OVERSEER'S REPORT. Waimate County Council.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 24, 28 July 1900, Page 3

OVERSEER'S REPORT.

Wai mate County Council.

' The following ia the County Overseer's. Beport, presented at tho meeting of tho Council oa Wednesday :—: — I have tho honour to submit to you the following repoit, ♦ dealing with works which have been in progress in the different ridings of th» county during the past month. Upper Partora Riding.- -Urgent repairs, alluded to in last month's report, on Keiland'a and McKenzies section of the Back Line, together with improvements and alterations at the head of the Motukaika Yftlley Road, hare recently been completed by the council's teams, which are now amployed on necessary works on the Pareora Valley Road in the lower station of th« riding.. Prensure of other work has prevented Mr D, \ Nicholsons application being dealt with, but an effort will be made to | haye it reported on by the next sitting of feh« council. Contract Ne. 343, in a modified form) was let to T. W.

Crone, on tbe 14th inst., the chairman dealing with tenders received on that date. Tenders -for contract No. 358 41 chains of ruad repairs and metalling) on Elder's Live were invited to closa yesterday, and will be duly laid before the council during its present sitting. Contract No. 354, for repairs on the Waitaki Main Line and North Otaio Valloy Road, were advertised to close in time to be dealt with at this mooting. After some little delay a coafciact was sucoe^siully arranged foy stone breaking on the length recently finiehtid by Williams and Cavhwell, and this woik is now in course of execution. The question of the Ds&p (Ve'jk foot p t^sengor and stock Lndgo has been examined, aid I would recommend ti.cU tho existing platfoiin be removed to a fi^sh site fntther up stream, and la elected clear of ilood level. This altciatson, tvith necessary formation and fencing, is estimated to cost j£:23> and eou'd bo proceeded with at once, sluuld tho council desire it. Otaio Riding. — Contract No. 355, Wailaki Minn Line (200 cubic yea-ds metal). Tenders for this work will bo submitted to day to tho council for coiibiderofcion. Keleher's Road, contiact No. 350, has been finibhod in' aceoidance with the specifications, l 'eluding extras to the value of 18s 9d, for metal supplied outside the contract, quantities. Tim© has not yet per-umit-d of tbe alterations, etc, to Tochmaker's Ford, nor the Sandy Foid Road Levels being attended to* Both matters will be put in hand probably within the ensuing mouth, but m any case immediately time can be jpared to do so. Otaio Roud Goige Riding. — Pigeon's Road, contract No. 344 (177 chains of road repairs and 1200 cubic yards o^ | ro.id mola]) ; indifferent pi ogress only can ha i-eported with this contmet. At last advice from the man in charge, 88 chains of a total length of 1000 chains had been done, and it was expected that ihe carting would no,t be finished for a week or ten days yet. Deep Creek Biding. — The following contracts have been carried to completion during the month : Waitaki Roau, contract No. 351 (410 cubic yards of metal), Bradshaws Road, uontraot No. 349 (1080 cubic yards metal). Both works will be taken ovar when the month's maintenance conditions have been complied with. Molloy'js Road, contract No. 356 (200 cubic yards metal). ; tenders invited for this work closed yesterday and will be -considered at to day's sitting. In compliance with the council's directions, work to the value of £8 has been performed on the branch line to Hayes bush, in making a metalled ford and other minor improvements to the formation and drainage of the road. Upper Waimate Bridge Reconstruction : There has been no time available to make the necessary survey and plans for this bridge, and with the amount of other work requiring attention, it ia improbable it can be proceeded with in the immediate future. Waihao Riding.-^-Natlve Reserve Road, contract No. 348. This woik was completed to satisfaction in terms of tho contract specifications. An indiscriminate tiaffl.o h»3 been working on this and Bradshaws Road since their completion, and both lengths are seriously injured by forcing the gravel down in the soft road bad beneath. These cases may be taken as practical illustrations of the futility of prosecuting such works during the winter months, and th« necessity for seeing that in future they are undertaken and finished during the dry season. Waitaki Valley Road, contract No. 853 (getting and carting 1200 cubic yards of gravel). Operations on this contract wera commenced about the 17th inst, and it is expected to have ths whole of the metal out by the end of the month. Upon inspection of the contract length before the work was started, I did not consider it advisable to do more than the lightest description of "surface dressing to the formation before laying the metal down, and accordingly gave the council's surfaceman instructions to do what was required without making an extension of the original contract, as was at first contemplated. Whitneys Creek (H. Wallace and others' application). The information obtained regarding the causes of the flooding of the road lino and adjacent properties from the overflow of this creek, goes to show that the channel has become entirely choked with water-cress and other vegetation, and to abate tho existing nuisance it will be necessary to open up an adequate outlet for the water. This can be done at a probable cost of .£4B, there being about 80 ohaina of the creek bed requiring attention. Pike's Point to Fleming's oorner Road Contract No 857, (getting and carting 305 cubic yards of metal) tenders for this work will ba submitted j to day for the Oouucil to consider, j

I have been requested to bring befor the council the necessity for making provisions in -the proposals for th< current year's expenditure, for dealing with a length of the Waitaki Valle,> Road from a point four miks east of the Stone Wall to the junctions of the lower and middle roads at TVaikakah!* In the absence of any personal knowledge of the localitj' or the works proposed to be undertaken, I anl not at present in a- position to furnish an estimate of its piobable cost, but an ! appioximate amount may poßsibly be arnverl at from Councillor Ross' knowledge of the ciremmtances to be deal with. Dog Kennel Itoad: Surj vo t ya ha\c been completed and plans partly prepared of the proposod deviations on this line, which involve a total lr-ngth of 25 60 chains of new fonuation and throe chains of creok dneraion. The deviations are in thite separate lengths of 8.60, 8 and 9 chains respectively, the creek diversiou being in connection with the latter section of the work. The adoption of the suggested alterations in tha location of tha road would be an appreciable benefit to its general direction and a material advantage in the mattur of gradient, the new surveyed route entirely obviating the the present unnecessary steep assents which have to be contended with on tho existing road. The cost of the woik is approximately estimated as folio vva : —

I ha\e to direct the council s attention to the following matters affecting the roads under its charge, with a view to having measures adopted to prevent their recurrence in the future. A gang of Governmant telegraph linemen have been engaged m making repairs to the the telegraph Jine through the county. The result of their operations has been the scattering of quantities of sharp, broken fragment of porcelain over the sida widths of the road, which are a aerioua danger "to travellers and travelling stock. The fiagmenta are extremely sharp and capable of inflicting serious wounds. I remonstrated with the ganger on the i apparenent carelessness shown in the matter, aud was asked, in all serious ness, to believe that he buried all i broken insulators, but that school children deliberately dug them up and bcattered thorn about the road. The subject is one the "Department should I be communioated with about, to ensure the clearing up and removal of the refuse now lying about the line. It j would further appear to have beoorae a recognised right on the cart of the i pubho to enter upon the road reserves to excavate and remove soil or olay for private use, without reference to the council, and also to scarify the roadside wittles for the purpose of cleaning ploughs or other agricultural implements. This is a very reprehensible habit and might lead to serious accidents to travellers on dark nights, for which the council might bo held responsible. The practice therefore should be discouraged and public notice given cautioning persons against interfering in any way with the public road reserves except with special written authority of the council. The man engaged in making the wire netting has made satisfactory progress, and it is hoped in the course of a fortnight to have sufficient in stock to oommeuoe some of the works for which it is required.

£ s a Deviation No. 1, 8.60 chns. 45 5 o „ No. 2, 8.00 „ 46 0 o „ No. 3, 9.00 „ 104 0 o