TEMURA ROAD BOARD.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2498, 4 May 1893, Page 3

TEMURA ROAD BOARD.

The monthly meeting of the above board was held last Tuesday. Pretent-~ - Messrs Talbot (chairman), Fraspr, Bisset, Sue', and Parke_. CORRESPONDENCE. Correspondence was read as follows— From the Returning Officer, notifying tho election of Messrs W. fc>n,eJ! and P. Oojra as members of the hoard, FrovA Mr J. M. Naughton, asking the board to reconsider its decision as to his application for a road from Kakahu to his laud.—Resolved: " That tho board cannot entertain tho question of purchasing a road, but wi 1 ! undertake to make the road if handed over to. th,e board, ov v .11

' nprove fie present means of access if Mi- Naugluun wishes it." From the County Council, ceicrying that a road running from the noiih bank of the Orari river to the north Urari road and joining that road at a point opposite the \ve.3t corner of RS. 20233 has been stoppc i and that the exchange of the said road for a road running from the west corner of RS. 20233 to the main south road had been ordered to be made and the act of the board confirmed. From Mr R Roberts, applying for the return of deposit on contract No. 57.—The application was not entertained. From Mr Brooks relative to poisoned wheat.—Consideration deferred until next meeting. From Mr W. Taggart, asking that his name be removed from the roll in respect, of land known as Badham's land, he having disposed of his interest in the same to Mr E. B. Amyes.—The clerk had attended to same.

From Mr Jos. Buck drawing attention to the fact that he is charged with rates on three acres more than he occupies and asking that a correction be made. From Mr W. Mason, asking the board to foim that portion of the Main South Road lying between Mr F. Barker's and Mr A. L. Barker's properties.—The overseer to report.

From the senior tiastee in the estate of the late J. G. Huddenklau, asking that Mr H. Hearn's name be placed on the roll as occupier of the Rangitata farm.—Agreed to. From Mr E. Lee, askiug that Mr C. Hannian's name be placed on the roll in respect of 1 acie 3 roods part of the Epworth township. From M J. T. Brown, asking the board to clean the ditch on Clyne's road. —Overseer to see adjoining occupiers and arrange. THE LATE MR BALLANCE. The chairman referred to the g/eat loss the colony had sustained by the death of the Hon. John Ballance, the Premier, and after members had expressed themselves in similar terms the chairman was requested to forward a letter of sympathy to Mri Ballance. overseer's report. " To the Chairman.

"Sir,—l have the honor to report for the past month as follows : —The contractor for contract No. 57, drain and formation through Educational Reseive 1400, has thrown up this job, and fresh tenders have been invited for the work. Contracts Nos. 60 and 61, cleaning Canal drain, will be completed in a few days, and cheques have been drawn for payment when .finished. Contract No. 55, formation at Rangitata, will shortly be completed. Shingle repairs have been done to the Geraldine road and to Rolleston's road, water-tables at Winchester have been cleaned, and other necessary works have been attended to. The owner of land occupied by Messrs Prattley & Ward having agreed to pay half the cost of a coucrete culvert in drain on Upper Swamp road, fronting this property, the work has been done. Opihi Bridge: During the past two months this bridge has a great deal of attention ; almost every heavy load cf wool or grain that has passed over it has broken a plank, and as this sometimes occurs late in the day it is consequently very unsafe. Planks that are apparently sound break under a heavy load, and I have often had to temporarily repair dangerous holes after dark. The pipes across Badham's road, that take the water from Messrs Austin and Knight's land, appear to be all shattered, and the road has fallen in for nearly oue third of the length of the culvert, which lia3 been temporarily replaced with timber. As these pipes will not take all the water during wet weather, 1 would recommend that they be replaced with a concrete culveij large enough to do so. I estimate the cost of doing this at £ —. Mr Wm. Hawke has requested me to ask the board to grant him pipes to make a crossing to the upper part of his land at Orari. The bal tncesheet for the past year has been preparod. Che annual election will require to be held ia the first week of next month.— I have, etc.,

"F. Archer."

The overseer was authorised to get certain drains cleaned and to have nigger, heads cleared from canal road near K.S. 1211. His suggestion re concrete culvert near Messrs Austin and Knight's land was adopted, and Mr Ha wke's application was granted.

ACCOUNTS, Accounts! to the amouat of £63 14a 6d were passed for payment. The meeting then terminated.

