MANIOTOTO COUNTY COUNCIL

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume 26, Issue 1369, 17 January 1896, Page 3

MANIOTOTO COUNTY COUNCIL

Ft" -Trm'ordaairy'-meeting of the t&unfy Council %as neld in the Council Chambers, hjjjn Wednesday, Bth January 1896. Present t-Crs Forrester (chairman), Turnbull. Guffie. ■ohnstone, Kinney, Logan, Ewing, and Coram. MINUTES. The minutes of the last annual and ordinary meetings, held on 28th November last, were read, and confirmed on the motion of Cr Kinney, seconded by Cr Guffie. CORRESPONDENCE. Schedules •of outward ami-inward- corre- | spondence were read. I TENDRRS. Tenders were dealt with as reported in our I last isstiL^ 1 I CENTRAL RAILWAY LEAGUE. m. The secretary to the Otago Central Railway League forwarded a copy of a resolution t thanking the council for the resolution agreed P" to some time ago. which was as under—" The fk Executive Council of the Otago Central Railway League desire to express its great satisfaction with the resolution of the Maniok-' toto County Council and its appreciation ti thereof, and thanks the council for so ; ._ strengthening the hands of the league and |C encouraging it to persevere in the work for ■gf which it exists.—Received. E-" hawker's license. ■£' A. Montgomery, hawker, Kavensbourne, Bb~ asked the council to extend his license, dated. Hf 2nd May last, on account of an accidei t BV which happened to him in August.—ReK ceived. F IDA VALLEY. Cy F. H. Perry, complained of the state of the K/.. 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 (r 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 Onffie—That Mr Perry's letter be received " and the matter of putting in a culvert be left (-y in the hanits of the chairman.—Carried jiv. j£ ROUGH RIDGE. Jf. F. H. Perry, secretary to the Rough Ridge r< School Committee, stated that several mnnthp ■■' 3tgo an application was made for bridges t< .: bf> nlaced across the Idaburn creek at different points in the main road leading to the school. The council granted planks, but no steps ha;i yet been taken to place them in position ■consequently the children have to wad'through 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 tbe letter fiom the secretary of the Rough Ridge School Committee bireceived, and that the engineer be instructed to have all foot-platiks throughout the county -attended to by the surfacing gangs forth--with —Carried unanimously. '.i GENERAL AND SPECIAL RATES. A circular was read from the Controller and Auditor-general stating that ,: as much conifasion has arisen as to whether the rates struck by county couacils. 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 iE you will cause a copy of such resolution to be forwarded to this office as soon as passed."—Received. RETURN OF PROPERTIES. The Commissioner of Crown Lands for'warded for valuation purposes a return of all lands in Maniototo County alienated from the Crown during the y>>ar ended 31st Deo.. 1835 ; also a list of transfers of lands in the cotmty registered in the same period.— Received. NEW ROAD. A letter was read, signed by Messrs P. -Feanessy, John Fennessy. John Wheeler, and C. Dixon, asking the council to tepair 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 £l2 on the road in question. On the motion being put there voted:— .Ayes - Crs Guffie, Kinney, and Forrester; .moe*! —Cr Logan, Turnbull. and Johnstone. There being a tie, the chairman gave his casting vote with the ayes. PATEAROA—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, miner. Patearoa, had cut a deep channel across th* main road near Patearoa Schoolhouse. He got stuck with a load of coal all night on the 27th Dec. and nearly got his shatter ktll«d. A." he lort two days in getting the ■coal and dray out he claimed £2 as damages. Moved by Cr Logan, and seconded by Cr Turnbull—That Mr John M-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, Sowbu'-n 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. NURSERY. Nathaniel Gordon, nurseryman, complained that C. Blackwell was sending tailings down the race, and that last week water for domestic purposes had to be carried for about half a mile. Left in the hands of the chairman, and that Mr Blackwell be informed that unless thf ■required repairs are effected proceedings will be taken at once. KTEBURN DISTRICT—VOTE £SOO. A petition was read and presented by Cr Logan, signed by HO ratepayers in the Kyeburn district, protesting against thcaction of Cr Logan iu moving in his place in the council that the Government vote of £SOO for/' repairs and maintenance of roadsand bridges in the Kyeburn district" should ,be devoted to the construction of a bridge at Kokonga, this being in their opinion a diversion of the intention of the vote and a violation of the terms of the undertaking accepted by the council. After considerable discussion Cr Ewinp 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 as follows:—£300 to improving and forming where required the Upper Kyeburu roads and bridges connecting with the new road through Dansey's I'ass. and £2OO to erecting a foot-bridge over the Taieri River near Ryan's; that the petitioners be informed of the decision on the part of the council, which it considers is in the general interest:of the ratepayers of Kyeburn district, and in accordance with the desires of the Public Works Department. —Carried on the voices. Cr Guffie dissenting. Moved by Cr Logan, and seconded by Cr Ewing -That the engineer prepare plaus and specifications, and call for tenders for the expenditure of the balance of vote £SOO Kyeburn district.—Carried unanimously. FINGER POSTS. Moved by Cr Logan, and seconded by Cr Turnbull That finger posts be erected ■ directing travellers to footbridges at KyeH born;' cost to be charged to vote £SOO. Kyeburn district. ROAD NEAR KOKONGA. Moved by Cr Logan, and seconded by Cr Kinney—That the chairman commuutoate with tbe Public Words Department re state of road between Williamson's and Kokonga. —Carried unanimously. PATEAROA BRIDGE. Cr Turnbull stated that the bridge at Patearoa required painting and repairing. The council agreed to leave the matter in "his (Cr Turobull's) hands'.

