WAIMATE WEST COUNTY COUNCIL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue LXVIII, 3 December 1914, Page 6

WAIMATE WEST COUNTY COUNCIL.

S MONTHLY MEETING. 3 usual monthly meeting was held anaia on Wednesday, there being nt Messrs T. McPhillips (chair- , E. Long, T. A. Bridge, \V. H.! leming, W. A. Morton, J. S. Mcand J. F. Stevenson. j is meeting was called for Thurs-1 but in consequence of the Strat-! Show the Chairman, after oontion with some of the other memdecided to change the date to nesday.—Cr Morton objected to » alterations at short notice. He, instance, had made appointments two men to meet him in his pads on Wednesday, and in conse-" ice of the short notice for this ting had not been able to comicate with them. —The Chairman etted any inconvenience to Cr ton, but had communicated with y councillor at the earliest moment. $■;: ..■.■.' OEO ROAD. ;r' A communication was read from the clerk of the Egmont County Council elating that application had been made for a loan of £1475 for the Oe-o road.—The Chairman said that this was as far as they could go at present, excepting that the application should 1)6 followed up, otherwise'■it may bo shelved. —Councillors agreed that ever j "effort should be made to do the wort •n this road this season, Cr Stevenson remarking that they must not rely toe much on the Egmont County Council— a bad road or two, more or les^, made very little difference to them—the} lad so many.—Cr Morton remarkec that|the Waimate Council must coneiderithe ratepayers on this road, wh< were all' practically Waimate people and really the boundary was in th< wrong place.—Cr Long agreed, re marking that these boundary road* were always a trouble, and two counties would never think alike. . / TAR WORK. The Restar Company, Ltd., Wan ganui, wrote offering to spray a mii< of road with restar at one penny pei square yard, the Council to provide the necessary suitable fine gravel a convenient points on the roadside atu the company finding labor for spread . ing. As an alternative the compan; would supply restar and spread for 7c per yard, but this would be eonditiona on the company securing the Manai< Town Board s work. The company fur ther suggested that whilst the spraye; was in the district the Council, shouk put down an additional mile, uhicl would be- done for 7d per square yard It was reported that the cost at 7( per square yard plus the cost « shingle worked out at about £3 18s 3< per chain, and the Chairman said tha under their present system of boilinj tar it was costing only £2 10s pc: chain. Cr Stevenson thought the Co«nci could not form any accurate estimati of the work they were doing—they ap peared to be perpetually on the same piece.—Cr McKay considered th< Council's present system of working was a waste of money.—Cr Mortoi drew attention to the piece of roac Just beyond the Kapuni bridge; it wai the last put down and the first to dis appear.—The Chairman agreed thai this portion was a failure. It was pul o clown with Wellington tar, which wai not suitable.—Cr Stevenson thoughi the Council was doing a great deal oi experimenting, but sections of roac pnt down near Budge's, in Hawera and near "The Oaks," appeared t< stand well.—The Chairman replied that this system was undoubtedly good but it was a long way too expensive for the Waimate Council. —So far as the Restar Co.'s offer was concerned, councillors expressed the opinion that their original offer should be adhered to, viz.—to supply sufficient restar t<o do one mile of road at the same price as it cost the Council to put on boiled tar. They considered that each section should be put down under exactly the same conditions. —Finally the question was referred to the Tar Com- - mittee: The question of purchasing a tar«prayin& machine was referred also to the Tar Committee, with power to act. —The opinion was expressed that, as the Council would probably be doing • a considerable amount of tar work in the near future, they should 6ee that the best make of machine was procured. THE COUNTY BALANCE-SHEET. In a further communication re the proposed action against the Council for not having published their balance«heet, Mr J. F. Martin said that he found that the Crown Law Office was not mixing up the questions of the publication and the sending of the balance-sheet as suggested, but were reading the Counties' Act as if the meeting of the Council to pass the Audited balance-sheet must be held within +-he first ten days f& J£av and must precede the puollcaudn. * deling. Clear, on ihls point &c urged-the con-| ttarf view, and +h§h seeiiipt Mat there | Was a disposition on the part of the Crown Law Office to withdraw the; case he thought it well to mention his other point as to jurisdiction, viz.,| that proceedings under section 136 «vust be brought on the civil side of i the Court. Later in the afternoon hei tifas informed that the Crown Law Office was disposed to agree with him on both points, and felt that the prosecution would be likely to fail, and subsequently he was informed that Mr Weston would be instructed to withdraw the case. Thart meant that the Council need not publish the 1912-13 balance-sheet in any form. —The Chairman 6aid it was pleasing to know that the matter was now finally settled. It would have meant a big expense for »o practical good, and when the auditor had certified that the statement was correct the ratepayers were satisfied with, that. OVERSEER'S REPORT. The overseer reported as follows: — Main South Road. The crusher has been working almost continuously during the month, and the total amount delivered has been : metal, 1694 yards; screenings, 423 yards, making a total of 2117 yards for the month, or an average of 79 jards- per day. I found it quite impossible to carry out this work within the estimate and more metal will be required, but I have no doubt that this Sroad, when finished, will redound to ; the credit of the Council. I have had - the Inaha end of this road re-tarred, and this coat should last for at least cix months or more. Bairstow and Parker have made a start with their contract o n the Main Soiith road. Oorrigan's gang have been employed widening cuttings, raising fillings, and putting in new culverts. So far 13 cut- , tings have been widened, six new culverts have been put in, and the approach to the Mangawhero Bridge has been widened. Tate Bros, have made a start with their contracts and appear to be'pushing on well. Discussing the report, the Chairman said, in reference to the Main South road, that the metal contracted for was delivered and it was found that about twenty chains of road at present torn up was unprovided for in regard to metal. This was accounted for by the fact that the present engineer had IS.

found it necessary to put on more metal to the chain than the previous engineer had provided for. They all desired, however, to see the metalling continued up to the Kanpokonui. Upon Mr Munro being asked he said he was prepared to put out the extra metal at 4s 6d per yard. On account of the increasing difficulty of procuring metal he conld not do it for less. —After a brief discussion this offer was accepted. OVERSEER'S RESIGNATION. " The Council went into committee to consider several matters, and upon resuming* reported that, owing to nnforseen circumstances, the overseer had resigned and that his resignation had been accepted. It was resolved that in fnture £300 a year be offered for an engineer's services and that a committee consisting of the Chairman, Crs. Bridge, Long, and Stevenson, be appointed to deal > with the appointment of a new engineer. j GENERAL. ' The salary of the clerk was, on tile unanimous decision of councillors, increased to £250 a year. * Messrs McLarens informed the Council by telegram that the long-lost case of machine parts had at last been discovered. They were writing further on 1 the matter. >. The Chairman thought it would be I; well to deal with the Skeet road work, L f>nd th^t it would be advisable to keep > the rolling well up to the contractors ' . until the Council's own machine was - available. —It was left to the Chairman 1 with power to act. *j COMMITTEES. ); The following committees were ant pointed:—Works and tar, Crs McPhil--1 lips, Long, Bridge and Stevenson. Fin. -': ance, Os. McPhillips, Bridge and ) Long. Horse feed, Crs. Lone, McKay, , i and Stevenson. Bridge, Crs. Long, j ( Bridge and McPhillips. "I COUNCIL MEETING DAY. After a brief discussion it was resolved that the usual Council meetI ings be on the second Thursday in each ; month as heretofore. !