TARANAKI COUNTY.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 September 1921, Page 7

TARANAKI COUNTY.

MONTHLY MEETING, The Taranaki Comity Council met yesterday. Present: Crs. J. S. Connett (chairman), J. Andrews, A. Morton, S. Vickers, J. Wooldridge, and 0. Penwarden. OVERSEER'S REPORT. The following report on the work during August was presented by the overseer (Mr. G. Meredith) : Crushing.—During the month 1510 yards of metal have been crushed at the Kaihihi depot in the Okato riding, the actual crushing time during the month being 13 days 7% hours. The metal has been distributed as follows: Leith road 340 yards remetaUing; Dover road 308 yards remetalllng; Oxford road 8 yards dumped; Perth road 32 yards dumped; Hampton road 148 yards remetaUing; road leading to crusher from Oxford road 60 yards; Main South road 610 yards remetalling weak patches between Pitone road and the Okato township, Wooldridge Bros. 4 yards, if eta 1 carted from Prison quarry 16 yards, 8 yards to Egmont Road, and 8 yards to Carrington road. Shingle Delivery.—392 yards have been carted from the borough dump. 284 yards have been dumped on tte Devon road, Waitara riding, 32 yards Main road, Omata riding, and 76 yards on the Junction road in the Mangorei riding, 120 yards of shingle have been carted out from the Waiwakaiho river at Parkins’ depot for asphalt work, 64 yards of this have been carted to the Main South road in the Omata riding, S yards delivered to Mr. Anstis and the balance is dumped at the depot. During the month 200 square yards of wire netting have been made for groyne work. No 8 wire has been used for this work, the cost of the netting works out at 2s per square yard.

Mangorei Riding.—The foreman in this riding have been engaged cleaning water-tables, patching and general repairs. The cobble culvert on the Mangorei Road has been replaced with 7-9 in pipes. Waitara Riding.—General maintenance work has been carried out in this riding. Foreman Palmer lias renewed the old culvert on the Pennington road with the 15in pipes authorised and has also formed up a considerable portion of the big hill beyond the end of the metal on the Kelly road. Foreman Mallon has formed a portion of the Te Arel road between the Mountain and Devon roads, the natives interested doing the ploughing and and dray work free. The gravel pit on Mr. Smith’s property on the Henwood road has been fenced. A small concrete bridge on the Mutton Track is scouring out under the piers, the opening under the bridge is too small to cope with extra heavy flood water. I would recommend lowering the bed of the stream about 2 ft. and carry the piers down until a good formation is found.

Omata Riding.—The foremen in tills riding have been engaged with the usual miscellaneous repairs. Foreman Seamark tas replaced two old culverts on the Western road with concrete pipes authorised last meeting. The new filling on the Hurford road has been fenced off. Foreman Eva has put In the pipe culvert on the Cowling road and also renewed an old wooden culvert on the Upper Carrington road with lain, pipes. The top end of the Hurford road is in a very weak state and will require re-coating before next winter I would recommend quarrying about 400 yards of stone in a pit In Mr. Riordan’s property as soon as it is convenient for the foreman to undertake this work. This with the 400 yards granted last season will keep tte road for some considerable time. Okato Riding.—Fencing Plymouth road deviation : I have secured sufficient posts to fence one side of the road through Mr. Ward's property. The erection of the fence will be carried out as soon as possible. The posts are on order to complete the fencing through Mr. Ward’s and also for the fence through Mr. Looney’s property. Mr. Henricksen has completed Iris Plymouth road formation contract and Messrs. Green and Pentelow are making good progress with the quarrying and breaking of metal in the Tapuae pit. To date 143 yards have been carted out and laid down on the road on the north side of the Tapuae bridge, approximately '6O yards are broken in the pit, this will be carted out as soon as the weather permits. The work of altering the course of the stream above the intake of the tunnel at the foot of Wood's Hill on the Main South road has been carried out at a cost of £lO. The work of picking up and breaking stone on the Upper Pitone road has been carried out at a cost of £lO 10s, the road now being in very fair order. With reference to Mrs. Aish's request to have work done on the Albion road I made an inspection. The road is unmetalled and is in reasonable order for this time of the year. The earthwork and formation work authorised on the Upper Plymouth road below Mr. Thompson’s property tas been earired out at a cost of £2B. During the month my attention was drawn to the state of a culvert opposite the Oakura factory on the Main South road. On inspection I found a considerable amount of scodr is taking place under the outlet end, and the filling adjoining the culvert is scouring. To prevent further scour it will be necessary to build a concrete wall about 20ft. in length and four to six feet in height. About 25 feet below the. outlet Of the culvert the course of the stream has been diverted from a straight run almost to a right angle and now run parallel with the road, this I consider is the cause of the damage. Early in the month the heavy sea caused a considerable amount of damage to the Beach road below Mr. Penwarden’s property. At the intersection of Lower Pitone and Beach roads a large gap was washed out of the side cutting, large logs and stones were thrown over the road in all directions, making the road impassable. The foreman with Mr. Penwarden’s assistance made temporary repairs. A considerable amount of protection work will have to be done to save the road from being totally washed away.

