ELTHAM COUNTY COUNCIL

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 13 December 1920, Page 4

ELTHAM COUNTY COUNCIL

MONTHLY MEETING. Tire monthly meeting of the Eltham iounty Council was held on Saturday, "resent Crs. J. Belcher (chairman), \T. E. Carter, C. E. McGuinnes« a! icWilliam, E. J. Gifford, M. W. j iarker, R. J. Knuck'ey, A. Campbell, nd A. Messana. CORRESPONDENCE. ) Maling and C 0.,; Ltd., wrote asking or a copy of the by-law prohibit ng ise of twin solid tyres on motor lories.—The chairman said that no such provision was made in the by-laws. The Returned Soldiers' Association vrote asking for any assistance the! Council could give in the settlement of! eturned soldiers on the land. The Council was asked to inform the Assojiation of any holdings available which vere suitable fod soldier settlement. The chairman said the Council could lo no more than give publicity to the natter, and the letter was received. The Public Trust Office notified that It co.uld not consider the application for a loan of £300 owing to heavy financial commitments. It was suggested that an. application be made to the State Advances Office, and, if not successful, a further application could be made to the Public Trustee about April 1 .next. The clerk had replied asking if it would be possible to grant the loan with the proviso that it would not be called up before April 1. To this the Public Trust Office replied that nothing could be done in the matter at present. Cr. Campbell said the money might be raised by debentures. The chairman: The difficulty would be to provide a sinking fund. The letters were received. - The National Headuarters of the Salvation Army, Wellington, wrote making application for the exemption of. the Hoys' Home, Eltham, with four acres of land, from rates. The chairman said the matter came up three months ago, and he was opposed to the request for the same reasons then as now.. Sectarianism camt into the question, and as their ratepayers included all denominations they coult not grant favOrs. However, he had « great deal of admiration for the Salvation Army. Apparently legal advice had been taken, and it was contended by the Army that the Home was exempi from rates, a similar point having beei raised in the city of Wellington and fht right to exemption established. Cr. McWilliam did not think thai any ,Act would make the remission o' rates compulsory, though the Act mail give the.right to exempt.. He movet that a. legal opinion be obtained. • Thii was seconded by Cr. Messana ant carried. It was pointed oiit that if the foui acres surrounding the house were ex empted the south riding would suffe: to the"*amount of the rates. The audit inspector wrote with refer ence to the Council's insurances witl the Taranaki Farmers' Mutual Insur iince Association and drawing attentioi to the terms of the Mutual Insurance Act. namely, that members, of any cor oration constituted under that Act wen jointly responsible for liabilities in curred thereunder, and the ■. Act abso lutely forbids that local bodies shoul< enter into membership, for the reasoi that they would, thereby accept liabili ties -which they had no statutory auth ority to accept. . The Controller an< AuditorrGeneral had instructed him t< notify the Gouncil that if ever any pay ments were made by the Council conse quent on such contract he would b compelled to surcharge councillors witl the amount. ~ _ ,\ \ • • . The chairman thought there must b< a misapprehension somewheiie. As fas as the. previous votes -werel «oncerne< the Council was not responsible for : penny. The total amount of their insur ance with the company, was £127, an< there was nothing to worry about.. I they did not'have the powers'they nov exercised the law should be amended. The letter was received... ; ENGINEER'S REPORT. The engineer (Mr Fitzgerald) report ed as follows: " ' .. • South Riding—Rotokare \ road ha: been tar-sprayed* from the Mountaii road to Fraser road and continuec along part of Fraser road. Mountaii road was sprayed from Boylan road t< the Borough boundary, and the uri metalled portion has been graded ant culTerted at three points. Tarring done on Boylan road included the. completion of the fipst coat, on the re surfaced length. Metal has commencec to arrive for the Skeet road,.and th< work of refacing has-been commenced Tar spraying was commenced on Ma ngaivhero road, but is delayed owing to the sprayer breaking down. Camp bell road has been'- patched. • Ruts have been attended to on Rogers' road. Mangatoki Riding — -Waiter-tabling has been done on Hunter. Eltham anc Palmer roads.' Refacing of Duthie and Palmer roads will commence shortly. Omona Riding—The usual work oi clearing slips and general maintenance I was done on'Kau " v, vlataiwhetii and Mataimaroke roads.