STRATFORD COUNTY.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 May 1922, Page 8

STRATFORD COUNTY.

MEETING OF THE COUNCIL PAST MONTH S WORK. The monthly meeting of the Stratford County Council was held on Saturday. Present: Councillors E. Walter (chairman), S. Pitt, J. Jacobsen. W. H. Were, J. T. Belcher, T. R. Anderson, J. H. Thomas, M. Davis, and J. O’Neill. The engineer, Mr. J. W. Spence, reported for the month:— North Riding.—The tarring of Mountain ’ Road, from Midhirst to the Flint Road, has • been completed. The portion of the Beacons- ; field Road between the Mountain Road and Kent Terrace has also received a coat of tar. i Two hundred and forty-five yards of sand I have been taken out of the Denbigh Road pit • and distributed on the Mountain Road North, ■ Beaconsfield, Cheal and Ohura Roads. A start ! has been made with the piers of the Esk Road ‘ Bridge. South Riding. l —With the exception of j the two portions of the Mountain Road, not i yet refaeed, this road has received a dress- ' ‘ingn of tar. About 2% miles of the Cheal ! Road have also received a tar dressing. General surface work has been done on the Cheal i and Wingrove Roads. East Riding (Toko). —Forty-five chains of i the Raupuha Road have been refaeed with new ■ metal, about the same length of this road has been scarified, crowned up and rolled. The material on the greater part of this length consists mainly of pit sand, with a very small i percentage of stone through it. About three days' fine weather will enable the refacing of the Toko Road to be finished as far as the available stone will allow. East Riding (Douglas).—General surface work in the way of patching, drain-Hpanlnir, water-tabling and fern-cutting, has been done on the Ohura-Mangaehu, Mangaotuku, Taifa ore, Douglas and Gordon Roads. East Riding (Huiroa). —Practically the whole of the past month has bene -taken up in cutting the new channel for the Makuri Stream and assisting in the erection of the bridge on the Makuri Road. The bridge has been completed and the old channel filled in. West Riding.—Repair work has been done on the Hastings, Opunake No. 3, Palmer, Ronald and Manaia Roads. The metalling of the new portion of the Cardiff Road has been greatly delayed with wet weather. Considerable difficulty has been experienced in carrying out this work owing to clay surface holding the water. The metal for the Konlni Stream Bridge has been crushed and dumped near the pit. Mangaehu Riding.—During the month wa-ter-tabling and metal banking has been carried out on the Mangaehu, Mangaehu South and Mangaotuku Roads. The report was adopted.

GENTLE ANNIE BRIDGE. R. A. Belcher wrote in reference to the Gentle Annie Bridge, that he had placed the council's proposals before the ratepayers concerned, all of whom were absolutely opposed to raising any loan to repair or rebuild the bridge. The road was a through one, and they considered the expense should be borne by the riding. To ask the ratepayers who used the bridge (three in number) to raise a loan would be equal to raising a loan of £1 per acre on their land. The ratepayers considered that steps should have been taken previously to strengthen or repair the bridge, and that it should never have been allowed to reach the state of unsafety which resulted in its needless collapse. The settlers were prepared to further discuss the matter at any I time. Councillor Davis said the total revenue re- I ceivable from that portion of the county was small—only £l6OO. He was sorry for the position of the ratepayers, but it would be a big drain on the funds to build this bridge from revenue. It was decided to Invite the ratepayers concerned to further discuss the matter at the next meeting of the council. A PUBLIC WORKS BOARD. The chairman reported having visited the Kota Road through the new settlement. The councillors were unanimously of the opinion that the road should not be taken over from the Public Works Department until something had been done to improve its condition. Although it was a new road, it was very badly laid, the metal in many cases being close up against high banks. There were many corners that would have to be removed. The maintenance costs would be out of all reason. The following resolution was passed: "That the Minister for Public Works be requested not to gazette the road as a county road until more work was done in widening the formation, easing the corners, and substituting concrete for wooden culverts.” GENERAL. Stanford and Sons, Huiroa, wrote drawing attention to the state of the Akawa Road. They said they had spoken to the engineer on several occasions, but nothing had been done. —Received. A, N. Mills, Cardiff, wrote stating that the entrance to his property on the Opunake Road was almost impassable, as he was blocked in on one side by the council's stables and t>n the other by the approach to the council's cottage.—The matter was left in the hands of the riding member, Cr. Belcher. A petition signed by J. Armstrong, A. Fraser, J. M. Fraser, J. A. Stanford, and J. Marty was received from Huiroa, asking that a more efficient foreman “be placed on Huiroa portion of the East Riding roads.—Referred to the riding members. R. J. Mitchell, Huiroa, asked for work to be done on the Makuri Road leading to his section. He was willing to find half the labor required.—Postponed till next meeting, the engineer and chairman to report. Malone and Worthington asked the council to open a few further chains of the Puni Road to give access to a tract of pioughable land.—Left to the engineer and the riding member to report to next meeting. Dingwall and Sutton asked that the engineer be instructed to send a man out to the Makuri Road, to effect repairs and maintenance which, it was stated, were necessary to keep the road in a passable state.T—The chairman said n small sum had been voted to this road at last meeting. On application by Clement and Sons, Te Kiri, for permission to deliver timber to the Inglewood County under the heavy traffic bylaws, was refused. It was pointed out that the timber could have been carted to Eltham and been railed to Inglewood. The ranger reported for the month that ne had found 54 head of stock straying on the county roads, including 21 cows, 20 weaners, and 13 horses. There had been a fair amount of firewood carting, but all had been within the provisions of the by-laws. The chairman reported that, with Crs... Pitt and Jacobsen, he had interviewed representatives of the west side of the North Riding in reference to a comprehensive scheme for tar-sealing and putting the roads in that portion of the riding in order. The representatives were unanimously in favor of such a scheme, and asked that the engineer draw up a schedule of works required to be done, so that a loan could be raised.—The engineer w%s instructed accordingly. The members of the East Riding were authorised to spend up to £lOO on the Mangaehu tunnel.