KAIRANGA COUNTY

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVIII, Issue 165, 12 June 1928, Page 8

KAIRANGA COUNTY

MEETING OF COUNCIL, CORRESPONDENCE AND REPORTS. The monthly meeting of the Kairanga County Council was held this morning when there were present: Crs. Batchelar (chairman), Collis, Mudon, Cheetham, Anderson, Mercer, Hopcroft, Moody and Small. ENGINEER’S REPORT. The engineer’s report, . which was read and adopted, was a 6 follows: General. —An average of 35 men have been employed and live contracts are in hand. Th 0 crusher has had new jaws ancl side plates fitted to it and, except for .a few days while these alterations wero being made, tho machine has been working continuously. A stock of chips and maintenance metal *is being secured, "while a large quantity of the latter has be<m carted to various roads. A'small quantity of heavy broken metal for foundation work is also being obtained. Tho motor grador has been thoroughly overhauled and should not give any serious trouble for some time. r The road roller is being overhauled and repaired where necessary in readiness for this season s work. Rangitikei Lino.—The proposals for surfacing tho balance of this road have been approved by the Highways Board and monetary authority on a £3 for LI basis may be expected at any time. Tenders for supply and delivery of 4,000 cuoic yards of clean river gravel for strengthening the sides will bo presented to-day. Tenders for the supply of metal for this road can Ho called for any* time new, so as to give the contractors an opportunity of setting up the necessary plant. Foxton Line. —Tho Highways Board has also agreed to pay £3 for £1 towards surfacing tho balance of this road and the monetary authority will be issued as soon as tho proposals are approved. As the Highways Board estimates for the current year havo to bo in Wellington, this week, it is clesirablo to know how much tho council proposes to spend on this road during the year. It may bo possible to carry out a certain amount of strengthening foundations, etc. Supply of Bitumen.—lt would be advisable to call tenders at once for tlie whole of the bitumen required during tho current year. This applies both to new work and resurfacing Borne of the older roads. The material will then be cn the ground when required. A supply of chips will also be required as tho demand for both bitumen and chips will probably bo very heavy next season. A chip chusher has been inspected but, before making any recommendation, it is proposed to make a test using our own gravel for this purpose. Taonui Riding. —Three chains of Foxton Line at Longburn railway crossing have been surfaced with a cold mix asphalt. Patching has been continued on Foxton Line and the grader lia3 been over this road several times. The new bridge and floodgate at Rangiotu are now open for traffic. Tho old bridge should bo taken down and tho timber stacked at Awapuni. Tho motor grader .has been over most of the roads and a considerable quantity of maintenance metal put out. LongburnRongotea Road is now being repaired and strengthened where necessary. Tenders have been called for filling in tho old drain on Karero Road.

Mangaono riding.—With tho exception of about one chain at Bullocky Greek, Napier Road is now surfaced to the boundary. During tho month, 78 chains of new work received the second surfacing coat and 12 chains of old work were given a coat of bitumen, also about 6 chains near the borough boundary, a total of 96 chains. There will still bo a small balance of loan money left and wo havo 32 drums of bitumen and a fair quantity of chips in hand which are already charged to tho loan. This balance and stock will bo available for resurfacing some of the old work next season. Good progres is being with the Bullocky Creek culvert. Traffic is now passing over portion of tho new structure. The bend at # this point is being widened and will ultimately be fenced. A largo quantity of broken metal has been spread on Railway Road and various roads havo been graded and patched. A tractor and grader are now working on Robert’s Lino near Kairanga-Bunnythorpo Road. There aro a few small job 3 in the riding •which can bo done by these machines whilethey are out. Tho drain on Milson’s Line through the settlement has been cleaned out.

Fitzherbert Riding.—All culvert work at Fitzherbort East i 3 now completed, the •temporary bridges removed and the roads restored.' Timber for re-docking the bridge on Pahiatua Track is now delivered and will bo put in place aa soon as possible. The decking on Tiritea. bridge, below Pratt’s hill, has been repaired, but it would be advisable to order sufficient timber to renew about 70 feet of this decking. The steel for ICeeble’s bridge is now in position and a few days should be suffi:cient to complete this work. The approaches to the bridge aro now being built up. A road drain at Fitzherbert East has been cleaned out. General maintenance work ha-s been carried out on several roads. The heavy grader has been emIployed cutting corrugations off the main road from boundary to boundary.

