PATEA COUNTY COUNCIL

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 9 March 1927, Page 3

PATEA COUNTY COUNCIL

MONTHLY MEETING. Tli© .monthly meeting of the Pate a County Council, held yesterday, was attended by Clrs. J. Gibbs (chairman), J. A. Taylor, W. G. Belton, W. hi. Watkins, C. Ei. Joumston, W. Back, E. S. Sc own, and Sutherland. Leave of absence‘was granted Or. J. Alexander. WORK OF THE MONTH. The engineer, Al.r. G. W. King, submitted the following report tor the period, ended yesterday : Alain Road and General. —The roller and party have completed the penetration course oil Walkrnton’s section, it ■has now been moved to Waverley Racecourse and has commenced on this length. The contractor for the earthworks on the Alanutahi Gorge has commenced work and is making good progress. The .strengthening shoulders with T© Wera shell rock work has. been carried on near the Alanutahi factory. This work is a great improvement. Alosti of the worst .sections on the road north of Patea having now: been attended to. Otoia West. —TQte surfaceman has been engaged making the approach to 0. Am on’,s property at the Alton Gorge and lias now' completed this work. A new culvert has been put in on the Alanutahi Road. Metal is now on order for Wills (Lower Alanutahi) Roiad to metal the first gap and re pa,lithe existing metal. Otoia East.—The ' surfaceman/ has been engaged most of the pe&iod on the Opakiii Road which is now in good order. Metal patching has 'also been carried out on the highwjay portion of this road. Metal for the Otauto Road between Dwyer’s and J■. Smith’s is now on order and will he to hand and be carted out in a day or so. This is the only section of this road for which, the money is forthcoming yet. Various of this district’s roads require grading which should be attended to without delay. Waverley Riding.—Aletailing, on the Kohi (17 chains) and the Lara,hake (Willacy’s Elat —12$ chains) has been carried out- from the Waverley Racecourse station. P'it metal has also come to hand, and been carted out on the Tower, Okutuku (both complete), and Glover’s (not yet finished) Roads. A commencement will be made as soon as the plant is available on the Station Road from the Town Board boundary to the railway crossing, with, metalling and bitumen penetration. Permission has been granted by the Railway Department to do idle crossing at tlri.s place. ATomnnhaki Riding.—The horse grader has been engaged on the Wa.ikar© length, Waikare, 'Onuaitn, and Wei aweraonga Roads. The - motor grader has also been most of %his period in this district and lias been most successful scarifying and reforming the hillside roads Block IV and Block IX. This machine has proved to be a great success on this class of formation and will doubtless be in great demand for re-forming this class of roads throughout the whole county. Aletai is now coming to' hand for repairs on the Block IX hill and for .re-metalling on the Valley Road. Metal fqr the Block IV saddle avail be coming to hand shortly ,as soon as ia lorry is available for carting.

Kapara Riding.—A: horse grader and horses kindly lent by Air. Peat has been engaged on the Alakakaho Road where very fair work has been done. The roads generally are in good order. As the Pinumui Bridge should be open shortly arrangements have been made to open up the county section of the road leading from Kaimta.nuka, to Grawshaiws (Thomson’s). An inspection of the Moeawatea Road has been made with a Public "Works overseer in order to assess the' extraordinary damage done earlier in the season. This roiad: is now open for traffic, but several block cuttings have had to- be aha n cloned:. ,

The report, was received. ROAD COMPLAINTS

Messrs.. Hicks Bros., of iNgutmvera advised that Air, James -Haggairt dad not feel inclined to pay his rates unless the council gave, mm a decent road to ms property, itlie present road being not even safe to rude on., lie wished to transport timber for building purposes! of the farm and desired the load widened raid the bridge put up. If the county could not find men to do the labour the writers woukl do> the woik. It was decided that application be made for immediate payment of the nates, the clerk being instructed to sue for them if they were not paid within one month. No action was taken an respect of the request fq rimprovement to the road. Air. G. K. S. Daniels,, a resident on tire Omata Road, Waitotaira, waited upoii the council and asked .permission to ex|ieud the amount of his rates on •repairs to the road, it being his intention to do the work himself. He said that the road was an a dangerous condition and tlraf repairs to vehicles due principally to the state, of the read had cost him practically £SO during the last 18 months. The chairman expressed the council’s sympathy and pointed out the serious difficulties of finance which limited the amount of work that could be done.

After a lengthy discussion it was decided to. authorise the engineer to employ Air. Daniels to put the load into repair. SPEEDING MOTORISTS.

.V. circular letter from the chairman of the Main Highways Board relative to excessive speed at which motor vehicles, particularly service cars, travelled over main highways, was forwarded by the district engineer of the Public Works Department at Stratford. The letter explained that wide powers were given under the Alotor Vehicles Act for the regulation of speed of motor vehicles and it was. suggested that local bodies should act wherever it could be proved that a driver of a motor vehicle liad driven in -a manner dangerous, to the. public.

The engineer was instructed to take action in accordance with the recommendation contained in the letter. KERBSIDE PETROL TANKS.

Tlici District Telegraph Engineer at Wellington. Mr. J. McDermott', pointed out by circular letter .thiaifc the freedom of the- Post and Telegraph Department to make full use of footpaths 100- the laying of underground- cables had to some extent been menaced by the action of local authorities, in granting private individuals permission to install underground petrol tanks. The letter stated, that the department had •statutory authority to lay underground rabies and .requested that the council should co-operate with the department and give to its officers an opportunity of first deciding upon its ultimate telephone requirements before permission was granted to encroach on public streets for the purpose of laying underground petrol tallies or similar obstructions. —No action was taken. COUNCIL. CITED BY EMPLOYEES. Correspondence relative ten the council being cited by the Taranaki. Employees’ Federation, .as a respondent on an award question was received, the council being advised that the Conciliation

Court would deal with the matter at its sitting at New: Plymouth on Thursday. , ■ After a lengthy discussion m committee, the engineer was appointed to represent the council at the court and to state the council’s objection to the claim. AIISOEL.LANEOUS. It was decided that the council should join in the Wanganui branch of the New Zealand Employers’ Association. j lb was decided to purchase a one-ton truck at a cost of £192. Air. It. Bremer, of “Lake Farm, Waverley, forwarded a donation of £25 towards road metalling on behalf of himself and Harvey Bremer. The health inspector, Mr. F. G. Coleman reported that during the' period from November 1 to January 31, two cases of diptheria, one of tubercolosis .and two of scarlet fever had been notified and had received attention. Six sanitary inspections had been made, and two butchers’ shops inspected. The clerk of the Wanganui Cuty Oounci-1 forwarded particulars of allocation of heavy traffic fees. For the quarter ending December 31 last the Patea County Council would receive £33 4s 3d, the Wai.totara County Council £35 9s 3cl, Waverley Town Board £1 Os Bd. The Patea Borough Council was included an the County Council figure. . W. Li. Oliver, a resident of Kolu wrote asking the council to pay for the cost of replacing the side screen glass on hi,si motor car which was damaged a« the result of a., mishap on February 26. The matter was referred to the riding members and the engineer.. The question of the advisability of maintaining more .supervision on the works in various portions of the county was brought up by Or. Belton., who- expressed the opinion that although it would be expensive for the engineer to make frequent tours over the district it would ptobably prove economical.—No action was taken.