CONTROL OF ROADS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 11 September 1926, Page 9

CONTROL OF ROADS.

HAWERA COUNTY COUNCIL, MONTHLY MEETING.

The monthly meeting of the Hawe-ra County Council was held- to-day, when there were p-resent: Councillors J. B. Murdoch (chairman), T. Walsh, E. A. Washer, B. C. Lys-agbt, A. G. Larcom, G. A-. Willia-niis, *J. Robbery «ud T. A. Wanks. OVERSEER'S REPORT. ’The overseer, Mr A, B. Muggeridge, reported that for the month work had been done a.s follows: — The scarifying on the Skeet Road will he finished in a’ few days. There were about ten chains on the eastern, side of Tnahr, hill which were very thin, and eight yards of metal to the chain w<i-s laid on. this length. As soon as this job is finished -the metal fbr .the ■engtn between the. Diuthie Road- and the Ahaipjvipai Road will be gone on with. v All the metal has- been delivered -for the Normanby-Okaiawa. Road for backing up. tbe .sides of the tar and making of horse bracks on the worst .portions of three hills. _lt took 320 yards of pit .metal to do this- work. The- same claiss jof work has been carried out opposite the racecourse on the Waahi Road, and 70 yards of -pit _ metal were used. The hill on the Austin Roffd has also -been metalled with pit metal and is now naseab’e for all traffic. The hauler that ,was purchased is now on the be a oh, and is being erected! on, the '-site where -it is required. It had to be (dismantled io> get it down the tram line, as the wooden rails were not strong enough to carry it and the deep cutting was fob narrow fori it to @o through. The crusher -has been .shifted to a more convenient site, and the erection of the .screen and bins will be gone on ’with at once. The culvert on the Morea Road has been erected' and the washout fit’ed in. This work took about S(K) va-rds of earth. There are two large .slips further along which are being cleared- at the .present time, one of them being a, chain wide. Bitumen patching has been carried out throughout the county where re-quire-d Th-eriei ludiS •'be-OTL Ig>ss of tliis work to do- this winter than previously. Two of the yearns are engaged at .the present time carting .shingle from the Waingongoro beach, and: the others wTI aomg on, to the Waukino beach shortly.' The culvert on the Tawhiti Rbiad will cost £125 to, widen out and put the filling in. This will give on •extra, eight feet of roadway. Referring to the purchase off bitumen, the overseer' .sa-id that -he, had, 50 tons in istore at New Plymouth, and he had 250 tons arriving bv steamer. This year the -cost would be almost £1 per v ton cheeper. Confirmation of the purchase wa-s- eiveii by the council. The report wa,s adopted. RANGER’S REPORT.

The, (ranger, Mr G. H. Blackwell, reported: On the Whereroa road -a considerable .amount of rubbish, 'including tins, tanks and even barbed -wire had been dumped at the foot of a, culvert, and -while ho had not actually seen aiiyon e tipping it there, he, had made inquiries, and it looked asi if isome people appeared to think it a, . public dumping ground. As there, was a, fair stream of water,', it w'ould be a serious matter if the culvert were blocked. On the. Glover Road opposite the d'airy factory a, pen with hurdle,s had! been erected aud another on the Ahai'paipni Road near the South Road, both without permission. from the council. During the month a iiiu-mber of , lorry -drivers- had been approached with regard to licenses ■and two had been found to be driving without theirs. Straying .stock found on the roads during the month had, totalled 79 corns and 17 horses. —Received.

LOCAL BODIES LOAN BOARD,

The secretary of the executive of the New Zealand Counties’ Association forwarded «a cony o:f .a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, advising that the executive had passed' tire followimg resolution with regard to the Local Government Loans Board: "That while the New Zealand Counties’ Association is not opposed to the supervision of borrowing powers as proposed in the Local Government Loans Board Bi’l, it is anxious that eh© operations of the proposed board will not amiduly add; to Hie administrative costs of counties an complying with the board’s requirements or delay the carrying out of legitimate requireir.ients of county areas. The association is, however, of opinion, ,in .view of the large and important interests of rural communities involved, that one of the members of the proposed board should be. >, representative of county councils.”

Tire letter further stated that, the executive regretted that the Bil’s had not. been circulated in time to receive consideration .at the recent counties’ conference, and that the executive could not claim to be voicing the views of the county council's on. th© question. The executive .suggested that even) if the Bill were not passed, .loan proposal supervision, might bo greatly agisted if the Treasury investigated the financial merits of each proposal and _'submit ted its report to local bodies prior to the taking of any .loan polls, and, .further, that a minimum percentage of the total votes on (the roll used must be recorded in favour of a loan proposal in order to carry same. , , The chairman said that the Bill had already been passed, .although, he did not think that th© board had been set up. He believed that a representative of .the counties should be given ,a seat on the boaird. He moved that .support should be .given to the resolution. STRATFORD-OKAHUKURA RAILWAY. The secretary of the Stratford Progress League advised' that at a meeting of the committee held to discuss the inadequacy of the amount placed on the Estimates for the purpose of carrying on the work of the StratfordOkahukura railway the following resolution had been, carried: "That this league regrets the Minister of Public Works has not been' able to put a larger sum than £IBO,OOO on the Estimates for work in connection with the Stratford-Main Trunk railway, and expresses the hope that this comparatively small sum will be exceeded in the ensuing year and that the work will be pushed forward to completion! with the utmost' expedition.” The communication stated that, in view of the question being one of outstanding importance both to Taranaki and the Dominion, it was felt that all public bodies in .the Taranaki district and) the Main Trunk area affected should be circularised and asked to endorse the resolution. After making careful inquiries, the league ascertained) that the present Estimates could not be altered, and) it was fe.lt that every effort should be made to induce Cabinet to place a much larger sum on the 1927 Estimates. While it seemed unwise fo nres? for this at the present juncture, it was considered that the time' was opportune to endeavour to enlist" the sympathy of the new Minister of Public Works, who would, no doubt, visit the district, during the recess, and it was suggested that a combined deputation should meet the Minister. The chairman said.that the matter was one of importance to all residents of the district, it being necessary that • the work should be. .proceeded) with in

