ROBSON COUNTY COUNCIL.

Wairoa Bell, Volume V, Issue 176, 16 December 1892, Page 3

ROBSON COUNTY COUNCIL.

A special meeting of the Hobson County Council was held in the Council Chambers on Wednesday. Present, Crs. A. E. Harding (Chairman), M. Cobbald, E. Hargaville and W. A. Spiers. Crs. Cobbald and Dargaville moved that a special order be made forming the Tatarariki Drainage Board, and that notice be given of the striking of a special rate of sixpence per acre over the district.—Carried. The ordinary meeting of the Council was then proceeded with the same Councillors being present. The minutes of last meeting were read and approved. Omu Bates.—The Kauri Timber Company wrote re the demand for rates on the Omu block stating that they had transferred their interest in the block to the Bank of New Zealand Assets Company, and referred the Council to that Company.—Kesolved on the motion of the Chairman that the Clerk send copy of letter to the Bank Assetts Company and apply to that Company for rates. Be Sheriff’s Bitrial Expenses,—lt was resolved to send claim for Sheriff’s burial expenses to the Public Trustee. Be Contract L, Dargaville.—The EnEngineer reported that his estimate for this contract was £4B. The tender of John Hendrickson £49 19s had been accepted by the Chairman and Cr. Baynes.—Resolved that the acceptance of J. Hendrickson’s tender be confirmed. Contract LI, Okahu.— Mr S Powell wrote that Mr Young had not done his portion of the work, but that others had taken up that portion of the work and it would be completed by the end of the present week Besolved that the Engineer be authorised to accept J. McLaren’s tender, £63 15s, for this contract and that it be let on the completion of Young’s portion to his satisfaction. The Attorney General wrote declining to give an opinion on the matter forwarded by the Council as it «vas not the practice of the Government to do so. Be the raising of Auckland Hospital charges to four shillings per day.—The secretary Auckland Hospital wrote in reply to letter that the North Auckland Hospital Board had been informed of the raising of the rate to four shillings from October last and should have infoimed the County. Cr. Dargaville reported that Mr James Martin was willing to supply the County with fifty tons three inch metal at four shillings per ton. W. Waters wrote re culvert across road at Oturei, offering to provide timber and put it on the ground if Council would put in the culvert. —Besolved that the Council adhera to its former resolution. J. Harrison wrote agreeing to pay Council amount due to Goulsboro as soon as he has room in booms and time to take delivery of bis logs. B. Mitchelson wrote offering the Council & stone breaker and portable engine.—Deferred to next meeting. M. Harding wrote that he was about to fence at Horehore and asking for tea-tree on road to be cleared.—Besolved that the clearing of road be included in the contract for Kohekohe road. The Marine Department wrote asking under what Act the County asked for the vesting of the Te Makaka creek in the Tatarariki Drainage Board.—Besolved that reply be sent naming the 242nd and 267th clauses of the Counties Act. The Vehicle License Badges. Several Councillors spoke in eulogistic terms of the beauty of these badges which are now so prominent on licensed vehicles. REPORT ON SLAUGHTER-HOUSES. The Chairman, Sir—l have the honour to sub mit to you the following report upon the condition of the various slaughter-houses within the County. The Scarrott’s Slaughter-house (licensee, Wm. Pullan) is kept clean hut it requires the use of the whitewash brush. Tatarariki (licensee, F. Langsford)—Clean, requires whitewashing and more care in the removal of offal. Aoroa (licensee, A. E. Harding)—Not kept clean enough, tools dirty, walls require scraping and whitewashing oftener, more care in the removal of offal which should be taken to a greater distance than is at present the custom. Mangawhare (licensee, P. W. Matthews) —Not kept clean enough, walls should be scraped and whitewashed oftener and the 6inning which carries the blood into the river is not sufficiently oleaned. The action of allowing the blood from a slaughter-house to flow into the river is a breaoh of the Act ; still Ido not think there is any nuisance caused by it and therefore do not consider it objectionable. The tools not kept clean.