General maintenance work has been carried out in this riding. Foreman Hayes has been engaged almost all the month with the crushing plant. Foreman Sefton has completed the culvert on the Surrey Hill road and is at present engaged forming yp tte Wairau road below Mr. Still’s property. Foreman Rusling has been engaged with the formation on the Upper Plymouth road and spreading metal on the Lower Plymouth road. A culvert on the Dover road broke in during metalling operations, 6-9ln. pipes have been to renew same. 10-9 in. pipes have also been sent out to Okato township to renew a portion of the culvert at Greenway’s coiner. DISCUSSION ON REPORT. A resolution was passed expressing the counoil's appreciation of the good work done during the month by the crusher gang. Authority was given to extend the contract for quarrying and breaking metal in the Tapuae pit (Okato riding), to provide for another 500 yards of stone. The matter of obtaining an additional 1000 yards of metal for the Mangorei riding out of the Waiwakaiho river'was left In the hands of the chairman to arrange. It was decided to convey the thanks of the council to Mr. Kopo and others associated with him for voluntary work, assistance given in connection with the work on the Te Are! road. The question of dealing with the scour at the culvert opposite the Oakura factory was left to the chairman and riding members. After discussion on the question of erosion at the Beach road during the recent gale, it was resolved that the road be widened to render it safe for traffic, the estimated cost being £5O. The matter of erecting prospective works was deferred. UPPER MANGOREI ROAD. Reporting on the request of a number of ratepayers to have certain work carried out on the Upper Mangorei road, C. e overseer stated; As requested, I have been over this road, and find that to form and metal 45 chains from Uio end of the present metal towards Mr. Wallath’s property will cost approximately £sos' i.e. earthwork £lOO, metalling 45 chains 16 yards to the chain will take 720 yards of metal at Ils 3d per yard, £405. Tire council decided to convey this information to the petitioners. AN OKATO COMPLAINT. A resident of Okato, Mr. L. J. Menard, 1 wrote directing the attention of the aouneil

to ilie fact that ti e Cumming road required immediate repairs. Ho staled that the approach. to residents' dwellings was made very difficult owing to the neglected state of the road. Now that the council's roller was working at tho end of this road he thought it would not be difficult or expensive to have the road properly formed and metalled.

The matter was referred to the overseer to attend to. THE BOULDER SUPPLY. The general manager of the New Plymouth Borough Council wrote notifying that the council had stacked ready for crushing, some 1400 cubic yards of boulders near the junction of the Kainai and Waiwakaiho streams, Junction Road. Other arrangements had been made for stone, however, and the council desired to dispose of 1200 yards of this lot, and invited offers for the stone. Tte chairman was delegated to negotiate with the borough for the purchase of the quantity under offer. THE UPPER SAUNDERS ROAD. Enquiry was made by Mr. F. Whitehead as to tho position regarding the metalling of Upper Saunders Road. If no progress had been made In this direction, he asked that the council carry out some repairs, as the road was in a very bad state, ana unless it was attended to difficulty would be experienced by settlers in getting their milk out this season. As tte council was drawing £6O in rates they were entitled to have something spent. The chairman said the council would have before them later in the meeting a special motion authorising the raising of the loan for the work mentioned. The Government had authorised a grant of £5OO, but they did not know when this would be available. Subsequently a resolution was passed authorising the raising of the loan. MAIN SOUTH ROAD. The consulting engineers, Messrs, gladden, Palmer and Horner, reported having considered the best methods of improving Timaru, Pitone, and Betts’ bills on the Main South Road, and they submitted proposals including reducing gradients, regrading, picking up old metal, widening, etc, at a total cost of £3365. In regard to Timaru Hill they had considered deviating the road, but there did not appear to be any suitable method available. The cl? airman said the estimates showed that it was possible to do the work at a cost within the amount provided for in the estimates. He did not know whether It would be advisable to commence work on the main road at present. On the motion of Crs. Wooldridge and Penwarden it was decided that the necessary steps be taken to acquire the requisite land for the work in connection with the Timaru and Pitone Roads, and that tenders for the earthwork in these localities be called as soon as possible. MOUNT EGMONT STONE. The president of the Paritutu Preservation League wrote commending to the favorable consideration of the council the importance of united action being taken by local bodies to open up the Mount Egmont quarry. He enclosed copies of correspondence sent to the Harbor Board, in which the league contended that in view of the works in contemplation by local bodies, it would be in the best economic interests of the community that cooperation take place to obtain an inexhaustible quarry to provide high-class stone. Tte letters also traversed the arguments raised by the league in regard to saving Paritutu. It was decided to inform Mr. Hugnes that the council had already made representations in the direction mentioned. GENERAL. It was decided that the attention of the Inglewood County Council be drawn to the dangerous condition of the Upper Carrington Rood, and to suggest that immediate steps be taken in conjunction with the Taranaki Council to have the necessary repairs carried out. Special resolutions were passed authorising the raising of a loan of £5OO for the Cross Road (Kelly to Richmond Roads), and for the levying of a special rate of one farthing to enable an extra £BO to be raised for the Plymouth Road.

The Frankley Road Co-op. Dairy Company wrote asking the council to sign the guarantee required by the Telegraph Department to cover the estimated deficiency up to £2l per annum on the proposed telephone office at Frankley Road. The guarantee from the local body was required, but the company would indemnify the council against amounts claimed under the guarantee.—lt was decided to agree to the request on the conditions mentioned.

In view of the fact that the authority granted by the Harbor Board to remove gravel from the beach east of the Waiwakaiho River had lapsed, the New Plymouth Borough Council wrote notifying that the arrangement between the borough and county with regard to the haulage of gravel would be discontinued. The chairman said that the Harbor Board had since extended the authority to April next, but after that the beaches would be closed as far as the removal of gravel was concerned, as members of the board were of opinion that any further continuance after that date would result in serious erosion taking place. The council would eventually have to face the question of finding other sources of* gravel supply, but in the meantime there was ample available for the present season.

The chairman and Cr. Wooldridge were appointed to deal with tenders for the Kirihau Road contract.