WAIMATE WEST COUNTY COUNCIL

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue LXVIII, 12 July 1912, Page 5

WAIMATE WEST COUNTY COUNCIL

The usual monthly meeting of the Waimate West County Council was held at Manaia on Thursday, when the-e were present—Crs. T. McPhillips (chairman), Bridge, Long, Le Fleming, Harcourt, Hughes, and Scott. Before tne confirmation of the minutes, Cr Hughes made reference to the record of the discussion which took place as to the Manaia road. What he said was that he did not consider it right for the engineer, who had a special knowledge of roads and road construction, to be dictated to by the chairman of the county. That was what he took exception to at last meeting, and he still maintained the position. The chairman explained that he did urge the foreman to push along with this particular work, but what he said was said at the Council table in tbe piesence of all the councillors.

Cr Scott rose to a point of order. They were dealing with the minuses and the only question was, were they a correct record or not ? He objected to the delay of time occasioned by these out-of-order discussions.

Cr Hughes mentioned that it was a matter of a personal explanation on his part. He explained his objections to a certain procedure and gave his reasons why.

Cr Long thought committees shou'J be appointed in such cases. In that caso if th ecommitteo acted as they thought best, would they, he aske I, re subject to criticism ?

Cr Hushes: If I think anything is wrong I will sav so.

Cr Long, continuing, said it was that element which deterred members acting on committees.

The chairman, in personal explanation, said he had spent a good deal of time in going over and examining the county roads, and where he saw matters requiring attention he had so instructed the overseer. In such cases he did not care to be hauled over the coals. The matter then dropped and the minutes were duly confirmed. NORMANBY TOLL-GATE COMMISSION. The chairman mentioned that he had seen the Commissioner in Auckland and ho was under the impression that the Commission would not now sit till after the present session of Parliament. NATIVE RATES. This question was again introduced, the chairman maintaining that the Maoris, appeared to be under the impression that the amounts deducted by the Public Trustee included their rates". The natives did not appear to be averse to paying their rates if they could be satisfied of their misapprehension. Cr Scott remarked that the lands the Council wanted to collect rates from were not under the jurisdiction of the Public Trustee. He collected only revenue from land leased to Europeans. The clerk explained that the Public Trustee collected rents from blocks as a whole, leaving out certain reserves. For this he deducted 7J per cent, and Is 2d for land tax so that the whole block paid land tax. The balance was distributed pro rata according to the individual titles. After some little discussion the whole matter was again referred to the special committee previously set up. SKEET ROAD BRIDGES. The chairman mentioned that he had interviewed the Premier in regard to the delay in constructing these bridges, and he immediately telegraphed to the Minister in charge enquiring why they had not been commenced. The reply was that the plans had been sent to the engineer at Stratford to compare, and it was expected that the construction would have boon commenced a month ago. The chairman mentioned that the Council had done its utmost to expedite matters, and the delay was annoying. It mav have been that the Government anticipated that the Council, being beyond the limit of loans now allowed by the Advances Department, would be unable to raise a loan to meet its quota of the cost, but they had no right to so conjecture. The Council was pledg. ed to find this money and it would do so even if by means of debentures. After some further discussion it war. decided to telegraph to the engineer at Stratford, urging expedition.

BY-LAWS. Cr Scott mentioned again the necessity for the Council considering bv-laws. He had recently seen milk waggons, with narrow tyres, carting wood in cord and cord and a-half loads. These would be doing a great deal of dam. age to their roads. I After a brief discussion it was decided to hold a special meeting artd thoroughly discuss proposed by-laws. NATIVE LANDS COMMISSION. Cr Hughes moved the following resolution: "That this Council views with alarm the finding of the Native Lands Commission re native lands, and points out that the resumption'of these lands by the Maori will have a detrimental effect on good farming in the distriet." In speaking to his motion Cr Hughes contended that if these lands went back to the hands of the natives they would soon go into disrepair aud ultimately b© to the disadvantage o£ the district. Cr Seott remarked that the Commission was set up to enquire into the question of whether it was advisable to ailow certain persons who failed to take advantage of tke Act passed in lbUil to do so now. The Commission decided not, and he agreed with that finding on moral and legal grounds. He and most other councillors, however were m sympathy with the purport of tke motion.

