HAWERA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXII, Issue LXXII, 9 July 1917, Page 3

HAWERA COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING

The usual monthly meeting of the Council was held on Saturday, when there were present—Crs. Tarrant, Hawken, Dunlop, and Linn. Or. IvTurdoch arrived later, and Cr. TarrantToccupied the chair. INWARD CORRESPONDENCE. The Department of Internal Affairs notified the Council that the Minister had assigned the distinguishing letters "H.W." under the motor Regulation Act and the additional numbers 1251 to 1500. I Correspondence was read from the Gisborne Gas Company confirming offer of contract for the Council to take 25,000 gallons of {tar at 5-id per gallon ' on wharf, Gisborne, on a twelve months' contract, buyers supplying bar. rels. Also from the Masterton Corporation Gasworks offering the Council 10,000 gallons at 6d per gallon f.o.b.— This latter offer was accepted. In regard to the Gisborne tar works' offer. Or. Murdoch pointed out that i wiieii their manager was over here, an arrangement was made with, him for the supply of 17,000 to 20,000 gallons at ! 5d per gallon. The Council was to send over 200 barrels, and if the sample j proved satisfactory they would order! the balance. The sample came, and ac it was satisfactory the Gisborne people were wired {to straight away for the balance, but apparently their manager was not :fchen desirous of complying 'with the verbal agreement entered into and the end of it was that the Council had to pay s|d. lit was becoming very d-fficult to secure tar supplies, and it was probable that the troubles would increase as more local bodies went in for tar work. But the position was that unless they kept up their tar sealing the work already done would be nullified in a few years. The Railway Department communicated with the Council as to their opinion in regard to the Borough Council's request for the removal of the cattle/i yards. The Council approved of -the Borough Council's request, and previously done so. Cattleyards should certainly not be in a town, but it would probably be a difficult matter for the Department to find a suitable place for i them. , The Department of Internal Affairs communicated with the Council on the question of burial expenses of members of the Expeditionary Force, who die prior to their discharge from such force. He asked whether the Council con-' trolled a cemetery, and if so whether it would, from a patriotic point of view, be prepared to supply burial plots for such soldiers free of cost, and on what conditions, if any, and also if the Council >would later permit the erection j by the Government of suitable head- | stones or memorials.—The clerk replied j that the Council had no cemeteries un- j der its control. [ The State Advances Office advised the Council that the Board bad resolved to entertain the Council's application for a loan of £800 for forming and metal- | ling Albert and Arthur streets.. : The reserves agent of ,the Public j Trustee wrote decling the Council's offer of 2d per yard loyalty for metal taken from Mrs A. Mercer's leasehold. The Public (Trustee could not accept less than 3d.—The Council decided not to offer more than 2d.—The foreman reported that the surface damage amounted to very little, and 2d per yard ■would more than cover it. HOSPITAL LEVY. The secretary of the Hawera Hospital and Charitable Aid Board notified •the Council that when working out the levy for each local body on a population and valuation basis, the popula. tion figures supplied from Wellington were given as 15,725, which made the i subsidy at the rate of 12s 3d in the £. I He had, however, received a notice from the" Department on June 13, stating that the figures previmi'sxy"- -sup- j plied were wrong, and that the popula- ' tion was now 16,486, which made the subsidy 13s 3d instead of 12s 3d. This reduced the levy on the whole of tho local bodies, and consequently a refund would be made to them in proportion to their respective levies as follows:—Ha wera County. £38 as od : Eltham Borough, £5 16s Id; Hawera Borough, £9 I ISs yd; Eltham County Council £29 10s sd; Waimate West County Council, £20 16s 4d, and Manaia Town Board, £1 10s 6d. TOLL GATE ABOLITION BILL. The Eltham County Council reminded the Council that the Bill was now before the House, and it would be necessary for the Council to meet and formu_ late its objections at an early date He proposed calling a. meeting at Eltham for the 16th. In regard to this matter the county clerk .reported that the following copy of a telegram had been -forwarded to him: "Dawson, Manaia.. Toll Gntfe Bill second reading 25th, suggest deputation Egmont, Manaia, Kaponga and your county wait upon Minister. Egmont send inn; deputation Wednesday next; possibly you could arrange depu tation same date. Further suggest petitions l)e circulated immediately all 1 V>. Ls fjlvoring abolition." (Signed)

