HAWKE'S BAY COUNTY COUNCIL.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9343, 12 April 1893, Page 4

HAWKE'S BAY COUNTY COUNCIL.

Tuesday, April 11. I The Council met at 11 a.m. Present— . Messrs W, Shritnpton (chairman), J. N. Williams, C. Villers, Douglas M'Lefln, W. J. Birch, J. Bennett, and G. Kymer. CORRKSroNDIiHUK. Tho following correspondence was read Had dealt with : — From Clerk to lleaidoub Magistrate's Con it, forwarding hoe of 10s for au un« registered dog, — Received. From (he Napier Harhor Board, asking whether the Council would adopt the provisions ot the Act permitting tho Harbor Board to draw oo the Connty Oouncil for amount of rates levied. — AHer some discuaaion Mr J. N. Williams guve notice to move at next meeting that the Act be adopted, From Mr C. D. Kennedy, with respect to Mr 0. Villers' letter re Harbor Board e'eutiou.— Tliq Cluiruiua said lie presumed the order of election for the fliubor Ba&rd had been undertaken in accordance with (he provisions of the Counties Act. An order in Council issued last year, however, regulated the election of 'members of harbor boards. He (Mr Shrlmptou) was not aware of that at the time, and he gave his deliberative and casting vote. He had since consulted the Council's solicitor, who informed bim that Mr Dolbel was wrongly elected, but that the irregularity of the election was not sufficient to reader it void. His opinion was, further, that as Mr Villers received more votes thin Mr Dolbel, Mr Villers should be declared elected. — Mr Bennett differed from the solicitor's opinion, and thought that as the Council had declared Mt Doltel elected they had forfeited their righb to declare anyone else elected. He did not think the Council should take any action in the matter and he moved to that effect).— Mr M'Lean. in seconding the motion pro forma, asked what position they would bj in if a member resigned bis seat on the Harbor Board?— The Chairman said that if Mr Villera resigned that would not necessarily make Mr Dolbel the sitting member. He thought the opinion of the Council's solicitor should be entitled to . some consideration. — Mr Villers said he had taken legal advice upon the subject, and he was advl«ed that the Council could not take auy action. Supposing he (Mr Villers) resigned, and that Mr Dolbel remained a member of the Harbor Board, the Council had no control ad all in the matter, and" the Government would simply nerainate another member. Both Mr Cotterill and Mr Ken nedy held tbat he was legally a member of tbe Board. —Mr Kyroer thonghl! the Council should inform the Harbor Board of their solicitor's opinion thao Mr Dolbel was sitting illegally.— Eventually Mr Bennett altered his motion to the effect that Mr Kennedy's letter be received, and that) a letter be sent to the Harbor Board explaining the position.— Tbe Chairman approved of the amended motion, which meant tbat no immediate action be taken by the Council, but that the whole correspondence should be banded over to the Harbor Board for its consideration. — Motion agreed to. From Mr J. Pointon, drawingatlention to" the state of the Auckland-street drainage. Mr Kymer moved, after some discussion, that steps be taken to ascertain whether tbia was a public drain, and if so that it he cleaned by tbe Council. —Carried. From Mr Cartwright Brown, re cutting down trees in the Avenue- road ; also with respect to drainage. — It was resolved that the row of macrocarpas on bhe north side of Avenne road be cut down, and that the question of drainage should be left to the chairman. From tbe flavelock .Road Board, asking for consideration of application for £86 7* 6d expended on Waimarama Road . — Postponed till estimates were considered. From the Heretaunga Koad Board, re closing road and asking the Council to confirm the stopping: of the road, — The Chairman gave notice that he would move at next meeting that the road be closed. From Messrs Cotterill and Humphries, asking the Council to take a road through sections 1, 2, and 3 on the western side of the haiboT and to connect a load through section 17. — Io was resolved, on Mr Bennett's motion, that the Council take no action unless the applicant gave a subtantial guarantee that the coats in gga» nection therewith be provided "tbrby From Constable Kennedy, Clive, re acting as imponnder. — It was resolved tbat Constable Kennedy be appointed county ranger for the Ciivs district at £5 a year. From Mr C. D. Kennedy, connty engineer, asking for six months' leave of absence.— Granted. From Mr W, Carawell, asking that the Waihan-Patoka road, known as Trask's folly, be repaired.