ELTHAM COUNTY COUNCIL

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXVIII, Issue LXXVIII, 16 June 1919, Page 5

ELTHAM COUNTY COUNCIL

MONTHLY MEETING

The usual monthly meeting of the Council was held on Saturday, when there were present: Crs Belcher (chairman), Hardwick-Smith, Campbell, Messana, Barker, McWilliani, Carter, McGuinness and Gilford. PRESENTATION. ■Prior to the commencement of the Council's ordinary business the chairman presented to the Council an enlarged framed photograph of the mem. bers of t]ie present Council, together with the engineer and clerk. Cr McWiiliam thanked the chairman for his generous gift, which every Council would highly appreciate. "It is an excellent photograph," said Cr McWiiliam; "there we are such as we are, and it will, be a record for all time in ih c Council office."

The chairman said he hoped to fie. cure photos of the Council's past chairmen, and have these also hung in the Council's new offices.

UPPER AROA ROAD. A communication was received from Mr Ji/. de May, asking the Council's- mii tention with regard to the balance of tho money available for the Upper ; Auroa road. He thought that the £300 could not have been all spent, and the balance, he suggested, should be spent between Cr Barker's property and his (fie Mays place), so as to make a 1-roper metalled road. •£>iK c cn £i l ae€r said that he had spent £100 on the top piece of road above de May's., and he did not see that any useful purpose could be served by spending any more. The Egiuont Council paid half of this., The Council did not necessarily vote £300, but voted a sum, not exceeding £300, to do whatever was necessary. It wa s then represented that the worF would be very expensive, but councillors could see the $uahtv of the work done. Cr Messana siid that he was quite satisfied with the work the engineer had done, but settlers were under the ,impression that £300 was available for JV™P? rtl<m of the-road: and a s only £100 had been spent they thoughtthere was still £200 to be spent. The chairman pointed out tfiat Mr de May was not a ratepayer in the Eltham County, and his communication should have been addressed to th e Egmont County Council.

.Cr Messina moved that, notwithstanding the discourteous tone of Mr de May's letter and his unwarranted reflections on Cr Barker. \ the clerk write to him and exolain the position. Seconded and carried. ' LIGHT MOTOR TRUCKS.

**r, w- Th°rpe wrote *° the' Council, on behalf o r some owners of Ford oneton trucks, requesting* that the toll £i? rg os °n them stould be reduced. Ihe Stratford and Hawera Councils charged 2s and 2s 6d, and he considered the Eltham charge of Ss 6d hardly seemed fa:r On trucks that, fully loaded, only weighed two tons, whilst the same charge was imposed on lorries weighing four times as much. Referred to a committee consisting of the chairman, Crs Messana and McGumness to report to nexfemeeting. TARANAKI COUNTY COUNCIL'S BY-LAWS. The circular letter from the New Plymouth Borough Council protesting against the vehicle licensing by-laws, proposed to be imposed by the Tara_ naki Ccunty Council, was read. The chairman -mentioned that when a conference of counties was palled to create a set of model and uniform bylaws, only two counties stood out and the Tarariaki County Council was one ot tliem. Now they brought down a set of freak by-laws like this and he could not understand- any public body suggesting such. He was satisfied they could not stand long, because they were arousing public opinion so strongly against them that they would not be allowed to remain in force very long even if the public had to go to Parliament about the matter. The Counties' Conference would meet on Wednesday next, but. for a SDecial purpose If this matter could be" introduced then he would bring it up; if not h e would as chairman, call a special conference to to deal with this matter. He was in favor of the strongest possible protest being made against these proposed bylaws.

It was resolved that the Council enter a strong protest and make representations to the authorities, on the matter. HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER. A communication was received from the Moa Road Board, mentioning that a petition was being circulated in that district asking for the formation of an Electric Board. They proposed to obtain an exhaustive report on the Mangonui river, from which it was expected a,large supply of energy could be obtained. They desired to know if the Eltham County Council would care to join as an outer area.

A letter was received from the New Plymouth Borough Council, mentioning that they were taking steps to largely increase their hydro-electric undertakings, and had made arrangements to supply Inglewood. They suggested that the Eltham County Council might also be prepared to purchase electrical energy from the New Plymouth installation.

The chairman mentioned that the county, as a county, did not require electrical energy, but all were agreed that an adequate supply at reasonable cost would greatly assist the county generally. He thought they should await the result of the investigations now being made by the Eltham and Stratford Borough Councils. This was agreed to.

GENERAL. It was reported that many notices sent out to ratepayers to clean out drains, culverts, etc., had not been complied with. Some ratepayers had done the work at once; others had defied the Council. On the motion of the chairman it was resolved that final notices he sent out that in the case of any not complied with by this day next month legal proceedings will be. taken. Permission was given to Mrs Alice Malone, Riverlea, to make a, drain and' erect a good fence opposite her property on Mangawhero road, Mr TV. A. Cleaver, Te Roti, wrote protesting against an overcharge in re- . spect of' a pony impounded. It was impounded on the 21st, released on the 22nd, and he had to pay a guinea.— Referred to the Borough Council, who control the pound. A copy of a resolution passed by the Napier Borough Council, endorsing the action of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers' Association, requesting Cabinet to declare Anzac Day a statutory holiday, was read.—The Council decided to endorse the resolution, providedthe Sunday nearest Anzac Day be proclaimed, not as a holiday, but as a sacred day. Renewals of slaughter licenses were granted to Leonard Wickham (Kaponga) and Walter Clarry (Eltham). Cr McWilliam drew attention to the 1 fact that the Council's surfaceman | living at the Patea bridge had been ; running his stock too generally on the j road, and that ratepayers liad been j complaining.—Referred *to the engineer. ENGINEER'S REPORT. The engineer reported as follows:— South Riding—During the past month. 80 chains of remetaUing on Rotokare

