TEMUKA ROAD BOARD.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1502, 6 May 1886, Page 2

TEMUKA ROAD BOARD.

The monthly meeting of the Temuka Boad Board was held tast Tuesday. Present— Messrs Talbot (Chairman), Brown, Quinn, and Hayhurst. MINUTES. The minutes of the previous meeting were read end confirmed. ANNUAL REPORT. The annual report prepared for submission to the annual meeting was then read and adopted. THE OVERSEER. The Chairman said that Mr Archer had complained that his salary was not sufficient. He had complained to him long ago, and he (Mr Talbot) had promised that he would try to get the Board to give him a bonus at the end of the year, and recommend the new Board to raise his salary. Perhaps Mr Archer would state to the Board what he wanted. Mr Archer said he was at great expense in horse teed and other things, and he found his salary inadequate. Mr Archer then retired, and the matter having been discussed in Committee, it w«s decided to give Mr Archer a bonus of £lO, and recommend the new Board to raise his salary from £lO to £l2 a month. All the members spoke in the highest terms of praise of the services rendered by Mr Archer as Overseer to the Board. ACCOUNTS. Accounts to the amount of £IOO 2s 8d were passed for payment. CORRESPONDENCE. The following correspondence was read and considered : From Mr Buxton, stating that the road at Rangitata was very bad, and asking that the tussocks be grubbed off the main road up the Island to the railway ; also that the stones be picked off the main road. —The Overseer was instructed to do what was necessary.—The Overseer said the best way would be to get a man living on the Island to do (lie work. It was only used for two or three months of the year. From Mr Brooks, of Kaiapoi, in reference to poisoned wheat.—The Chairman said the same man bad sent to thorn about wheat before, and the matter was referred to the new Board. From Mr Jabez Allott, stating that he had no property in Temuka, and was not accountable for the rides.—Several other letters of the same nature were held over to inquire into. Prom Mr D. L. Inwood, Winchester, complaining of the Winchester district being neglected generally, and stating that the Winchester Bridge wanted redecking, as grain was often damaged by getting wet in crossing the ford in drays. —The Overseer was given authority to attend to the water-tables and other matters at Winchester referred to in Mr In wood’s letter. Fro* Mr Budd, Winchester, complaining of flood water going on his land, and asking that the main water courses be opened.—The Overseer was ordered to report on the matter. From Mr Shiers, Clerk to the Geraldine Road Board, in reference to the part of the boundary road to be opened. The Overseer had reported advising that it be opened as a bridle track, but not for dray traffic.—The Board agreed to this course. From Mr John Morton, asking his name to be inserted on the rate roll as owner of a section in Wilkin Street. From Mr Campion, asking his name to be taken off the rate roll, and Mr Mark Seal’s inserted in his stead.—The request was agreed to. From the Geraldine County Council, asking whether there was any objection on the part of the Road Board to have Arowhenua constituted a Town District. —lt was decided to hold the question over for the new Board to consider. DEPUTATIONS. Mr Lavery waited on the Board, and stated that he was charged with rates he did not owe. He had given up the leasehold land he held some time ago, and then asked his name to be struck off the roll. He saw by the Temuia Leader that the Board ordered the Clerk to take his name off the roll, but evidently this had not been done.—The Board promised Mr Lavery that the matter would be attended to. Mrs Burke waited on the Board, and asked that a vacant Road Board cottage be given to her. She had lost two sons, and had no means of support, She had no fault to find with her present landlord —Mr Brown. He was very good to her, and gave her time to pay her rent, but she could not pay it any longer as she had no means of doing so. —Mr J. Brown : I That is my brother you alluded to ?—Mrs J Burke : Yes, Mr Brown.—Mrs Burke then retired, and it was decided that as Arowhenua would probably be constituted a Town District before long the Board could not see its way to grant the request. tenders. The following tenders were opened and considered ; - Contrast No. 57 : Filling sides, Waitohi Road— W. Hopkinaon, £ls (accepted) ; W. Fletcher, £2l 5s ; E. Counihan, £lo ; T. Small, £27 Is 6d. Contract No. 68: Shingling, near Parke’s-Lewis and Co., £l2 18a 4L As the amount was considered too high tresh tenders were ordered to be called. Contract No. 59; Stonebreakiug, Rangitata—D. Ross, £ll (accepted). Contract No. 60: Cleaning Canal Drain, Orari—R. Latimer, £lO 5s lOd (accepted); G. Latimer, £ll ; —Francis, £ll if a 61; Gunnioo and Franks, £l2 13s 4d; O. McAuliffe, £l3 la 5d ; M. Flaherty, £lB 10s. overseer's report. The Overseer’s report was real as follows : “ To the Chairman. "Sir, —I have the honor to report for the past month as follows : Tenders have been called for the works authorised,. - Contract No. 46, shingling Waitohi main road, is finished and passed for payment. —Hopkinson’a contract, shingling at Rangitata, is nearly completed,—The drains on Middle Swamp and Penny's roads have been let, but are not yet quite finished.