WESTLAND COUNTY

Hokitika Guardian, 8 July 1935, Page 2

WESTLAND COUNTY

FINANCE COMMITTEE. SATURDAY. JULY 6. The Finance Committee of the Westland County Council sat at 7 pan. Present Messrs B. Ward, (chairman ) W: A. Jamieson. J. A. Murdoch, A. . Pale, W. Jeffrie*, T. R. Chesterman and J. ’J. McKay. The accounts, for the mouth of June -were iexantiheci; artd the total amount recommended for payment was £2006 4s lid, INWARD correspondence From treasury notifying remittances to the County Fund Account.—Received. 'V. ... ' y-: From Unemployment Boat’d asking for report ,bn work done under No. 5 Scheme.—deceived. The chairman stated he approved tlie reply which had been despatched From Sadie, completion of. arrangements for restoration of Mil* froy’s hridgfe,' the Council to contribute £2so.—Deceived with thanks. The Council’s contribution had been paid. From Sadie, advising.the matter of La Fontaine road extension was still beiitg investigated. —Received, to await further ini'dirhation , Fi’oni intcrriiil Affairs Department, stated Wednesday, August ", would be observed;Albor Da,V.—RetSived .From'. ‘Native Department advising £306 was-available for relief of unemployed Mitbris in connection with the Food damage at Araiiura, subject to the schbhie of work being approved by the Public Works . Department.—Received, await approval of proposals by, the Department. From Afiuds Department enquiring as to th# ! position regarding Mt. (Been, lahd 'prtlspecUnf; track.—Received, mforihatioil silpplihci.

From J:.s. O'Hrien; A!.l*., ieprrting oil iniekvifcw vri&li-Minister of Public AVork<£. at Wellington regarding (lie Fkti juntos Til] which Jlr Webb. M.P.. siiplioi'toci. ‘blit regretting tho r<»sult wasp not satisfactory altogether. , #n*l fii'rtluT rojircspiitations Wt.uld bo inti do. "-vt.it h thanks for the efforts iUfjtje on behalf of tin? dislriot. From W. Searlo. Haiihari, oxprexsinjr thiinks of letter of appreciation ol his servin' ns member—Received., .Frdm Christina Passmore, (!eor<re J. Tlioiftson. Thos. .!. Adamson. Hon limit arid' MeKeiizie, applying for renewal of; slaughter house licenses.—Received anri recommended lor approval. From -las. Cain. Kilrangarua. ask- , ing permission to occupy a spare piece of road reserve along Scott’s creek. — Received and no objection while reserve unformed. From K. T), V. Boxes Ltd., requesting permission to construct a snig track .along unformed road n»ar Poerua river to ban! timber.—" Received, it was stated the work in hand. ' Resolved no objection. From W. D. Nolan, Okura, asking perm*'ssion to lisp old stringe’s from obsolete Okuru wharf in connection with access to air landing.—Received, and no objection" to the material being used for a public purpose. "Reports from the engineer were-re-ceived and laid on the table.

HIGHWAYS REPORT. The report of the County Engineer on the progress ol work on Secondary Highways during the month, was as iollows KANIERI-KOLTERANGI MAIN HIGHWAY. Two county trucks were engaged for 1 days delivering 2U5 yards of maintenance gravel between Kanieri township and Longford. After a thorough overhaul the power grader will commence operations on this Highway earlv next Week.

- Repairs are still in progress on the Kokatahi Bridge. Many additional transom renewals were found necessary when portions of the decking had been removed. The bridge , was closed for one day to renew caps and corbels of one of the centre piers.

A plan and particulars of the proposed improvements to the approaches and alignment of Harris Creek Bridge, near fitopforth’s, have been submitted to the District Highways Engineer. • Tenders will be called for Cropp’s Creek culvert renewal as soon as plans are apnvoved bv the Public Works Department. 4 Repai"s Were carried ofit to a section of the linlidrai's and decking of the Kanieri River bridge. Kokatahi road. I would recommend that specifications be prepared and tenders called for clearing.the main and subsidarv drains along the Kokatahi Road above and below Mr Whiley’s property. Tenders to bo called for the work in various sections, and to be in for consideration at the next meeting of the Council.

LAKE KANIERI MAIN HIGHWAY. Rrepairs were carried out to wire groynes ami protection works along th e river bank between McKay s creek and Slij) Hill. One section of groyne along the toe of bank was extended 40 feet taking 50 yards for filling. The northern approach to the Kanfrei River Bridge was widened about (1 feet for 2 c hains ai.d wiil he metalled as soon as a lorry is avail- file. A .narrow section of highway near Crawfish .Creek is being widened from spoil taken from a nearby breast cutting. Tliis cutting is on a very sham curve and will be greatly improved with tlik batters Cut back and benched. A county lorry was engaged for 5 clays delivering 124 yards of maintenance gravel.

The contract for the Black Creek Drive deviation has been satisfactorily completed. As the subgrade between the deviation and existing road was fairly even, arrangements were made to metal this section for about 3 chains to provide for a passing or turning place.

