MANIOTOTO COUNTY COUNCIL

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume 26, Issue 1369, 16 January 1896, Page 3

MANIOTOTO COUNTY COUNCIL

The ordinary meeting of the County Council was held in the Council Chambers," Naseby. on Wednesday, Sth January 1896. Present -Crs Forrester (chairman)!Turnbull. Guffi Johnstone, Kinney, Logan, Ewing, and Coram. minutes. The minutes of the 1 ast annual and ordinary neetinjrs. held on 28th November last, were ead, and confirmed on the motion of Cr Kinney, seconded by Cr Guffie. COE"RESPONDENCE. Schedules of outward and inward correspondence were read. TENDERS. Tenders were dealt with as reported in outlast issue. OTAGO CENTRAL BAILWAY LEAGUE. The secretary to the Otago Central Railway League forwarded a copy of a resolution thanking the council for the resolution agreed to some time »go. which was asunder—" The Executive Council of the Otago Central Railway League desire to express its great satisfaction with the resolution of the Maniototo County Council and its appreciation thereof, and thanks the council for so strengthening the hands of the league and encouraging it to persevere in the work for which it exists.—Received. HAWKEH'3 LICENSE. A. Montgomery, hawker, Ravensbourne, asked th» council to extend his license, datf d 2nd May last, on account of an accide-1 which happened to him in August.—Ri - ceived. IDA VALLEY. F. H. Perry, complained of the state of the road passing .his door, and asked the council to place a pipe culvert at the corner of his fence, together with a few chains of ditching on each side of the road. The road was a quagmire for nine months out of the twelve. Moved by Cr Logan, and seconded by Cr Guffie—That Mr Perry's letter be received, and the matter of putting in a culvert be left in. the hands of ' the chairman.—Carried unanimously. KOUGH ItIDGE. F. H. Perry, secretary to the Rough Ridge School Committee, stated that several months ago an application was made for bridges to be placed across"the Idaburn creek at different points in the main road leading to the school. The council granted planks, but no steps had yet been taken to place them in position, consequently the children have to wade r hrough the creek. The committee request the erection of safe and convenient bridges placed across the creek Moved by Cr Logan, and- seconded by Cr Turnbull —That the letter from the secretary of the Rough Ridge School Committee be received, and that the engineer be instructed to have all foot-planks throughout the county attended to by the surfacing gangs forthwith—Carried unanimously. GENEBAL AND SPECIAL HATES. A circular was read from the Controller and Auditor-general stating that "as much confusion has arisen as to-whether the rates struck by county councils, are general or special rates, I shall be much obliged if your council will state in the resolution striking any rate in the future the' clause in the Counties Act under the authority of which the rate is to be raised, and if you will cause a copy of such resolution to be forwarded to this office as soon as passed."—Received. EETUBN OF PROPERTIES. The Commissioner of Crown Lands forwarded for valuation purposes a return of all lands in Maniototo County alienated from the Crown during the y«ar ended 31st Dec., 1895 ; also a list of transfers of lands in the county registered in the same period.— Received. NEW BO AD. A letter was read, signed by MessTs P. Fennessy, John Fennessy, John Wheeler, and 0. Dixon, asking the council to repair the road leading from M'Kay's to their mining claims on the upper side of the Government race, near Idaburn creek. There was also a valuable pit containing coal very useful for steaming purposes. Moved by Cr Guffie., and seconded by Cr Kinney—That the letter of P. Fennessy and others be received, and that the chairman and engineer be authorised to expend the sum of £.12 on the road in question. On the motion being put there voted : 1 Ayes—Crs Guffie, Kinney, and Forrester; j noes—Cr Logan, Turnbull. and Johnstone. There being a tie, the chairman gave his casting- vote with the ayes. PATEABOA —DAMAGES. | A letter was read from W. Hall,.jun., complaining that the. tailings water coming from Rocky Creek had filled up the channel, and ran down the road doing a lot of damage and destroying some of the crops. He requested that the council should make a crossing over the channel as it was unfit for heavy traffic. John M'Kay also informed the council that William Johnstone, farmer, Gimmerburn, and Owen Cambridge, minsr, Patearoa, had cut a