ELTHAM COUNTY COUNCIL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 11 July 1921, Page 8

ELTHAM COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING

The usual monthly meeting of the Eltham County Council .was held at EJtham on Saturday, when- there were present: Crs C. JL Belcher (chairman), R. J. Knuckey, A. McWilliam, A. V. Messana, A. Campbell, W. E. Carter, C. E. McQuinneas, E. J. Gifford and M. W. Barker. WHENUAKURA ROAD. The Public Works Department forwarded an Order in Council declaring the Whenuakura Valley road in the Eltham* County. Cr McWiliiam ,said that this notice involved a question which. ha 3 been before him for some time. He explained that ratepayers beyond this road who were in the Hawera County had to use the road to get out of their district. Cr Knuckey said that-he did. not see why they should spend money/in maintenance on this piec of r^ad when it was being used b^ ratepayers in another County. These ratepayers, being in'the Hawera County, were not paying quite such high rates and some day, he- said, they may want to merge into the Eltham County, and the Eltham County may not want to include, them. FINNERTY ROAD BRIDGE.

In connection with the Finnerty road bridge, the Council received an account from the Stratford County Council, who had control of the work, which showed that the Council's share of the cast was £1417 15s lid. j Cr Carter stated that the estimate for the bridge at first had been £1000. Later the estimate had been increased to £1800. and now-the Council's half cost share was £1417 15s lid. •

Or Garter stated that he thought the ratepayers in the Mangatoki riding (whose representative he was) had a right to know the different items of this account.

After some discussion, a sub-commit-tee consisting of Messrs McGuinnes-, Carter and Gifford, together with the chairman, clerk and engineer, was set up on the motion of Messrs McGuinness and Messana to go into the items of the account. Cr Me William stated that the Council was technically only liable, to a quarter of the total cost, but they had liberally agreed to pay half. ThY Department of Internal Affairs forwarded an extract from the New, Zealand Gazette of the 16th 'instant, containing an Order in Council, making regulations under the Counties' Act, 1920. Particular attention was drawn to isection 3, which prescribed a mode of publication of the balance-sheet of a County Council. It was also stated that it would now be necessary to. make application under section 124 of the Public Revenues Act, lftlO, for authority to adopt this alternative mode of publication. The clerk stated that as far as the Council was concerned a change from their present system would not be any improvement. The letter was therefore received. The Department of Internal Affairs also notified the Council of an increase in the fees payable by local authorities to the Audit Office for arbitrations and special and ordinary audits. —Received. A letter was received from Alex Boddie} drawing attention to and protesting against the action of the Council in allowing their horses to wander on the roads at nights. Seeing that the Council prosecuted ratepayers whose horses got out accidentally it showed in consistency on their part. Mr Boddies offered to graze the horses on one of his sections whenever the horses were being used in his district.—Referred to the engineer. Mr A. J. Prestidge wrote asking for 2ft pipes for use in a culvert.---Left \v;th the engineer. The Taranaki Progress League wrote accepting the Council's resignation from the League. At the last meeting of the executive committee of the League attention had been drawn to the fact that possibly the resignation of the Council was due to the attitude of the League in connection with the Hydro-electric Power Board. . It was stated that the League was not in existence solely for the purpose of promoting one power board. There were many other matters of provincial importance, and as previously stated, unless the province remained united they S **?■ t, ex? ect to Progress as other united districts. .t^f? M^iHiam and the chairman stated they had a little regret at havng to resign from the League -The letter was received. > ~,! t Treasur.y wrote stating that cirI STnadvifJl^ arisen which rendered of \l dn ahl% *? grant the application fir fe °OUnCII for Permission & trans count mOneyS. t0 the general ™~ McWimf m mi! iOn oi A C™ Campbell and lucivimam, it was decided to write to W *h artu^ timber and furniture during the winter months causing ml rhe clerk reported that a certain man on a miotor cycle had ?iddeS the^oU 2? the old man in charge over, injurin* * him to such an extent that he was 5l 20fch' ,M f eSßa"a fjfted that on Monday, ult., at about 9 o'clock he was S nngwh.° town-to '*££* cram. .When coming up a hill he S et if- T rtain Mal!% the drivS of which gave him absolutely no room o? a^ r°a3 *? d- |S 8 nearl/th? cS of an accident. He considereS that Lr a9- + i? ma?l er t or the Co«»=il to deal with, and he therefore moved that the man be written to and warned S nSS re + CkleSS, Mvihe and informed ried^ 6 motion was ponded and car-

Other councillors considered that a warning would not be very effective a?lS r--M^ Wii liam 8^ d wis

wouM tl n Stated that the would take up a prosecution for anyone who had a-similar case After some further discussion O Messana's motion remained unaltered'

HOSPITAL BOARD SUBSIDIES. A circular letter was received from the btratford.Hospital Board asking f Or the support of the Council to e&Jct a change from the present system of apportioning, subsidies in favour of a return to the simple and universal £ fo r

Or. Campbell stated thai the subsidy io F ™c Hawera Hospital district (in which they were interested) was 12s 3d and if they could get the £ for £ they would be well pleased

Cr. Campbell said that the Hawera Hospital Board distrjpt was looked upon as a wealthy one simply because the actual district itself was generaJlv wealthy. The Patoa Hospital district

was much better off in many respects than the Hawera district. He instanced the endowments. There were only three other districts in New Zealand which were in receipt of sueh 7 a small subsidy as Hawera. It was decided, on the motion of Crs. Gifford and Campbell, that they support the Stratford Hospital Board's proposal.

After further discussion it was decided, oh the motion of Crs. McWilliam and Knuckey, that the Council's two Hospital Board members, together with the chairman, be authorised to confer with the member fop the district and go into the question, with power to act.

ENGINEER'S REPORT. The engineer (Mr. Maurice E. Fitzgerald) reported' as follows: The month's work has been chiefly devoted to clearing water-tables and culverts and at the same time keeping expenditure down. The engineer's car has been under overhaul and some further work will have to be done to it when it can be spared. The crusher has been turning out chips in sufficient quantities to enable lorries to deliver loads when taking men to work, and the horses have been engaged in collecting a~stock of sand and gravel. Wet days have been devoted to the manufacture of cement pipes and cement posts. South Riding: Some patching was done on the hill on Skeet Road but the de1-

livery of stone for re-surfacing has been very slow. Practically all the other roads in 4 this riding have had attention paid to water-tables and> culverts. Mangatoki Riding: Temporary repaiis have been carried out to Mangatoki bridge, and a start has been made, with the bending of steel for the new.bridge. Work was done on most of the r-^ads in this riding. Omona Riding: Sl'ps have been dealt with on Rawhitiroa

and Mataiwhetu Roads. Further progress was made with the "thirds'* works. Kaponga Riding: Mr. Ju'ian has crushed about half his contract quantity, and a small amount of stone has been used on Auroa Road. An 18: n. culvert was put in at the top end of Aurba Road, and general work has been done on Manga whero, Manaia, Opunake, and Eltham Roads. Eltham Riding: Most of the month's work was devoted to Rawbitiroa Road, namely, surfaceine at Mangamingi, clearing slips on the ridge, and the patching of Rawhitiroa. Work was also done on Hu Road. Templar Street, and Tirimoana Road.