STRATFORD COUNTY.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 December 1921, Page 2

STRATFORD COUNTY.

MEETING OF THE COUNCIL. PAST MONTH’S WORK. The monthly meeting of the Stratford County Council was held on Saturday. Present: Crs. E. Walter (chairman), J. H. Thomas, T. R. Anderson, J. T. Belcher, J. O’Neill, W. H. Were, S. Pitt, J. Jacobsen and M. Davis. The engineer reported: North Riding.—Practically the whole of the past month has been occupied in refaclng and banking up the Mountain Road from the JKal.uori Road to the tar in the Midhirst township, and this work has now been completed. The iron work on the Makino Stream bridge has been completed, and the timber work is well in hand. South Riding.—About 100 yards of shingle and sand have been put through the chip crusher for tar-dressing on the Mountain Road South, and the greater part has been delivered on the road. Clay blinding has been carried out on the Mountain, Upper and Lower Finnerty Roads. East. Riding (Toko).—The first mile of the Ohura Road from the borough boundary eastwards has been tar-dressed, and about 40 chains of the same road, near Toko, have been scarified and rolled. A considerable amount of patching, blinding and metal raking has also been done, i East Riding (Douglas) .-—Drain-cleaning, water-tabling and patching have been done on the Ohura—Mangaehu Road. The bridges on the Ohura Road, near Gordon Road railway station,’ have been repaired. On the larger or second bridge it was found necessary to renew the whole of the decking; the under structure being of hard wood, the bridge may now be said to be in good order. Similar work but less extensive has been done on the smaller bridge. East Riding (Huiroa).—General surface work has been carried out on the Mohakau, Douglas North and Makuri Roads. » West Riding.—When the surfaces had loosened up clay blinding has been done on the Opunake No. 1, Brecon, Brooks and Finnerty Roads. All the grades on the unmetalled portions of the Ronald Road have been formed up. Mangaehu Riding.—During the month the water-tables have been cleaned out and the metal banked on the Mangaotuku and Mangaehu Roads. Several small slips have occurred on the Manga Road, completely blocking wheel traffic. This will necessitate a few days’ work in clearing the road. FINNERTY ROAD PETITION. The following petition from certain settlers of Finnerty Road was received: “We, the undersigned ratepayers in Stratford, hereby petition to remain in the County of Stratford, for the following reasons: • (1) We signed the petition to have our properties merged in the County of Eltham under a misapprehension regarding the position which should be in the event of such merger; (2) we are satisfied that our financial liabilities and obligations will be lighter in Stratford County than in Eltham County; (3) we are satisfied we will receive more advantages in the matter of public works in the Stratford County than in the Eltham County; (4) the great bulk of produce from our properties must of necessity be transported over Stratford County roads to the railway line, and it is fair and equitable that we should maintain such roads; (5) we are quite satisfied to remain in the County of Stratford.— (Sgd.) P. O'Brien, C. J. Schneller, C. Schneller, K. Schneller, Winifred Bowler.” GENERAL. The engineer reported that in connection with the use of “thirds” money the Commissioner of Lands had stated that the money need not be spent on any particular road, so long as the land from which the money is collected gets the value of its expenditure.—The chairman and Co. Jacobsen were appointed a subcommittee to allocate the expenditure of "thirds”. Cr. Were asked if anything had been done In connection with raising a loan for the purpose of housing county machinery, which was left in the open. The chairman said that he had not yet gone into the matter, but would do so. The ranger reported that the roads were fairly free from wandering stock. During the month he had collected fees for thirty head of cattle. Since last month two licenses had been granted. Motor registration fess were coming in slowly. The engineer said that one of his foremen had suggested that if possible some of the roads should be grazed for the next few weeks. Some of the water-tables were getting full of grass.—After discussion no action was taken. The Inglewood County wrote stating that it was understood that with regard to section 25, block 12, Huiroa S.D., they had been advised that rates were collected off this section which have accrued for several years. There was no access from the Stratford side, and it w'as understood that an arrangement had 1 n made to hand over the rates to the Inglewood County to spend on the upper end of the Motukawa Road.—lt was decided, on the motion of Cr. Pitt, to write the Inglewood County to the effect that the Stratford Couny had no knowledge of any arrangement. Mr. John Pattinson applied for sufficient pipes for a twelve-foot culvert on the lower end of Warwick Road.—-The matter was left to the engineer. Messrs. O. M. Rutherford and G. Ritchie wrote stating that the concrete bridge recently constructed over the Makuri Stream on the North Road, Douglas, was causing swamp and storm water to back up on their properties, and asking the council to provide an outlet for this water.—The letter was referred to the engineer.