EGMONT COUNTY COUNCIL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 15 September 1926, Page 5

EGMONT COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING

The monthly meeting of the Ejgmont County Council was- held at Opunake yesterday, when there were present.: Councillors W. C. Green (chairman), J. Young, J. Hickey, A. J. Lililey, J. S. Tosla-nd, G. Gibson, E. A. Collins, J. H. Sheppard, and R. C. Watson. ENGINEER’S REPORT. The engineer (Mr F. Cor kill) reported as follows:Main Roads Construction,—The proposals for the putting down of three-nuarter-s of a; mile of Lay bold bitumanons concrete, as ■ suggested by the works committee, have been forwarded: to the Main Highways Board. The delivery of boulders the Paora road and at Te Kiri is being continued. 'Bridges.—The boxing for one span, of tlie Mangahume bridge has ben, completed and the steel is in place. Concreting will probably be started this week. Approach fillings and fencing have been almost completed'. The underpinning of the Teikaparua. bridge (Warea) has been completed except for clearing up. The 36in. culvert on the Main South roed near Manihi itoad has been lengthened and made safe. The 36in. culvert near the Rahotn School has also been finished. The .repair! of the Okaweu culvert near tlie Opua, roAd has been completed except for filling. Tenders have been invited for the Pungaereere bridge, on the Rahotu road, and arrangements have been nmde for the starting of the Waiaua (Wirenrn road) bridge. Maintenance. —138 chains have been scarified and re-ro'Fiad, with the addition of 90 yards- of new metal between Nopera road And the boundary. The Tanngatara hill has also been refaced, and -scarifying -is being done from Pungarehu northwAr-ds. Patching has bean done throughout- the main roads, and a- lot draining has .been done -on the Eltba-m road in connection with- the reconstruction. Painting of the W-an.aua and tlie- Waiteika. steel bridges has been completed. Oeo Riding.—Patching has been done ten the Oipuuake-Strat-ford road, And water-tabling on the Oeo and Weka roads. Opua Riding.—The Lower and Upper Ara-whata, Namu. Opua- and Upper Kina roads ha vie been patched. Three- new" culverts have been laid on the Upper Ivina. Tlie culverts oii the Wiremu rood have; been completed. RAhotu Riding.—The rlipoka. Lower, Kahui. Upper PArihaka. Nga-iiki, and Pirnihn -roads -have been patched and the bridge on the Upper Pa-rihaka roAd has had extensive tfeoking nap ja its. The footpath at- Rahotu bAs been completed. Newa-11 Riding— The Ruakere, Carrington. Pungarehu, Warea and Newall roads have been attended to.

The report was adopted. , Tlie, foreman of the Rahotu. Riding, Mr H. Pickering, reported' that in spite of all warnings som e lorries in thb district were carrying much, greater load's than •allV>wed. —A _ satisfactory explanation having been| given by lorry drivers . concerned, no action was taken. ■ j

LOCAL BODIES’ LOAN BOARD

The secretary of the New Zealand Counties’ Association forwarded; a copy of the resolution passed by the executive, and forwarded to the Prime Mininter with repair'd to the Local- Bodios Loan Board (.previously published;) and asked for support. - Or. Gibson said he was much an sympathy with the resolution of the Oaunties’ Association. No opportunities had been given for consideration of the Act, and although he would 1 nbifc say that some restriction was not- necessary, he felt that tli e matter had been rushed through the House, too hastily. The Act left the powers of borrowing by local bodies in. the hands -of a board which was not representative, several of the members being civil servants. He believed that it would have been better for all proposals to go before the board for a report prior to a poll of the ratepayers being taken. As it was now provided, if the board turned down a proposal it could 1 not go before the ratepayers, the matter being automatically concluded. He felt that the present Act would, only lead to 'further amend mVvitfc., ois dfrastKci power Mad been given to the board. He wtoulu be prepared to move that ami emphatic protest should, be sent to the Government. The chairman agreed, and said that the Bill should have been introduced ear-tier in order to give the local bodies affected an opportunity to protest before the measure, was disposed of. H© believed that the board would affect smaller bodies more seriously .than in the ease of larger bodies. A most unfortunate position had been created in

that a board practically composed of civil servants should have the pofi’er to control borrowing by local bfedies. “V Cr. Tosland disagreed. He thought that it-.was ouite time that restrAetaons. were placed on the borrowing of the country, which had of recent yeahs naachedL alarming proportions. He, horar-* ever, admitted that- it was advisable-, tha-t a rep resentati ve of the county councils should have a seat on, the board.

It was finally decided to support the resolution of the association. A BOULDER. CONTRACT. .. Tv Mr. H. Munro, who held a contract to supply 5,000 cubic yards of boulders at Puneliu Road, waited on the council with regard to the method'of measurement of stone. The was to supply the stone- -to -,-©th.©r crushing contractors and the stone-was to be measured after passing through the crusher. Mr. Munro said’ he understood that th© chips and . sand from the crasher would amount to almost 60 per cent, and as the ownership of these was not set out in th© specifications, he felt that be could, not continue unless he- were paid forthe small stone.

The engineer explained- that the boulders would produce when crushed, an equal amount of metal, in l addition to the chips. As no agreemen t could be- arrived . at-, it was decided to have a demonstration of the amount- of metal produced 1 >y.a given quantity of boulders.

GEXfeRAL

Tlie engineer was authorised to secure tlie services of a clerk of,work to supervise the iPuuiho contract. Messrs. Roy, Nicholson and Bennett, solicitors, advised that they had received .tlie consent of tlie Public Trustee to the deviation of the WiTemu Road, and in enclosing a. plan with consents! endorsed asked for* execution by tlie council and those residents affected. —It was decided to secure the signature of the several parties. The engineer reported that he had received a further, tender for the Opua Road contract for £202 but this-, was still £42- in excess of the amount in hand for the work.' Cr. Tosland said be understood that- some of the residents on the road were prepared to assist financially, and the engineer was accordingly instructed to iroceed with the work. W. Hodgson, IVarea, wrote drawing the attention of the council ..to the "act that the Lower Newall and the Kehena Roads were getting into a. had state, the swamps being practically impassable. The fillings were not wideowing to cattle tramping.them down, w’d the road was,- in general; a mud track. It was impossible to take the milk to the factory along these roads ;o the farmers were forced to separate and take cream to the factory.—An amount of £7 was allowed for improvement. of the road. .. ; The engineer, in reply to the chairman.said that plans were now ready -or the three bridges agreed upon as being most urgent. He was instructed to prepare plans for the next two, so as to provide for future work.