Plaxmill and Maropiu (James Trouuson, licensee)— Both these are kept fairly clean but require whitewashing and scraping oftener, and tools should be kept cleaner. The before mentioned action of allowing blood to flow into river is also applicable to the Maropiu house. Hore Here (licensee, Thomas Nield) —This is not kept with any degree of cleanliness, neither the house, yard, or boat in which the meat is carried, and before a renewal of license is granted everything should be thoroughly cleaned, the house whitewashed, and the yard cleared of the refuse. 1

J. S. Macdonald, Helensville, wrote to say that he owed nothing on judgment summons whereas the Clerk’s book showed a debit of £1 6d against him.—Beferred to County Solicitor. TENDERS. Contract XLIX. Estimate £37 6s Bd. S. Stansfield, £3B 15s; J Hendrickson, £44 19s ; J. McMulkin, £39 Os 8d ; W. and G. Smith, £43 10s. The Chairman ruled that S. Stansfield’s tender was informal as no surety had been named as required by specifications. Cr. Dargaville objected to the specifications being allowed to lie at Kaihu hotel for a week. Besolved that the tender of J. McMulkin be accepted. Lamplighting at Dargaville.—J. E. Filby offered to light the eight lamps at Dargaville as at present for £3 os per month. The tender was not in proper form but as there were no other tenders it was decided to give the contract to Mr Filby at £3 os per month, provided ha signs the specifications as drawn out. engineer’s report. The Chairman, Sir, —I have the honour to submit to you the following report:— Dargaville-Tangiteroria Road.—As instructed I made a flying survey of the Dargaville-Tangi-teroria road from the Mangaramarama to Tangiteroria. I have prepared a rough tracing on which is shown all the roads previously surveyed and the line of road I would propose to be acquired. 0 n the tracing the line of roads that have been surveyed and dedicated are shown by a brown colour. The lines of roads that have been surveyed but not acquired are shown by a pink colour. In deciding upon the line of road I in no way considered the question of joining the Wairoa townships with Wangarei as I considered such a question would demand the cooperation of the Wangarei County Council, and from what I have already seen of the county I do not think it will touch Tangiteroria, therefore I simply studied the question of the road to Tangiteroria as from there to Wangarei is good enough for present requirements. From reference to the tracing you will see that almost the whole distance, 3| miles, of my proposed line of road is comparatively level. Half a mile is on the grade of lin 16, then there are several short pieces of lin 30, lin 40, lin 12, and the balance is level except two short grades of lin 10 which together with the grade of lin 12 can any time be cut down to linl6 so that as far as grades are concerned the line of road compares more than favourably with those previously surveyed. The line of road which is partly acquired that traverses the north west side of the Wairoa river and crosses opposite the the Tangiteroria hotel declines at a grade of lin 14 for half a mile thence rises at a grade of lin 10 over the Mangaramarama range (which is a height of 150 feet above the river) and at once declines again at lin 10 to the Kerikopene creek, thence following easy grades. The length of this road from whe'-e the preposed road joins it is four and a half miles The other line of road, also partly acquired, is common with the former to within a few chains of the Kerikopene creek where it joins the Mangakahia road, and crosses the Wairoa river just below the Kerikopene creek,thence rises an easy spur to a height of 145 feet thence declines at a sharp grade of lin 8 and rises again at lin 7 to the native school ridge finally declining to the level at lin9, The distance by this route is four and a half miles. By comparing the distance you will see that the proposed road is three-quarters of a mile shorter than the two other routes, and as far as directness and grades are concerned I am of opinion that it cannot be improved, therefore the only question to be considered is one of cost, which outside that of compensation I roughly estimate as follows :—Road north west side of river, 1J miles, bush clearing £2O ; one bridge twenty feet span £3O and one of seventy feet span £l2O : and culverting and forming sufficient to allow of horse traffic £l5O ; making a total of £320. Boad crossing below Kerikopene one and a quarter miles of bush clearing £2O ; one bridge of twenty feet span £3O ; one bridge, forty-five feet span, £7O ; clearing, culverting and forming sufficient for horse traffic £l4O ; total £260. Proposed road one and three-quarter miles of bush clearing £2B ; two bridges twenty feet span £6O ; one of forty-five feet span £7O ; culverting and forming sufficient for horse traffic £l7O ; total £320. ML .AT.. With regard to metal I have a fresh suggestion to make for obtaining metal for use this summer. While on a visit to Maropiu with you, we noticed that good shingle ballast was obtainable from the Kaihu creek at the back of Mr Trounson’s slaughter house at Maropiu, and as ballast cannot be obtained from the natives’ pit owing to the sleepers of the siding being too rotten to carry rolling stock, it occurred to me that the shingle could be carried from the creek and put into the trucks at Maropiu siding at no more, if not less cost than paying for loading and reload at Opanake. I have written to Mr Trounson and obtained his permission to cart the shingle from the creek across his land to the railway station, a distance of about 20 chains, Therefore I would suggest that the Council call for tenders for the carrying of the ballast and putting it into the trucks at Maropiu. As no doubt you remember we interviewed Mr Barstow, who informed us he could draw ballast from Maropiu to Dargaville at 8s 4d per truck load, which with the estimated cost of loading would give us ballast at 4s per cubic yard in Dargaville, which is rather less than we can expect to get it from any other source

