TARANAKI COUNTY.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 June 1922, Page 7

TARANAKI COUNTY.

MEETING OF THE COUNCIL. PAST MONTH’S WORK. The Taranaki County Council met yesterday. Present: Crs. J. S. Connett (chairman), E. Wooldridge, A. Morton, and S. Vickers. OVERSEER’S REPORT. The overseer (Mr. G. Meredith) reported on the work of the past month as follows: Plant and General. —The crusher has worked 12% days crushing 984 cubic yards as follows: Stony River depot 568 yards—322 yards delivered to Pitone Hill, 52 yards to Puniho Road, 28 yards Leith Road, 24 yards Dover Road, 28 yards Main Road/80 yards dumped at Stony River depot, Okato school 4 yards, F. Roebuck 4 yards, R. Gray 8 yards, Mr. Short 4 yards, and W. Gray 4 yards. The crusher and engine were then taken in for repairs, the crushing staff and lorries being engaged carting metal and shingle as follows: We have carted from Tate’s dump, Waitara, to the Devon Road, 60 yards; from Mack's dump, Waiwakaiho, 32 yards to Main Road, Okato riding, and 120 yards to Devon Road, Waitara riding; from Parkins’ depot, 88 yards to Devon Road.

Metal Delivery.—From Messrs. Kyngdon and Co., 140 yards, 120 yards to Omata riding, about half of which wp.s used to re-metal the side track on the Omata hill, and the balance was dumped on the by-roads for maintenance, and 20 yards was delivered to Waitara riding. From the Waiwakaiho sheds 16 yards of crushed shingle was taken out to repair Bishop Road, in the Waitara riding. The crusher was then taken to Frankley Road and set up, crushing to date 416 yards of metal as follows: Re-metalling the top end of Frankley Road 400 yards, dumped on Barrett Road 8 yards, and. on Hurworth Road 8 yards, making a total for the month of shingle and metal carted out of 1448 cubic yards. Scarifying and Rolling. —This work was completed in the Okato riding early in the month. The small roller is now under repair, Engine-driver Philpott being at present engaged with the large roller on the Frankley Road, in the Omata riding. Foreman Jury has been engaged during the month carting maintenance metal out of Smith’s pit, Henwood Road 86 yards, shingle from Waiwakaiho dump to Parkins’ depot 102 yards, boulders at Waiwakaiho 438 yards, and 14 yards of rough shingle to repair entrance to sheds at Waiwakaiho. Mr. E. J. Baker has completed the filling on the Kiribati Road. All the boulder contracts are progressing slowly owing to the unsettled weather.

Mangorei Riding. —The foremen in this riding have been engaged with the usual miscellaneous repairs. The Korito Road is cutting up badly in places, and it will be necessary to cart metal from the pit as soon as the teams are available. Mr. Phipps has now approximately 250 yards of metal broken in the pit. I have arranged with Mr. Ashman to repair the Alfield Road, between his house and the Lepper-Carrington Road, for the sum of £B. As requested, I have inspected the earthwork done by Mr. Wallath and Mr. Hawke on the Upper Mangorei Rgad, and find they have done a lot more work than has been charged for, and I have certified for payment accordingly. Waitara Riding.—The foremen have been engaged in patching and general repair work. Foremen Mallon and Holmes are engaged, when the weather permits, with the tar work on the Devon Road. A start was made tarring on the 22nd inst., and to date about 70 chains have received one coat of tar. Mr. Payne is making good pro- ■ gress with the stone-breaking in the railway pit at Sentry Hill. Omata Riding.—The crusher is now at work in this riding crushing metal at the Frankley Road pit. Foreman Eva is engaged with this work, ana Foreman Seamark has been busy breaking stone on the Hurford and Pheaney roads and patching the various roads in his length. The side track on the Omata hill, which was in a very bad state, has been re-metalled. Okato Riding.—The foremen have been engaged during the month with the usual repair work. Foremen betton and Hayes have formed up the Beach hill, on the Timaru Road, Mr. W. Honey field doing the necessary ploughing, which was a great help. The hill is now in very good order. The pipes for Komene Road have been carted on to the site. Five 6-inch pipes are required on the New Plymouth road, opposite Mr. Berridge’s house. INSPECTOR’S REPORT. The inspector (Mr. H. Y. McGahey),, in the course of his report for May,, dealt with visits made to several ridings in clearing the roads from stray - .■ ing stock. A number of cases were 1 , brought in the Magistrate’s Court and convictions entered. The inspector reported two cases of heavy traffic on the, Korito Road, which he said was not fit for heavy traffic and was being badly cut up. He recommended that three settlers on the Veale Road be served with notices to clear furze growth, as at present the foreman reported he could not clear the water tables on account of the furze. The chairman reported that notices had been sent to the persons engaged] in the heavy traffic requesting a discontinuance. The report was adopted. , BRIDGE WORK. The following report was received from Mr. V. W. Arden, bridge carpenter:—The Oakura culvert protection has been done. The Te Arei Road bridge was braced so as to take the traffic while the Mangoaraka bridge' was being decked. This bridge has been re-decked, tarred and painted. The* York Road bridge has had 12 x 4 placed alongside the decayed pier posts. The steel bridge is being chipped and tarred. It will take some time to complete, as there are some of the suspension rods practically corroded through, and to take them out the bridge must be braced up. The one-inch diagonal stays on top are almost rusted through, and most of them have new ends welded. There will be some new ones required to replace those that are past repair. The 2 1 /2-ineh piping hand rails are so bad that" if slightly pushed they will give way; these will be replaced with timber.