Cr Hughes dwelt on the fact that it the Maoris were going to be financed back on to this land in two or three years time, it was not going to be to the district's advantage. In twenty years' time they may be sufficiently educated to farm this land; to-dav they were not. Cr Le Fleming thought the discussion premature, and Cr Long considered it would be time to discuss it when tin renort was before the House. Cr Scott said that there were tw* three Manris who farmed their land as well as Europeans, but in a general se'ise they would need reforming in other wavs before they could make th^ir land as reproductive ns Europeans. The motion nr>w bofr»re them vas undemocratic if thev discriminated as between col->r nnd colov. Cr Long: "W« rlon't want to discriminate orro-'Mst color, but against incapability." Cr Harcourt then seconded, pro fo'"mn. y.M\ +-''~« fV-on^Jon was uUimntolv tp'-'Tiinn+pd bv Cv RHdsro moving that consideration h« dof«r'-r,d till next m«etin»:. r> r until su^h time as the report "'ns before +ho House. Cr Scott seconded, and it was carried. DEPUTATION. Mr Hair waited on the Council and. requested (1) to be allowed to erect a protecting wire along the road frontage to his property to guard a boxthorn hedq:e he purposed planting.—Granted, snbiect to Mr Hair taking all resnonsi-bilit-v in the event of any accidents; (2) That an equal amount of stripping he done on his m^tal pit to that already dono by him b°for« the Council's contractors «ntored. —Referred to the fore—"»n. (3) That compensation be allowed for surface damage.—^Resolved to allow the regulation sixpence per yard; I fourpence to go^to Mr Hair and two-

pence to the Public Trustee. VOTES OF CONDOLENCE. On the motion of Cr Bridge, it was decided to send a letter of condolence to Mrs Gray, widow of the late Mr Gray Government auditor, and on the motion of Cr Hughes, seconded by the chairman, it was resolved to send a similar letter to the late Mr Swadling's relatives. Kindly and appreciative reference was made to the many excellent qualities of the deceased gentlemen

NORMANBY ROAD. Mr AVm. Cunningham wrote askin"for repairs to a portion of this road.— Resolved to instruct the foreman to attend to this matter as soon as the weather will permit.

APPRECIATION. The chairman maintained that thet Government auditor had reported very favorably on the way the Council'sclerk, Mr Dawson, had kept his books, ihey were in proper order, thoroughly well kept, and right up-to-date He was very pleased with them. All the European rates for the last year (with the exception of 3s 6d) had been collected this was very satisfactory, and he wishl ed to place on record his appreciation, ot the excellent work done by their clerk.

FOREMAN'S REPORT. The foreman's report was then read and confirmed. It was necessarily » comprehensive one as he had to deal carefully with ah* the roads to ascertain what would be required in the immediate future, and so guide the Council in striking a rate. It was as follows:—With the exception of about one and a-half day's cartingmetal on Normanby road, and the supply or blinding on this and the Manaia. road, no contract work has been done the uncoir.Dieted contracts are No. 42" metalling Manaia and Normanbv roads - 3/ metalling Oeo road: No. 43 vtPP L oi boulder stone Glenn road; ancT Jr' c^ ppiy and delivery of metal on the Skeet road; contract No 45 supply of shingle on Dingle road; and" i\o. it, supply of blinding on Oeo road have not yet been commenced. ine day work done consists chiefly of metal repairs on nearly every road in the county, drain cleaning and blinding metal The cleaning of drain on. Kama road has been done by piece work lor ajength of about 111 chains. inere 1S a nirther length to do at the hrst opportunity. .The roller was laid up tor a time on account of a breakagewhen getting the engine out of a soft place. As you will gather from this report and from your personal inspection of the roads there is a considerable length ot metal which has now worn so thin as to render refacing absolutely necessary.