Dreadon’s Arapohue (licensee, GeorgeDreadon) —This is kept thoroughly clean and in “fact is the best kept house in the County, still a little more whitewash might be used. Powell’s Arapohue (licensee, Richard Powell) —This is kept fairly clean, Horace Hammond Inspector of Slaughter-houses. The following renewals of Slaughter-house licenses were applied for: — Flaxmill, J. Trounson ; Maropiu, J. Trounson ; Mangawhare, F. W. Matthews; Scarrott’s, W. Pullan ; Horehore, T. Nield ; Tatarariki, F. Eangsford; Aoroa, A. E. Harding; Arapohue, Geo. Dreadon. Councillors were of opinion that stringent measures should be taken to enforce cleanliness in these places. Cn the motion ot Councillor Cobbald it was resolved that the Clerk he instructed to write to the several licensees calling their attention to the necessity of cleaning their premises, and that renewals be not granted until the several places have been cleansed to the satisfaction of the inspector. The applications of Messrs Trounson (2), G. Dreadon Langsford and Pullan were granted as the Inspector was willing to pass these premises on their present condition. The others will have to get their cleaning done before the end of the yaaror their licenses will lapse. VEHICLE LICENSES. The following applications for vehicular licenses were received: —Alex Lyons for spring cart to carry one ton goods, and passengers. A. E. Harding, a four wheeled wagon to carry passengers, and two tons goods. G. Mills, for dray to carry one and a half tons. John Herkt, wagon to carry one ton goods, for two months. —The applications were granted. P. Lainb wrote wishing to have mistake in his valuation corrected; the Ratebook had it down at £250 whereas it should be £l5O. Reply sent that £250 was the assessment returned by Property Tax Commissioner. E. C. Beale wrote re judgment for rates against W. J. Brown asking that no further steps be taken re same, as he would be responsible for amount due.—Agreed to. W. Bishop, Wellington, wrote complaining of the assessment of his property at Okahu. A. Walker wrote objecting to the Council doing anything on the road through Section 52, Kopuru Parish, until he had been compensated. He offered to take £72 for the section, or, if it suited the Council better, receipts tor the next five years’ rates. —Besolved that Mr Walker be referred to the Government for compensation for roads taken as the same were taken by the Government and not the Council. J. Heywood, Secretary to the Treasury, forwarded some small amounts due to the Council through fines inflicted in the Courts. Registrar of Supreme Court wrote asking for refund of 17s 4d overpaid the Council.— The Clerk had replied pointing out that only 4s 7d had been overpaid. The Property Tax Commissioner sent list of Crown Lands sold in the County between Ist April and 31st October last, and referred Council to the Commissioner of Crown Lands for later information. —Resolved that a copy of the letter be seut to the Commissioner of Crown Lands, with a request that the Council may he furnished monthly with a list of Crown land sales. Also that his attention be specially directed to the ? case of A. Lyons, whose name has not yet been received by the Council. Resolved that the names sent in by the Property Tax Commissioner be added to the Valuation Roll. The Secretary N. A. Charitable Aid Board sent copy of a letter to the Weekly News contradicting a statement made in that paper. E. Martin wrote asking information re forty acres in Okahu, belonging to Scbey. Is it occupied ? W'ho holds adjoining lands ? What is the value of the land ?—lnformation sent by Clerk. J. Vnugban, Kai Iwi, wrote offering to meet the Engineer when he went up to see how best to spend the £SO voted last session for road from Maropiu.—The Clerk had already applied co the Government for the amount and it was resolved to await a reply. G* Easton, Audit Inspector, referred Counoil to the illegal expenditure of £155 17s o£d on private land near Dargaville-Tangiteroria road and wrote that the Controller had decided to prosecute if no steps had been taken in the matter.—Letter acknowledged. Cr. Berridge wrote regretting his inability to attend present meeting as he had some explanations to make, and a further motion in reference to the Ridings’ accounts. Mark Sandford informed the Council that some three years ago he had made a lengthy cutting for road at his own expense and had spent considerable time and labour on the road since. The road now wanted repairing and he asked the Council, in consideration of his past w ork, to allow him to do the same for the sum of two pounds. —The Chairman considered the Redhill settlers better served, in the way of roads, than any others in the County. Cr. Dargaville said they had a road right through to Kopuru and also one to Aratapu.—Resolved that there are no funds to meet Mr Sandford’s request,

