ELTHAM COUNTY COUNCIL

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXI, Issue LXII, 16 May 1912, Page 6

ELTHAM COUNTY COUNCIL

The usual monthly meeting of the Eltham County Council, adjourned from last, was held at Eltham on Wednesday, when there were present: Crs J. T. Quin (chair), Swadling, Mc- \ Guinness, best, King, O'Neill, and Belcher. The following inward correspondence was dealt witn: From the Opunake Railway Commission, asking trie Council to appoint -delegates for the sitting at Eltham on the 20th. —Letter received, tne Cnairxnan remarking that delegates had already been appointed. j From the Public AVorks Department, asking that applications for assistance i for roads aad bridges construction work be submitted as early as possible to the Department's local engineer.— Left with Cr King, representing the Omona Riding, to deal with. From the Commissioner of Crown Lands, forwarding schedule of "thirds" accrued to March 31st, 1912, with a request that the Council .submit proposals for expenditure to the Land Board for approval. The districts at- i feeted were Kawhitiroa and Omona; also Anderson, Poti, Horori, Oru, Hu, Moawatea, Pukengahu, Waitiri, Narewa, Mataiwhiti and Epero roads.— Keferred to Cr King. From Mr N. Innes, stating that the Strattord County Council had requested him to pay £80, damages to the Finnerty road, caused by carting metal over it for the Stuart road. He requested the Eltham County Council to pay this amount, as he had not antici.pated nor allowed for such a contingency when tendering. He considered the Stratford County Council's claim very' unjust.—Resolved, that the Council could not entertain Mr Innes's re•quest. From the Kaponga Town Board re the expenditure of the £2000 loan and the contract, for metalling Eltham road —2000 yards. The Board stated that Mr Montefiore's tender would be accepted provided he was willing to wait imtil the completion of the water and drainage works; if not, the next lowest tender (Mr J. A. Marx) would be accepted.—Held over for the present. From the Public Works, formally notifying the Council of the Normanby Town Board's application for the erection of a toll-gate, of the setting up of a Commission and citing the Council to appear as one of the parties concerned. In connection therewith a table was attached showing the total traffic passing over the road in question from the 22nd to the 25th of April, inculsive. The totals were as follows: Hawera County, 1054; Normanby, 166; Eltham, 407; Waimate, 36; Hawera Borough, 70; | and Kaponga Town Board, 13. —Resolved that the Council be represented at the sitting of the Commission. From the Farmers' Union, enclosinlg resolution passed re Local Government Bill.—Letter received. From the Normanby Town Board, inviting a representative from the Council to the unveiling ceremony of the cairn in Waihi Cemetery and the monument in Victoria Park erected to the memory of the soldiers who fell in the Maori war. —Cr. Best was appointed. The Engineer reported as follows: — Kaponga Riding Loan: Manaia Road. — Work has been commenced on this road and several chains have been scari- \ fied, re-metalled and rolled. I Kaponga Town Board Loan: Eltham Road. —The re-grading on this road has been seriously delayed by the continu- j ©us wet weather during the month, but the filling is now up to grade height and can be metalled at any time. The Town Board have provisionally accepted tenders for crushing and delivering metal along the road and propose, if weather permits, to re-metal the road during the .winter. Omona Riding Loan No. 2 (£3OOO, £ for £). —Delivery of metal is completed also spawling; napping down is proceeding satisfactorily and should soon be finished. ' General.—The bad weather during j the past month has made most of the old roads break up very badly. It is evident that many of the roads are worn out and are breaking up faster than they are being renewed and some effort must be made next season to do more i york of a lasting nature. At presen' most of the roads in the Eltham and South Ridings are getting hundreds of yards of metal where they should be | getting thousands. ■ The following are the roads most lequiring immediate attention: —Eltham Riding: Rawhitiroa Road (Hu Road to borough boundary), 3400 yards; Mangawhero Road, 1300 yards. South Riding: Campbell Road, 700 yards; Mangawhero Road, 550 yards; Dalziell Road, 1400 yards. 1 recommend that every effort be cnade to provide the respective amounts set against each road. By doing this in one season the roads can be sheeted in continuous lengths, thus doing away with the necessity of carting over previous work, as would be the case if smaller quantities are done, extending over a period of years. Filling holes and patching in wet weather would be 'innecessary and the metal at present thus lost would be put to more profitable use. The concrete culvert on the Skeet Road is nearly completed. Maogatoki Riding Loan. —Eltham Road: Very little work has been done on this road during the month, a distance of 26£ chains being completed. Work is proceeding on the Waingongoro Hill, and given a fortnight's fine weather, work should be completed to the norough boundary. Finance. —The general fund was in credit £2464 16s sd, and the special accounts were all in credit as follows: Kaponga Ridins loan account, £105 7s Id; Omona Riding loan account, £67 19s 7d: Manscatoki Riding loan account, ;£__9 lis 4d, and Rotokare-Campbell Road extension loan account, £173 16s Sd. Tenders.—Tenders were opened and discussed in committee. None were accepted, and it was decided to call for fresh tenders.