On the Main South road, the upper Part of the Manaia road, and that part ot the bkeet road which runs from Kapuni to about Mr Scott's residence there is sufficient metal out to do a good deal 1,1 the reiacing required on these roads and this work should be gone on with at once. To do this you have four horses and three drays, and as it is very desirable that the imetal mentioned and also as much as possible of that I™ !\ ? available on other roads, should be uesd by the time the work .you will doubtless authorise is readv to be commenced. I would ask you to. procure another dray and cart saddle «t you can hire these it will perhans be preferable to purchasing, as after this work is done I do not expect vou will need the fourth cart. A small timber bridge over the Motuniate creek on the Lower Norman bv road requires replacing with a concrete culvert and a large timber culvert on the Main South road, near Mr Jackson's house at Otakeho, must also £e taken up. and a terete culvert built in heu of it. This culvert is over the same creek that crosses f > Auroa road^ a short distance above ?™H + °' i I'6 onlv three ot"er small timW bridges between Otakeho rind tne ra.katu road, and one near Egmont boundary, and they may be made to serve another 12 months. . 1 have not included the Inaha road m the report, as it will be necessary to confer with the Hawera CountV Council as to the amount of the expenditure they will consent to. Referring to the accompanying report on the condition of the various roads I would point out that the Council's plant will be unable to complete the* whole of the work set forth tW«iwithm the next 12 months. A considerable length of roads on which the traffic is not heavy can with careful nursing be kept in very fair order for another year; it is, however, absolutory necessary that the greater nortions of the main roads and the weakest p.— ot the side roads should be refaced this season. Main South Road.—From Egmont County boundary to Otakeho, a distance of about 210 chains. The deptti of metal on this length varies from two to six inches, and ot this length 100 chains is wora to or below four inches in thickness, to reface this length so that it will hare a coating of seven inches thick an* twelve feet mid* of consolidated metal. 1400 yards are required and also 100 yards tor maintenance, making a total ot 1000 yards to be provided. Fro™ Otakeho to Kaupokonui the road Ms recently been refaced.

From Kaupokonui to Manaia, a distance of about 195 chains. The depth of metal 011 this length varies from iw» and a-half to eight inches. Seventr ehains of this length is worn below hVe inches. To reface this length so that the metal on it will be, when consolidated, eight inches deep, 1080 yards will be required. There is now 'about 400 yards available on this length, of which 100 yards will be required for future maintenance, leaving 780 yards to be provided. The width of metal is lz feet.

From .Waiokura stream to laaha. road, a distance of about 135 chains The coating of metal on this length varies from three to eight inches; about do chains of this length is worn to or below five inches. To reface this length so that there will be when consolidated ?o Cr at, of -*? etal ei Sflt inches deep and 12 feet wide, about 600 yards will bereqmred; an additional 80 yards will he wanted for maintenance. Tbtat boo yards.

Auroa Road. —From Otakeho to the north end of the portion which was last metalled there- is now v +iX ,Ti ch .n ,°° at of metal For the next 40 chains the road has been coated with gravel which has worn to or below four inches in thickness, this length required recoating with five, inches of metal, and to do this 430 yards are required. The remaining #h chains are coated with broken stone varying i rom three and a-half to seven ) nchfl in depth; 20 chains of thfi length should lie resheeted. To do thl will require 220 yards, making the total quantity required 6-50 yards. There il now about 400 yards *of metal available on this road, which leaves 2m yards to be procured. This is calculated to provide a seven inch ooat of consolidated metal on this road, and the same applies to all other side roads, excepting the Manaia road Rama Road—The metal on this road for a length of about thirty three inches, and about 110 chains of it is worn to or below four inches in thickness. Io reface these portions will require 1450 yards There is iXci^t metal on the road to maintain the remainder of it, which has a coat varying: from five to seven inches Taikatu Road. — The grave! •» this road averages :f lx inches fat depth, an d I Mg^ » \ ordinary. nnJ^Hp^ «*#>wj

be required for the next 12 month; 290 yards should be enough. Omuturangi Road. —About twenty chains of the gravelled portion «f this road is worn to or beiow f»ur inches, and about 10 chains is worn to or below four and a-hali inches; 350 yards are required to bring t£i«se portions up to the standard. '1 ners is now about 170 yards of metal on this road available for repairs, so that 250 yards are required, and there would then be 70 yards left for maintaining the remainder .of the road, which has a coating of gravel varying in depth from lave to seven and a-half inches.

Dingle Road. —The metal on about 19 chains of this road is now worn to four inches in thickness. To reface this lsngth 100 yards are required. Upper Glenn Road. —The metal on fifteen chains of this road is worn to three and one-half inches in depth, and on about 10 chains it is worn to four inches. To reface these portions about 290 yards are required. Of the metal now out on this road there are about 100 yards that can be used for refacing, and leaving enough for maintenance, and therefore, the quantity required for refacing is about 2-30 yards, leaving 60 yards for maintenance. The remainder of the length i>{ road has a coating varying from five to seven and a- half inches deep.

Lower Glenn Road. —About twenty chains of this road has a coat of metal four inches in depth, and to reface this length 215 yards are required. About 14 chains at the south end of the metal have been coated with very poor graveh and this length requires about 140 yards to bring it up to the standard. Total, exclusive, of contract already let, 345 yards. There- is now akout 180 yards of metal available on this road, so that an additional 245 yards will be required to do the refacing, and there would b« about 70 yards left to maintain the remainder, which has a coat varying from four and a-half to seven and a-half inches in depth.