engineer's report. The engineer reported for the month, of - HAMILTON BEIDOB COKTRACT. .'lift "the 23rd December, Mr Fowler, the contractor, telegraphed tb the effect that the iron had arrived, andasking trie to come down S3 soon as possible. In repiy' ttf say telegram to phe Resident Engineer, Public- Works fle'eartinerifr,. Diinediii, informing him that the iron hid arrived-, Mr Ussher Teplied—"That he had Instructed Inspector Norman to inspect Hamilton bridge iron jointly with me on .-Tuesday, ! Slat, at Mpsgiel." After lesting, we found Ui? liron to . be of very good quality, !Tf aiorumn eipre33jng '■"■js- ', /action. Jlr Fowler expects to have the ironworks completed and put together in his yards in two months. ft'lth the additional grant of £2OO (making 1 ft 3f £700) voted by the Government for this bridge, md the contract price, £B2O, being £6O or £BO less than the estimates, I would respectfully recommend that iron cross joists under the planking should be substitute i for the timber joists speiified. The timber joists specified form part of the old bridge with the addition of 18 new pieces of timber, as in the new struoture the cross joists are placed closer than in the old bridge. I may add that in order to economise a 9 far as I oould the county funds, I 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 £Bolos. I explained to Mr Norman, who agreed with me that the sum mentioned was very reasonable. 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 sifgested the desirability of obtaim >g legal advice with regard to valuing lands held under S.G. Run tjmre, the Act being somewhat ambiguous. lam ■Sill of opinion that legal interpretation should be O 'taiued, as a wrong basis of valuing will, or may, e ita.l considerable loss to the couucfl, as well as ino mvenience and loss of time to ratepayers who may 8 jnsider they have been wrongly valued. APrttOPRIATIOSS—THK LANDS IMPROVEMENT ACCOUNT. Uuder this heading it is usual to find a number of grants to open up Crown lands (recently surveyed) for settlement. A circular from the Chief Surveyor U sent annually to this council a* well as to the district 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 book, page 295-6 . This sum did not include the grant to Hamilton bridge, this being subsequently applied for direct from the council. On looking through the printed appropriations recently received, beyond the sum voted for the bridge, there is nothing on the estimates to meet our road making requirements. ROAD IMPROVEMENTS. My attention has been directed to the road between sections 83 and 25, block IV, Gimmerburn, 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 lowlying being crossed and recrassed by the Eden creek, flood channels, and lagoons, the continuation of the road above is fairly good, but the portion complained of has heen 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 TIRES. Two cases were reported, one by Constable O'Brien, of Hyde, and one by Constable Johnstone, of Naseby. r Inder was instructed to proceed, and informations laid, the cases to be heard at Hyde. In the one ease the county obtained a conviction, in the other case the defendant pleaded not guilty and asked for an adjournment, which was granted, the casj to be heard at ifaseby on the 14th iast.—Received. HAMILTON BRIDGE Moved by Gr Logan, and seconded by Or Guffie—That the chairman apply for vote No. 93. item No. 3. £2OO for Hamilton Bridge.— Carried unanimously. Moved by Cr Ewing, and seconded by Cr '.'nrnbull—That the offer of the contractor for the Hamilton bridge to substitute iron T wist* for timber for £BO 103 extra be accepted. Oarried without dissent. LEGAL OPINION. It was resolved to instruct the chairman t'i obtain a legal opinion respecting the rating of small grazing runs. GIMMERBURN AND MANIOTOTO. Moved by Gr Ewing. and seconded by Cr Guffie—That the worst portion of the roa'l between sections 33 and 25, block IV. Gimmerburn, and sections 15 and 12, block fX. Maniototo, be improved in accordance with the engineer's recommendation ; that >nec'fications be prepared and tenders called for the work to be dealt with by the Finance it its next meeting, the cost to be charged to thirds and fourths accrued within the blocks. —Carried unanimously. POTJVDKBSPER'S REPORT. The poundkeeper reported that since last meeting one horse had been impounded but was released. Fees, £2 15s.—Received. POUND INSPECTOR'S REPORT. The pound inftpactor reported that the pound management was satisfactory.—Received. FINANCE COMMITTEE'S REPORT. The Finance Committee's repjrc was read and adopted on the motion of Cr Turnbull, seconded by Cr Kinney. NOTICE OE 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 dnps not appear on the Order Paper."— Seconded by Cr Guffie. After some discussion Cr Logan withdrew the motion. FINANCE. Accounts amounting to £67 7s, were passed for payment.