ELTHAM COUNTY COUNCIL

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXI, Issue LXXI, 10 January 1916, Page 2

ELTHAM COUNTY COUNCIL

USUAL MONTHLY MEETING

The iisual monthly meeting of the i Council was held on Saturday, when there were ' present: Crs A. O. Pease (chairman), C. E. McGuinness, E. J. . Gifford, J. Granville, C. J. Belcher, I A. McWilliam, A. Campbell, D. Black, and A. Tait. STATUTORY HALF-HOLIDAY. .At a special meeting of the Council it was unanimously resolved that Thursday, as heretofore, be the statutory half-holiday throughout the Council. SOLDIERS' PENSIONS. The. Premier acknowledged the Council's resolution suggesting an.; amendment to the War Pensions Act , of ■ 1910 in the direction of providing! definite pensions to soldiers' depend-' ents, and said that the matter would ' receive due consideration.—Mr C. A. Wilkinson, M.P., also acknowledged the resolution, and mentioned, in reply, that it was hardly possible to provide by statute for the whole pf the dependents mentioned in the Act. Probably, however,, nearer relatives could be provided for, and he hoped ■ this would be done. He might say j that the" New Zealand Act as passed j last session was, as far as he«»kheW, I more liberal than that provided by any j other Government within the British I Empire. ■. , V r EVADING TOLL CHARGES. The toll-gate keeper at Mangatoki , notified the Council that a man on j horseback had evaded the toll-gate charges by going through Nairn's paddock. . The same man had previously similarly evaded the toll, and the toll-gate keeper asked the Council to take some action,—lt was resolved to warn the man of the penalty he was incurring, and that prosecutions would follow any similar evasions in future. FINNERTY ROAD. The Stratford County Council, notified the Eltham Council that the con- • tractors reported as having damaged the Finne'rty road were not workingfor the Council, frit for the Lowgarth Dairy Company. The Stratford County Council had notified the company on the matter. LAKE ROTOKARE ROAD. It was reported that the special committee appointed (with the exception of Cr Campbell, who did not receive notice) met at the site. Messrs Jenkins and O'Connor were also present. It was. decided that Mr O'Connor be.given a crossing, costing £10, over the wash-out, Mr Jenkins paying £5 and the EJtham riding £5. This was regarded as a satisfactory solution of the whole trouble. It was also resolved that the balance of the contract money be paid to Mr Jenkins, less £100 not yet received by way of subsidy. ' : MOTOR LORRY. . The chairman said-that it appeared quite evident that one motor lorry was insufficient.to cope with the Councils work, and that ,to carry it on economically they must have another. To save time .'he had instructed the engineer to make necessary enquiries as to the various makes and prices, and , these. would be submitted ,tO the Council.—The engineer emphasised the desirability of securing another motor lorry, and gave figures showing the advantage of doing' the county work per motor ,as against horse work.—After an informal discussion, the Council went into coi.imittee to consider quotations received Upon resuming it was reported that upno a division, it was resolved to procure an additional motor waggon, and a committee consisting, of the chairman^ Crs Campbell and Gifford, and tbe. engineer was.set up to deal with the, question, with power to make an immediate purchase or to indent GENERAL. ' , It was resolved to give notice to the occupiers of land on Fraser Road to cut down-the bluegum trees overhang--IQg the road near Fraser road school. Or Black drew attention to a heavy grade on the Palmer road near the JNeill It was only a small job, and he thought the engineer might look at it when the teams were at. the Kaponga end.—The engineer sam this was .a bad place and would require about two chains of- metal xegradmg. It could not, however, be done before the winter.—Referred to the engineer. CrMc William suggested that as soon as the slips were all- cleared off the roads m the Omona, the roads should be imporved so as to make motor freight traffic possible and safe. The district was now solely dependent for its -supplies on this motor traffic, and if this failed great inconvenience would be caused to the settlers.—The chairman said that a little later on the riding member and the engineer should consult and agree on the most necessary work to be done. ENGINEER'S REPORT. c ' TKe engineer reported as follows: The holidays and broken weather have somewhat delayed^ work during the month, otherwise everything is progressing in a satisfactory manner. Omoana Cottage.—The workmen will be leaving this on, Monday and will resume work on Patea bridge. The cottage is practically completed, only a small amount of plumbing and the painting to be done. The' portion of the Eltham road between the Hastings road and, the Mangatoki bridge has been coated with restar, and work on. the balance towards the Palmer road is in progress. It will take about two more weeks to complete this work. When this is done I propose to allow nothing to interfere with an immediate start with the re-facing on the Mountain road and the metaling on the Boylan road. With regard to'the tarring of the recently re-coated portions of the Boylan and Dalziell roads, I do not see ! how it is possible to undertake this m addition to the work already authorised for this and last season, unless we revert to horse teams, and this will considerably add to the cost of work. The lorry is working 'long hours endeavoring to keep pace with the work, but one machine is not enough. The crusher is capable of a far greater output per day had we more means of carting out. the metal on to the roads. The majority of those ratepayers on whcjn notice to lower hedges .was served have either complied with the notice or have started to do so. I will bring pressure to bear on those who have not started when the busiest season is passed. I,took advantage of the partial cessation of work between Christmas and New Year to visit Hawke's Bay, where I understood some interesting road works were in progress. In the Borough of Hastings several streets have been laid with asphalt macadam, Californian asphaltum being used as the matrix. The reinforced concrete road between Napier and Hastings has not

yet been started. I did not see anything in the way of roads or bridges to warrant any suggestions as to any alteration in our present methods. While, in. Hastings I investigated the merits of the Commer motor waggon. They hav.e been running in that district for the past three years with excellent results. I asked the agents to forward particulars to the Council.

[It was resolved to give ratepayers concerned final notice that hedges must be cut within the time specified; otherwise prosecutions would follow.] .