INANGAHUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Inangahua Times, Volume IV, Issue 3, 30 November 1877, Page 2

INANGAHUA COUNTY COUNCIL.

The ordinary monthly meeting qf the members of the Inangahua County Council was held at the office, Broadway, 00 Wednesday l^t. The minutes of the previous meeting having been read and confirmed, the Clerk read copies of all .correspondence fqrr warded since the last meeting. A mass of correspondence was. r.a.ad relating to the Grey Road, and tbe proposal to a,ltor the mute, the general tenor of which, was to the effect that the Bistric.t Engineer M, r O'Connor was favor, abje to thp adoption of the western .or old TOflte. Mr John Dick thought tbe time had arrived for making an effort tq obtain, Bom,e. special assistance from, the General Government for public wqrks in the Con,n^y. Ho saw that other.. p,u,b,lic bodies h,afl een - Bflcoes.sf.nl, and suggested therefqre that; the Oou,tftv Chairman sboujd proceed tq Wellington for % purpose, qf haying a, personal interview^ with the Minister pf Public Work?, v, favorable, opportunity wou,ld thus bo gained qf laying the watyts qf tbe district b.efpre {ho GpYernmeQt, and it was likely th,at gpqd resujts w6^d fol^qw. Af^er further discussion upon the gub~ of the Chairman's proposed iflissiqn it was d,epid?d tq defer the further copgid,era.tion, pf the matter a later, period, of Vttiflg, Letter »ea4 frftW T. Patterson com*; plaim'ng thut T. McQuillan was felling timber on the river bank in a way to damage complainant's property. A long diocu,sf jen euajued as to the right

' of the Council to interfere, the lund along the courses of the river being reserved and such, reserves being vested in the Waste Jjands Board, Nelson. Finally it was decided jn apcordaopp wjtj? the advicp of the Couqty Solicitor to write to the Waste L,ands Board, Nelson., asking that i the co;n?eryation of thp rpspryes be vested in thp Cpuncil. i The qqestion of the maintenance of the river reserves was in.entiqn.ee} during the 1 discussion. An qpiofon prevails that ] Jessees of |$nd alqag river cqurses are |boi^od to leave a pba.ii} of lajjd between ( boundary fences aq4 the banks qf fivers, « and fu.rtb,e.r that as the portion so left is away lessees are. boqnd tq shift "" bapk their fences. The Qpiaion'in thp 1 Pouncil qpon this pQiqt was divsergent, ( and in qrdpr to set the matter, at rest it t w*s 4epided on the n^qtion of l^fr Da?ies 1 that thp County Solictqr he asked to give I his opinion on the subject. I Erqm, Qeorge Black askjng t^at ripjhl- 1 of-w^y b,etwe«n Shiel and Ch,urcli streets I be opened to the public. Referred to tbe. \ Engineer. ' L^ettep read from Mt Mountfort, Civil i Epgi^eer, Canterbury stuting I'mt if the I appointment of County Engineer wa? 1 oppu he was willing to accept it. After discussion, it was reselved thut ~b[r Mountfort be informed that the Cou.n- , cil had already made arrangements abou.t the office, and that should any alteracjqp take place applications would b,e invited in the ordinary way through the publip '. press. ' From J. B. Allen reporting on the sus- i pension bridge, and stating that the work 1 had been performed faithfully in accordance with die specifications, an,d passing ( the work. A discussion hero arose as to the wpight the bridge was capable ot carrying, in the course of which Mr Buyfeild stated that an amateur engineer in town h ft d gone into figures on the subject, and a as result had "arrived at the conclusion that the bridge would not carry more than four ton a. Tho Chairman remarked that he had himself seen a greater weight than four tons upon the bridge. Mr Gardiner was here culled in for information upon the subject and stated that the gross currying cupueity of the bridge was 60 tons, this being subject to a reduction 8f tons the dead weight of all material used in construction. The Chairman said if any doubt existed in the public miud as to the capacity of the suspension b.idge bpar such a strain as might occasionally be put upon it it, would be well, if the expense were not great, to, as far us possible, remove a!) .doubt upon the subject. Several minor improvemeuts were then suggested in the fustenings of the wires, tackles, &c, and the engineer was ordered to have them effected. From the Collector of Custom*, Greymouth, stating that the bauks iuvariably furnisli a statement showing from what ! district gold exported was procured,. From Georgo Wise calling the attention of the Council to the advisability of making timber reserves at Boatman's as largo areas of ground in that neigh* borhood were being applied for, and if granted the companies after a time would experience difficulty iv ppo(juriug mining timber. Mr Davies thought the remedy lay with the mining companies themselves, as i f was their duty to lodge an objectiou against the granting of any lease or priviligo calculated to injure them iv the future. Mr Bayfeild thought the matter was one for the Council to act in. It was of iitk& highest importance that the matter be looked after. Mr Caples agreed that tho Council should take action. He had himself on a former occaaion endeavoured to do some' thing ia the matter, but though he had obtained the siguature, of every mining manager in Boatman's a petition on tbo subject to the Government had had no effect. This closed the correspondence. Hie Olerk read a copy of letter forwarded to all contractors in Mie pay of the Council wherein it was stated that any I contract which after the service of the notice in questiou^.was not being carried out strictly in accordance with the specifloations would be cancelled. The Overseer's report was read and received. 1 A lqng discussion ensued as to, the erection qf a bridge over Boatman's • 3 reek, at pronadun, It was stated that i during floods the creek overrun^ the bank 1 a,nd %ws for two miles down the road Washing off the metal and, doing groat damage to oulverts and, private property, The bridge would, coat £^0 besides an additional £60, for compensation and cut« ting channel through Gallagher Brothers ( paddock. This work would. als.o include j tho construction, of a dam, tq prevent 1 flopd water running down tbe road. It < was suggested th,at. by cutting a straight ■ course for the c,reek through, Gallagher's j paddock nine fee,t of fall would th"u,s be , obtained whjph, would be sufficient (0 ; carry off all water. ' A long discussion ensued a,s to the a,d- 1 Yisability p,f proceeding w^th the wor!?, 1 There wa.s, some diversity p.f opim'qng'as to the payment of the sum, aaj^ed as com,- , pension, bu,t it was shown that GaU higher Brothers, would, if the channel were taken through tbeir ground, have to , rempve their slaughter yards, besides , ! lesing portion of their land and rendering \ themselves liable to future encroaehri^ts

