TEA COUNTY COUNCIL

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue LXVIII, 11 August 1914, Page 6

TEA COUNTY COUNCIL

uaiial monthly meeting of the was held at Patea on Monday. Crs. G. Y. Pearce, M.P. Greager, S. Blake. Coombes, Dickie, T. Death, K. H. Cave, and An apology for absence was from Cr. Kennedy. ROAD ROLLER. reference to the defective saddle in the new -Aveling and Porter roller, Antiet&on's, Ltd., wrote thai: representative had inspected the which they did not regard in any serious. However, they were pre- \ to guarantee the Council against loss and would either make good . He casting, should it at any time break, . allow the Council £s.—The engin- j thought there was no risk of the de- j developing. It was very small and ; probably due U> internal stress j the casting was cooling. The en- j "had since been over rough roads j the defect had not developed in the j —Finally h> was agreed to accept guarantee to replace the casting should it at any time way. with a further proviso that Ltd., guarantee the Counagainst any loss which might lac £?- in the event of the defective giving way. IN BOUNDARIES. Morrison, representing the WaiCounty Council, again waited on Council in reference to the suggest- j alteration of boundaries between the counties. He presented a petifrom a number of settlers in the ex--southern end asking the WaiCounty to absorb certain areas the present divisional lines were erratic and without any regard to : services.—The Chairman was '. Hgreeable to the transfer of an area naturally should be in the Wai- 1 Hpa County, but he would object to ' Hny territory being included, the roads ' Hrom vhioh might lead into the Patea ] Hi the near future.—Finally it was de- 1 H?ded to again refer the matter to the 1 HperTnl committee, originally set up, ' Ho make certain suggestions to the Wai- ' Batata Council. ] B/ The Chairman announced that this ' Hras the meeting at which the Council ' ■bad to fix the rates for the ensuing Hear. He had looked into the financial Bipsition and informed members that Bhe Council had a very considerable j ■Overdraft- -which may not be a wise j ■position to be in under existing eircuni-Ktances-^-but the bank overdraft did not fcficessarily disclose the financial posi■fcion. For instance they had expended B£7oo, the additional 10 per cent, on the ■Ball road loan, and this was included, ■but the actual position was that the ■Oount.j account was overdrawn to-day £3645, and their outstanding liabilities ■ —mainly subsidies payable to the Road Boards—amounted to £550. This made the total of £4195. Last year their total'liabilities were £2257. so that roughly they had gone to the bad nearly #2000 during the last year. The Coun«tt had bought and paid for a roller, 'out had struck a special rate of Is 8d which had realised an amount equal to the cost of the roller. The expenditure ! on the main roads had been going <;n Bat a tremendous rate, and under pieK#ent conditions it would be necessary to ■ increase the rate to Ud, which would , bring in another -£1200. He certainly j thought the Council must take into coii- i sideration some economy on the main , . roads—£2oo*.) to the bad in one year i ■ was too much. There must be some i leakage somewhere, or they were spend- ! ing too much just now on tho main' roads. As he stated many times before, he., did not think it fair to the back country settlers to be saddled with aJb.eavy rate to keep up iirst-ciass main roads. He moved tnat the general rate for tho ensuing year be three farthings. _ Cr. Blake seconded. Although a considerable sum of money had oeen expended on the main roads they were not in anything like too good order. They could not curtail their expenditure, but if they ci>uid economise in any way :t was tneir duty to do so. Tne trufric was greatly increasing, more especially ; that ol motors, and as each farm was -being cut up and put into dairying, it meant more tralfic. Cr. Dickie supported the motion, but - wished that the Chairman na<l given some indication of the direction in which economics could be effected. Not only were the main roads casting more, but the by-roads also, and the Koad Boards found that they could not now exist on their subsidies. Notwithstanding elite heavy expenditure the main roads were in a disgraceful state and every rate- [ payer recognised that they must con- \ tinuo the expenditure. The settlers in i the back country were not so badly treated when it was remembered that settlers near the mam roads paid rates ■- on three times the value compared with the back country. Cr. Cave agreed with the resolution. Unless there had been some leakage he did not see how economies could be effected. They could not allow their roads to get any worse than they were now or it would prove poor economy in tb/> end. The back block settlers did not pay uuduly heavy contributions —they went back'to getVheap land, and they knew they must put up with bad roads. In reply, the Chumuan indicated one direction in which economy mijjht be effected. The engineer estimate! the life of a main road to be eight years. As everybody knew that average depended on the quantity and quality <,f the metal put down, but assuming the average of eight years to be approximately correct if they could extend that average by even a year by scarifying acd .■e-rolling they would save an . eighth of the canital cost. He was nob j altogether pleased with the way some of their roads had been allowed to _;<> back but now that they had their now roller he trusted there would be better maintenance in futuro and that 'he j roads, consequently, would last longer. The engineer interjected that wherever there was any metal left on the roads it would be scarified and rolled. Finally the Chairman's motion was carried without dissent. NATIVE RATES. A communication was read from Messrs Welsh and McCarthy stating that they had had a conference witn Mr Bari.s, who mentioned that the notices sent by the Council to tho Trust's | Tiead office were not in order, but that as he iiow understood the position, these notices would be accepted subject to any further information that may Lo Tequired by the head office. "When then? were sufficient funds in hand the Council would be paid. The notices wore in the head office- and Mr Barns's statement was merely his own expression of ; opinion. Tt would be inuleisto-od aho that his reference was in respect of the j rates for 1913-14, for anything prior to { that the Public Trustee admitted no liability j GENERAL. i j In reference to an enquiry from tho ; Patea Harbor Board for an office i'or itresident engineer, the- Council agreed to provide .suitable accommodation at ° | rental of £12 a year for a term of seven j years. Mr AY. Powdrell, representing !!■•■ | ' Fanners' Co-op. Freezing Company, j ] waited on the Council with a reqv.e-t j that the Council metal Somerset; stiver, j■* 7eading up to the works. Tt 1" '-■ discovered that this was a le r>; , it earned enormous traffic, n ' really in the interests of the v.' <■ ■'■.■'.. trict. —The Council agreed that j