deep channeracross the main road near Patearoa Schoolhouse. He got stuck with a load of coal all night on the 27th Dec. and nearly got his shafter killed. As he lost two days in getting the coal and dray out be claimed £2 as damages. Moved by Cr Logan, and seconded by Cr Turnbull—That Mr John Jl'Kay's letter be received, and he be informed that this council cannot recognise any liability in the matter complained of. Carried unanimously. Moved by Cr Logan, and seconded by Cr Guffie—That the engineer see to the matter of the ditch cut across the road, Sowbtvn to Law's ford, and inform the persons who cut it that the council will proceed against them unless a proper crossing is erected without delay, and will hold them responsible for any damage which .may arise.—Carried unanimously. • NDBBERY. Nathaniel Gordon, nurseryman, complained, that C. Blackwelt was sending tailings down the race, and that last week water for domestic purposes had to be carried for about iialf a mile. Left in the hands of the chairman, and that Mr Blackwell be infotmed that unless tlKrequired repairs are effected proceedings will oe taken at once. KYEBUBX DISTRICT—VOTE £SOO. A petition was read and presented by Cr Logan, signed by 30 ratepayers in the Kyeburn district, protesting against the action of Cr Logan in moving in his place in the council that the Government vote of £SOO for •• r;tpairs and maintenance of roads rad bridges in the Kyeburn district" should be devoted to the construction of a bridge at iokonga, this being in th<-ir opinion a diversion of the intention of the vote and a violation of the terms of the undertaking iccnpted by the council After considerable discussion Cr Ewin" moved, and Cr Kinney seconded—That the £SOO the council has undertaken to expend on "repairs and maintenance'of roads and bridges'in the Kyeburn district" be allocated is follo-.vs : £3OO to improving and forming •vhere require:! the Upper Kyeburn roads ami oridges connecting with the new road through Dansey's i J ass, and £2OO to erecting i foot-bridge over the Taieri River ityan s ; that the petitioners be informed ot lie decision on the part of the cmnci . .vhich it considers is in tin? general interestif the ratepayers of Kyeburn district, and m i-nor-lance with the desires of tie PublicWorks Department.—Carried on the voices, 'r Guffie dissenting. Moved by Cr Logan, and seconded by Cr Kwiusf That the engineer pr-.-pare plana and MwUicntions. and call for tenders f.>r tiie •itj-.-u.liturc of the balance of vote £SOO tiyeburn district.—Carried unanimously. FINGEIt POSTS. Moved by Cr Login, and seconded by Ci Purnbull That finger posts be erected lirecting travellers to footbri ig :.s at Kvejurn; cost to be charged to vote £sov. Kyeburn district. ROAD NEAB KOKONGA. Moved by Cr Loi/an. and seconded by Cr Ivinncy— lhat the ehiirinan communicate > ith the Public Words Department re state jf r ad between Williamson's and Kokonga. —Cariicl unanimously. rat i-:a ho a bkidqe. Cr Turnbull stat.-d that the bridge at Patearoa required painting and repai ing. rh« c mucit agreed to ipavc the matter in hiti (Cr hm'ls.

engineer's report. The engineer'reported tor the month of December, 1595, as follows : HAMILTON BRIDGE CONTRACT. On tile 23rd December, -ill" Fov>li_-i\ one contractor, telegraphed to the eifei-t that the iron had arrived, and asking me to come down as soon as possible. In reply to my telegram to the Resident Engineer, Public Works Department, Dunedin, informing him that the iron had arrived, Mr Ussher replied—" That he had instructed Inspector Norman to inspect Ha-nillon bridge iron jointly with .me on Tuesday, 31st, at Alosgiei." After testing, we found the iron to be of very good quality, Air Norman expressing satisfaction. Mr Fowler exp:cts to have the ironworks completed and put together in his yards in two months. With the additional I .nL of £-200 (making a to'ai of £700) voted by the Government for this bridge, and the contract price, .