WAIRARAPA EAST COUNTY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1937, 12 March 1885, Page 2

WAIRARAPA EAST COUNTY.

oveeseer'sleef'ort.

. Gentlemen,—l beg ! .to submit for the consideration of the Council, -the progress of works on;: tho main lines 'within the Castlepoint Road Board District. The late broken weather has retarded the progress of works in general, j attributable to the heavy traffic duringauth .weather -on the unmetalled portions of' the roads.' - ! " / Eketahuna Line.—Since the last meet ing of the Council the men on this road have been chiefly employed portions of the worst parts of the flat formations which I spoke of in my last report. Likewise clearing out the catchwater drams, deepening side-drains and filling up depressions, also temporarily repairing bridges and culverts which 1 cannot thoroughly repair until the timber ordered for this purpose shall arrive at Tinui. One 5x4, one 4x4, and three 12 x 12 culverts, Flag Creek Bridge, and Waitiwhiti bridge are the temporaryrepairs above mentioned.' .

b Kauhaumingi to .Tenui.— General reft pairs throughout the remainingu'nmetalled a portions have been progressing fairly well. b I have been compelled to put one of the i permanent men on Burgess' contract when s metalling, the' contractor having, started - two tips, as in no case can I trust the conf tractor's men to carry out my instructions r with regard to the qlaaa, size, and depth - of metal, One 2 x'2ft and one 12xl2in b culverts haye been placed in position s between the foot of Mnngapakeha Hill f and Taplin's depot- . Another 12 x 12in . culvert is required in this particular part , of the road, as It is low and undulating, . consequently tho depressions are kept soft 1 for want of a culvert to cany away surface s drainage. I also had to place a new plank 3 in the Rorokoko Bridge,' r Tenui to Castlepoint, —Many of the bad , ruts on this road have been filled up with i metal from the road side, and there still , remain a number yet to be filled in. This 1 work has also been retarded by the lato 3 broken weather. The metalled portions . require patching up before winter, which ~ if done will save quite 60 per cent in re- . pairs next summer. I am now expending 1 the sum of £4O voted out of the Board j funds for metalling, and it is desirable s while the carts are at convenient quarries 3 to repair the worst of the holes and ruts, c which it is absolutely necessary to repair. During the Engineer's visit I pointed out to him the necessity of these repairs. The Whakatakj end qf this road known as the " gorge" is very narrow, not having more than nine feet carrying width in alter- . nate parts, fpr about seven chains: The principal wprk. will be blasting out rock . and thatching the slopes against the action of the stream, which cuts it away. ' One 18 x 18 inch culvert and one. small bridge have been repaired on this line. , Whakataki to Wahnata,—On this road or traok I have ope inan repairing, filling , up bad holes, opening culverts, and cleani ing out drains on the several small cut- , tings along this line, The continual complaints about the had state of this , road compelled me to put a man on to do this work, Messrs Bees and Stevens' metalling contraot,—The contractors are making all reasonable, progress under tho circumstances, having let the quarrying and filling of the carts by contract. A fair quantity of stone is ready for carting, the weather only preventing them from placing it on the road. Messrs Burgess and Son's Metalling Contract, Mungapakeha.—l have measured this contract from the starting point ■ to the end, and have tested the depth of 1 the metal laid down by him last year. I have also furnished fche engineei with all ' requisite informatiqn regarding depths ■ and distances. TJjp : prpgress made this month in metalling would have been far ■ in advance of last month's, but for the broken weather, which prevents the carts working. But fob the insufficient number of carts that should have been employed during the fine weather, this work would ' have been nearly completed throughout. The contractor's plea is that he could not get carts, The metal seleoted by the engineer from the gully about twenty ohains from Burgesß' camp might have been all ready for carting. The contractor complains of not being able to get men to do this work by contract. I see no reason why one of Mr Burgess' sons oould not have attended to this with day labor inon, I suggested this to Mr Burgess, but a promise iB the only advance made in this direotion, I also strongly urged upon him the necessity of employing additional carts to push on the work. The average number of carts has been about six. The diataneo of metalling done up to Saturday, 28th February, is twenty-two chains, tho value of which I estimate to be equal to £5 per chain, for which I would recommend the usual percentage. I would also Buggest to the Council that one month, dating from the meeting of the Council, be allowed the contractor to complete the contract throughout, I consider that would be ample time for. completion, lam, ffco,, J, A. Fewiv, Overseer. engineer's report. Mr C. E, Bremner's report as follows:—Mas- . tert-on Riding.—Waingawa Bridge and Protective'Works.—The works embraced under this heading and under contract to Mr A, McLeod are sufficieu^ly 1 adyanped to enahjp traffic to be reeutned over the bridge on the -fljdi ult, The workmanship so far, both as regards to the addition to the bridge and also the building of the protective walls and groins is of a substantial and workmanlike character, and generally speaking the conditions of contract have been fairly complied with, Tne recent freshet in the river has afforded an opportunity of judging of : the utility and necessity of the groins constructed on the northern bank of the river, and. I am pleased to bo able to report have proved highly ' beneficial to the preservation of the northern approach, for Which' purpose thoy were designed, : The protective workß scheme, which was sub' ' minted foj approval'to £he Carterton Road i Board haying b'ec'n approved by* that' body I ; made immediate arrangements under authority of the ohairman of tha works committee, to have i the works proceeded with while Mr MoLeod's | staff were still on the ground. By this means j I have secured the immediate execution of the work at the estimated cost laid before the. Council at its last meeting. In addition to ' these works it is of importance to the further | security of the bridge from damage by flood i tnat the northern bank should be protected j from the overflow of storm water in the imme- -, diate vicinity of the railway bridge. The works required to insure immunity from danger must 1 neoessarily be of a rather costly nature, involv ' ing the construction of a protective wall about i seven chains long by an average height of four ] feet iris 'i|flies, • I am of opinion that any expenditure in fhe qirecliorj \ smjgesj; will prove both' advantageous and economlcaiin 'tin}' long ! run, . • i Masterton to Bidiford Main Road,—The con- f tract for formation and construction of bridges | on the section of this line Bowlands and the , Maori garden has been completed and the works passed by the assistant engineer. The .work J throughout has .been 'fairly woh performed, l The recent heavy rains, hajre caused numerous i slips, .which-if allowed to' remain wjjl be pro- t ductiye'of-nntoh ham'to-the-formation; As- : yet but littje has been done on the contract let to Mr Geo, McKay on this line of road, and in 8 consequence pf his neglect notice has''Been •< served on him cautioning him against further c delay. Tde metalling contract on the Whan- \ gaehu section of the same road has been com- ] plcted by Mr Stevens (with the exception of two days work for one man) arrangements have been £ . made for the performance of this and the work has therefore been taken over on behalf of the County Council, _ A schedule and plan, era- T bodying the particulars and estimate. of the * proposed protective works and repairs' to the t 1