—The timber in the yard has been overhauled, and what required tarring has been done. The sale of old timber was to have taken place last week, but had to be postponed on account of (he wet weather.—Three wooden culverts have been taken out and pipes pul in I place of them. —During the last fresh the ’

Temuka river has encroached on its east bank nt the crossing near the Oxfcrd Railway Bridge.—The cutting and the temporary footbridge at this place have been washed away. A fresh cutting will require to bo made if the river i crossabte at this place.—The wooden culvert at the junction of Paterson’s read and the Upper Swamp road has been damaged. I would recommend that a new culvert be built, as I do not think the present one is worth repairing.—The Geraldine road has been scoured by the late fresh ; it is now being repaired.— Some small holes have been scoured in the road near Airey’s, at the Ksngitata; they are also being attended to. —The Kakahu road near the bridge by Mr Hay’a has been scoured. There is some shingle to go on at this place, it being part of Dunn’s contract for shingling Kakahu road, and requires to be done at once.—l have not yet been able to redeck the bridge on the Epworth road, as I have not enough decking on hand.—As water can now be obtained close to the work 1 intend to immediately start the concrete culvert on the Waitohi Terrace road.—A small bridge is required over the Canal drain on the road leading from the Middle Swamp to the Lower Swamp roads.—A timber bridge that would meet all requirements would cost about £ — for labor. There are also a few loads of clay required on this road, as it is very soft in places.—The creek from the bridge near Mr Ackroyd’s slaughterhouse requires to ' be cleaned to its junction with the main ' creek. — Alexander street, Arowhenda, requires to be partly re-formed. —A good ■ deal of surface work will require to be ? done this menth.—i?c Boundary Boad : ' As regards this road I do not think it is required as a dray road. If a bridle track ; was made it would meet all requirements, 1 and would be a convenience to some of the settlers on the Orari allotments.— 1 am, etc., “ P. Archer.” It was resolved—That the cutting at the Oxford Bridge be made; that a new culvert be made at the junction of Pater- ' son’s road and the Upper Swamp road ; that if M. Dunn’s contract be not gone on with as arranged last Board day, the - Overseer relet it; that the bridge required over the Canal drain be built as suggested. The question of forming Alexander street was deferred in consequence of the action of the residents of Arowhenua, with respect to constituting a Town District. , The Bo>rd theu adjourned. ANNUAL MEETING. At 12 o’clock, the hour fixed for the annual meeting, the door was thrownopen, but not a single ratepayer, with the' sxceptiou of the four members of the Board, was present. The Chairman said that in consequence of no ratepayers attending the meeting could not be held, as it took six ratepayers to form a quorum. ’ Mr Brown said he regretted that there was no attendance, as lie had something to bring forward. He suggested to ad* jouro till Friday next. • The Chairman said as one of the polling booths would be in the Board’s office bn Friday the meeting could not be heldthere. Mr Brown said it was a pity the people did not take more interest in these matters. He had intended to bring for* ■ J ward the question of dividing the district into wards, so that each district would be represented. All the members nominated i forthe Board, with the exception of one, ‘ lived within a few miles of each other, and he thought it would be fairer fdi every district to send its own representative. * Mr Hayhurst said the people could vote for Mr Cana van if they /iked. Then ; Rangilata would be represented, and that would be fair. • < The Chairman thought the district /, could not be very well divided into wards. The principal reason why it should be ‘ divided was so that there would bean equal expenditure of money in 1 all the 7 wards, and that would not work. Mr Brown thought it would be by far the best way to divide. All those nominated now lived within