EGMONT COUNTY COUNCIL

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXI, Issue LXII, 13 May 1912, Page 5

EGMONT COUNTY COUNCIL

The usual monthly meeting of th* Egmont County Council was'held™£ Opunake on Friday. Present: Crs Dudley (chairman), Maxwell, Willcox flurst Farquhar, Harvey, 'Davey* Campbell, and Burgess wa? odealt 6wrth. bUSineaS corresPo^ce> TARANAKI HOSPITAL AND CHARITABLE AID BOARD. The usual notification was received inf/r tmgi ft^S 0 rate *" *te ending: year would be lOd and that the Egraonf *lm i CoT CIT S Pr°P°rtr woSSfe" £? ! !t. 9J- Lasfc year the rate wa» Sd and the contribution £454. Cr. Maxwell, as a member of the TaranakiHospital and Charitable Aid Board .Qci d:. ls.? d-and ls 2d *° 1895; 10d b> 189/: Is Id m 1898; Is 5d in 1899-an* tl Wdt n 190?- From then on £ j912 the rate varied from lid to Brt Last year the Board, endeavoring to squeeze through on the lowest ra£ gd£ cided to strike an 8d rate, but rfc'wS too narrow, and they should have struck a9d rate. In order to make up lee*a£ this year the Board was compelled to make the lOd rate, and in looking back over previous years, the average wd* still very low, and the Board was «J economically run as any Board !£%£ domm,on. In connection with the ne? hospital, certain extraordinary exindT

action S h?^ m Rn Pro-tested gainst the action of the Board m expending something hke £1,000 out of revlnu* for the new building. The Boarf should have provided fo?an ample £ and so obviated the necessity ffi revenue, which could not be repaid oS of the loan to the revenue account WIREMU ROAD.

; Mr Clairs asked oermission to fell th« bush across t he above road a? the Ta Km end betwe^x sections 7 and 8, block for Ei,- dfT tht Cou"cil to recoup him woulrT i^ Vv m dolie- *** ™* ttouW, m the ordinary way, be done by the Council under next grant.—The Re£^r (New Plymouth), £ « horn the request was referred, resetted he could not authorise the feIST as suggested. lUB^ THE DEFENCE ACT. The Palmerston North Chamber of cirr^ eue^rmU^ iCated with ft»CW. cm reouestmg endorsement of the an. tion of the Minister of Defence in £ thL n f £ fomnlilsory provisions of *uli?fce^ ct- F e °oUncil ™™~ JSnjf • the endorsement reauested. rln+v\pairmall a??- ln? tbe tain" ihe eS ** * hel *> mai^

OEO ROAD SPECIAL LOAN. The New Zealand State Guaranteed" A ?£r*flft n fcified th^ £ Post mfll d + ha! d \ ee? r? wjtted to th* Post Office, to be lodged in the ban'fc to the credit of the county account

OKATU AND WIREI\||p6ADS. . The Minister of Public Works wrote£7(S y t0 J he Cecil's request for a! £7.000 grant, stating that he was obtain mg a report, .and would give the a ophcation careful consideration whej the estimates were being prepared BILLIARD-ROOM LICENSES and'W^irKrgr^' 1" * B^

SLAUGHTERHOUSE LICENSES Hlß.w^ a uls Wer€t Sranted to W; H W C oTSfiT ,a;'/S >hn 9^^ (Awatunl> Wn OY^aT (opUHake) ' and JOS^ LOCAL GOVERNMENT BILL CONFERENCE.

_ A general discussion took place as to the.conference.suggested by the Government to meet in Wellington on Ma£ - Rill t? lscuss *h* Local Government +1 **.. waa.-the general opinion that the constitution of the proposed conference was inadequate, and Cr. Maxwell mentioned that the New Plymouth* f™ Ji ßoard had suggested a groupl£% ? f vlocal bodies in each provincial district and that one representative be*' sefected for each group of local bodies, v 'Th^ Chairman disagreed with- the suggestion and contended that whilst say^one or two Harbor Boards^rfcmost would have one. representative^ twenty Road .Boards would have but one representative He considered that every local body, but especially those who were likely to be wiped out under^the pm, should have a delegate. Under tiepresent proposed representation it was almost certain that the two delegafes would be elected from local bodies who ; would stand no .risk of being wiped out. ii iB, constitution was unfair to those local bodies which were in danger of being absorbed, and they, especially, should be represented in the conference. s After some discussion it was decided that "the Egmont County Council considered every local body in the dominion. should be represented at the conference. AUROA ROAD. Mr L. Webby drew attention to the disgraceful sate of the AurOa Road fr6m the Eltham Road up to ; his property and asking how the road stood financially as very little had been spent • on it during the last two years.—Resolved that the information asked for be sent to Mr'Webby. REPORTS. The foreman of the Oeo Riding Northern Division reported "that G. Kebely had completed his contract for ' delivery of shhigle on the OpuhakeStratford Boad, but Owing to the'-wea-ther had hot been able to proceed with the delivery of- boulder stone on the Auroa Road. TheEnew'formation was practically a sea of mud, and there was little chance of the road being completed before next spring. Two teams did four days' work hauling gravel on the Watino Road. The continuous wet weather had found the bottom of the Eltham Road and practically all the maintenance metal had been used up. Something more would be necessary if the bad weather continued. The Punena* ' stream ford was in a bad state,, and the foreman gave a detailed report, as re-' quested. There was little or no traffic over the ford at present and he would not recommend expending any more on it at present. Crawford Bros, had made good. progress with their contract for felling, stumping, and formation oh the Wiremu Road and should complete it before the end of the present month.

A general discussion ensued on the. very bad state of the main Eltham. Road, in the vicinity of Te Kiri, and the creamejry and other places, and ultimately the Chairman and Cr. Wilcox: were suggested as a committee to inspect the road and report at next meeting.

Cr. Davey thought the riding members should accept, the responsibility,, and, they would then be answerable to their ratepayers. -. Ultimately Crs. Farquhar and Hurst were appointed to report to the next meeting of the Council as to the. extent of repairs or-renewals' required and the? financing of same.

The Oeo Southern foreman reported that the Main South Road had been repaired throughout and practically all the metal was used up between Pihama and the Eastern boundary. He recommended that tenders be called, as soon as possible^ for 300 yards of boulder stone for this portion of the Main Souths Rqad, in order to maintain it during the winter. Watino Road had been repaired and eighteen chains of drajqg

cleaned out; * Skeet Road had also had attention. —Report adopted. The foreman of the Rahotu Northern Biding reported that A. Cowling had completed contract 201 and he recommended him a final payment on 1100\ yards of pit metal crushed and deKrered. Contract No. 202, G. Vickefy baa completed. The Opunake foreman reported on the repair work done on the Eltham Road and recommended a progress payment to J. Hickey for contract 197, which should he completed in a few days. There was a rough piece of road Iwfcween Leahy's and Morris's and it •would require about 400 yards of pit metah A culvert was required at the entrance of Young Road (which branches off the Eltham Road. Resolved that the 400 yards of metal asked for be granted at the old contract price, ls Hid per yard. RAILWAY COMMISSION. After a very brief discussion the Council agreed that the present railway Teserve would he the most central for the whole district and instructed their delegates accordingly. ACCOUNTS. Upon consideration of the accounts Cr. Davey moved that in future the foremen be requested to attach to their reports a list of all goods supplied or work done by tradesmen. The motion was generally approved of and carried. The accounts passed for payment •mounted to £672 0s 6d.