Euaniahanga bribge at Tc Ore Ore bis beeii 'prepared and forwarded to tho Government. The site of the work was inspected by the Government engineer, who Ims bo far as I havo been able to judge, approved of the proposal) pf the Council in dealing with the matter. Mastertdh to Waimate road.—Considerable 'repaira.will be required'Defore the winter sets In upon the section of this line lying within the Masterton riding. In anticipation of this some weeks back, I instructed the roadman to prepare material in several of the metal- pits, in order that the cutting might be done before the favorablo weather broke up. Under one pretext and another the work has been almost- entirely neglected and with the exception of a few yards of limestone nothing is ready,; Under "tho «r* cumstances Imust seek the authority of the Council to engage temporary assistance in order that the work may be carried out expediously as possible. I may .further state that in the event of the Conncil continuing to maintain tho line I am disposed to recommend for the con-"" sideration of Councillors that the experiment be tried of letting the annual maintenance by-con-tract, as the present arrangements appear for some time back, to have been most, unsatisfactory,- Theremoyal of the slips upon the Whangaehu valley road is being carried. out by day labor nn.der the supervision of the Masterton Road Board.., . . , Castlepoint riding. Burgess' Mungapakeha road metalling— ~.--' In companywith tho Castlepoint Road Board overseer, I made a careful-examination of the work on the 2nd -wit. -.From' "ajHblule prepared by the overseer, it was.shiSßst out of 205 chains, the.total amount under contract to Mr Burgess 95$ chains were roughly metalled last season, and 20§ chains completed since the work was resunied'this summer, leaving upon tho date of my visit 80 chains upon which nothing had been done,-Upon the 95J chains (last week's work) an average deficency of 3J inches iri depth has been discovered and thisaftermaking due allowanc'e'for probable shrinkage; The specific depth of metal to be laid is fixed by contract at 10 inches so that making liberal allowance for the wear-and-tear of the winter traffic , I-rannot arrive at; any other conclusion than tha.tthematerial.had not originally been spread to the,regular'depth.'' Judging from the official report on the wrk during the last season it is evident that the work was not-then proceeding in a satisfactory manner, which further confirms the impression, that I have been led to form, Takingthounfavorable weather which has lately been experienced, into consideration, as well as tho favorable report of the overseer as to the progress made during the past month, I will recommend that a further extension of five weeks be granted for the the contraot, and that failing its satisfactory fulfillment by that date, that the works he taken over and completed at the contractor's expense by the Council,