whatever. Therefore I would urge that the Council do at once call for tenders for carrying 200 or 300 cubic yards which is urgently needed for the roads near Dargaville and Mangawhare before next winter. OPANAKE ROAD. As authorised by the Council in company with you I visited Opanake where we were met by Mr A. Black (who kindly acted as interpreter) and several natives, where we discussed the question of the road from the Opanake station to join the main road. The natives finally agreed to allow the road to go through as surveyed by Mr Holt, on the condition that the Council have two culverts put in and make the road passable, also to urge the Government to give a grant tor the construction of a bridge across the Kaihu creek. Horace Hammond, County Engineer. Dargaville - Tangiteroria Boad.—lt was resolved on the motion of the Chairman that the line of road from Maungaramarama to Tangiteroria, suggested by the Engineer in his report be adopted by the Council, provided no compensation is required. Besolved that the Engineer be instructed to survey the line of road, starting from Tangiteroria, when time permits, and also to have the necessary searches made. It was resolved on the motion of Cr Spiers, that the Engineer prepare plans and specifiations for bridge over the Moengawhske creek and call for tenders returnable at the February meeting. Ballast for Roads.— Resolved that tenders, returnable at next meeting, be called for carrying 300 tons ballast from Kaihu creek and putting it into railway at Maropiu. It was resolved that a vote of thanks be accorded Mr Trounson for the facilities granted in the removal of the ballast. Mr Melville wrote that he had been unable to supply the 40 tons metal as offered, and offered to allow the Council to take what they required at sixpence per ton up to 500 tons and fivepence per ton over that quantity, —Resolved that Mr Melville’s offer be accepted in the terms of his letter. Besolved that the Engineer be instructed to inspect the Tatarariki road and report as to the obstruction to drainage caused by the angle in the road. Cr. Dargaville asked to be allowed to employ a man to cut down the docks in the Dargaville township.—Declined. Holidays.—lt was resolved on the motion of Chairman and Cr. Spiers, that the surface man be allowed holidays from 24th December to 2nd January, both days inclusive. The Engineer to be allowed one week and two days and the Cadet two weeks. ACCOUNTS. The following accounts were confirmed.— H. Hammond £l9 3s 4d, B. Lendrum £2 10s, Filby £3 ss, C. Cody £1 17s, W. Bingrose £8 6s, T. O’Carroll £2 Is. Total £37 2s 4d. The following accounts were passed for payment.—John Day £lO 11s. J. McMulkin £ll 7s 6d, W. Cobbald £1 ss, H. Sills £1 16s, E. Thompson £3 3s, Mitchelson Bros. £2 7s Sd, F. McCowan £1 7s 6d, Auckland Hospital £lO 16s. Total £42 13s Bd. Decided that the question of legal proceedings against defaulting ratepayers be placed in the hands of the County solicitor on the same terms as last year. The Chairman wished the Councillors and Clerk a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, which wishes were returned with several sly hints and the Council rose shortly before 4 p.m.