— Agreed to. ROAD OVEKSEEB'S BEFOBT. The folbwiog report from tbe overseer of roads was read and adopted :— I have the honor to report that metal repairs were required at long distances from quarries are nuking clow progress during the mouth, owing to ike oontluuouß rain. Municipality Napier.CU<>e-Haveloelc-roadi —Widening a portion ot this road near the Shamrock Hotel baa been delayed, owing to - the metal caits being employed on urgent . ma'al repair?. Mela! rejuiis to the worst p Mttons of this road, between Napier Municipality and Waitangi rai way crowing, have been attended tn during the month ; also porHodb between the Waipara bridge »nd Havelook, Tareha's Bridge-Meanee-Puketapu Koad.Metal repairs to the worst p riiong ot this road between the ShamrooK Hotel and Puketapu saddle are now progrcß' iog. Napier- •ew Taradale-road, — There are three metal oarta daily emsiloyed repairing with metal the worst poru na of this road RedolUte-Omahu-road.— Metal repairs to the worst portions at tbis load between Sir Kittow'i reside oe and the Omahn mill bridge are commenced • New Taradale-BiS'ingfcou-Patoka-raad.— Metal repairs' to the worst portions ot this toad between the Bree> meadows hills and WbareraDgi, are commenoed, as authorises ; metalling twj mllrs of this road near Patoka h a made slow prosrreas during the month, owing to tbe sodden state of tbe road, western Suit-Petane-New Taupo-road,— Metalling totttots of this load on both bldeß of (he Petane saddle are progressing, I would recommend that two mlleß ol the worst portiinß of the new T&upo-ro&d he metalled; estimate. £200; work to ba executed at once as it is urgent. Petane-WnarepoDgvroad.—Metalliiig cea- ■ toot on this road at Whuraponga saddle will be completed early this week, weather pßr- , mttttog. BricUeß.-Re.i>Hnklng three Bpans of the Omahu-Ngarnroro bridge Is oompleted. He- • planking the remaining eight spans will be commenced as soon aa Mr Holt gives delivery of the clanking. Publio Dialog and Creeks. -During the month the progress ol cleaning out road and public drains b&a been greatly retaded owing to their flooded state, l would recommend that the portion. o£ Muddy Cteek.CHve going through Mr M'Gree^y'a property, be cleaned oub ; ooat «30. Mr Midgely will oomplete b&linoe at hla own ooßt. I would recommend that btt overhanging trees, or gorse or briars, should be removed or trimmed from and over all county roads .. The ordinary surtaje repairs to all county !■ roads have been attended to during the month, whioh are heavy, owing to the continuous rain, ACCOUNTS. The monthly accounts to the amount of £445 9j lOd were passed for payment. THE HERETAUNGA ROAD BOARD. Mr J. N. VV illiams moved, " That an additional sum of £260 be paid out of tbe subsides to the Heretaunga Road Board." He said his main reason for - moving this was that for two years the - Koad Board had refrained from levying a rate, and the Council had had the full benefit of that. 80-ides, that riding had not received its fair share o! the revenue which the Council derived from h. He might say that a rate would bave to be levied shortly whether they received this /_ grant or not, as some very important .works were on hand. ' Mr Birch seconded the motion pro forma.. The Chairman pointed out that the motion asked that the whole of the Bubsidy of £500 he handed over to the . Heretaunga Koad Board, as they were already entitled to £250. He quite agreed that that Board had had very little expenditure within it, and it was - entitled to consideration. If, however, the Board had struck a rate the county would receive half and the Eoad Board half, but If this subsidy were granted, in common justice Havelock should geb it . also, as It was in much the same position. He did not offer any opposition to the matter, but as custodian of the puree he wished to see things kept as level as -possible. Mr Bennett said that after the chairman's explanation they should deal equally with all. He held that if the whole of the ridings were merged into the connty public works would be done better than they were at preseut, Mr-Williams quite agreed thatHave--lo6k should also get a subsidy, and he would vote tor it. Motion lost, Mr Williams alone voting . for it. ESTIMATES. ,' The Chairman moved that the Council go into committee to consider the esti- .' mates for next year. Before doing so he said he should like to say a few words as to the general financial position of the county! also what had been dose in the - past, and what he proposed to do for the present year. If the Council would .'recollect, he had estimated that the ; revenue frqru all sources would amount to ■ £9583 5s 9d, but the actual revenue ro~ tceived was £9312 las 9d. The decrease caused by one road board striking a ■^rate, and the Council in consequence did |&ot receive tbe full subsidy thereon. YVUh itespeot'to the estimates for 1892-93, he then tbat the expenditure for jslw yeujroald amount to £10,784 53, but I finding that soae of their sources of 'ieyeDue.wereßot likely to furnish co much £as.-was anticipated the expenditure woe checked .wherever possible, and the actual amounted to £10,310 10s Sd. tbo special expenditnre, tbe pixaof £2238 12s 3d wampent on the pfenpo road, A* member* would see, &■.■"'■■■■

