LEVY. A circular was received from the Stratford Hospital Board soliciting the support of the council in an effort to effect a change from the present system of opportioning subsidies to hospital maintenance in favor of a return to the simple and universal £ for £. The circular was held over for further consideration. LOAN RESOLUTIONS. The following motion according to notice was carried: “That all previous Resolutions relating .to main roa4«

provement loans rescinded and that the report of the special meeting of June 2-7 relating to the main roads improvement loans be adopted in substitution thereof.” The special meeting recommended the following allocations of loans: Grading, tar-sealing, etc., 35% miles, £(>(>,42o, plant repairs, shop and fittings £7OOO, County Council office £l5OO. Bridges—Mangonui Junction Road £3300, Maketawa Road £l5OO, Ngatoro Road £lBOO, Mangaoraka-Kaimiro Road £750, Mangaone-Tariki Road £3OO, Junction Road, East Riding £lOOO, Mountain Road, Tariki, £350; total for ■bridges £9OOO. First year’s interest, and cost of raising loan £BOO, contingencies £5280, total £OO,OOO. It was decided to take a poll on the proposal to raise the £90,000 at a date to be fixed. GENERAL. A statement of expenditure submitted by the clerk showed the following figures, the amounts available for expenditure being given in parenthesis: Main Roads £lB2B 13s Id (£2301 6s lid), North Riding £269 10s 4d (£l4O 14s 7d), South Riding £4O 1B lOd (£636 12s 2d), East Riding £49 6s ( £9B 13s 9d), West Riding £234 18s 5d (£4OO 2s lid). A motion was carried fixing the rate for the ensuing year at a similar rate to last year, namely 5d in the £ on unimproved valuation.