EGMONT COUNTY AFFAIRS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 10 June 1925, Page 7

EGMONT COUNTY AFFAIRS.

COUNCIL MEETING. The motitlry meeting of the Egmont County Council was held at Opunake yesterday. There were present: Councillors \\ . C. Green (ci)airmau), J.'A. Pettigrew, T. IT. H. Sinclair, E. A. Collins, G. Gibson, J. S. Tosland, H Donald, J. Hickey jnr.. and J. Young. THE MONTH'S WORK. The engineer (Mr. E. M. Corkil 1 ) reported inter aliaMain Road construction. —The weather having broken, this work has not progressed very much during the past month. The crusher actually worked 13 days in Mat, putting out 422 cm bio yards ot 2 inch stone or 33 yards per day. in addition to screenings. This outfit continues to be exceedingly unsati si actor and medianicallv is as bad as it couk. well be. Up to the end of the month only nine chains of the main road inul been completed on the new section from the Oaoiti to the Oaonui, hut better progress has since then been made. Resides the road proper, some additional metalling has been done at the entrance to the factory and the cost will be paid by the company. As weather permitted, sealing has been continued on the Oaonui to Arawhata section, which has been completed, and on cue Arawhata to Opua section, which should soon be completed. Upper Arawhata. Road.— AppMcation for a transfer of the grant to this road has been made, but no authority lias vet been received. Cape Road.—The re-metalling of this road has been completed, but. as the work suffered a lot of damage during the floods, this has been repaired. Eltharn Road Overbridge.—Wbrk has been suspended, and I understand tluv. the matter is being investigated as to the additional cost involved in a change to the straight line. Manganui Culvert. Kina Road).— The materials for this are on the ‘•‘YYail>.em<>’ ’ evilieli is now on tin? coast, so no action has been taken as to a temporary bridge. Maintenance.—The usual maintenance has been carried out. but in the latter 'part of the period all work has been by way of repairing flood damage. Resides the major damage which I reported to you previously, washouts have been reported on the Newall, Kaliui, Opourapa (where .a culvert was washed out. but has been replaced), Ihaia (very slight) and on the Opua Road, where several severe washouts occurred and the road was complete lv washed away between the two fords’at the top of Mr. Sinclair's property. All Ibis damage has received attention. The levels reached by the flood at the various bridges in the affected area have been recorded. Oil the Main South Road at Pungarehu a little of the road has been scarified, re-shaped and re-rolled. The reuort wa s adopted. TAUNGATARA BRIDGE.

The bridge foreman (Mr. R. J. 1. Dillon) reported as follows: the whole of the work done during the month has been in connection with the erection of the Taungatara bridge and tilings were well advanced, most of the main reinforcing bars having been placed in position and everything got ready for tne casting of the arch, when unfortunately an exceedingly high flood occurred ‘in the river on the morning o. the 22nd. and a good deal of :ialse work was carried out through the deepening of the channel caused by t lie short cut through the point lower down. One pier of the temporary bridge, although set in about four feet of concrete, settled down several feet, and whee] traffic had to be stopped. Resides two rows of ordinary sill raisework supports, a row of driven piles was swept away. The pile driving derrick with a 25 cwt. monkey and a heavy winch attached was carried down to the "gap"’ about .100 yards below the bridge and smashed up. As showing tlie ve'oeity of the current huge boulders of ten’ or twelve toils weignt went down the stream. the water washed behind and under the old concrete pier on. the east side, and left it suspended and hanging on to the new pier foundation. The concrete mixer and centrifugal pump had to be liasti.\ moved well back to save them from lulling into the river, tlirough the erosion of the bank. L 1 roni time to time attempts were made by a few oh the bridge men, assisted by Or. Toslaud, to cut away the floating logs and rubbish which kept collecting around the pi’es supporting the arch. This reliesed the pressure somewhat. Next day a start was made to re-erect the temporary bridge on four 65 feet piles obtained from the Opunake Harbour Hoard through the good oifices of the county engineer, who also supplied timber, a winch and, other necessary gear. Work was continued o'er .Sunday, and a traffic way was available on Monday evening. On examination of the timber arch no settlement or damage is apparent, the remaining rows of piles sustaining the extra weight. I am satisfied that, had the midstream piles not been driven, all the falsework would have gone and the reinforcing bars been left a tangled mass in the river. Since the re-erec-tion of the temporary bridge a small wire groin has been put in to throw the water away from the shattered bank, and concrete placed under the upstream end of the undermined old concrete pier of the main bridge. The winch, which has been very much battered about and the monkey have been recovered from the river. A truss type of support has been adopted to replace the damaged portion of the falsework. This will |eave the channel clear and obviate the necessity of further pile driving. Most of it is in position already, and I hope to lie able to recommence the construction of the bridge in a eoup'.e of days’ time. On the whole we have been lucky, but the weakness shown by the deepening of the channel and the undermining of the old pier at the south-east side wil] have to be removed, by the placing of wing walls set well down or some other method as recommended by the engineer. The report was adonted. TEIKAPAR.UA BRIDGE.

