MASTERTON HIGHWAY BOARD.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1474, 4 September 1883, Page 2

MASTERTON HIGHWAY BOARD.

engineer's report. The following report was read at the meeting of the Board on Saturday : Sir, —I have the honor herewith to lay before you my report for the month ending this date on the works in progress within the Road District. : No. 2 Ward.—Of the three road formation contracts let in this Ward, the Lower Fernridge work, in Mr Osborne's hands, is the only one in active operation at present. Of the other two, viz., the Weraiti iw.l the Upper Ternridge roads tonnation, t >.- former has been temporarily smsptii..,! to facilitate its completion later on whoa the season may be more favorable. Th'elattnr, notwithstanding Mr Parker's promise a fortnight ago that it should be proceeded with immediately, shows ho symptoms of commencement. Osborne's works, although programing slowly, are of a satisfactory nature; and as the present tramc on the line is of a comparatively inasgeJficant'aßture, bo great gain to the Board can be obtained by over-pressing the works to eompieiion, while a considerable ioa« must "be sustained 'by the contractor if compelled to employ extra labor in face of the low figure at which the work baa been undertaken.flauß,; specifications, and estimates have been prepared, and will be submitted to the Board, for the proposed extension of the Bideford to Alfredtun Blatrict road. The efficieuoy of the lower seta of protective works at Te Ora Ore is materially impaired thrduiih the booms haying become water lodged' It is therefore desirable thatfreah spars should be prosuTed and aubatituted for the present inefficient ones, and in order to avert probable damage, this should be dons before the Spring floods set in. The formation on the line of road leading to Mr W. lomi* has been completed and approved 01. The bush felling on the line into Mr Cave's has bees let and is aow in process of execution. In concluding my report upon thß works in this Ward I wish to bring hefore the Board the necessity of immediately bringing pressure to bear by which Messrs Burnett _* Yule may be compelled to adopt broad 'tires on the wheels of their timber waggona, as the narrow guafie wheels are. playing havoc with the lately formed aud metalled r0ad.......

' Ko 3 Ward—Miki Miki'iroad formation onThrough! some rather loose notions on'the part of the contractor as to the necessity of carrying oat the work according to the plans and apeci6cation§, and to a certain amount of negligence on the part of tha Inspector, most of the work performed on this line wilt have to be revised, the gradients = adjusted, and the centre line !of formation': situated; according to its original location. of a good quality for the constraefcioa of the culverts. Ba* been sawn on tha site of the works, and this part of the work will be proceeded 'with at once,' Messrs Keesa k,_ Dswaoii have also made a atari with the preparation'of tlm limber for tha construction of tliu bridge over the Waipotls river at the ehtraueito the-above-miatiouad road, '-

Opaki loop-line • foas}ng.—Bui for tha difficulty experienced in obtaining tha extra" strainers rendered aeeeasary by the numeress gates rebuked by ike owners o! tha laud through whioh this lias pases*, tha'contract wouki hava been wall mgh< flauked. The work is being earned out with jire&i core, andlo'ihocreditof thttoaatraoior." '■

' Upper Matahiwi road of certain abort 'sections'" of road metalling' sad bosh felling waralat in three separate J contracts to Mr Hofleins some months bock. The work, with one small exception, his been fully performed' and pawed,• lha osceptiori referred to consists in the defective metalling of a short length ol tha formed road, for the satisf sotory fulfillment of which I have retained -two pounds until the state of the roads will permit of its completion: fairau swamp drain.—Mr Herbert, with whom » private agreement was entered into for the execution'of -this: work, has had it oirried oat to my satisfaction at a.prios con-: siderably below what I am inclined to think it woui4 have been taken for had it bsea'let by {mblio tender, ■ I. th'eraibra racomsaead feat the; amount' of : his Baoouai bo ps»sed' few ipaymsat. In order to seeura tha retail tioa of £hs Waipoaa river in the sew oteaa&t ittoaatly opened out for it, : it will -be nesas- : sftry tsaJ about four ehaia* :,o! a wall should be ■ coastruetcc!' «a tbV e&stsia riv« ; opposite $» satire.

