EGMONT COUNTY

Hawera Star, Volume L, 10 September 1930, Page 6

EGMONT COUNTY

/MEETING OF COUNCH

The monthly meeting of the Egm'ont County Council was held at, Opunake yesterday, when there iwas present: Messrs W. ! C. Green (chairman'), JYoung, E. G. Holmes, J. S. Tosland, iG. Gibson, A. J. Lill-cy, E. A. Collins, J. P. Shepherd and R. ‘C. "Watson. The engineer (Mr J. G. AlcTvor) reported -on the work done during the month ended 'September 5 as follows: The Oaoiti stream bridge! has oeen comciitcd and opened to traffic. On the boo stream bridge the sour l i abutment has been concreted. The footing ot the north abutment lias' been' placed and steel and boxing are being assembled for the walls. On' the- ©eo deviation a 36in. culvert has been lengthened and the stream diverted a little to provide room, for traffic. Alain South Road shoulders'_ have beer graded from Opunake to Pi-ham a, and the Oeo Hill shaped. A fair amount of banking and water-tabling has been done and side tracks attended to m Newall' riding. Several new deck planks have been placed in the Okahu bridge. A little cold patching has been: done. Oco Riding. —■Wat in a Road has been patched and water-tables' cleaned throughout. Two 12-inch crossings were placed and 1 druirc cleared. -Nopera and Patiki Roads have been graded. Watertables and drains have been cleared' on the Oeo Road' and patching done on the Wirenni and Kiri Roads. Opua Riding.—A fair amount: of patching lias’ been done on the ITppci Ivina, Upper Arawhata and Wiremu Roads. AVaitei'ka and Kaweo-ra Roads have been graded and a little patching done on the Opua and Namu. One 15-inch culvert was placed on the Upper Arawhata. Road. Rahotu Riding.—A big gang has been employed an the Ngariki Road most of the month. Three hundred and twenty yards -of pit metal and spalls (wove use I for repairs and 60 yardls- d'limped for maintenance over the whole length. Water-tables and drains' were cleared and the. road is in fair order again. A little patching lias been done on the •Kalmi Alain Road and draining on the Sanders Road.

Newall Riding.—Patching Iras beer done on the 'Warea, Newall. Okahu and Carrington Roads, and 120 chains of drain cleared on the Newall. The crusher has started work on th ■ Paora Road to complete the unmetallerl portion. The ranger (F. Williams) reported that during the month he had seized 21 head of stock and five horses on ■various roads.

STOCK ON THE ROADS

The Taranaki Automobile Association wrote expressing satisfaction at the efforts the council was making to suppress the dangerous practice of allowing stock to wander on the roads at. night. They would be _ pleased to co-operate in any way possible. The chairman said- it was gratifying tn receive a letter of appreciation. Air Chapman waited on the council by request so that he might eonvey suggestions' as to how the Automobile Association could assist in the matter of cattle straying on the roads. The chairman asked whether the association suggested it should assist by finding money to enable the council to appoint an inspector, (whether it should have its own official act as inspector, or whether the county ranger should be instructed to carry out his work mure stringently. •Air Chapman agreed that the last proposal would- be the solution. Air Yaung thought the association might help considerably if its officials would report any cases of straying stock so that the" county ranger could take action.

AFr Tosland asked whether the association would be willing to contribute £SO towards the inspector's salary. Tim chairman said that, at present the council was making every effort to keep the roads- clear without, persecuting anyone. It was going as far as finances would permit. It had', appointed-. a ranger to attend: to straying stock and an inspector to attend to breaches of the motor regulations. He did not think t-hat the suggestion of a subsidy from the association was practicable unless a board representative of all the local bodies in the district was formed.

HIGHWAY BUSINESS

The Highways Board issued authorities for subsidies as follows on, a £2 for :’l basis: Sheet Road, -estimated maintenance, £750, £3OO-; .Eltham-Olpun-ake Road, estimated maintenance £712, £331 3s 4d, andi unexpended authority £143 10s; Iliaia Road, £3'G4 15s, £238 E3s.

In. connection with maintenance work on the Alain l South Road between Oeo r.r.id T’nniho, estimated' to cost £3300, for which the district engineer recommended 1 authority for £lßll Us on a £2 fer £1 basis (there- being a balance of £2'BS 8s 3d) the board issued authority for £1 : 61‘2 (£2 for £1). The Public Works .Department forwarded a cheque for £358 17s 2d for work on the Alain South Road between Oco and Puniho, and one for £95 8s 9d for work on the Elthani-Opunakc Road.

In connection with the suggestion that the Egmont Council and Opunake Town Board should meet to discuss the question of the collection of the heavy traffic fees within the sub-district the Town Board eon/sidlcred it advisable to defer the matter for the incoming board.

'GENET? A L

In view of the fact that the population cf the county had l increased by 700 and that the re-arrangement of the area had enabled the inspector to carry out an increasing volume of work, Dr. R. ,T. R. Mocredy, medical officer of health, suggested that the council’s contribution should be increased from £7O to £IOO. —Tt was decided to take no action.

In was decided in response fa a request bv Mr IT. W. Chapman, of Leaver Pari'naka Road, to do work on the road sufficient, to give him access to his farm. The cost will be about £125.

RATE STRUCK

It was resolved to strike a general rate of 2d in the £ over the Oeo, Opun and; Rahotii ridings and 1 7-Sd over the Newall Riding, ft teas also decided: to grant a rebate of ■> per cent, on nil rates paid, before a certain date. The hospital rate will be 1-3 d in the £.

In moving the confirmation of the rate, the chairman said no doubt some ratepayers would be disappointed that the rate was not. loss. However, the council had done the best under the circumstances, considering it had! to keep the roads in reasonable order. In some ridings, despite the fact iliat. the rate had been reduced by 'o-Bd, some ratepayers would have to- pay a larger amount, than before. That, however, was not the fault of the council, but

of (he new valuation. The valuation had- not increased proportionally all over the county. lie considered one rifling in particular had not had a fair deal, a,si its valuation had been greatly increased while another riding had boon practic-ally untouched. Different valuers had been engaged in different localities. Mr Tosland said it was unfortunate that the valuation was not carried out all over the Dominion on some systematic basis such, as productive value. He kneiw cases' in which, land producing exactly the, same per acre -had been valued in different districts- at £27 and £l2 respectively. 'He considered- that at the previous- valuation the Oeo ncli„.r being mostly freehold, had been valued as high as possible and that in other ridings in which a lot- of the land had since been made freehold the valuers had been evening matters somewhat. . , , ~ The. chairman mentioned' the matter of giving a rebate, for prompt payment of rates, suggesting 5 per cent. _ (Mr Tosland was not. sure that giving a rebate would save the council interest. He would like the clerk to submit particulars showing the actual saving when the rebate was previously given. The council had power to sue, for outstanding rates' a fortnight' after they were struck, so that it had power to secure paviinent in without a rebate. The clerk stated that the overdraft at present was £62:76. Unless the rebate. was allowed the rates, (would not be received until the mil'k cheques: came in If they could get some of the rates in early it would help the council to keep within, the limit. The chairnvani said the overdraft- limit was £13.000 and he was not going to the bank to- ask that it be increased. An amendment moved by Air I osland' that. the rebate be 4 per cent, was lost and the motion carried.