Wairarapa North County.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 3054, 15 November 1888, Page 2

Wairarapa North County.

The following lepoil of Mr C. E. Broiuuor, County Engineer, adopted nt the'.Council Meeting ,<W Tuesday last;— •■v .■■■■•,• ' Masterton- 'Biding,—Mastertoo to Sm'faco'ifepairs oil. tliislinb arVuow iircourse ; of execution,'ftiul mil Ijo completed in the course of another month; -- "Contract No. 88. Tunnel No. ;2. has -been : opened Ihrough/aud a' (commence-: lias, been made with;; bankmentin the second gully crossed by deviation. This latter work together with tlis contractor's camp jind :much-of | his; materials liayl-J regret, beenlosfbytlia recehtttlSj, and will have to be restored as soon as things can be. got into working order again."Until the next contract No. 85 is completed Ido not pa te any great progress will be on this work, as the full complement of men to be einployed;are 'now engaged and? distributed /between -the two contracts. It litis beeu advisable owing to treacherous syfl^ 1 toms in the groand' to abandon' the shqi't length (15ft) driven of the first,tunnel and alter, its; direction so as to inci'easaUhe; ithickbess'. of tlife outer casing, and gain the protection offered by the seams of hard stones with which the sand stone rock is stratified. A short length on the uew line has been, tunnelled.,, ..The men are now busily employed pusli. ing the remainder of the drive tbrongh. Contract No. 25. The formation on'this!.; contact will bo finished - in the .course of' a : 'week, the ■ other works consisting of metalling, culverts,/construction, &o„ will -occupy from two to three weekß longer.' The fencing •of Mr iVallance's property has at length been completed, and I hope that 110 further cause for' complaint ■ may arise iu : the matter of straying. stock. Tenders been' invited and close this day for. erecting the toll-house and fencing at Taueru. Te Ore Ore ,to Bideford : Road.—Contract No 17 Ws started on the 9th inst, by Mr P. Scally, who arrived on .the ground with his teams two days previous to thki'date. His men are.; now employed in pre--paring the pits , and reforming the road surface preparatory to laying doiyii.'the gravel, Contract No. 18 has been advertised and-tenders# . it will bo laid before the Council at its present sitting. The contraotineludes additional \ metalling to the • extent of the available balance of the loan raißed on the line. , i

. C'astlepoint Hiding,—Mastortou to Waimataßoad—Road repairs through , out this line' aro now in course of execution,' and will becompleted witli all possible despatch, I have been unable so far to arrange a meeting with Mr Elder in connection with tlio proposed Mungapakeha stream diversion, but will take the earliest opportunity , to visit the . ground in company with him and hope ablo to report next montli what'# ™ rangements.it may ,be decided to rccoinmeiuV to the. Council. Contract No,' this contract the 10th-of last month, at what is knowii as Peach's Quarry, whereaconsiderable quantity . of; stone lia a been. quari'ied aiid brpfteri ready'for carting'on; to the O'Connor's quarry a sub-contract has beenlet; and /guarding • ia,.,iiow;, ill course of progress, lhe rock in the latter is much intermixed with stone of different qualities, and great care will have to be exercised iu sorting it over so as t&' insure that none: but the best is used on the road. .The centre quarry' at lea .gate .contained ■ such, a largo proportion of-inferior stone when opened out that it was decided both by the contractor and myself that it could not be profitably worked, and in consequence of this it has boon abandoned and a fresh sito selected' about half, a mile towards Tinui, from •.whiciv'section of 1 98 chains..will be metalled. ..ffho cost of cartage, however, to metal the central sections Nos." 2,' 8 and 4; will be increased by a distance of miles, and I' would recommend that the Council make' the contractor, an allowance on' this account at the rate of Is 3d per yard for the amount of stone required to metal them, via,, 1881 cubic yards. Although under the conditionsjiof contract the contractor is required to prospect and fiiidsuitablestonoforthoperformance of the work, there can be no doubt that the failure of the lea gate quarry will upset the basis. upon which lie calculated tho value of performingtiio woi'k oii . the sections aboyo. referred to, and : - his tender for them would have been higher had it been anticipated that the materials would have to be procured from the greater distance.. ( . * Alfrodton Riding—Ekotaliuna to l'inui Road—Eketahuua to Tiraumea section. I visited this hue on tho 21th of last month, and examined it throughout, and found that the road surface was in. an - unlit' stato for tho tipri ng repairs i The ■ recent 7 heavy rains will still further have rotarded matters by softening tho surface and encumbering it with slips. With a t'iew to oxpediating matters I have prepared specifications, and propose, subject to the Council's, approval, to nvite teiidors for tho work to close at Ekotaliunaon' the 22nd inst., where ,hcy can bo dealt with by the mombor or the riding and mysolf. Opaki to Hanawatu; Road.—Materials have jeen delivered on the ground for the ionstruction of a suitable culvert for .he embankment which is to be substituted for the temporary bridge it present spanning .the,gully, opposite Air Hecklar's homestead, This ,york will bo undertaken in conjuno,ion with the road repairs about to sxecuted on the line between Mtrnga-J, nahoe and Dreyers Bock. . Mr layward liaa mado an offer in vriting for fixing-and pegging tho iide widths of the road passing, hrough the Eketahuiia township, le advises me, however, that owing o the inaccuracy of the sub-division urny of tho township sections.'lliat t would be an expensive matter to ocate the correct points T of intorsccion ;of the town sections with'tlio ide widths. I have therefore decided o omit this from our proposed work, • nd to peg out tho angle and main ection boundary points only, So »r as the returns have come to hand to serious damage' hail resulted to he Councils roads or bridges in prolortion to the magnitude of tho ecent floods. At : Te Ore one of tho liles of the Ruariiahiinga bridge has icon partially shattered by floating imberi,'butf; hope to ljavo strong cmporary repairs completed to this ly this evening,, so as to keep tho iridge;open-until; ; later, in?the; season toefitcai^ enience, be, Closed foV s 'a;few [dplys vhilo the ;broken piles : are]boipg reilaced. Min , t|i{ iForty-Mili|-Bush shpsUiay| closed iMtto blocks of drift timber have formed againstTsonie of the ibridgeff on theso : and others of tho main linos. Stops , have been taken to liapo theeo

■ obstructions rciuoyccl and, the lines . restored to traitio at tlio earliest possible dutc.