TAMAHERE HIGHWAY DISTRICT.

Waikato Times, Volume XIV, Issue 1217, 17 April 1880, Page 2

TAMAHERE HIGHWAY DISTRICT.

A Meeting of the members of the Tamahere Highway District Board was held yesterday afternoon at the Waikato County Council Chambers. Present: Messrs H. Reynolds, (Chairman), P. Leslie, and James Runciman. The minutes of the preceeding meeting were read and confirmed. The Secretary stated he had to report that the maps and plans of the roads proposed to be closed, ordered at last meeting, had not been received from the Engineer. On the motion of Mr Runciman, seconded by Mr Leslie, it was resolved to request the Engineer to furnibh them with the least possible delay. The dangerous state of the embankment on the Cambridge-Hamilton road was referred to. It was stated that the embankment was a complete trap, not 12 feet across the road at any point, and the fascines lapping over the edge like the rim of a table on either side. . The Secretary stated that the debit balance of the Board at the Bank was £15. ;

STOPPAGE OF ROADS. The following letter was received by the Secretary :—: — Public Works Office, Wellington, April 7th, 1880. Sm,—With reference to your letter of 23rd February last, forwarding memorial &c relative to the closing- of certain roads in the Tamahere Highway District, I am now directed by the Minister for Public Works, to request that m the absence of sufficient particulars showing the compliance with the requirements of the " Public Works Act, 1876," you will be good enough to furnish a declaration in the form enclosed, as the one sent is not sufficiently specific in detail to show that the provisions of the Act have been fulfilled. I am also to request that you will statewhat the Board propose to do with the stopped roads the memorial having no reference thereto. Tho Minister desires me to call your attention to the spaces left for the dates of the several notices in the form enclosed. Care should be taken that the insertions in the newspapers agree with the periods specified in the Act, viz., 93 section, subsections 3, 5, and 10.—I have, &c,

C. Bevzoni, Assistant Under Secretary, Public Works. • The enclosed form was semething entirely new to the Board. The operation of the stoppage of these roads had been going on for the last 18 months, yet the Board knew nothing of the form enclosed, nor could the substance of it be gathered from the Act. The Secretary further stated that nearly two months had been allowed to pass before answering the letter, from February 23, to April 7th. He did not believe that according to what was now required, a single road in the Waikato had been legally stopped. Mr Benzoni asked for the very information that could only be given from the documents of the Board now in his possession. The fact was the Department was setting up byelaws to deal with the busiuess as it came in, and with which local bodies could not be conversant. In answer to the Chairman, the Secretary said that Mr Benzoni, from the documents in his possession, could at once tell what, if anything, had been omitted. It was resolved that two of the members of the Board should wait on the Minister for Works on his arrival in Waika,to, representing that after the testamentary documents had been furnished to the department, an elaborate declaration to be made by the Chairman had been sent which it was impossible to make in the absence of the documents retained by the department. Messrs. Leslie and Runciman were appointed to wait on the Minister. This concluded the business.