ELTHAM COUNTY.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 November 1921, Page 2

ELTHAM COUNTY.

MEETING OF COUNCIL. VAST MONTH'S WORK. The monthly meeting of the Eltham County Council was held on Saturday. Present: Crs. C. J. Belcher (chairman), R. J. Knuckey, A. Massana, M. W. Barker, A. Campbell, W. E. Carter, C. W. McGuinness and J. Gifford. Leave of absence was granted Cr. A. . McWilliam. FINANCE BILL. The clerk outlined the main features In the proposed Local Bodies Finance Bill. The chairman said that the Bill was another • “pin prick”. If local bodies were given a reasonable subsidy, instead of the miserable pittance which they at present received, they would not need to borrow. After a brief discussion it. was decided, on. the motion of the chairman, that the attention of the member for the district be called to the Bill, and the views of the council placed before him. The council objected to the clause that, the antecedent liability had to be wiped out in seven years; also the manner in which it had to be wiped out. CORRESPONDENCE. A letter wa.s received from the Department , of Health stating that clauses had been repealed in the Counties Act which permitted county ■ councils to establish or give grants or salaries to persons employed in hospitals, dr to give bursaries.—Received. The Woodville County Council wrote asking for support in opposing the imposition of a rural delivery fee. Extra revenue, IT needed, should be got. from extra postal rates. The chairman said that the suggestion to raise the postage rates was a very good one. The cities all the time got the best of it. Members were strongly of the same opinion, and it. was decided, on the motion of Cr. Gifford, to comply with the request. The Rangitikel Council wrote asking for support in pressing the remit adopted by the New . Zealand County Association’s* conference in 1 favor: of county councils being exempt, from ■ the operation of all Arbitration Court' awards, ii The chairman said that the principal objec- ’ tlon was the preference to unionists. The objection came largely from the counties ad-- J jacent to cities. q It was decided, on the motion of Cr. Camp- ’-i ; bell, to support the remit. 1 The Manawatu County Council wrote, asking '! for support in urging the Railway Department to reduce the tariff on benzine, as, owing to 4 the present high freight, motor lorries had 1 entered into competition with the railways, to the detriment of the roads throughout New j ' Zealand.—Received. , ENGINEER’S REPORT. The engineer reported as follows: I General. —The overhaul gf the Daimler lorry j has been completed, and it has commenced work; the repairs effected to this machine j were pretty extensive, for almost every part was found In need of repair or adjustment. Re-, pairs at No. 5 cottage (Patea River) have been done, and the garden plot has been enclosed with a post and netting fence. A magazine has been built on the section, and all explosives moved thereto from the Mateinateongk cottage. Efforts have been made to arrange for reasonable quotations for carrying out -various works by contract or hire, and particulars will be submitted. Three tar-patch-ing gangs have been at work in various parts of the county on all suitable days. South Riding.—™he metalling of Skeet Road was completed. ‘Metal patching and watertabling were done on Campbell Road. Metal and tar • patching was done on Rotokare Road. Water-tabling was done on Mountain and Fraser Roads. Slips and water-tables were attended to on the.. Mangawhero. Road, and a j large log was removed from under the Mata | bridge. ’ ' _ | Mangatokl Riding.—Tar-patching has been ( done on Eltham Road, nad water-dabling on | Stuart and Hastings Roads,. The new Manga- } toki bridge is now well in hand. It was found | necessary to remove the struts from under the / old bridge and thus weaken it somewhat. ( Notices have been put up ordering traffic to y slow up. j Omona Riding.—Slips were cleared on Ba- j whitiroa and Mataimaroke Roads. Metal re- ) pairs ajid water-tabling were done on Rawhiti- ) roa Road. Work on slips fairly heavy ( during the latter part of the month. I paid ( a visit of inspection to the Public Works di- J version at the top of Waitlrl, .and found that ) there Is a good supply of shell-rock on the. ) Eltham side of the county boundary. Some ( water-tabling was done on Karewa Road. < Kaponga Riding.—Water-tabling was done on j Eltham, Manaia and Opunake Road*. Tar- ( pa tching was done on Eltham R< ad. I ac- | companied the riding members on a visit of ( inspection to all roads in the riding. In con- ) nection with the old bridge near Makaka' the ) councillors approved of a suggestion to put ) in a new abutment of concrete arranged in ( such a way as to fit in with a new concrete ( bridge to be built at some future date, and > at the same time to shorten the span. 1 Eltham Riding.—Water-tabling and surface I repairs were done on Tlrimoana Road. The ( bridge in Tlrimoana Gorge has been raised ( and repaired by Hawera County, and the road ( is In fair condition for dry weather motor ) traffic. The quarrying of shell-rock is in J hand in Mangainlngi Valley. The latter part I of the month saw a good deal of slipping on ( the ridge, and the road was blocked to traffic ) on three occasions, necessitating work being ) done on two Sundays. Hu Road has been * patched. It was decided that the engineer should erect a notice on the Stratford—Opunake Road bridge over the Awatuna Stream, near Makaka, stating that the bridge was unsafe for heavy traffic. GENERAL. Members referred to the unsatisfactory re- * suits of the tar-sealing of roads last year. The tar was apparently not up to the usual standard. The engineer said that some of the tar they got last year was good, and some was bad. Thus on some of the toads they struck bad patches. It was decided to have * the tar analysed. ‘