EGMONT COUNTY COUNCIL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 15 October 1924, Page 2

EGMONT COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING. The Egmont Comity Council met- at Opunake on Tuesday. Tliere were present : Ci's. .W. C. Green (chairman), ,J. A. Pettigrew, E. A. Collins, G. Gibson, J. S. Tosland, H. Donald, ,J. Hickey junr., and J. Young. Cr. R. Fergusson was granted leave of absence, - OVERSEER’S REPORT. _ The- report of the _ ccuntv overseer (Mr L. J. Harrop), inter alia as follows, was adopted:— Oeo Riding (Southern). —Patching and cleaning out water-tables has been done on the various roads —Patiki Road one day. Sheet fifteen days, Nopera seven days, Hone two days. The gorse. has also been grubbed' out on the county paddock. Oeo Riding (Northern).—A considerable amount of patching has been done on. Eltham Road. Patching has also been done on the Kiri, Opnnake-Strat-ford, Watino and Oeo reads. Opua Riding (Southern).—Patching and cleaning out water-tables has been done on the Eltham, Ihaia and Waiteika Roads. Pipes have also been made in.the county shed. Opua. Riding (Northern)—New Road: The crushing plant was set up on the Lower Arawhatn. Road, 552 yards of metal being crushed, 58 yards screening, which were laid,down on to 29-1-chains of road. The wet weather hindered this work considerably, making it impossible to finish rolling out the road. The road going down to the beach has been fenced off. Newall Riding.—Paor a Road: Patching has been done on the metal part of this .road, and the ruts on the grass length have been filled in. BRIDGE FOREMAN. Several replies to the Council’s advertisement inviting applications for the position of bridge foreman were received. The chairman and C'rs. Tosland and Gibson were appointed as a committee to make inquiries concerning the qualifications of certain applicants, and were authorised to make the appointment accordingly. HIGHWAYS EXPENDITURE. Reporting on the; result of his interview; together with Grs. Tosland and Collins, with the Minister . for Public Works and the 'chairman of the Highways Board, the chairman said the Minister had intimated that though he appreciated the council’s position, he could* not grant permission for the expenditure of loan money on main highways. It was -unlikely, however, that the .Department would hinder local bodies from carrying out their work, and gave the deputation to understand that if the/ Egmont ’ County work' was proceeded with the council would be treated just as favourably as other local bodies. They had been informed by the chairman of the Highways Hoard that some amendments of minor details in the specifications were required. Discussing the subject further, Cr. Green said that in view of the Minister’s, attitude, he considered the council would be justified in. pushing on with the work as soon as weather and other circumstances permitted. A schedule of amounts approved by the Highways Board for the maintenance of main highways in the county was forwarded by the chairman of the District Highways Council. The board’s contribution on a £1 for £2 basis was as follows: Elthairi-Opunake £367; Lepperton Junetion-Hawera, via Opunake, Taranaki County boundary to Waimate West boundary, £650. In reference to the expenditure of loan oii main highways the Audit Office, in reply to the council’s representations, advised that, in the opinion of the office, the loan having been duly authorised, for the purposes named, there was no legal impediment to its being expended in conjunction with the Main Highways Board scheme so long as the expenditure was confined to the identical length of road or roads and the express purpose for which it was authorised. ROAD SIGNS. The South Taranaki Automobile Association, writing to advise that it was arranging for the erection of direction , and warning signs throughout South Taranaki, asked the. council whether it would provide posts and erect the signs at points mutually agreed upon if the association provided the ..signs. It was proposed to adopt three standard signs, namely, “Go Steady,” “Danger,” and “Dangerous Corner,” while the direction signs would be of the usual type,with distances marked upon them. On. the motion of Crs. Tosland and Gibson it was decided to offer ,to erect the signs if the association would provide the material. ROAD GRANTS. To overcome the difficulty experienced for • many years by local bodies and settlers consequent upon roads having not been made available for expenditure sufficiently early to admit the work being done during the summer season, the district engineer, Public Works Department, advised that the Minister had agreed to engineers informing various local bodies after their draft estimates had been approved of the items which were being provided and to local bodies being invited to submit their proposals for expenditure and, if approved, the necessary authority to proceed with the work could be issued. He accordingly submitted the following list of items on the estimates which it was intended the council should expend, all on a £ for £ basis, except where otherwise stated: Cape road, £200; Kahui road, £200; Kaweroa road, £200; Kina road (Mangamii stream bridge), £100; Opua road (upper), £75; Warea road (Teikaparua bridge), £700; Arawhata road (above Wiremu load), £25; Hitona road (between Arawhata and Oaonui roads), £25; Mataikahawa road (Wiremu, Arawhata to Ngariki), £SO (free); Akahu road (Ngariki and Newall), £3OO (free). An accompanying letter explained that these were not all new grants, but included unexpended grants from last year, and the council was requested to submit proposals for expenditure. The overseer and Works- Committee were authorised to prepare the necessary plans and specifications, it being further decided to have plans for the erection of a bridge on the Warea road prepared by an engineer. Authority for the expenditure of £56 free grant on. the Wiremu road, Wainua ford, was received from the Public Works Department. HONE ROAD.

Cl- Tosland introduced Mr A. McKeown (Pihama), who waited tmon the

council to inquest that metalling work be undertaken oh the Hone road, being the outlet from his property. Mr McKeo wn was informed that the i equipments of the road had not been overlooked. Two yards of metal for the road had been included m the estimates, and would be put down as soon as the crusher was available. The overseer explained that the recent work done was to effect repairs only, and he expected to be able to pioceed with the metalling immediately. . > • OPTJNAKE POWER BOARD. The Opunake Power Board wrote requesting the council to add the 10 per cent penalty to all outstanding rates and that they be collected as early as possible. It was decided to inform the board that to put the matter in proper order the board should move a formal resol wtion levying the penalty and request the County Council to collect it. Notification was received from the Opunake Electric Power Board that the Governor-General had appointed the following persons as the county’s representatives on the board: Messrs 1. H. Sinclair, W. L. F. Chambers, J. Tosland, E. A. Collins, and J. Hickey, junr., their term of office commencing on the 6th inst