An estimate was presented by Mr. Ardern in connection with proposed repairs to the chain bridge, the amount of timber required being set down at 7800 feet. The total cost would be approximately £lB5 19s. It was decided 'o supply particulars of the estimate to tl . jhglewnod County Council, and . , ... ’hat it was proposed to

SPECIAL LOAN. A design of bridge to be erected on the Te Arei, Corbett and Richmond roads in place of the old structures was forwarded by Sladden and Palmer. They stated that the present bridge on the Corbett Road was not on the road reserve, and they suggested that the new bridge be erected lower down the stream and the road straightened. The cost of the bridge was £1205 and the road formation would require an additional £l6O. The bridge over the Mangoaraka, on the Te Arei Road, would cost £1035, with an additional £lO for approaches. The bridge on the Richmond Road was estimated to cost £940, with a further £5O for improving the approaches and lifting and replacing the metal. The council approved of the plans and decided that the necessary steps be taken to raise a loan of £3500 (Waitara riding) to meet the cost. A LIABILITY DISCLAIMED. A refusal to recognise responsibility for certain work done on the Cross Road was contained in a letter from the Public Works Department. Tire district engineer (Mr. T. M. Ball) wrote: The circumstances under which your council carried out this work without first obtaining authority for the expenditure of the grant were reported to the Under-Secretary of. this department, and he has replied as follows: “After careful consideration it is considered that as the Taranaki County Council, in putting in hand this work, must have known that they were violating the department’s regulation; that they nevertheless did so at a time when the prevailing financial conditions make it exceedingly difficult to find funds even for urgent works; and that as this work is not regarded as urgent from a departmental point of view, they should accept the responsibility of their action. Under the circumstances, it is not proposed to recommend the Minister to approve the issue of authority.” In reply to Cr. Morton the chairman said the amount involved was £350. Continuing, he explained that the work was done while the crusher was in the district referred to, and he was hopeful that when he made an explanation to the Minister of the circumstances more favorable consideration would be obtained. The matter of making further representations was left to the chairman. ROAD GRANTS. Mr. S. G. Smith, M.P., forwarded a letter received from the Minister of Public Works in reference to a request for the early authorisation of a number of grants in the Taranaki County. The Minister advised that he had approved of the issue of £4OO ( £ for £) for the Kirihau Road, £6OO ( £ for £) for Plymouth Road, £BOO ( £ for £) for Te Arei Road. Authority was being issued for these amounts in accordance with proposals already submitted and approved. —It was decided to thank Mr. Smith foY his efforts. TENDERS. The following tenders for boulder contracts were accepted: 2200 yards Mangorei depot, J. H. Magee, 2s 4d; 1000 yards Pheney Road, A. Cowling, 4s 9d; 1200 yards Oakura depot, A. Cowling, 2s 10d; 500 yards Timaru depot, O. Northcott, 4s. GENERAL. The Public Works Department advised that the sum of £152 had been remitted to the credit of the council’s bank aecount, being £2O for maintenance on Carrington Road, and progress payment on Carrington Road amounting to £132. A request that a cutting on the Frankley Road (near the top of Hawke’s hill) should be widened was contained in a letter from Mr. R. Todd, who stated that there had been some narrow escapes from accidents at this locality.—The overseer was authorised to attend to the widening. It was decided to convey the council’s thanks to Mr. W. Honeyfield for work done on the Timaru Road. The State Advances Board notified that the council’s application for a loan of £lOOO for the purpose of forming and metalling Corbett Road had been approved. Notification of the general hospital ievy was received from the Taranaki Hospital Board, the rate being 2s 9d per £'loo on the capital value. The council’s contribution was £1913 Bs.

The overseer was authorised to proceed with protection work at the Waiwakaiho weir, costing £24 Bs, half of which is to be paid by the New Plymouth Borough Council. Tenders are to be called for twenty chains of drains on the Upper Puniho Road.

Special orders were passed authorising the raising of loans of £lOOO for the Corbett- Road and £4OO for the Tate Road.

Advice was received from the Taranaki Education Board that as the board was anxious to make permanent additions to the present school site at Lepperton, they would be glad if the council would agree not to raise any objection if legislative action was sought to change the purposes of portion of Sisson Terrace, from road reserve to school site.—The board to be in formed, the council will raise no objection. Five settlers wrote drawing attention to the very bad state of the entrance to the Atkinson Road, and stated a culvert was required there. —Referred to the overseer with authority to take any action he deems necessary- . A draft agreement concerning the maintenance of bridges on the common boundary between the Taranaki and Inglewoqd counties was considered by the council, and minor amendments were made. It was suggested that 12 feet of the roadway on either side of a bridge be ifieluded in the maintenance. In cases of proposals for work costing over £lO, estimates are to be submitted to the respective councils for approval before the commencement of operations. It was proposed by the council in this connection that in the case of any dispute the matter be referred to the resident engineer. Public Works Department, for decision. A circular letter from the Timaru Borough Council conveyed a resolution asking “that the Government be asked , to abolish the present undemocratic system of constituting electric power boards on the petition of one-fourth of the ratepayers .... and that all proposals to form electric power boards should be decided by a poll of the ratepayers in each proposed district.”—The letter was received. The Commissioner of Crown Lands wrote stating he hacl applied for authority to erect three groynes to protect the upper portion of the Crown reserve, but he was doubtful if this would be authorised in view of the present financial stringency. Therefore, he was unable to recommend a subsidy to the council for the purpose of erecting protective works. —Received. The medical officer of health, Wa-

nganui, notified that an application had. been made by T. E. Mack for a license for tallow boiling, and as the applicant had complied with the health inspector’s instructions the council could now grant the license. —It was decided that the license be issued. Mr. F. Bellshaw waited on the conn* cil and entered an objection to the inclusion of his property in the rating area for the proposed Albion Road loan. —lt was decided to refer Mr. Bellshaw to the other signatories to the petition.