£S2O, being £6O or £3O less than the estimates, I would respectfully recommend that iron cross joists under the planking should be substitute! for the timber joibtsspe ified. The timber joists specified form part of the old bridge with the addition of lei new pieces of timber, as in the new ! structure the cross joists are placed closer th..n in the old bridge. I may add that in order to > conomise as far as I could the county funds, 1 tried to utilise as much as possible the old material, but as an additional £2OO has been granted by the Government for this work, I feel it my duty to make the above recommendation. Mr Fowler, the contractor, has, after making due deduction for the value of the timber joists, submitted a price to substitute the same number cf iron T joists for timber, the sum so named is £SOIOs. I explained to Mr Norman, who agreed with me that the sum mentioned was very re:ison.able. Should the council agree to accept of this offer, it will be necessary to "advise Mr Fowler as soon as possible, as he will require to send to Melbourne for the joists (iron) as they are not made in Dunedin. COUNTY VALUATION-. In my report to the council at its last meeting I suggested the desirability of obtaining legal advice with regard to valuing lands held under S.G. Run tenure, the Act being somewhat ambiguous. lam still ot opinion that legal interpretation should be i obtained, as a wrong basis of valuing will, or may, I entail considerable loss to the couucil, as well as inconvenience and loss of tune to ratepayers who may consider they have been wrongly valued. , APPROPRIATIONS—THK LANDS IMPROVEMENT ACCOUNT. Under this heading it is usual to find a number of i grants to open up Crown lands (recently surveyed) for settlement. A circular from the Chief Surveyor i i« sent annually to this council as well as to the i d jtrict surveyor, to be filled in with the amounts equired to open up recently surveyed land for ] ettlement. In March last in conjunction with Mr | Calder, I furnished an estimate of.the amounts so required, total being £llOO (as shown' in the letter i book, page 295-6 . This sum did not include the i grant to Hamilton bridge, this being subsequently i applied for direct from the council. On looking i through the printed appropriations recently received, 1 beyond the sum voted for Lhe bridge, there'is nothing ] on the estimates to meet our road making require- | ments. i ROAD IMPROVEMENTS. , My attention has been directed to the road between i sections 33 and -25, block IV, Gimmei-burn, and | sections 15 and 12, block IX, Maniototo, from Mr Blakely's corner going towards Messrs Black and Weir's farms. The piece of road referred to is low lying being crossed avid recressed by the Eden creek, ■ flood channels, and lagoons, the continuation of the ' road above is fairly good, but the portion complained j of has been nearly impassable for a long time. The cost of improving the worst portion would be from < £4O to £SO, payable out of accrued thirds. , BROAD TIRKS. ( Two cases were reported, one by Constable O'Brien, , Of Hyde, and one by Constable Johnstone, of Naseby. 1 Mr Inder was instructed to proceed, and informations laid, the cases to be heard at Hyde. In the one case the county obtained a conviction, in the other case the defendant pleaded not guilty and asked for an adjournment, which was granted, the cas2 to be heard at Naseby ou the 14th iust.—Received. HAMILTON BRIDGE Moved by Cr Logan, and seconded by Or Guffie—Tt at the chairman annly for No. 93, item No. 3, £2OO for Hami ton Bridge.— Carried unanimously. Moved by Cr Ewing, and seconded by Cr Turnbull—That the offer of the contractor for the Hamilton bridge to substitute iron T joists for timber for £BO 10s extra be accepted. Carried without dissent. LEOAX, OPINION. It was resolved to instruct the chaiiman. to obtain alegal opinion respecting the rating of small grazing runs. ' GIMMERBURN AND MANIOTOTO. Moved by Cr Ewing, and seconded by Cr Guffie—That the worst portion of the road between sections 33 and 25, block IV Gimmerburn, and sections 15 and 12, Vock IX. Maniototo, be improved in accordance with the engineer's recommendation ; that SDecifications be prepared and tenders called for the work to. be dealt with by the Finance at its next meeting, the cost to be charged to thirds and fourths accrued within the blocks. —Carried unanimously. POUVDKEEPER'S REPORT. The poundkeeper reported that since last meeting one horse had beeu impounded but was released. Fees, £2 15s.—Eeceived. POUND INSPECTOR'S REPORT. The pound inspector reported that the pound management was satisfactory.—Received. FINANCE COMMITTEE'S REPORT. The Finance Committee's report was read and adopted on the motion of Cr Turnbull, seconded by Cr Kinney. NOTICE OF MOTION. Cr Logan moved the motion, notice of which was given at last meeting :—" That a place be set apart on the Order Paper for receiving resolutions dealing with business which does not appear on the Order Paper. Seconded by Cr Guffie. After some discussion Cr Logan withdrew the motion. FINANCE. Accounts amounting to £6O o.ld, were passed for payment.