Lower Normanby Road.—There ar« • about 22 chains of this road with less than four inches of metal on it; to reface this length 260 yards of metal are required. There are now a'^nt 100 vards of broken stone on this road, which can nearly all be used for retacing, so that only 170 yards will renvire to be provided.

Mitchell Road. —The gravel on about seven chains of this road is worn to about two and a-half inches, and it now requires 100 yards of gravel. Manaia Road. —About 40 chains of this road has less than four inches in depth of metal on it, and a length of 90 chains has no more than four inches. To reface these lengths about 1020 yards are required. This would give them a coating of seven inches compacted metal, 10 feet 6 inches in width. I w«uld recommend that the coating be 8 inches in depth and 11 feet wide; to do this about 1300 yards are required. There are about 280 yards of broken metal available, so that 1120 yards would have to be provided and th«r« would then be 100 yards for maintenance of the remainder of the metal, which varies in depth from 5£ to 7 i aches.

Winks' Road. —The gravel on about 35 chains of this load has worn to about 3v inches in thickness. To reface this length about 400 yards are required. Sutherland Road.—This rop.d has. on an average, a coat of gravel 8 inches thick; only two short lengths are worn below 7 inches. About 20 yards of maintenance metal should serve to keep this road good for the next 12 months.

Kearin Road.—The metal on this rnad averages fully 6i inches in depth. There is sufficient maintenance metal on it to keen it in order for 12 months.

Manaia Road and above Kapuni.— On the_ same basis as the east part of Sheet road. There are 65 chains of this road which will require about 780 yards of metal to reface: 120 yards will be required to maintain the remainder of this length which is about 120 chains in length and has a coating of metal varying from 5 to 8 inches in depth. There is now about 700 yards of broken stone and boulders on this road, leaving 200 yards to be provided to do this work.

Manaia Road Below Kapuni.—There are about 40 chains of this road which are worn to or below 4£ inches, and to reface this length 460 yards are required, together with 50 yards tor maintenance of the remaining length in Kaupokonui Riding, which now has a coating of 5 to 6 inches. There are now 200vds. on this road, which leaves 310 to be provided.

Uther side roads in Kaupokonui Riding.—For these'roads the quantity.of metal required is estimated on the basis that all metal worn to or below 4 inches shall be refaced so that when consolidated the coating will be 7 to 7£ inches thick and 10 feet 6 inches wide.

Rowan Road.—There are 70 chains ot metal on this road worn to or below 4 inches, and to reface it 770 yards are required, and 100 yards for maintain, ing the remaining length, wnich has a coating varying from 4* to 8 inches thick. There are 270 yards of metal on the sides of this road, whicii leaves 600 yards to be provided. Glenn Road.—Ther» are 25 chains of metal on this road, which requires to be refaced; 225 yardb are required for this, and 60 yards to maintain the remainder of the road, which has from 5 to J inches of metal on it. There are 175 yards now available on the road, leaving 100 yards to be obtained. __ Mangawhero Road.—There are about i\i chains of this road to reface; 836 yards will be required to do this, and 100 will be required for maintaining the lemammg length, which varies in depth from 4J to 7 inches. There are about 300 yards of broken stone and boulders •on the road, which leaves aDout 590 yards te be provided. Rama Road.—There are 30 chains to reface and about 350 yards will be required for the work. 'About 60 yards will be required for maintainino- tlie remainder of this length of road and as there are now 100 yards available for use, 810 yards will be required Taikatu Road.— About 20 chains re'quires refacing, which will require about 220 yards. There is sufficient metal on ™e r l oa.dside maintain the remaining oO chains, which has a coat of metal from 5 to 7 inches thick.

Auroa Road, above Skeet Road.— There are about 60 chains of this length of road which requires refacino-, and about ;00 yards will be required to do V.ie work. About 150 yards of maintenance metal be reqmrod for the -remainder of the metal, which is now worn to from 41- to 5* inches in thickness. There nre about 2RDvds. of broken •stone and boulders on the road, which leaves about 590 yards to be provided Auroa Road, below Skeet Road.— There are about 37 chains of this length which requires refacing, and to do tho work about 440 are required. The depth of metal on the remaining portion is 4* inches for a length of about 23 chains, and 5£ inches for about 10 chains.

