TEMUKA ROAD BOAD.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2654, 3 May 1894, Page 2

TEMUKA ROAD BOAD.

MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the above was held on Tuesday. Present—Messrs J. Talbot (chairmau), P. Coira, J. Fraaer, W. Snell, and J. F. Parke. * ACCOUNTS. Accounts to the amount of £275 9s were passed for payment. CORRESPONDENCE. Correspondence waß received as follows : From the Han, W. Rolleston, covering list of gates erected on the roads running through his land, with an explanatory note, and a request that they might be allowed to remain.

From Mr A. M. Clark, asking that he be allowed to erect a gate on the road leadiug from Canal reserve.—The chairman explained that the board desired persons haying gates on roads should understand that they would be held responsible for damage, etc. —After consideration the requests of applicants were agreed to. From ftfr W, Walker, asking to have a culvert lowered on road at Epworth leading to Mr Clark's.—Overseer to report. From Mr A. L. Barker, applying for pinea to put in drain leading to R.S, 8688.—Granted.

From Mr Johu Airay, applying for consent of the board to a slaughtering lioonsefor section at Kangitata.—Granted. From Mr J. A. Young, notifying that he had applied to the county council f)r a farmer's slaughtering license for section 4929 at Winchester, and that he had complied with the conditions. Ho asked for tljo board's approval.—Overseer to report. From Mr W. U. Butlaud, applying again for the formation of a footpath, etc., in front of his premises. After heavy weather there was some ten fe.t wide of water in front of his workshop.—The chairman said thoro was a dilliculty in dealing with tlje work, as the streets iij AndrewvilJo wero not dedicated to the board, and the drainage was diilicult.— The overseer was instructed to ascertain if the roads in Androwville would be dedicated, and also to furnish estimate of cost of work asked, for by Mr Rutland.