l.lifiro waa a (lifferenre between receipts and expenditure of £1221, which it was then estimated would te their overdraft) on the 31st March, 1893, mt the actual overdraft was £1113 8s 2d. , The reason for incurring the overdraft) wua becanso they believed there would be uo especial call for any large new works this season, and it was considered that it would be unwise to increase the rate levied in the former season, bat that with a little ecoQomy they could this season balance accmiuts. The rate levied, was v halfpenny io llie pound, aud he considered it better not to increase the taxation by striking a higher rate, although they might fairly have struck, say, oue eighth tnore,_ and then the peneral average of taxation would not have been in excess o£ the rates formerly struck by the road boards and the eouuty. As some of the road boards, however, bad not merged, it would have beeu unjust to them unless a subsidy were given. A lower rate had in fact been levied than in years past owing to the county doing the whole of the work and only one rate being struck, that ot a halfpenny. Another item not provided for iv the last years's estimate was the surfacing of roads in road boards merged into the county since tbeir annual linaucial meeting, and also two grants in aid to road boards who made application for the same, agreeing not to levy a rate. That amounted to £250. A further liability wns on merged road boards. He wished to thank the ratepayers who had, generally speaking, recognised how severely the county funds had been taxed, for their moderation io not pressing demands for new works. He thought they might congratulate themselves upon the special expenditure on the Tauporoad. It was admitted by all to be a great improvement noon the old road (which was now practically abandoned), and was a great public convenience. The ordinary expenditure had been severely taxed this season owiDg to the contiuaoaa raiD, and in many casea wholesale slips had occurred, for the first time for many years, in the old well established cuttings. If any new large works were added to the list which he intended to submit to the Council, he would ask that tho proposer should move some addition to the rate proposed to be struck With respect to road boaids not striking rates, he thought that in the event of any grunt being made to road boards, that should be fairly charged in next season's account?, as they got the payment from the Council for one year in advance of the county receiving it. Tims thia year's subsidies weie paid ia July, 1894, and he had made no provision for them. The special works he had to pro* pose were as follows :— For Meanee — Widening road uear Williams's, and improving the drainage along that road to Taradale ; road Omahu to Moteo— to provide a bridge across the creek, and open this for winter stock and horse road, £250; metalliDg Tuna Nni, two miles ; Clive — widening approach to bridge, Muddy Creek extension; grant in aid Waimarama-road, £100. Before doing much on this road he thought it would be better to have an engineering survey made. He had been informed by a competent and reliable authority that a better and shorter line could be made with easy grades The question of maintenance wae one of the most important character, as it was a work for ail time, and warranted their making the best line to maintain. TaupoToad metalling, £200. Maraekakaho new works, £200. He would also propose that £125 be granted to the Havelock Road Board for snbsidy, and also that £100 be given them later on, all to be expended on the Waimarama-road. He found there would be a considerable sum required for re«planking bridges, and proposed an expenditure of £500 for the Omahu, Knripapanga, Waitangi, and Clive bridges. He would ask the Council in view of tbe overdraft, to strike the rate in Jane. It had been delayed for three months last year owing to the rolls being delayed by the Land Tax Department. He would also ask that all Acts be enforced compelling settlers to clear away any obstruction to roads or road work, such as trees, overhanging drains or hedges, which had in the past been a cod siderable source of expense to the country. He further wished to inform the Council that the whole of the rates had been col- j lected, wioh the exception ef £70, which he thought reflected great credit on the county officials for their excellent) work. The Council then went into committee to consider the estimates, which were "^■eed to, The following were the piin^, . — _-*— • — -' ' •- — ' fc — <jpal ltenjdT^^*-' Revenue. —Licenses £455; rates, £7080 ; subsidy, £^S00 ; dog registration, £250 j rents reserves, £2485 ; total, £10,229 8s sd. Expenditure,— Salaries, £375; printing, advertising, and stationery, £75 ; collectiog dog tax, collars, and contingencies, £'250 ; slaughter-house expenditure, £105; maintenance roads and bridges, £6803 11s ii ; hospital grant iv aid and charitable aid, £728 8s lid ; merging liabilities, £101; subsidies guarantee, £375; Heretaunga, £250 ; overdraft, £1113 8s 2d, Total, £10,3?9 8s sa.