- Mataimaroke , road is now open -v>r summer traffic. One nine-foot widening was completed • at an under slip on the Rawhitiroa rbad. j The Council will remember that some ' months ago it was decided to renew the towers of the Whenuakura suspension bridge. The. timber for this purpose has been lying at Omona for a long time,, but the work has 'been held up through lack of expert labour. Except for the towers the bridge had mee'n considered, sound, and I was informed that this view was based upon a proper examination.' At the last Council meeting it was reported that the superstructure had failed and the bridge was impassable. On November 22 I visited the spot with the riding representative and found the timber of the decking broken and tilted at the ! centre of the span. The cables did not appehr to have moved. Arrangements :'were accordingly made to send out Mr Cave with his assistants and materials •at the earliest date, and they went out on December 6. I visited the work on the 7th. We found the cables very much rusted under ground, and witu very little exertion the' men broke one and pulled it a"«ay from the anchors. It was then evident, that .little short of renewing the whole bridge would make'it satisfactory/so it was deeidect to merely patch the bridge up to permit of the passage of sheep and enable the men to get back to their work at Finnerty road bridge. They came back on t&e 9th inst. There has not been time to prepare detailed proposals, but the position is that a practically new bridge is required. To renew the suspension bridge would cost from £300 to £400, and a trestle' bridge would cost about the same. A low level concrete bridge, which would be submerged during floods, would cost from £100 to £150. Expenditure to, date has been about £70, and this includes -a quantity of timber lying at the site unused. Kaponga Riding—Water-tabling and side-tracking has been done on Eltham and Palmer roads.VMetal patching has been done on Auroa and Mangawhero roads. The latter is not holding lip well glider the firewood' traffic. Decking on -the Otakeho bridge,. Opunake road has wen repaired: The application from the Riverlea School Committee to cut a new ditch on the roadside to prevent the water from crossing the road and thence through the school I property has been enquired into and

approved fry the committee of the Council, the new ditch to be done as far as possible from the metalled roadway, the -work to be done by the School Committee. Eltham Riding—The concrete pipe culvert on Anderson road has been token up, cleared and relaid "with cement joints. This road has also been metal patched. Tar spraying was commenced on Mangawhero road. Two culverts have been put into Oru road Slips were cleared off Mangainingi and Kiuvhitiroa roads. Water-tabling has boon done on Itawhitiroa load biyonrt the ridge. Work of clearing slips and. road formation has been done on Tirimoana road. General—The tar sprayer will be out ot commission for a week or two owinoto breakage- of a connection which ne^ cessitated a special casting being made Ihe crank shaft o£ the Daimler has been straightened, and it is hoped tohave this lorry running i n a few days. Mr Julian expects to commence supPlying stone under his contract for kaponga and Mangatoki roads in a few days time. The engineer's car is showing iurther signs of a strenuous- ! youth and premature old age and a costjy overhaul o r a renewal cannot be long delayed. In reference to the Whenuakma ; bridge a discussion took place on the i engineer's suggestion that a low-level I concrete bridge he constructed ay i M2 I William considered the Public V\ orks Department had been very illadvised in putting up suspension bridges in different place* Cr Carter did" not think, that a lower m «dge °Ve£ which flood waters would flow, would be satisfactory. K,r Knuckey said that it would only be on very rare occasions that the bridge would be submerged. Or