Tn company with the District Engineer. an inspection was made of the proposed site ami locality of Striblim? Creek Bridge. No decision- was reached • as to the length of the new bridge, bur a locality plan is being prepared ami will be sent on for consideration. After a thorough 'inspection of Dm country above the bi”’ rlorn site, ti e District Engineer thought the bridge ‘‘"hon'd bo of a permanent nature, as the fall of the creek, both below and above the bridge would he o-rent enough tp allow tailings to pass through, and

for this purpose a special design of bridge would be considered. UPPER KOKATAHt MAIN HIGHWAY 30 yards of - patching was the only work necessary on this sqc-tion .of Highway during the month. The power grader will be operating on this road in the near future, with further metalling to follow. FOR KS-OKARI TO MAIN HIGHWAY Further improvements to the alignment ou several corners have been made. The material from the cuuttings have been used for road widening. Several days of patching pot holes and scours wore attended to by the roadmau. Repairs to the Forks bridge and Tidal Creek bridge are now well in hand. Opportunity was taken to build up a. large dump of maintenance gravel from deposits on the sea beach. A decayed box culvert is being replaced with twin 18 inch concrete pipes The road surface is considered in verygood order at present.

DISTRICT ROAD REPORT. Tire County Engineer reported on tin works carried out during the past month, as follows: Northern Riding, Three men have been employed cutting gorse and other growth along Chesterfield and Kapitea Beach roads Several pot holes were filled in and the roads are now in good order. Two relie men have been clearing slips and watertables along Sandy’s Hill road. The necessary timber to rebuild a 12ft cul vert on the Awatuna road has been de livered and the work will be put ii Jiand as soon as the. creek is low enough to proceed. - Relief labour has beei employed widening a section of Germai Road giving access to a new building site for R. Dalglish. Greek Creek cross ilip; on the A rahnra Valley road ha proved satisfactory since the bridge ha been removed. A water course notice oi the western approach would fie bene ficial to motorists. Six chains of 2f drain requires cleaning along road fronting Mr Acrnew’s residence.

hi company wfitli a Public Works lie part men t- engineer, an inspection wa made along the hanks.of the Araliur: River to consider a scheme of protection work that could bo carried out with local Maori relief labour. Three definite schemes were decided upon anc should be carried out in the following order

1. Excavating 3 chains of ohanne’ through a shingle bank 10 chains above I Hungerford old bridge site and con stnicting 5 chains of heavy cable boom 2. Constructing a series of short sto] banks across present overflow clianne" totalling 20 chains in length. The hank.' to commence from terrace behind Dal glish’s cottage and each hank running in north easterly directions in a line symmetrical to the man channel. 3. Excavating approximately y chains of channel through large shiiiirh bank 20 chains below Malfroy’s bridge, together with 3 chains of heavy cable boom. The cost of the above scheme would he as follows:—Labour £.300, siipervis-

ion £SO, material on site' £BO, Horse hire £25, total £405. As the Public Works Department intend putting in 5 short groynes along the eastern bank above Malfrov’s bridge, no work should be done along this section in the meantime. Centra) Riding. Two box culverts on the Municipal Road were replaced with 8 inch and 2ft, concrete pipes. A Oil platform culvert near Mr Spence’s residence was taken up and replaced with a 10ft culvert. The old culvert being unable to take the water during heavy rains which meant .continuous metal patching to the road surface. Two men were engaged for 5 days with horse and diay filling in ruts and metalling Whitcombe Road between the Gorge and Pigeon creek bridge. The amount of metal delivered was 80. A County lorry" was engaged for 2 days patching Rnatapu road. Relief labour was employed cutting back scrub and gorse along several corners and bridge approaches. Hokitika South roda was patch metalled throughout to the extent of 25 yards. The power grader will operate on all Koiterangi roads in need of attention this month. The contractors have completed the formation work of the ‘McArthurStation road. Metalling operations are suspended owing to the inclement weather. Plans are being prepared to complete the road with a further Government grant.

Southern Riding General pnnintenance work on all southern Riding roads lias been attended to by the roadmen. Metal'patching has been done on Wataroa Flat, Inter Wanganui. La Fontaine, Poerua Set-

tlement, Petersen Road and Robertson Road. Arrangements have been made to proceed with the work of removing stones etc. to improve the main Poerua River channel to prevent further erosion of Cron’s access road at Harihari. In company with a Public Works Department engineer an inspection was made of the Petersen Road contract at 'Harihari. It was considered necessary to fall a few trees along the river bank and wire same securely to afford protection and prevent possible erosion in the future. Owing to the backing up of the Poerua river during floods it was proposed to erect 10 chains of 3ft Pin barb wire fencing with bundles of manuka or scrub wired along river side of fence to collect debris and silt to prevent the backwash from scouring the road metal or leaving deposits of silt on the road surface. This additional : work will cost £25 and will be paid from balance of Government grant.