UNPAID RATES. The clerk reported that certain outstanding rates were coming in, but ’there were still several outstanding accounts. These had been placed in the solicitors’ hands for collection. It was decided, on the chairman’s motion, to Wait another month before suing. TAR SEALING WORK. The engineer stated that about ouuU •ards of crushed rnetal was required or work on Rangitikei Line. . Tenders hould shortly bo called for this quanity.. Cr. Cheetham said that, in the layig down of th© present tar-sealed - oad, it was necessary to go to an enorious amount of work to prepare the •; oad-surface for sealing. It appeared : etter to use the method of penetraon which would bo more economical, t would be more expensive and take tore tar, but when the job was finhed they would have a permanent irface.

The engineer said that if the coun--1 had any doubt as to which method ' intended to adopt it should decide te matter before calling tenders. It ould bo able to obtain figures of comtrativo cost from other counties hich had done similar work. Cr. Cheetham moved that the engirer write to the Wanganui and Hororenua counties for information as to o cost of the semi-penetration work no by the former ,and the penetrant method used-by the latter body the Levin-Manakau section. The motion was carried. It was decided to postpone the.callr of tenders pending the obtaining the necessary data. LAND DRAINAGE. Messrs H. W. Dennett, Neil Camp--1 and 0. Saunders wrote asking as--.aiice in removing water from their .perties at Awahuri. They had interwed the drainage board which had on them a sympathetic hearing, but isiderod that the county should be pared to assist in the matter, dr Anderson said he was opposed to council doing the work as there i a drainage hoard in existence. In opinion it would bo cpiito competand within the council’s power and o-ations to undertake the work if ~e wa s not a drainage board, but >re by statute a drainage board had a set up to deal with matters of class, it would he inequitable to the county finances for a similar r°Small expressed himself as being Amoral agreement with the prill’s enunciated. by the previous ker, but he declared that the precase was an exception. By the ■nditure of a comparatively small unt the drains could be set m order, he drainage board did the work

they would have to deal with another three miles of drain, but that would not be' the case, if the council took the matter in hand. Also, tho drainage board, he understood, was willing to make a contribution to the cost of the work. Cr Cheetham said that ho agreed with Cr Small that the present was an occasion on which the council should grant monetary assistance. Tie moved that the council grant threo shillings per chain for fifteen chains towards the cost of removing spoil from the drains, tho work to be done to the satisfaction of the engineer. Tho motion was seconded by Cr Mercer and carried. THE GORGE ROAD.

The Feilding Borough Council wrote stating that it was of the opinion that the time had arrived when the Gorge Road should no longer be controlled by the Manawatu Gorge Board, but should be taken over by the Government and declared a Government road. The writers solicited the support of the county council in moving in this direetl°lhe Manawatu Gorge Board wrote stating that it had decided to wait upon the Government during the forthcoming Parliamentary session requesting that the road bo taken over and declared a national highway. All local members of Parliament, stated the Tetter, are to bo asked to support the deputation. The board further stated that it had in its improvement loan account a surplus of £797 7s Bd, and it had decided to approach Parliament requesting authority to transfer the sum to the maintenance account. Should enabling legislation bo obtained for this, the local bodies concerned will not bo called on this year to pay any levy towards manitenance. The Pahiatua Borough Cquncil forwarded a copy of a resolution urging that the Manawatu Gorge Board be disbanded, and that the road be taken over by the Main Highways Board, the latter 'body to assume all liabilities of the Gorge Board. The chairman said that the best plan for the council was to support the suggestions of the Gorge Board. If they could get the Government to take over the road it would relieve the local bodies of all financial burdens in connection with the road. It was decided to support the suggestions contained in the letter from the Gorgo Road Board. CORRESPONDENCE.

Tlio Oroua County Council wrote reporting on the recent conference held at Fending to consider the proportion to be borne by the various contributing local bodies of the cost of rebuilding the Aorangi bridge. The suggested ratio was Feilding borough, 7/24, Palmerston North borough 5/24, Oroua County 4/24, Ivajranga County 4/24, Manawatu and Kiwitea counties 2/24 each. The chairman reported that he had nttended the conference and the letter contained suggestions only. The matter would have to go before the Main Highways Board and the Highways Council which would eventually decide on the amount to be contributed by each local body. The letter was received. The Lockwood Land Company wrote requesting permission to erect a loading stage in front of a new woolshed. seen the site of the proposed stage which was merely a small platform jutting out from a woolshed over the roadline. It would be no obstruction to traffic. The desired permission was granted. Permision was also granted the company to erect a protecting fence at a drain to prevent stock getting into the watertable. The Public Works Department forwarded a Gazette proclaiming portion of rural section 206, blk. XV., Kairanga, S.D., a public road.-—Received. An application to exempt Long Melford Road from the provisions of the Public Works Act, to the effect that the council may require the boundary line of the sections to be set baok 33 foot from the centre of the road, was held over.