ELTHAM COUNTY.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 September 1921, Page 7

ELTHAM COUNTY.

THE PAST MONTH’S WORK; MEETING OF THE COUNCIL.

The monthly meeting of the Eltham County Council was held on Saturday. Present: Councillors Ci J. Belcher (chairman), E. J. Gifford, C. E. McGuinness, W. E. Carter, A. Campbell, M. W. Barker, A. Messana, A. MoWilliam and A. J. Knuekey. The engineer reported:—Though the latter part of the month was comparatively fine the work of clearing slips in the back country was fairly heavy. Work done at the depot included the making of concrete posts and pipes. Further work was done on reinforcing bars for Mangatoki bridge. Overhaul of the Daimler lorry was continued and some repairs were done to the tar plant. The chestnut horse, recently stationed in Mangamingi Valley, had to be destroyed. South Riding. —Metal came to hand more freely for Skeet Road and satis-* factory progress was made. Metal patch in" was done in Campbell and Mangawhero Roads. Water-tables were attended to in Boylan, Mountain and Dalziel Roads.

Mangatoki Riding.—The repairs to the culvert and embankment at “Doctor’s Drop” were completed. Water-tabling was done on Eltham, Hastings and Stuart Roads. Timber and appliances for construction of Mangatoki bridge have been obtained and moved to the sites. Reinforcing bars have been prepared at the depot. The present wooden bridge will be cut down to a width of about ten feet while the concrete bridge is being constructed, but otherwise there will be little interference with traffic, except during the night prior to the opening of the new bridge. Omona Riding.—Work of a general nature, including the clearing of slips, was done on Mataimaroke, Rawhitiroa, Mataiwhetu and Whenuakura Roads. Metal on Rawhitiroa Road was patched and the “Thirds” work beyond Mberoa was continued. The foundations for Whenuakura bridge continued to give trouble owing to the presence of running sand. The Public Works engineer accompanied me on an inspection of the new length of Whenuakura Valley Road, and wo provisionally agreed to a grant of £25 in connection with the taking over of this road. The grant will clear the slips now on the road, but I am afraid it will be an expensive length to keep open all the year round. K&ponga Riding.—Water-tabling was done in Rowan, Auroa, and Mangawhero Roads. Some of the decking on the Mangawhero bridge has been turned. Large loads of firewood continue to pass over the bye-roada. Eltham Riding.—About ten chains of Rawhitiroa Road and two chains of Hu Road were resurfaced with shell rock. Slips were cleared on Rawhitiroa and Tirimoana Roads. Metal patching was done on Mangawhero and Rawhitiroa Roads, and water-tables were attended to on Tirimoana and Rotokare Roads. Firewood hauling by heavy lorries continues in Mangamingi Valley and the road continues to suffer accordingly. Tfye roadman has been instructed by me that he is to warn the persons responsible for dumping firewood) on the side of the road over the ridge and thereafter to tip any wood he finds there over the bank. The report was adopted.

SUPPLIES OF STONE. A letter was received from the Pub lie Works Department stating that in view of the high cost of opening up Mt. Egmont quarry and the present financial stringency, it was intended in the meantime to open up the limestone deposits at Te Wera for railway ballasting and road metalling purposes. The deposit had been well investigated and over 600,000 yards had been accounted for, the metal being of a hard limestone of good quality. The department wished to know if the council was willing to take annually from Te Wera quarry the same amount as it was prepared to take from Mt. Egmont. The price of the metal at Te Wera, broken to 2| guage, would be 9s 6(1 per cubic yard. The chairman said that he thought that the price was prohibitive. With an extra 3s for railage it seemed like throwing money away.

It was decided to write to the Minister, of Public Works that the quality of the stone was poor and could not be ac cepted as an alternative to Mt. Egmont stone.

It was decided that the chairman, engineer and Cr. Campbell should investigate the supplies of stone available to the council and report to the next meeting. CHANGE OF RATING AREAS. The following ratepayers whose properties are at present in the rating area of the Stratford County petitioned the council to merge their properties into the rating area of the Eltham County Council: A. D. Johnson, J. W. Burke, Arthur D. Johnson, Winifred Bowler, William Geo. Lister, Lewis Babington, C. Schneller, Edward A. Gray, A. G. Bryant. Henry Thrush, and Carlson Bros. it was decided that the necessary action should be taken. FINNERTY ROAD DISPUTE. The Stratford County Council wrote stating that on going into the account for the Finnerty Road bridge it was found that the wages item of £BB 9s 6d had been inadvertently placed ns a debit against work done by Mr. Cave, whereas it should have been placed against Foreman Griffin. The other items shown as having been received in April, May, June, July and August were certainly not ordered during the period. Mr. Cave was on this work, but so far as the clerk could learn the material was used by Mr. Cave and, in any case, had no effect on the total expenditure. The Stratford Council expressed surprise at the Eltham Council’s request for further details, but had no objection to Eltham sending any responsible person to examine vouchers, etc., where further details could be obtained, and regret was also expressed that Eltham had not sufficient confidence in ’ the Stratford County officials to accept those already furnished. The Stratford County Council expressed the hope that the passing of the account had not been held up for the purpose of gaining time. The chairman said that that sort of letter was no good to Eltham and was likely to hold up matters further. Mr. Gifford said that he had seen the chairman of the Stratford County Council and they decided that if Crs. McGuinness and Carter (the other members : of the sub-eommittee set up to go into the matter) were agreeable Eltham should pay a cheque to Stratford of £lOOO if further information were sent. Cr* McGuinness moved that the

cheque of £lOOO should be forwarded to the Stratford County Council.-

It was pointed out that the information asked for had not been received and the opinion was expressed and generally endorsed that the other £4OO comprising the remainder of the account should not be forwarded until the information was received. GENERAL. The Public Works engineer wrote stating that owing to the slips on the Whenuakura Valley Road occurring prior to the council taking the road over an authority for £25 for clearing the slips is being issued. —Received. A letter was received from the Eketehima County Council pointing out that it is practically impossible to collect rates from assisted soldier settlers should they not wish to pay, and asking that the Eltham County Council should use its influence through its members of Parliament to have the matter put on a satisfactory basis from the county point of view at the coming session.— The chairman said that it did not affect them. They had only one soldiet settlement and the soldiers had paid up very well. It was decided to support the Eketahuna Council at the counties’ conference.