MONTHLY MEETING

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXII, Issue LXXII, 9 October 1916, Page 6

MONTHLY MEETING

The monthly meeting of the Hawera County Council was held' on Saturday. Present—Crs. J. B. Murdoch (chairman), C. C. Tarrant, C. Haw.ken, J. Dunlop, T. A. Winks, anct R. J. Linn. 'A letter was (received from Mr T. Lloyd, tollgate-keeper, Inaha, acknowledging the Council's generosity in increasing his salary. THE FLY PEST, A lengthy circular was received from Dr. Sydney Smith, district health off 1- i cer, asking for the co-operation of local j authorities in an effort to combat the fly pest in this district. Flies, he said, were amongst the most dangerous insects known to man. By-laws should be made (or if already made, enforced) requirino- stables to be constructed witn impenetrable floors, properly1, drained and easily cleanable. Yards and paddocks should also be kept tree irom manure, and streets kept clean in a similar manner. . . Members considered that preventive measures' indicated in the circular were necessary, and -it' was decided to give the Department all the assistance posBlb]P' HAWERA ROAD. The Department ~of Lands wrote ask-, iwg if the Council had any knowledge whether that portion t of the Hawera road, between the. South Road and th« Manawapou road, had been closed, and if so, under what Act and when? The county clerk said he had no knowledge of the matter. Cr. Winks said the road had never been closed. The chairman said he did not remember the road having been closed. The clerk was "instructed to inform th© Department that the Council had no knowledge of the road having been closed. ■-.■•.'-■! SOLDIERS' CHRISTMAS GIFTS. The secretary of the Citizens' Christmas gift funds for soldiers, Wellington, wrote appealing for gifts of poultry for "poultry-day" to raise funds to-supply Christmas gifts for soldiers from the Wellington military area. The chairman said this was not a matter for the Council as a body, but one for individuals. TELEPHONE LINE. G. W. Williams, Meremere, wrote applying for permission to erect a telephone along the road, from the Melrose factory to his residence. ' The request was granted. .TECHNICAL SCHOOL. An application was received from the committee of the Hawera Technical School, for a contribution towards the funds of the school for the current year. The chairman said that last year the Council contributed £20. An endeavor was" being made to institute a day technical school with the view to makingJt more popular. He' was in favor of the Council making the same grant as last year, and he accordingly moved in this direction. ■

Cr. Linn seconded,'and the resolution yfa& carried. - . •

OMONA SECTIONS.

The Chief Surveyor, Lands Department, wrote, stating that he was' in receipt of a letter from the head office drawing attention to sections 5 and 6, <df Omona XVI., being left in such an isolated position as regards the balance of the county.. Hie desired to. know how these sections were treated. Although not forbidden by the Counties Act. such an isolati|on was not contemplated, and might lead to trouble, so that amendment in: 'the boundaries wafe desirable, and by all appsarances one section would be far better in the Eltham county. If the Council c*ould come io some arrangement with the Eltham County or Patea County, it would be'most desirable. ••

.; The clerk mentioned that he hod replied to the letter, pointmg out that the Council was anxioiis toi get rid of this section. .

1 The chairman added that neither the Pafcea or.Eltham County Councils wanted this section, which ;was certainly in an isolated position.

DEPUTATIONS

Mr J. J. Patterson waited upon the Council with, a request to have the bad portion of the hill on the Mawitiwiti road mstaled.

/, It was decided to have .the work authorised.

Messrs Robertson and O'Callaghan approaohed the Council in regard.,to having the Upper Meremere track improved and widened.

The foreman-said it would cost about £•500 to make the track a dray road. The opinion was expressed that perliax>s a deviation on the track might be made, and if this could, bs done a -better outlet would be given to settlers. The chairman suggested that Cr. Dunlop and the foreman inspect this particular lbcality to see what'could be done to improve the track. -This was ragreed to, and Mr Robertson promised to.meet the sub-committee on the,ground. ,

FOREMAN'S REPORT. Mr Muggeridge reportec as follows: Normanby-Manaia road: From the boundary to the Inaha bridge has been scarified, graded and rolled into place again. There was a very small quantity of metal required on this length. The scarifier has- now started on this side of the bridge, and the greater portion of the hill can be done, without I adding any metal. The crusher has not | been "working during the past fortnight as we had no more metal stripped, but all that we require will be stripped by the end of the following we^k. ..",-.■ , ■ Paora -road, has been graded as requested, by Mr Gould, and is now in good order. Ohawe road: This road was very von.ch, so I have had it regraded from the foot of the hill by the beach up to the metal. This work will be finished to-day. Tawhiti road has been scarified from the town boundary to the Tawhiti stream, and there is sufficient metal on +-*>c road if it is tarred this season. The sprayer not coming to hand will put us back with a lot of tarring work. Duckworth road : The culvert on this road, consisting of a., double row of lft pipes, got blocked with willow roots, so it had to be taken up to clean them out. It has be^n replaced with 18in. pipes. Meremere cottage: I have had all the rotten timber taken out of the building and the windows re-glazed, and a small porch put over the front door, as the water beat into the room badl> 'flfre repainting and paperhanging is in progress and will be finished about Tuesday The report was adopted. AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTION. Mr R. A..S. Browne, director of agriculture under the Taranaki^ Education Board, attended the meeting and explained the scheme in connection with the promotion' of agricultural" instruction in the province, and asked the Council to appoint two representatives on the advisory committee that was being formed from the local bodies inr terested. . . in reply to a question, Mr Browne said the scheme would not interfere with the Field Department's proposals. The Council favorably received MiBrowne, and it was decided to ask the gentlemen whom it had appointed on the committee under Mr Deem's scheme to ; select" "a sub-committee to represent it on the advisory committee, as proposed, by the Board's agricultural :/ivpnt/Or. ... ~ ~.,