ried a lot of traffic, but reminded Mr Powdieil thfct it carried no rates. However, they promised to do what thoy could in the direction desired. ENGINEER'S REPORT. The engineer reported as follows:— Main !south Road (Metalling).—The following lengths have been remetalled on this road during the month: Opposite Mr A. Symes', 4 chains, near Whenuakura bridge, 6 chaips, and top of Whenuakura hill 20 chains, making a total of 30 chains. Besides the above a number of places where the metal wr-j, ro";igh and uncvo:i have been scatified, raked into shape, blinded and rolled in. As instructed at your last meet- | ing I called for tenders for the supply of metal, and your committee met aud decided to accept Mr A. J. Douch's tender for 7s 4d per cubic yard, f.o.b. on {trucks at Norfolk road. I have since : called for tenders for the carting out 'of this metal on arrival, which tenders j can be considered by your Council toj day 1 have also arranged for the ne- ; cessary supply of trucks and hope io 1 commence railing on Thursday nexo. Culverts: Three new cement pipe culverts have been put in on this road, the timber ones they replaced being worn out and rotten." Patea Bridge.—T^e repairs to this bridge have been proceeded with, and altogether about 105 new deck planks I have been put in. The total length of ! that porlion of this bridge from which the metal was recently removed is 260 lineal feet. As at least another 100 deck planks are still required, which will mean that the greater half of the decking of this portion will be renewed, I postponed ordering further timber until I eo,ild consult your Council on the advisability of redecking the whole of it. By doing so the necessity of replacing planks at odd intervals would be avoided, and the cost of laying the plunks reduced. If the whole is then treated occasionally with a good tar preparation to prevent wear, this decking being all Australian hardwood, should last for a very long period. The principal reason in favor of this suggestion is that practically all the best of tbo plaiks-could be used in redecking the bridg9 to the station, for which otherwise new planks will have to bo purchased. These planks, if treated with a tar preparation, would then probably last until that bridge has to be renewed, as it is not subjected to so great strains as the larger bridge. Patea West District. —A start was made jnith tho improvements authorised on the Taumaha road. A great deal of maintenance has been carried out throughout this district. Ball Road Loan.—About 24 cubic yards of metal have been napped during the month. Patea East Distriot (Bremer's Road). A start has been made with this work the culvert having been put in, and the greater portion of the filling completed. Balance of work carried out has been maintenance. Steam Roller.—During the month Messrs Anderson's representative inspected the crack in saddle casting of roller, and the firm are submitting to you several proposals for consideration. Water ab Levin's. —During the month the district engineer of railways visited the district and we went over the ! ground together. He informed me that th. Railway Department wo;ld not allow water to be turned on to their reserve, unless the Council first had a f new culvert put under railway lino. i This would probably be more expensive j than piping water through section ad- \ joining freezing works direct info the , river. I would suggest that your Couu- ; cil appoint a committee to inspect the | ground, giving them power to author- • i.se the work, if they think fit, as any delay in the case of a fl^od, may cause considerable damage to Messrs Levin 1 and Go. •

Steam Roller.—l regie!; to state that a pinion wheel on the second shaft of the roller snapped, fortunately while Messrs Anderson's representative was on tho ground. Measurements have b^en taken and a new wheel is being made. In the meantime we are able to use the roller. Except for the cold weather affecting the steel, we cannot account for the break.

i'The balance of the report referred to the Waitotara end.]