STRATFORD COUNTY.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 September 1922, Page 7

STRATFORD COUNTY.

MEETING OF THE COUNCIL. THE MONTH'S OPERATIONS. The monthly meeting of the Stratford County Council was held on Saturday. Present: Crs. E. Walter (chairman), S. Pitt, M. Davis, J. Jacobsen, W. H. Were, J. T. Belcher, T. R. Anderson, J. O’Neill, and J. H. Thomas.

The engineer, Mr. J. VV. Spence, reported for the month as follows:

North Riding (East).—General maintenance work has bene carried out on the Ackland, j Stanley, Manganui and Cross Roads. The I Croydon Road from the Ackland Road junction to Mr. Budge’s property has been patched and water-tabled. The filling-in of the approaches to - the Esk Road bridge has been completed. ; Three hundred and ninety yards of boulders have been crushed and the metal distributed on the various roads in the riding. The contractor for the Stanley and shellrock quarrying is making good progress. About half the required quantity of rock has been quarried and will carted out as soon as the track is sufflci.v . dry. N :<ling (West).—Patching ahd watertablin„ ..-are been done on the York and Monmouth Roads. The scarifying, rounding up of the old metal, and rolling on the Radnor Road have been completed. A set of IS-inch pipes has been placed in the latter road to take the place of an old wooden culvert which collapsed under the roller. South Riding.—A mile of the Skinner Road has been scarified, rounded up and rolled. The grader has been used to lower the grass edges on the metal part of the Skinner Road, also on the Upper Bird Road. A considerable amount of work was done with the grader on the clay part of the Skinner Road. General repair work has also been done on the other

East Riding (Toko) .-Water-tabling and parching has bene done on the Wairiri, Ohura, Toko, Ahuroa East and West, and the Mangaehu Roads. On the latter road a considerable amount of water-tabling and patching was necessary. Where possible the grader was used to cut out the water-tables. Repairs to the Mangaehu Bridge have been completed. The bridge over the Patea Stream on the Skinner Road will require early attention. Some of the timber in the under-structure is showing signs of decay. The small bridge on the Ahuroa Road West, near Mr. Bretherton’s woolshed, is getting Into a bad state. This bridge at present consists of a span of 16 feet, a length quite unnecessary to span what can only be termed a small ditch. A culvert four feet square would be more than sufficient to carry the water. The timber has been ordered for renewing the small bridge on the Waiwlri Road, near the Toko School.

East Riding (Douglas).—The Ohura, Mangaehu and Crown Roads have, where necessary, received attention. The quarrying of the shelirock at the Gordon Road pit is being proceeded with. East Riding (Huiroa).—Some of the rough portions of the Makuri Road have been picked up and the large metal napped and relaid. On the Douglas North and Akama Roads the formation has been rounded up, the water-tabks cleaned out, and the overhanging fern cut. A set of nine-inch pipes were put in in the Akama Road. West Riding.—The hanking up of the newlymetalled portion of the Opunake No. 1 Road has been completed. General repair work has been carried Out on the Hastings, Cardiff, Opunake No. 3, Rowan, Palmer and Manaia (South) Roads. On the Opunake No. 1 Road an extensive wash-out took place, caused by an old Wooden culvert, 25 feet below the road, breaking in. This necessitated cleaning the tunnel portion of the drain and replacing the timber culvert with 12 3-feet diameter concrete pipes. The portion of the Cardiff Roads south of the Patea River has been trimmed up, rolled and blinded.

Mangaehu Riding.—Several slips on the Mangaehu Road have been cleared away. Metal patching and water-tabling have been done on the Mangaehu, Mangaotuku and Ttututawa Roads. The corner opposite Mr. Holley’s property has been cut back to allow sufficient road width. At this point a portion of outside of the road slipped into the stream, rendering the road dangerously narrow. A start has been made with the repairs and widening of the Puni Road. The culverts on the Taihore Road, near Mr. McPherson’s, have been attended to.

The question of replacing the bridge on the Ahuroa Road with a four-foot culvert was left to the engineer. The report was adopted. THE HIGHWAYS BILL. Mr. R. Masters, M.P., wrote asking for the council’s views on the proposed Main Highways Bill. In view of the early presentation of the Bill to the House, Mr. Masters was anxious to secure the views of the local bodies. The chairman said he thought the counties' executive would do all it could in the matter. The feeling throughout Taranaki was that taxes taken from Taranaki should be returned. He thought they had everything to lose by the Bill and very little to gain. He thought the big pressure on the Minlrter had come from the hig cities and towns and not from the country districts, for the benefit of the motorists. The only advantage he could see in the Bill was that good through roads would relieve the position in the case of a railway breakdown.

Cr. S. Pitt said as the Bill read he thought it would unduly penalise the districts had good roads as against those with poor roads. Taranaki had raised more loan money per head than any other province in New Zealand. To allow only one-third of the cost of constructing the good roads was very inequitable. He also complain'd that the proposed fiat rate of £3 tyre tax on cars was also ’nequitable, and that the tay should be graduated, according to horse-power. The general impression was that the Bill would be suitable providing that Taranaki had the taxes collected therein spent on its roads.

Cr. Pitt pointed out a difficulty in allocating the tyre tax on this basis on account of ths fact that the customs on tyres were collected In the four centres.

It was decided to point out to Mr. Masters that the counc” considered there were inequalities in the Bill, In that the counties with good roads, such as Taranaki, should receive more than one-third of their face value of their roads: that the tyre tax should be calculated on the horse-power, or the weight, of the cars, and that Mr. Masters be asked to confer with the other Taranaki members in the matter. It was also decided to draw attention to the fact that in calculating the subsidy the special rates should be taken into consideration as well as the general rate. a GENERAL. Messrs. Lehmann and Mason waited on the council asking that something be done to improve the state of a small section of the Brooks Road. It was pointed out that this work was provided for in the loan proposals. The work will be proceeded with. The Public Works Department forwarded an Order-in-Council declaring the Kata Road to be a county road.—lt was decided to notify the department that the council had already entered a protest against the road in its preC. Schneller and C. J. and K. Schneller petitioned the coucil to take into consideration the question of metalling and grading the lower part of the Ronald Road.—The matter was left in the hands of the engineer. The Conservator of Forests wrote soliciting early orders for trees for planting to supply the council's future timber requirements. The circular stated that the response to the department’s circulars had been greater than expected and showed a widespread appreciation of the necessity of tree-planting. Over twenty local bodies in the North Island were engaged on schemes of more or less magnitude, and large orders had been received for trees for next season’s planting.—Received. G. W. Gane asked the council to enlarge a culvert across the Walwlri. It was stated that the culvert was not large enough to carry the dra’nage waler, with the result that it backr a r.p and made about 30 or 40 acres of land useless in v.-p‘ weather. —Left to the engineer ard riding memoers.