ANNUAL MEETING OF RATEPAYFRS

The annual meeting of ratepayers was held at one o'clock, only about ten being present. The chairman, after a fow introductory remarks, read the annual report as follows : " I'eu ordinary meetings aud one special meeting of the board have been held duxlng the year. At the commencement of the year Messrs Talbot, Bisset, Snell, Fraser, and Woodhead were the members. A vacancy occnued in February last through the death of Mr Woodhead, and an election to j? 1 the same resulted iu the return of Mr J. F, Parke. The two members to. retire this year were Messrs and Snell. Mr Bisset did not offer himself for rt election. Two candidates only were nominated in the room of those retiring-, namely, Messrs Ca ; "a aud Snell, who have been, therefore, duly elected. The board, after making a caveful estimate of its probable requirements to meet expenditure for the year, struck a general rate of 9/16ths of a, penny in the £. It was iex% however, that this would iu p,r,o.V>ab ; 'tty produce too smal} a s»um to fully mcjt ciu.ent needs, and would result in tho board having to show a smaller credit balance at the end of the year than it with. This has happened, as vr" 1 ] b,o footed from the figures of the, [iU/nu,at balancesheet, the <jreds balance at present beiqg £lßl (ft a<s against £G22 15s Id at the end' of last year. The estimates upon which tho board stuick the rate were disarranged when too late to rectify, on account of the demands from the Harbor Board being considerably iu. excess of what was expected, owing to. oj-G-an,d.-a-halt ypnr'p contributions falling to be paid i \wtkh) the Th.e rate struck wo" I '' produce :\bo.ufc £I,HO, out of "Viiich payWCnt;s to tho Harbor *»oaWl have absorbed ;twl'v». Ratepayers i.usfc now look upon ..io narbor rate as a permanent institution among us, but unless the total amount required is increased the annual payment for tho future w:ll be onc-tl : rd less than it w:ri for the past yep v. The total receipts for tho year, including the credit balance from the previous year amount to £2,487 10s 2id, aud the expenditure for tho same period harj been £2,800 3s (3id, thus leaving a present credit balance "of £lßl (js Sd. It should be pointed out, however, that unco 1 looted rates and other outstanding accounts amount to nearly £'.)oo, as against about £GOO last year, while at the same time outstanding liabiliti -rs are no greater- This must be taken into consideration when draw ing a comparison between our present position aud what it wc s at the end of last year. In view of the quantity of road lines we

have in proportion to the area of our d'stiict, and that the bulk of the district consists of heavy, or what was originally swainp lands, intersected by endless numbers of creeks and gullies, ratepayers must, we think, consider themselves by no means heavily rated, considering also that Harbor Board and Charitable Aid taxation is included with our own rate. Our district was from the beginning hold in smaller blocks and more clocely settled than is the case generally, nevertheless further subdivision has bean made and is still going on, and we note this with much satisfaction, although it brings with it, however, increased demands fjr road accommodation. We may point to one instance of this. A block of rich swamp land (Education Reserve), some ]BOO acres situated north of the Orari, was until quite recently in one holding and unimproved. It is now divided into fourteen separate holding, the whole of which is being brought under cultivation. The »rea of our district is 89,812 acres of a total rateable value of £700,090, averaging about £7 10s per acre. The number of separate rateable properties is 632. At the request of the County Council our board undertook the maintainance of the Opihi bridge, and we have drawn the attention of that body to the urgent need there is of its being redecked. It requires unremitting supervision and care to guard against accidents, as planks are breaking almost daily. Theredecking will be costly, but the present expenditure for maintenance is considerable, and this would bo saved for some years at all events, and there is besides the larger question of safety to the travelling public. In dealing with the small birds' nuisance action has been confined to the distribution of poisoned grain only, it being too severe a straiu on our finances to buy eggs and young bivds as well. Members considered the system of poisoning to be the more efficacious of the two. A sum of about £55 has been expended in poisoning; some of the grain was laid on the roads through the district by the board, with, eo far as we could learn, satisfactory results. The expenditure on road works have been chiefly for the maintainance of existing made roads. One old timber bridge has been replaced by one of concrete, and about six miles of road formation has also been done Fhe board have again to acknowledge the painstaking and able maimer with which their overseer, Mr F. Archer, continues to discharge the duties of his office. The balance-sheet may be relied upon as correct, although the accounts have not yet been audited by the Government auditor.

"J. Talbot, " Chainnan,

" May 2nd, 1893." Mr Quiuii, in moving a hearty vote of thanks to the members for Iheir services during the past year, said it was evident from the small attendance at that meeting that the ratepayers were well satisfied with the work done. He expressed regret at the retirement of Mr Bisset from the board, and considered that the ratepayers owed him a debt of gratitude for his faithful service. He was pleased to see that Mr Coira had consented to take a share of the work, and thought it ako a good sign when young men like Mr Parke were prepared to sacrifice a share of their time for the public. Mr Talbot briefly returned thanks. As Mr Quiuii had said, the ratepayers were evidently satisfied, or there would have been a larger attendance. It woul 1, however, have been more gratifying to have seen more there. He regretted the board were to lose Mr Bissot's services, although he agreed with the principle of allowing the young ones haviug a chance to work upon local bodies. He took the opportunity of welcoming Messrs Parke and Coira as members, the former although some time elected he had not previously had an opportunity of meeting. He thanked Mr Quinn for his kiudly remarks, and said that tho board were always anxious to give due consideratjoii to all matters of public interest within their province, and generally t> work harmoniously together for the welfare of the distriot.

Tho proceedings then terminated.