From the Lands Department, relative to " thirds." It appeared that the sum of £94 7s 4d had been overpaid in respect of certain sections at Rangitata, sold under the Reserves Act.—A refund was asked for. From the Property Tax Commissioner, asking that certain sections, being reserves sold, be included in rate roll. From the Crown Lands Department, approving of the proposals for expenditure of "thirds," and showing how amount accrued, £3lO 8s Id, had been made up. From the Returning Officer, notifying the return of Messrs Talbot, Fraser, and Parke as members of the board. overseer's report. The overseer's report was read as follows : To the Chairman. Sir, —I have the honor to report for the past month as follows:—After last meeting tenders were called for painting the office and stable, and also for cleaning a drain on Parke's and White's road. The first job was let to Messrs Bates Sc Co. by ballot for £l7 10s,,and the second to Mr R. Williams for £2 4s. Tenders have been invited for a supply of decking timber, for cleaning a drain near Mr Guild's, for forming part of the Main South road, and for shingling part of th« same road. The two last-mentioned jobs will be paid for out of the land fund. All contracts are now just about completed. As directed, I have had the road running to Mr McEinnou's repaired, and also part of the Waitohi and Eakahu Road. The shingling ■ asked for by Mr Mjßride has been done, and a few yards put on Hawke's road. A few chains of formation has been done at Winchester on the street leading to Mr F. Young's farm, and I am nowjhaving a culvert built at the junction of the main Waitohi 1 road and the road leading to Mr Gillie's's , farm. The wages men have been employed : spreading shingle and repairing and tarring bridges. The decking girders and sills of a composite bridge near Mr Guild's have been renewed. Messrs Fraser, Coira, and Parke have visited the bridges on the Milford and Beach road, and agreed that one of them should be shortened to 10 feet span, and the other three replaced'with concrete culverts, the work to be done as opportunity offers between now and the end of next 1 harvest. Re threatened overflow of Orari , river—l have visited the place referred to as dangerous, and am of opinion that the 1 first time a heavy flood is experienced, and at the same time the river takes a set into " the bank at this place, a very large > quantity of water will overflow and find its way into the Waihi, and thence to Temuka. • A comparatively small outlay would pre* 3 vent this. With reference to reserve . rented by Mr Wm. Page, Ido not Bee any : necessity for cutting down the willows he ' referred to. A large quantity of useful , stakes, etc., can be obtained from them at : any time the board may require them. ' There would be no objection' to Mr Page cutting a few that are hanging over the • stream if he requires them to repair the fence pf the reserve. Since Mr Page has rented the reserve he has improved it by trimming the trees and grubbing gone. [ With regard to the letting value, lam of , opinion that he is now paying a high rent for it.—l have, etc., ' F. Abcheb. 1 On the motion of Mr Fraser it was 1 agreed to reduce Mr Page's rent of reserve : to 20s per annum, and he was granted permission to cut a few willows as 1 suggested by the overseer. 1 The suggestions of the sub-committee re bridges were approved. gorsk on roads. 1 The overseer in reply to Mr Fraser said 1 that he was issuing gorse notices \o A number of settlers. TENDERS. The following tenders were received and i dealt with : Contract No. 6, for supply of decking : Sharplin & Co., 17s 6d per 100 ft on trucks at Temuka, but to be approved at their mill, Springburn.—lt was agreed to accept same if approved at Temuka. Contract No. 7, Formation Main South Road: James Cain, 13s per chain; D. Gregan, 18s per chain; J. Fifield, £3l; M. Lawlor, £3O 12s; O'Mara & Angland, £49 6s; T. Corkey, £6O; T. Su»rue, £3O (accepted). Contract No. 8, Shingling part Main South Road : C. Brosnahan, Is l£d; Jas. Cain, Is Id; T. Corkey, Is 2d ; P. O'Mara, Is; T. Sugrue, lid; J. Fifield. lid; P. Mulvahill, lOjd. Contract No. 9, Cleaning drain Guild's road: Richd. Williams, Is 3d per chain; B. Whittington, lOd per chain (accepted). GENERAL. * The overseer was authorised to expend the sum of £5 upon shingling a portion of road near Mr Pearce's. ANNUAL MEETING OF RATEPAYERS. The statutory meeting was held at noon. There were six ratepayers represented other than members. Mr Talbot presided. The minutes of the previous annual meeting were read and confirmed. The chairman introduced the business of the meeting, and mentioned the reelection of Messrs Parke, Fraser, and himself as members. He then read the annual report and balance-sheet. The principal items of the latter are included in the report, which was as follows : We have much pleasure in again meeting ratepayers at this the close of another yearly period, and laying before you the annual balance-sheet, together with a short statement of the work done for the year, the present financial position of the board, etc No change has taken place in the personnel of the board during the year, the members being Messrs Talbot, Fraser, Parke, Snell, and Coira. Nine ordinary meetings have been held, with generally a full attendance of members. Three members retire this year in accordance with the statute, and the whole of the members will retire next year. The rate levied for the past year was the same as that in the previous one, namely, nine-sixteenths of a penny in the pound. It has produced an amount sufficient to meet all requirements, including demands from the harbor board and the hospital and charitable aid board, £270 8s 7d and £228 5s 4d respectively, amounting together to nearly £SOO. The rate levied would produce about £I6OO, There was on the date when the accounts were made up, namely March 31st, 1894, a credit balance on general account of £413 0s 3Jd, compared with £lßl 6s 8d at the same period in the previous year. The total receipts on general account for the year, including credit balance brought forward, amounts to £2493 Is 1054, and the expenditure to £2OSO Is 7d, leaving a credit balance, as before stated, of £413 0s 3|d. The assets and liabilities, cash only being considered, are as follows:—Assets, credit bal ince and uncollected rates, £1077 19s lOd; liabilities, £416 19s ; leaving a surplus in f-ivur of assets of £O6l 0s lOd. Included in tin liabilities is a payment to tho harbor board which will shortly fall due, £270 9s 7d. In addition to the amount at credit of general account there is a Bum of £■3o!) 4s Od in hand, being receipts from lan 1 fund. This will be expended in accordance with law. for the especial benefit of the lands from which it has been derived. The neoesarry arrangements having now been made, the expenditure of these moneys will almost immediately be proceeded with. Out of the sum total of the year's expenditure .-5620 has been devoted to entirely new works, comprising nine miles of road formation and four miles of shingling. A considerable amount of work, chiefly bridging has keen clone Dv our surveyor employing day labor; fair wages have been paid to employees, and good and economical results obtained. Among the works thus unUa-fakca. ha.s beqa the, addition. q£ a,