of the river. Ultimately it was. agreed to leave the matter in the hands of the Executive Committee to decide. Tho Gferk was authorised to take the necessity steps for the purpose of bringing " The Dog Tax " into force within the County. Mr B,yrqe inquired what had been done relative to the framing of bye-laws. The Chairman replied that there was no power eiven to the Council to. frame byelaws affectipg stray animals. On the motion of Mr Davips, the eqgineer was directed to select $ site for a public poujid. The Clerk was directed to apply to tho Waste Lands Board, Nelson, for a statement of a.ll laqd held under lease in the County wjfch occupiers name area, Sec, &lsq for all land applied for. Such information wtyeu obtained to be entered in a book tq h,O It opt for that purpose. The Clerk was further directed to take the necessary qtgpg to collect information as to the a.rea flf all land taken up along the juain road from Greymouth to Nelson together with population, average tonnage pf traffic, 4£0., with the view of applying; to the General Government to take over such road. On the motion of Mr Davies. seconded by Mr Irving, it was resolved to apply to the General Government to have a State school established at Keeftou. Mr Dick brought before the Council the necessity of widening the Black's Point track into a waggon road. He pointed out th 4 there were 100 stampers at work in that portion of the district, and at present gll heavy freight had to be taken up the river bed. A long discussion followed, and eventually ifc was agreed upon the motion of Mr Dick, seconded by Mr Caples, that tho selection of the route and other details be left to tho engineer, and that tenders be called for the work, such tensors to close on the 12th December. It was stated that the present overdraft of the Council was something like £1000. Mr Pick's motion relative to the Chairman's mission to Wellington was again brought on for discussion, and it was finally resolved fthat the Chairma.i be deputed to proceed, to Wellington as early as possible to^eonfer with tho Minister of Public Works, r.e Grey road, protective works, mnintenanuo Hampdeu load, and other works. A long and desultry discussion took place upon the subject of protecting the southern bank ot the river from the acfion of floods. Tho engineer sub mitted a plan and estimate of tho work required to be done, and it \yas ultimately decided to only at present proceed with suflLjieut of the work to protect the pier of the bridge, and turn the current of tUe river from the direction of tho China* man's gurden, aud a resolution to that effect was moved by Mr Dick, and secouded by Mr By rue, and carried. The engineer called attention to the urgent necessity of putting in extra crates to protect the northern river bank at the crossing of Bridge Street ; and it was in the end moved by Mr D-mi'S, and seconded by Mr Irving, that tho present protective works contractor be requested to perform the work required. The vexed question ot" horse-hire again cropped up, aud it was decided on the motion of Mr Davies, secouded by Mr Dick, thut the engineer purchase a horse. A number of accounts were presented and passed for payment, aud the Council then adjourned.