Mr G. \. Pearce, acknowledging the Council's letter of July 2. pointed out that a private members Bill did not go : before a committee in -the way that a j local Bill did, consequently no evu.^icu ■ was taken. I Cr. Murdoch mentioned that at a meeting held at Eltham last year it wns pointed out that it would* be 'necessary to produce evidence showing that the counties were not collecting an_ uundue. amount of revenue. It was , rrrerred to a small committee to collect ) this data-, but apparently this had nut I been done, and he had now suggested that a conference of the five counties that had toll gates should be held on the lbth. An article appearing in that morning's News was misleading, in that between 50 and 60 per cent of the I revenue collected at this county's toll g^te was collected from outsiders and was therefore no burden on the county ratepayers. • It was resolved that ithe county chair man should attend the meeting called at Eltham for the 16th. LIGHTS ON VEHICLES ACT The South Taranaki Automobile .As sociation requested the Council va enforce the provisions of the above Act within its jurisdiction. The increasing traffic required stricter compliance with, the law and whilst motoris/ts were some. ! times at fault it was not often that a car was without lights after dark, J whereas it was a common occurrence l to meet other vehicles, especially horso. drawn vehicles, without any lights whatever. Councillors pointed out that cyclists were tar worse than horse-drawn vehicles, and that the Automobile Association had overlooked the fact that the Act they quoted also, compelled motorists to have "dimmers" on their lights, and this law was not being observed. —It was decided that the county ■ranger Be instructed to give information to the Council of any person driv ing or cycling without lights after dark. FOREMAN'S REPORT. The foreman reported as follows: — Main South. Road—The scarifying -on. this road has had to be abandoned as there is not sufficient metal on :t to warrant the expenditure. 1$ will have to-be re-metalled before tar sealing can be done. Scott Road—The engine has been rolL ing the rough stones and scarifying where required, and the small pot holes i are now filled up. i Ahaipaipa Road —The scarifier is networking up towards the Skeet road, and the greater portion from Okaiawa township will have to be scarified. Austin Road—The scarifier has been working on fhis road, but the progressis slow on account of the wet weather. The teams have been working on thebeach getting shingle out ready for tarring purposes next season. The ordinary surface work has "been going on in ofher portions of the j county. ! The report was adopted. | Cr Murdoch mentioned that estimates. | were now ready for the road work, etc., | required for the coming year. He suggested 'that a special meeting ue'held on July 21st to go into the estimates, so that notice of rates to be levied for j the coming year could be given at their , next ordinary meeting. This was aareed : to. • Cr. Dunlop reported that lie liad visited the site of the gate in disputeon the Tohganoe road. The oIS site was quite unsuitable; a gate on the road would be a great convenience, and as the present location was the one desired by all concerned, he thought it should remain. Furthermore, if the Council allowed the gate they should] see that it was properly hung and kepk in proper condition. After some discussion this course was agreed to. Cr. Dunlop again drew attention "to the fact that hedges were still growing, on the cornors of their roads, s.n<]k sooner or later an accident would hapj pen that th.c Council would probahlv have to pay for. Cr. Murdoch said tfist the Act was defective. The Council could order own. ; ers to cut back these hedges, and facing their compliance with such order,, could then have the work done at thi?owner's post. But the position was thatit was impossible to get labor to do the work, and .therefore the Council was helpless. The Act should have- provided power for the Council to prose-, cute m the ense of non-compliance with' jan order. He did not agree that tlio Council would be responsible for accidents because of the hedges not being cut.