length of seventy-five feet to the Temuka footbridge. In our last report we drew attention to the unsafe condition of the Opihi bridge. At present we are glad to say the county council have entirely renewed the upper structure of the oldest and longest portion of its (length, and it is now, so far as this portion is concerned, in first-class order, and of a mush greater carrying capacity than before. We feel confident tbat ratepayers will be satisfied with the past year's operations of the board, so far as regards the economical and efficient maintenance of district roads and bridges, and members in their turn again acknowledge that this result i 3 attributable to the valuable services of their surveyor, Mr F. Archer. We have to draw ratepayers' attention to the movements at present on foot having for their object the splitting up the county, and possibly the abolition of the road boards, or some of them. The latest development of this is a proposal to form the districts of Geraldine and Mount Peel into a separate county, th.HB leaving this road disirict and the Levels to form another county. This proposal, if given effect to, would probably result in the Mount Peel Road Board being abolished in the northern division, and this board in the southern division. We desire to warn ratepayers that these movements are entirely inimical to their best interests, and ought to be most strenuously opposed When the time for doing so arrives, on the grounds: firstly, that in order to cope with large bridge works, untrammelled by narrow local interests and prejudices, the

couuty ought not to be dismembered ; and, secondly, that the merging of this road district into either of the proposed counties —but especially with the Leveb—would be a most suicidal step for our ratepayers to take, or to be forced into. They at present get their wants easily made known and promptly attended to, and are at the same time, comparatively speaking, lightly rated. Our district is well opened up with

good roads, thus rendering ifc unlikely that heavier rating will become necessary in the future, while in the case of our neighbors on either side a great deal of road-work will be necessary, if settlement in reasonably small farms is to prevail. "We, therefore, commend this question to the earnest consideration of our ratepayers. John Talbot, May Ist, 1891. Chairman. The chairman, in referring to the report, drew attention to the movements on foot with regard to the formation of county councils. He believed, and the board concurred with him, that the steps proposed would be inimical to the interests of Temuka. He traversed the reasons for and against the change as reported in connection with the conference held the previous day, and urged the ratepayers to watch and guard their interests. He then moved the adoption of the report and balance-sheet. Mr M. Moore considered the report and balance-sheet very satisfactory, and seconded the motion for their adoption. The motion was carried unanimously. The chairman thanked the ratepayers

for thair attendance. The annual meeting was a necessary one, and he was glad to see them there. Mr Sweet asked for information as to charitable aid. He knew of several getting assistance who were able to save money. The chairman said he presumed Mr Sweet thought charitable aid was abused. That might be the case, but every care :was exercised. He felt it better himself that one or two should receive aid that did not deserve it rather than one really in want should be neglected. Mr Fraser said if ratepayers knew of any such cases they should report it. The police, he believed, were very careful in making recommendations. Mr Nicholson asked what course would be taken to form a separate council ? The chairman said that it would require a special Act of the Legislative Assembly. Mr Nicholson asked which body would go, the council or road board 1 The chairman said the council would have to remain, the road boards would go. Mr Moore believed in the abolition of the county council. The chairman pointed out that without the county councils the main bridges could not be properly kept. The umall road districts could not possibly do the work. There might be some slight saving in office work, but he doubted it. He presumed the Levels people desired to separate as such a lot of traffic went through their district from outside places whose settlers paid nothing to their revenue. ,-,.«. j Mr Fraser, for his own part, diljered slightly from the chairman, although as a member of the board he should not consent to anything likely to injuriously affect Temuka. He was content to lei the Levels go, but he would not be in favor of any change being made until he knew the intentions of their northern friends. Their northern friends had certain accumulated funds, and thought they could exist for some years without much rating, and they did not want Temuka. His own idea was to let the Levels go. Mr Talbot, in reply to a settler, said that if they once started a division they knew not what would happen. If a dual power was an absurdity over a large district, how much more absurd it would be if there was a dual power over just this road district 1 Further he pointed out the difficulties in connection with maintenance of bridges connecting two districts. It was all right to say the Counties Act provided for this, but it was difficult to drive an unwilling body,. Some little conversation ensued, after which Mr Moore moved a hearty vote of thanks to the chairman for his conduct of the meeting. This was carried, and the meeting terminated.