McWilliam said a bridge" would have to be built, but he for one would be m favour of ruling out the low-level bridge proposal. : I The chairman pointed out that it, had been laid down as a rule that each riding should pay for the construction I of its own bridges. ! <^r McWilham was under the impression that the county paid, for any repairs necessary to bridges Cr McGuinness urged that as the rule referred to, by the chairman had already been applied to other ridings ,! it would not be fair to make any change now. The question of" obtaining a Govern-m-e"t T . I ?P bsWy mentioned; and Cr ■ JHc\Vilham favoured: making rep rei sentation to their member; . / ' The chairman asked whether, -in the event of the Government granting a £ ,! tor £ subsidy, Omona.riding would )>ay.< the balance. ■;;■"' - ■ The Clerk said that there must be two ratepayers before a loan could be ; ! raised. . ■ - The engineer remarked that they could place some very strong. ar«u- . ■ ments before the Public -Works -Depart-- . ment m favour of a grant The De "> ■ partment had built the present bridge' I / years ago, and ordinarily it should v . have had a much longer life. One-of , the cables was second hand when put . in, and it was this cable-which was L now giving way. . . > The chairman, Cr McWilliam, and ■' \r ®nSJS eer were appointed^ to wa^t on ,; Mr O. Hawken, M;P. r with a view to •i applying for a, subsidy;.; « .. • I _ On the motion of fer'Messan'a, it, wa»: :;■ decided to grant the -Bxfc&ea - School L ; Committee £2 towards the cost of cut -ting a drain, the work to be done t&" .' the satisfaction, of the engineer. ~' I 1 Reference was made by the chair- ►' nJP the damage done by roads in j the Kaponga riding oy heavy -traffic, ' .-and it was stated that it Vould be • ». necessary .to appoint the ranger inspecl tor also, so that the by-laws could be enforced. . , • s The chairman and" Crs McGuinnees • and Campbell were appointed a coml. mlttee. to go into the question of ap- " b pointing an inspector under the new . by-laws. I!, It was left with the chairman to pro- : vide for that attention in the Kaponga -. ruling which will prevent a continuance of the heavy traffic which is prov-' 1 ing very damaging to the roads. Action 4 ! ls «> be "taken under the new by-laws I and offenders prosecuted.. . . The engineer's .report was approved^ The action of the chairman in ac-; ; ceptmg'a tender from .Mr M v Bridcr € r for a supply o f dog; collars was corihrmed. - , • i The chairman reported that the rates 1 were coming, in -very slowly; Nine ! months of the. financial year " wasgone, and only abpjit a quarter of the " ' Tates were-in:. - •-. :".• ■ v ~ ■ Js TJe Clerk: ;Only pne ridhtg (the ,'**ntth ndmg). had paid half ite rafes l a?n • r^ outstanding totalled £10,000, .which represented £&, a month in interests \ ■* . The chairman: That would put a lot ot stone on the roads. ' " " Cr McGuinness : moved that the-?v: names of six defaulting ratepayers lir^each riding be placed in a hat and two i tor eacli riding selected by. lot and proceedings taken. . -. , A councillor: The Council would not sue a returned soldier. ' v.,.".-. ■.•■■. The chairman: No; - ' ' Cr Messana: If a returned soldier's name comes out %will have to go back and another picked out; ■ ■ • The motion Was seconded by tE& ■ chairman and carried! - - r Cr McGuinness said there was an j erroneous idea among some ratepayers : that they were not liable for the rates 1 till the end of the year. The chairman stated that. they had? gbne into the financial aspect of the proposal that a crusher and chip; machine be purchased; If the.rates came > m they would be in an excellent financial position, But as matters stood they could not purchase the crusher and chip machine at present. Consequently work must suffer. .Cr McWilliam, speaking of the Omona riding, said he was getting a little nervous about the condition of ! the roads, and ■ it. was a question of '-*.' whether it would not be a good policy to increase the staff in the riding so that they could get ahead with the. work during the summer. .- '~ : The chairman: It comes back to the old thing: the rates have not been collected. . ■'■.'". Cr McWilliam r "Well, mine - are*, paid." , The engineer said he was trying to»" get a couple of additional men f6r the/" . Omona riding. ' ' '-" J ~ !. . ';" ': : ■•■■•' • ■