EGMONT COUNTY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 15 June 1927, Page 5

EGMONT COUNTY.

MEETING OF COUNCIL. The monthly meeting of the, Egmont County Council was held at Opunake yesterday, Cr. W. C. Green presiding. Others present were Crs. R. C. Watson, J Shepherd, A. E. Collins, G. Gibson, J. S. Tosland, A. J. Tilly, J. Hickey, junr., and J. Young.

ENGINEER’S REPORT

The engineer (Mr. F. M. Corkill) re ported on work done during the monte as fodows:

Main Roads Reconstruction. —Vein little has been done this month. On Road (contract No. 510., the sealing coat has been completed, except for a few places where the nearness of trees had kept the road too wet to be swept clean. The crushei was moved to the Otakeho river, but the contractors eventually decided not to attempt any more work until the weather is more settled. Contract No. SOS (Warea): The sealing coat was completed and five chains have been grouted under the first extension othe contract. Contract No. 494: The small pieces of sealing near the Okahu and Oaonui rivers has been completed. This contract is now completed except for a few small matters still to be attended to.

Bridges. —Pungaereere bridge (Main South Road): The high estate of the river has hindered piogress, but one foundation is concreted and the otliei is well ahead. Steel and forms have been prepared and most of the gioining has been clone. The Puneliu bridge, -on the Opunake-Stratford Road, has been completed and is a- good job. Okahu Road: Weather has again made progress slow up in the high country. The metalling has been completed from Newall Road to the Kapoaiaia. bridge, though some of the metal is . not up to the requirements. Most of the drains and culverts are completed All earthwork lias been done, except for a little at the further end. Great difficulty is being experienced in getting good metal, but arrangements are being made which, it is expected, will get over this difficulty. It is probable that the work will- he stopped from now until the spring. Plans for a further two miles from the Kahui Road to the Nga-riki Road have been prepared, and I understand that, the Public Works Department will soon be putting a further thirty men on this work. ' Maintenance.—The main roads have been given the usual attention. Tiie Oaoiti bridge had repairs. Thirty chains have been scarified and rerolled near Parihaka. Crushing (Munro’s contract) has been completed, resulting in 616 cubic yards. An additional eight yards was also crushed. Oeo Riding.—Work has been done oil the Kiri, Opunake-Stratford, Oeo, Patiki, and Weka. Roads. The work for the Inglewood Bacon Company at Pihama station has been done. Opua Riding. —The Kawaora, Waiteika, Namu, and upper Kina Roads have been given attention. llahotu Riding. The Saunders, upper and lower Kahui, Cape, and Opourapa Roads have been patched and otherwise dealt with. On the upper Parihaka 63 chains have been scarified and relied. On the Tipoka Road the work comenced last month has been - completed, making oliains. Seventy-five yards of -extra metal were used on this. At the lower Parihaka Road 337 cubic yards were crushed of the metal obtained from clearing out the pit on Mr. Taylor s. This lias been dumped for future use. Newall Road.—The Carrington, Newall, and Warea Roads have had a gooa bit of work. . General —Mataikahawai Road : Apart from the culvert outlets, most of which will be of considerable length, this work is well towards completion.^ The report was adopted.

GENERAL. The Main Highways .Board representative, Mr. T. M. Bad, of Stratford, wrote stating that the board had advised that an eriort would be made to provide the sum of £I4,(MX) asked ior by the council in connection with the work already done, and also between £4500 and £o(X>o for bridge reconstruction work.

Appreciation of the prompt manner in which the council had constructed a bridge across the 'Waiq.u river was expressed by Mr. A. "NY. "NYan, who stated that the AYirenni Road was somewhat cut up and required metalling. He asked that the counciL give the matter its attention The chairman thought that the work should be done, and suggested that the Public NYorks Department be appioached for a grant. The council could assist by means of a subsidy. It was resolved to ask for a grant as suggested. The Valuation Department advised that the work of revising the valuation rolls would be done as soon as possible, but owing to the acute position in other counties the latter would be dealt with first. The .Matamata County Council sought the council’s opinion concerning a proposed amendment to the Counties Act to provide for the ending of the financial year on June 3.) instead of March 31.—1 t was resolved that without further, consideration the council

could not support the proposal, but viewed it with sympathy. Mr. E. Maxwell, Opunake,. called attention to the state of a drain which flooded and caused damage to Ins property. He also asked that an entrance be granted him over the drain. The engineer’s action in cleaning the drain was confirmed, and it was decided. that if Mr. Maxwell provided pipes the matter of the entrance would be attended to. A request that a - portion of the Pungarehu Road, be metalled from the end of the present metalled surface to his property was received from Mr. W F Greenway, who offered to do the formation work. —The engineer was instructed to report on the matter, with a view to having the work done. The attention of the Power Board is to he drawn to the necessity for removing certain poles from alleged dangerous positions. Two applications for renewals of slaughterhouse licenses were granted. The clerk and engineer r were appointed a committee to consider by-law cases, in order to decide which cases should he proceeded with.