five miles of each other, with the exception of Mr Canavan, and if ho were not elected: Hangilaia would have no representative. ■- The Chairman said it would be very difficult to divide, and rfter some further discussion it was decided to allow the ' meeting to lapse. The following is the annual report pre* pared forthe meeting:— “ To the Ratepayers. “Gentlemen, — The statutory annual meeting of ratepayers has again come round, bringing with It on this occasion ■ the retirement of all the members of the v Board, which by the provisions of the Act must occur tri-annually. The present members of (he Board, however, retain office until after the election, which wi'l take place on Friday- next. With reference t-i the proceedings of the Bouid for ihe past year, we have to report as follows ; “ Financial—The receipts for the year • ~ amount to £1660 13s 4d, which, together with the balance in hand on the Ist of April, 1885, £390 17s lid, maker a-total available amount of £2051 lls 3d. The * ' principal items of receipts are £1146 from rales, and £432 subsidies received from Government under the provisions, of the - Local Bodies Finance and Powers Act 1885. Our expenditure for the year, amounts to £1604 17s sd, leaving a credit balance at the time of closing the books for audit, viz., March 31st, £446 ISalOd. Our outstanding liabilities at the same time for works in-progress, ’ etc., were £197, and our anticipated,, in*, • come from uncollected rates, • balance- 00?/* subsidies, etc., about £7OO. It will tbiis ,- be seeu that our expenditure for the past year has been kept well .within our come. The different items of tore as they appear on the balance-sheet* ) will show that economy in management .. i has also been observed. When it is borne in mind that the Overseer works v himself, and that his salary is therefore -) to a considerable extent recouped it will bo seen that only a email proper? tion of the funds has been used for othej* than directly beneficial works, The Hoipital and Charitable Aid contribution - £97 16s 5d was our share in accorduncif■? (- )■ with the new Act passed last towards the cost of maintenance Hospitals and Charitable Aid in district of South Canterbury for the four months ending March 31st last, A ,■» further demand on the same account the current year may be expected at any .Mi time. This marks the commencement <if)v« direct taxation for the support

•htritable inatitotions among ns, and it is highly probable that the system now introduced will be permanent, and the burden on the rates will be an ever increasing one. The mm of £346 16s 10 d appearing on the balance-sheet under the head of surface men and labor may seem a large amount to expend in this manner. In explanation, however, it may be pointed cut that the system of letting maintenance contracts, which used to cost a large sum, has been discontinued, and the Overseer now has this work under his direct charge. A considerable amount of work in. the way of putting in culverts, making cuttings into rivals after floods, protective works, and carrying out many ■mall works throughout the district is now also generally undertaken by the Overseer, the cost of which is charged under this head. It also includes all charges for horse labor. The Board are satisfied that the ratepayers have received full value for the amount thus spent. A rate ef §ths of a penny in the £ was struck for the period ending Slst March lasi, the total amoant of which would be £1153 12s. The amonnt of this rate collected to March Slat is £764 17s Id, leaving an uncollected balance of £3BB 14a lid. “ The system which was inaugurated last year of having the positions of the - Overseership and the Clerkship separate has worked very well indeed, The duties appertaining to each are now carried out at a great saving of cost, compared to the combined system, while at the same time greater efficiency is also secured. The success of the plan is no daubt due to the circumstance that the Board was fortunate in getting the services of an Overseer in every way well qualified for the duties required of him, and who haa performed them with care and integrity. “ Mr Bolton resigned the Clerkship in January last, on account of his going into a business on Iris own account requiring bis whole attention thereto. Ha had carried out the duties most efficiently, and the Board regretted the loss of his services. Mr George Dyson was appointed, and at present bolds the position vacated by Mr Bolton. “ The arrangement hitherto in force with the Geraldine Road Board for the maintenance of the boundary road be* tween this district and theirs has been readjusted. The main features of the present arrangement are: Each Board takes charge of a portion of the length of it, but the