whBWM at I'sirau. Tit* wall will take tfaja «hn;>u <sf a tntf ve of rndiuei, ossaBjiji'jtlug oa tliu solid bank attd oatiudisik ilia |9r«ssue hiiuU fd thu rivor, ran iiWtMiiatj tiie low4ytaj.t gruutid wk-4 t&tmi&ii ike m&&aw ol th» titet lu flow, liitiii(latm{j ihu Burtittii'Jiiig Md> tiwiii &4d ultimately iludtisg its outleti latla ibs awtniiiftj threugh whiuh our road dr&kJa have iitsw- bfe#u OJietjeii. It is ot vital JwsWtaaSß© k ioe uf this lias of road that thiv t>V«riUiw should W diverttd frost it. Tm eu«t of SiswUHosi »bdui(l Uot es«s4 £§i, I (kerefsrtt rmjUcjtt the aanelios of the Boa.nl to batra the work proeeed«d with. Owiag 4a the Uflsaiiafaotafy loeation of the fotmir ciitlneetioti of the Mikl Mibi Valby ru*'l with the iitaiu Upper Ojsakl line. I have fleejasd Ibexpedieat to .carry out a deriation by wliioli a second cutting m the Pairuu baiili ia avoided. An it ia the iuteutlon til Mr (t. Welch to fence along what I piopota to adopt aa my new Hue it is dasirnulo that tho line ehouJd be marked off at once, wsd such liglit foriaation wdtktt eseonted as will reuder it fit for traffic. Mr It. OumpbcUi) witling to give the laad required for the road through hu property for a mm ot £an bt rscouu him thu cost ot fencing, v.-liie.h I cotf aider a veiy rortßotinbloolfßr. ff the funds of the ward will justify the expenditure I woull widh to have thu work in conjunction with auuther section of tbemtiu line frontiiig, the s'ihooi carried out at oaco. No. 4 Ward,—ol tho important worku U pn sunt iu course of construction in this WBrd the Waipawa Valley and VVostmete roads are malting fab* progress, The auspeaded tender of Mciiara Iteesa and Dawson has. barn accaptsd fortliQWiia^ataiaahioebridge in the interim since last Bitting, and aetiva operntioaa ' its cooalructioa . inay shortly be eSjMaaisd. I jfKtpcso ehortjy vMtlng : with U«)sthsm the sites of tns several dama to be constructed on the Westmere road with a view to their being startM immediately. The consideration of tie erection of the roadman's whare for tba Wainuiorti road havinp been deterred fiotn a previous meeting I will ask that the matter lie dealt with as soon as poasiblo, an the ins n. is at present retnrdad in the oxocutioo of lis duties owing to tho great distanee he his frequently to cover before reaching tho Bi,e of hi.>s work.

No. <! Ward—During the Ufcti, 15th iti d Iflth of East month, I mado a tour of inspqetion ofthe Kant Coast works. Tho tirabftr delivered for the eosistsucMon of eul/ert« An the lino h of good quality and has beeu dolivaro.t at tho various sites tor wtiiuh the culvwt* are intended. I propoao to lac tte OGnutruotion of tho culverts liy inviting private tondura among ths earpoutura who ace willing to undertake this elans of work, I iiuidfi a ((penal examination of the poKion of ttioline jjapfng through the Martganakeh* iwmjijw with a valw of arriving at soiho duSnito proposal as to the host ami moat euoiumilua! method of dealing with the dim. eulty. The road during the winter has suffered no severely as to render it quite imimijgr.blo for tratbo of (tn-r description aud a 4am porary deviation hai been made so as to wo'd tho gulubes ojshtlnj} in the road caused It) the back, acour from the outlets of thu formerly existing uulvorta. I am of opinion that no effort, except of tho moat expensive oharanter, will stay tUo tendency throughout that distriet of the creeks aud rivers to open un for thorasetvea channels of sitfliclenfc capacity to carry tho volume of water collected over the surface which the several water-courses drain, nor do I think it would be judicious to endeavor to do so. Through the wont of properly defined channels, our low lying roads on the SJast Court have hitherto been subjected during every little freshet to heavy inundations and destruction, and the sure and only remedy for this it to let creeks complete tha work they have began, and briiiyt them when they have flnbheit The only remedy I eaa suggest to effectually overcome the present diSieulty is to abandon the present lias awl locate a new 0119 in sutli a position as io have as little connection as possible with the low flats. This caa be done by making a diverßien to the west, and rising en to the table laads where the difficulties t* be eok> tended with are comparatively trivial. Toundertake each x wjrk as this U neyond »ne means of the Ward, so that unless the Heads and Bridges Construction Act can ha mxde use of, the settlers interested, will, I fear, have to bo content with temporary cuttings in and'out of the gulches übovo jof rred to, whieh will probably last during the fine summer months, but which mast again become impassable s:i soon as winter Bjts iji, I have not been able so far to mike a sufficiently detailed Burvey to enable me ta give even an approximate guess at what the actual cost of the work would be, but I am convinced that it is quite beyond the ordinary meansof a Ward such as No. 6 with bo small an income and so large an area of rtads to maintain.

Of the TJriti works I have prepared three different methods and estimates of dealing with the matter, and find that the saving even in carrying out the most ccononitjal is so small as to render it a matter of choice with tha settlers as to which they would prefer to adapt. I have given instructions to the roadman in reference to the smaller works on the Coast road, which he is now carrying out. I The particulars of the Blairlogte Road hire also been estimated, aud I now await the instructions of the Board to have them executed. j

Mr Conual, the Inspecting Engineer for the Government mane the rounds of the Works with me for which progress pay meats have been applied for to the Government. The works have been dnly certified to by him, and the application with hia certificate forwarded to the Governrceni. I have, Ac, C. Il BfiEJfrfSit,