Stevens' contract, (metalling Mungapekeha) —good progress, is being made with the work—fhe repairs to the formation are being diligently pushed ahead and the quarrying of the stone foor gravelling, has been let by contract, the whole promises to be carried out in a systematic and workmanlike manner. While in the locality I made it my business to examine the portion of the Castlepoint road line between Tenui and Whakataki, which was reported to be in a very delapidatcd condition. "Both the metalled and unmetalled lengths of this, section show« signs, of wear, and will, if neglected, inevitably become next to impossible for wheel traffic by winter. In order therefore to avert such an evil I would recommend to the Council the expediency of effecting such repairs to the line as the means at their disposal'may justify. Alfredton Riding.—Shortly after the last sitting of the Council, I nccqmpanied Mp Melachlan to Alfi-edtqntfi examine the works proceeding in that lopajity, as"we}l as to execute the necessary surveys, tc, instructipns for which were given at the sairifi meeting, J have to regret having been unable to see themembpra. for the riding upon that pecaaipn for more than one reason, but more especially so with reference to the sectiph of the Atfredton. fg J)k:eVa"hvinA road which is proposed should"'.be metalled, From my personal knowledge ; of the line and taking into consideration the" probable benefits to be derived from the proposed bushfelling along the more sheltered 'septum? qf road J have with all due deference toMrMacquarie'sopinkm, come to the conclusion that the sections enumerated in the terms of the resolution an those which should be metalled are not thoso whioh are calculated to ensure the greatest benefit to the settlers from all parts who would make yso of this line during winter, In addition to this I found that the fascine work executed by Mr Burling is of so rough and useless a nature as to render It unfit to afford an adequate support to a coating of gravel on so soft a road bed, This being the conclusion I .have arrived at I took upon myself to depart from the terms of the resolution and proceeded to mark off the sections which, in my judgement were most beneficial to travellers by that road. The result I hope may meet with the- approval of the Council when I explain that whereas a length of 18 chains may reasonably be expected to be metalled for the available sum not more than than seven chains could possibly have been done had the original resolution been adhered to, and this in such a position as to render it highly probable that in the depth of winter it would prove but a expenditure qwinj to thp destruction jo which jeptipns, pf the jqad must necessarily be spbjected, oyer which the ffp»ypj will be hanlpd to perfprm th'e'wdrk,' Thp necessary sprvaey has been made and' estimate drawn up of the cost of building at-Te Jfoer bridge. The amount available for further metalling after deducting probable working expedse, amounts to about SIBB. Messrs Reese and McDonald are making good headway with their respective bridge works on the Alfredton road, Mr Girdwood has also commenced operations on the formation contract recently let to- him, I have prepared and furnished to the Alfredton Road Board an estimato of the cost of felling the bush along the most sheltered sections of the Eketahuna to Alfredton portion of the main road to Tenui, Pressure of more important work has not allowed of my locating-the short length of road from Mr Saunders to the main line. I hope, however, to be in a position to have it exscuted at an early date. ■ Opaki to Manawatu road,—The repairs necessary upon this line are of so urgent a naturo, and call for such prompt attention that despite the Council having taken no action at its last sitting in the direction of authorising my proceeding with the expenditure of the Government grant, I have taken upon myself to advertise a section of metalling, and to prepare plans, etc, for the renewal of eight bridges, and the substitution of three culverts with embankments, iu place of worn out bridges on various sections of the line. The permanent roadmen, with, temporary assistance, are at present engaged in stripping and quarrying metal for the repairs to their respective sections, and it is my intention to engage carts to have the materials deposited along the sections which stands most in need of repairs. I will request that the Council confirm my action in this, as the deferring of the matter until the present sitting of tne Council would have involved the loss of a fortnight of valuable timo, The roadmen report that they have re. moved tho debris eolleoted about fhe piers of the bridges on their sections of road, And : the materials necessary for the repairs to'the damaged piers, as well as that required for fresl culverts for surface drainage will be forwarded on to the ground as Boon as I have the time to prepare a list of the Bizes required.. ''" ! "