Mr. C. Wesvey tendered at £1338 12s for flic erection of the Teikaparua bridge (W'a re a Road), and, as the work on the Ptmgarere bridge for whicli 31 r. Wesley's tender had accepted had been stopped owing to the recent flood making it necessary to take three instead of two 30-feet spans, it was decided on the engineer's reeonmienda t ion to accept the Teikaoarua bridge tender, fHA i A ROA D LOAN. Replying to the Council's letter loncernino the ibaia Road loan of £."5000. the State Advances Department advised that if the council would complete and return the fifth debenture forwarded’ on June 19. 1923. a remittance would he made. The chairman was authorised to complete the debenture and have it forwarded. KITH AM ROAD' RAILWA Y BRIDGE

Replying to the Council’s letter objecting to the site of the bridge being erected to carry the Kith am Road over the Opimake railway, the Minister of Public Works (Hon. T G. Coates) writing under date May V stated that the matter would receive his careful consideration.

A telegram of the. same date received from . the district engineer advised that work on the bridge had been suspended pending decision on the matter. . The chairman said it "'as to be Imped that the Minister would see Ins way to have the bridge erected on the original site as was desired by the council, thus eliminating the tinueoessarv deviation of the road. NATIONAL MEMORIAL.

A circular letter received from the Prime Minister’s office gave information of the initial steps taken by the citzens of Auckland in what it "as hoped would become a national movement, having tor its object the raising of a fund for the erection of a suitable memorial to the late Prime Minister. The co-operation of residents of the county in the appeal, "as invited. Cr. Collins considered that councils should not contribute to such objects from rates, but favoured voluntary subscriptions. . Cr. Pettigrew expressed similar opinions. Cr. Tosland proposed that a subscription list be opened at the county office. It was decided to do this, and also to request storekeepers in the^ district, the dairy companies, the Town Board and the Electric Power Board to open subsidiary lists for voluntary contributions. The clerk was appointed treasurer to the fund. PAY DAY. The petition signed by 43 ol the council employees which had been received at the previous meeting requesting that wages be paid fortnightly instead of monthly was again considered. Replies received in answer to the council’s inquiries ishowedi that the majority of the county councils in Taranaki paid employees monthly, and the engineer was requested to inform the petitioners that the council could not alter the existing system. COMPENSATION CLAIM. Mrs. S. Thomas, Te Kiri, wrote stating that last spring one of the council’s contractors had dumped a quantity of boulder stone on her property. She had then been assured tfie stone would be shortly crushed, but it stil| remained. She requested that it be removed immediately, and that reasonable compensation be granted. Cr. Collins said the stone was in an awkward position for the holder of the land, and recommended that a crusher be sent immediately. As lie understood the site had been arranged by the overseer the council should meet the icquest for compensation. Cr. Collins and the? engineer were authorised to deal, with the matter. ( 'H AIR YI A N’S HONOR A I .IITIM. In appreciation of his services during the past year, the chairman was granted an honorarium of £IOO. Cr. Sinclair stressed that, as the county had been without an engineer, the chairman’s duties had entailed a great deal of supervision work in all parts of the county. RIDING RATES. Rates for the ensuing year in the various ridings were approved as follows: —Oeo 2|d; Rahotu 2Jd; Opua 2.)d; Newall 2id; 15-16 d being earmarked for bv-roads in each instance. Opua excepted. GENERAL. A letter received from the State Forest Service notified that the department wished, to keep in touch with tree planting operations, and requested particulars of any areas planted in the county and the results. —The clerk was instructed to supply the information desired. Explaining that he had been county overseer for the past IS months and had not had a holiday during that period, Mr. .1. L. Harrop, riding foreman. applied for leave of absence for two weeks.—Two weeks’ leave on 'full pay granted at a time to he approved by the engineer. The ranger reported that 84 head of stock had been taken during the month on the various roads in the county.