order to facilitate the carriage of goods, especially coal. He proposed that the council should support the resolution of the league. It was decided to support thle resolution and to assist the deputation. COMPLAINT ABOUT ROAD.

S. C. G. Radford, of Matapu, wrote drawing the attention of the council to the state of the Omahuri road. He saidJ: “This track is in -a filthy state, especially in three places. The entrance from the Hastings road is axle deep and is full of dangerous holes. Waki’s filling (which, by the way, is only eight feet wide) is nothing but a boghole, and is highly dangerous, as one crossing has to remain on the one track. I would suggest that the council metal this with some of the metal from Paterson’s pit. The third place referred to is in the dip near the Manaia hill. This dip has always been a boghole of the worst kind, and I, the only pakeha on the- road, have been bogged -here more than once. I would like the- county to try and! dlo something immediately' to" the filling at Wald’s, as each wet day makes it worse.” The chairman said that the road was one leading down to native land and, while it had been formed, little else had been done. “

The engineer said that it would be very difficult to get to the road -for the purnose of improving it.', The chairman -moved that the foreman be instructed to, see what could be reasonably done to give temporary relief. Ci; Walsh seconded, and the motion was named-. V HOSPITAL LEVIES. The Ohura County Council asked support, for the following resolution: “That this council urge on the Prime Minister the necessity for isome new system for raising money for public hospitals whereby the public should help to maintain the hospitals instead of the brunt falling upon the ratepayers.” It was-suggested that the hospital levies he charged to the Consolidated fund.

The chairman: It’s a pity this did not -come in, three veal's ago. We might have received a little relief then. (Laughter). Continuing, the chairman said! the idea was a -good one, and lie- felt that -the council should support it. A-motion to this effect was carried. MISCELLANEOUS.

The Haiwera Town Clerk advised that the suggestions regarding Nolantown adjustments adopted by the County Council had now -been confirmed ,by*the Borough Council, and! solicitors were being instructed- to draw up the necessary agreement. The Under-Secretary of the Lands and Survey Department forwarded a copy of the Order-in-Council dealing wtih the personnel of the To Ngutu-o-te-Manu Domain Board.

The secretary of the Taranaki Local Bodies-’ Association wrote ini acknowledgment of the letter from 1 the Public" Works Department, Stratford, originally sent to the council, making a. further request for the council to contribute toward® the cost of the deviation with- regard to the South road railway crossing. The secretary advised that the matter would be placed on the order paper for the next conference.

The Prime Minister, in- reply to the council’s communication with regard l to the Local Government Loans Board Bill, stated that careful consideration had been given to the representations of those affected, but it had been decided by the Government, to proceed with the. measure during the present session. The Government would! at all times consider sympathetically the views of local bodies affected l by the operation of the Act. The suggestions of the council- to the effect that advance copies of Government, measures affectiiig local bodies should be supplied to such bodies would receive consideration.

The district engineer for the Public Works Department, Mr T. M. Ball, advised that a. monthly return of men employed would he accepted- by the department as sufficient. It was requested that the return be supplied as early as possible after the end of each month, j

The. superintendent of the State Advances Office advised that it had! been resolved to grant the council a loan' of £loQ for the purpose of completing the formation and metalling of Nlgawhine road. AUSTIN BO AD DEPUTATION.

A deputation, of seven of the settlers on the, Austin Boad, led by Mr C„ N. Vickridge, -waited upon the Council for the purpose of ascertaining as far as possible what prospects there were .for the road being made a little more passable. Mr Vickridge sa.id thaty»hei deputation was representative of the settlers of the Austin Bond bewteen Eraser Boad and the Normanby dairy factory and it.was desired to draw the attention of the Council to tlie impassable nature of the road during wet weather. He asked if the Council could give an intimation of the amount of money available before any suggestions for improvement were submitted, as the suggestions would be directly affected by the money available. v The chairman said that at present the Council was not in a. position to intimate how much monpy could bo spent on the road, but asked wliat was the present position of the original suggestion for the settlers to raise t loan to have the road completed. Mr Vickridge replied that, on careful consideration of the proposal, the settlers had learned that they would be taxed as high as £l7 per annum for this loan, and it was felt that tlieiv properties would not ' bear this charge for a long period. The chairman: Which part of the road is it that you wish attended to first?

Mr Vickridge stated that the settlors were satisfied to abide by the decision of the Council and the engineer in this matter, but urged that something should be clone on the road. The chairman promised that the riding represetatives and the engineer would go into the matter to ascertain the money available and what work would: be done. There was a, Government subsidy of about £4OO available for the road, but in this, respect*the Council would have to bear an equal portion of the expense. Cr T. A. Winks pointed out that £4OO was not available from the riding funds for this work.

After-the deputation lead retired the riding members and the engineer were deputed to go into the. matter, and the engineer was authorised to carry out the work decided upon.