cost of all works to be equally shared. Any work under £2O cost may be carried out by either Board in their respective divisions without reference to the others ; the aggregate coat of all such •mall works for a year not to exceed £IOO. Any work estimated to cost over £2O must be sanctioned by both Boards before being undertaken. The Geraldine Board has the Winchester end of the road, in their charge. “It was stated last year that negotiations re the stock bridge proposed to be built over the Fangitata River, alongside ef, and attached to, the railway bridge, had failed to bring about the desired result, and the object given up as . unattainable. The Hon. Mr RoHeston, however, informed the Board some time ■go that he had obtained the promise of the Minister for Public Works to undertake the work. Up to the present, however, nothing has been done in the wily ofa fulfilment of the promise. “ The Georgetown road difficulty baa been satisfactorily settled. The Board and those interested are indebted to the .Hon. Mr Holleston for this result, he having taken the matter up and succeeded in bringing about a satisfactory settlement of the dispute. The road in question has been opened and formed. “ The redecking of the Temuka Bridge has been carried out by the County Council. Shortly after being done, however, it was extensively damaged by the passage over it of a traction engine. The . mischief has been repaired, but in order .to prevent a similar occurrence a by-law has been passed by the Council having for its object the regulating of the passage of those engines over this and other county bridges. The effect of the by-law as it applies to this particular bridge is pro- : hibitive of their being crossed at all. It is intended, however, in the event of the river being in flood or dangerous for them to go through, it this Board may . take them over the bridge, if sufficient notice be given of the desire tc cross. The application of the by-law to the Opthi Bridge is of a different nature. . All the ordinary kinds of these engines ' at present in use (it being limited to twelve tons weight) may pass over it, but they are required to uncouple from their load and drag it at a specified distance behind, so as to avoid placing too great a strain on auy single span of the bridge, . “ The email birds nuisance has received the attention of the Board sum, a of \ £B4 4s s|d having been expended, with a view of keeping it in chock. The amount has «;been applied as follows Purchase • of 3,436 dozen eggs, and 437 J dozen -: young birds, £l7 9s 2£d; purchase of poison and poisoned grain for distribution • to farmers, £6l 15s 3d, and salary tc the collector of eggs and young birds £4 10s. / These measures, though costly, seem to -have no perceptible effect; at all events the pest is apparently ever on the increase. “The residents of the Arowhenua Vil- . lage Settlement are taking steps to get it formed into a Town District. The petition asking the Governor to do this, must - be agreed to by the County Council before it maybe granted. That body has * been applied to for its sanction, but before giving it it has referred the question -to this Board, and it willdevolveon the new , Board to reply thereto. As the proposed action is not likely to injuriously affect r ; the Road Board it may be presumed no objection will be raised. - “ The prevalence of late of-diphtheria ‘ in the district, and its, in many cases, fatal consequences, led the Board into faking steps with n view to the bct‘er carrying out of the provisions of the Public Health Act for the purpose of checking the spread of this or o'hei ?n- ---•• factious and dangerous diaeaes, the qpppifittnent of a medical health officer, ptc. Arrangements had been completed for the combining of this Board with the Temuka Town Board in the matter, and jointly sharing any necessary expenses. V Just on the eve, however, of the arrange-ment-being given effect to, the action tikoiv by the Arowhenua residents n their proposed Town District caused the . matter to be deferred, pending the-result of that movement. It may h- -j ed, ■ in the interests of the public sa.' • , > h..t the proposed action is only, in au»ytwice

temporarily, and that on the formation of a Town Board for Arowhenua it wl 1 assist in carrying out the object the other Boards have in view. “The agitation taking place in the Levels Road Board district at the date r f our last annual meeting, having for its object the formation of a new Count , did not result in thatobj-ct being ol» t&ined. The legislation of last session renders the rutting up of Count'ss much more difficult of attainment than formerly, and it is probable therefore that nothing further will be beard of the matter. “(Signed) John Talbot, “ Chairman.”