Palmer Road.—About six chains of this road reouires to be refaced.. There 'is now on the road enough broken metal +o do length and also mainJtain the remainder of this County's length for the next twelve mouths. Condition of metal on the Skeet road and estimated quantities of metal reouir^d to reface such portion* as n*^ •now worn to or below 4-£ inches in thick--riess so that when consolidated they hqve a coßtinf 7 *~r> 7i inches in stJentWarfd 11 fe»t in width :—r . Palmer rosd ' and Ka-

together with about 100 yards to maintain the remaining portion of this length, which at present has a coating of metal varying in depth from 5 to 8 inches. There are now about 350 yards of unused metal on this length, so that 450 yards will be required. B-tween Kapuni and the Maagawhere road there are about 110 chains winch require about 1290 yards to reface and about 100 yards to maintain the remaining portion, which has a metal coating varying from 5 to 6 inches in depth. There are now about 350yds. of broken metal on this length, leaving 1040 yards to be provided. Between the Mangawhero road and the Auroa road there are about 130 Ghains which rwquire retaeing, and about 1480 yards are required for this work and about 50 yards to maintain the remainder of this length, which has a coat of metal not exceeding 5 inches in depth. There are about 200 yards of broke* metal on this length, leaving 1330 yards to be provided. Between the Auroa road and the Taikatu road, a distance of about 70 chains, the metal for this length is worn to the thickness specified above, and 900 yards are reouired to reface it. There are now about 80 yards available for use on this length, leaving about 820 to be provided. Between Taikatu road and the Oeo road about 40 chains are worn to or below 4 inches, and the remainder to 4£ inches. As the traffic is not so heavy on this portion of the Sheet road as it is between Taikatu rond and Palmer road, it will probablv suffice to reface the 40 chains only this season. To do this 62C vavrl s ave required. The chairman said the riding mem. bers had been carefully over the roads with the overseer, and the report embodied their conclusions.^ They had arrived at this position: Were they going on in their present slip-shod way and just patch up the roads, or were they going to face the position fairly and squarely? If they were going to continue patching, in two or three years' time they would have to go for a big loan and construct the whole of the roads. Traffic was increasing and consequently the roads must suffer. It was false economy to go on, with a small rate —just to keep the roads open, and the time had come to strike a fairly substantial rate. It would not be necessary to attempt to do all the work in one year —they had not the plant for it in any case, but they must devote their attention to the most urgent works. Some of the by-roads could be faced up, but it would not be advisable to spread any metal until it could be rolled.

Cr Scott agreed that the roads must be kept up, but they must consider the men with short leases and try and spread over the work as much as possible. There was no doubt that the rates in the past had been too low to adequately keep up the roads, but they must be careful not to go to the other extreme. They must try to get their finances on to a proper basis and put all their roads in good order during the next two or three years.

Cr Le Fleming agreed with that view. Some little discussion then took place on the relative value of boulder stone and shingle, and the chairman then introduced the question of consolidating all their special loans. At present there was no machinery provided for so doing, but there probably would be in the Local Government Bill to be introduced. As a matter of principle he thought all these loans should be consolidated and then to strike a sufficiently high rate to maintain the whole of the roads, the interest for the loans to come out of revenue.

Councillors agreed with this generally but Cr Scott raised the question of some of the bridge loans now nearly maturing and considered that the people who had paid for them should not now be asked to nay for other loans.

Cr Bridge thought that the higher rate for two or three years would i ut their roads in a better condition than ever before: then they could come back to the lower rate again if thev wished.

After some discussion on individual loans, the chairman moved to give notice of the Council's intention to levy a rate for the ensuing vear of i\(\. Tin's was seconded bv Cr L° Fleming and carried unanimously. This represents practically id increase on last year's rates, and will produce about £1400 extra revenue in the Waimate Riding and £1000 in the Kaupokonui Riding. The _ amount required to do the work outlined in the foremfan's report is £4050 for the Waimate Riding and £3783 for the Kaupokonui Ridino. NOXIOUS WEEDS.

On the motion of Cr Hughes, the Council passed a resolution regretting that the Public Trustee allowed the occupier of a section on the Auroa road to neglect to clear the gorse which was spreading and over-running the land.

INAHA ROAD

Resolved to ask the Hawera County Council to appoint a committee to meet the chairman, Cr Hughes and the overseer re the Inaha Road.

Cr Harcourt, who had been absent for some time owing to a severe illness, intimated to the Council that he would probably be leaving the district and asked if it would not bo better to hand in bis resignation at that meeting. The chairman and councillors desired him Zr> retain his seat until he finally decided to leave the district, and expressed their appreciation of his work as a councillor.

•Cr 'Harcourt decided to act as the Council desired.