r&ad was eoiupleted, including the reshaping and metalling of approaches to Mountain road. Maintenance work, including the laying of several new 'eulVerts, water tabling and metal patching, has been carried out on Fraser, Boylan, Campbell, Neill, Dalzlel and Skeet roads, and a lengtli of 45 chains of metal shoulders four feet wtde, has been laid on Mountain road to act as backing to the tarred macadam on the steeper glades, the clay previously used for this purpose having required constant re-. newal. I Maflgatoki Riding—The only work' done in this riding was the completing1 of the tar spraying SET sanding of! Burkes Hill on Eltham road. ! Omcna Riding—All flood damage on Karewa road has now l>een repaired.. overhanging scrub "Has been cut ami | water tables liave teen cleared. Along! ~ the Rawhitiroa road narrow parts have j / been widened and the metal shifted, inwards. In other parts the metal has! been patched, slips have been removed I and water tables have I>een cleaned be- i tween the Patea river a»d Moeroa. I Kaponga Riding—The Aiiroa road, I north of Opunake road, has been patch-! Ed and repaired, and a considerable I length of water tables has been cleaned on Eltham road. The necessary Steel for the Mangawheroiti stream bridge has arrived in Wellington, and »s being sorted, and will be forwarded immediately. As soon as this arrives a1 start tan be made with the erection of I the h&w bridge, shingle for which is now bvmpr delivered afc the site Eltham Riding—On Rawhifesrca road ! a. length of about 25 chains has been packed xip, broken and re-laid with an additional 130 yards of shellrock. Water tables have been cleaned and the metal has been patched along Manga-' mingi Valley. Smith and Roberts have completed their contract, 474 cubic yards having been supplied at Barnard's Pit. Work on Bennett's contract has been suspended for the winter, 36 yard .3 jaaving been delivered on the road to date. Maintenance work, including the filling in of juts, repairing culverts etc., has been done on Sangster, Mangamingi, and Wingrove roads. In comPany with riding members and Public Works overseer, art inspection was made of Mangawhero and Rotokare mads as far as the lake. Very considerable work including the bridging of Ararata stream, is required to reopen this road as a dray road.from the end of the present metal to section 31. An inspec- .■ tion made with the borough -overseer of that part of Clifford road between the borough and county, showed that ■■' •? t? rred portion was suffering con- ' fd^? ble damage as the result of heavy traffic the cause being insufficient strength m the foundation to cany any but the lightest class of vehicles. General—The work of deepening I?a-------hui creek and opening outlets from culverts on Wingrove road has been earned out in a thoroughly satisfactory manner, and other occupiers of land who were requested to carry out various works, such as cutting hack of trees and fences, the opening of outlets from culverts, and the .axubbing of'noxious weeds, etc., have in the majority of cases dono what was required. As instructed, the names of iiiose who have failed to do so are supplied herewith ! A tour of inspection of all the principal I roads throughout the county, aggregat-1 • ing about 200 miles in length, was made! by the chairman and councillors on the! 20th and 21st ultimo, and estimates of1 < various works required during the pre-! sent year were presented at a special' meeting held on the 28th. An inspection! . was aJso made with the chairman, Crs McGumness and Campbell1 of the Wain- , gongoio river, which, within a workable . distance of the depot, is fast becoming 1 depleted of stone suitable for road ma'k-! ing. Representatives from the counties I of Waimarino and Whakatane, with! -~ their engineers, ~have visited Eltham j and were shown the Council's plant! I tarred roads, etc., and were supplied! with details of methods adopted, costs, | etc. As instructed a considerable reduction, some 25 to 30 per cent, was! made in the Council's staff at the end j of May. Applications "have been received for the hire of horse scoops from Messrs Pease and Maddox. i Discussing the report. Cr. McWilJiam, in reference to tfte Omona, said that good work was being -done on the hill. Tt was heavy, fait was well worth doing. He KopecETne engineer would keep going, especially on the shady side -—In regard to the Rotokare road the chairman said tTiat he and Crs. Campbell. Hardwick-Smitb. and the Gov^rn- • nient engineer went over thi s road. The Government engineer had promised to send his report, but so far it had not arrived. From observatfons the chairman gathered that he would not be inclined to recommend any Government : expenditure on thai road. He fthe chairman) would 1jfo? to assist Mr Wills to get access to his property there, but aoparetitlv it would cost, according to Mr Tosswill. about 5400 to put a mad down. One councillor remarked that the Government were always advocating putting settlers on the" land but they appeared to be very loth to' give them any assisfance in the way of access. / ■"

METAL SUPPLIES. Remarking on the reference in the engineer's report on £h© depleted metal supplies from the Waingongoro river, 4 the chairman said that the committee had examined the river for a considerahle distance, and there could he noi doubt that the Council could not look for much more metal from that river. Settlers said tnat in times past metal apparently was brought down by floods, hut no supplies had come down recently and the Council would have to look elsewßpre for its metal. Cr. Messana remarked that there was enough meta] in the Manpratoki and Kal ponga ridings to last till Doomsday. It was only a matter of transit. Cr. Campbell mentioned the Mountain quarry that the Government opened some time ago, ami put a. railway into.. He understood that there was good metal obtainable in that vicinity. The engineer said that the stons in the pit that was opened was condemned, hut there was good metal in the vicinity. The Government spent £70,000 on this work, and then abandoned it simnlv because they did not go to the point wßere the good mntai was. • After a brief discussion it was resolved that the Government be approached and urged to open out a prn-j ■per pit on the mountain, which ponld "be worked by the light, line already laid from "Waiukn: nlso that the Fawe.ra. Stratford and-PaW Councils b« asked to co-operate.