MANAWATU COUNTY COUNCIL.

Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 39, 3 March 1877, Page 2

MANAWATU COUNTY COUNCIL.

A meeting- of the above Council was held m the Athenaeum, Foxton, on Wednesday, the j£Bth February. MEMBERS PEESENT. Councillors Thynne (chairman), Snelson, Halcombe T Macarthnr, Gower, M'Donald, Liddell, and Sanson. The minutes. of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. chaibman's bepobt. Gentlemen, — I have the honor to inform you that I have laid upon the table all the correspondence that has passed since our last meeting, and a precis of the letters from the Government. I have the honor to inform you that I have ordered a County Seal and a safe, and I have ordered a detailed map shewing all the subdivisons and streams of the County to be prepared. I take this opportunity to point out an error m my last Report, m which I reckoned on 28 public houses. The error arose from copying from my notes, and should read 18 and the sum £540. COBBESPONDENCE. Precis of letters from the Government *. — Letter, under date 30th January, from the Colonial Secretary, enclosing map shewing boundaries of the Counties m the North Island. Letter, under date Bth. February, from Public Works Office, stating that the Lower Manawatu Ferry has hitherto been subsidised at the rate of £40 a year, and that the County must make arrangements for the maintenance of the ferry after the 18th March. That the maintenance of the road from Foxton to the boundaries of the County at the Gorge devolves upon the County from the Ist March next. Letter, under date 13th February, from Public Works Office, requesting that arrangements be'made for taking over and continuing the charge and management of the main and ordinary roads, bridges, and other similar works m the County from the Ist March, owing to the Government discharging the officers employed lay the late Provincial Government on that date. Further informing that the expenditure incurred on these works since the 31st December last, will be charged against the subsidies accruing to the County. Letter requesting the County to take charge of the -following special works already contracted for, and others which tenders can be called for :-— Bunnythorpe Eoad. — Robert Marshall, amount of contract, £575 ; remaining to be paid, £275. Brown and McKenzie, £207 4d. Palmerston to Karere. — 0. A. Berganaen, £900, Government to find six trucks and use of locomotive. Eoads North of Feilding.— Thos. J. Allen, £358 15s. Thos. J. Allen, amount of contract, £624 15s;. remaining unpaid, £314 15s. Wengle Krbupa, £357 10s. For other Roads m the District. — £358 16s 9d. Roads m Manchester Block. — £4,000. This expenditure 1 "is contingent on the Corporation spending an equal amount ; and £2,000 only can be claimed m any one year.

Ffllmereton to Fiteherbert : Boad during.—£l2l 5b 9d, to be expended m making approaches to the Manawatu : Bridge when the contract for the bridge is finished; Letter under date 15th February, stating that the County Engineer is an indispensable officer^ • Wfe matter.; of tolls of the Eangitikei i¥; awaiting, the opinionofboth Councils, Tfes(^jrernment has no Engineer ayatf able-for. v the preparation of an estimate for the. proposed railway to Sandon, and consider the cost of such legitimately falls on the County. When plans and estimates have been prepared the Government will readily give the County the advice o£ one of its Engineers thereon. Letter, under -date , 17th February, from Custom House, requesting jpame of the bank at which tie TJcttinty fund is kept. [„ _ •■ -T*bLetter, under date 19th February, from Treasury, requesting explanation of differences between return from the County and return made by the. Boad Board. ,1 S V-. You will perceive from the letters received from ihe General (government that the cost of maintaining the -main line, of roads from the commencement of the year up to the end of this month will be charged against the County:' and deducted- from 'the subsidy payable now. I have not been informed what amount this will be. ; " .- You. will further perceive that 'the Government throw, upon . us : the responsibility of the supervision of ; the. ajjftvementioned public works now contracted for or m course of formation, and though acknowledging that m theory the proposition is m keeping with the principles of local self-government, yet. in the direct practice I take leave- to say that it is a direct loss to the County,^of-say, £200 or thereabouts being the^j^Qunission usually apportioned to coyer/ the* cost of supervision, and when suet sums^ were voted by the late Provincial •^Government, they were voted m addition to thecost of. supervision of .theworks, anoLI cannot see how, the responsibility,, of continuing Such; worisrvsho^d be thrown upon us without some assistance towards the cost of such being added. - It has been further stated by ; Government that a County Engineer is a necessity, and without such' officer; certifying to the payments I do not understand how the Government will pay the contractor; Taking this to be so, and. agreeing that for a time, an Engineer is necessary^it will jbe necessary to put the cost of such an r officer at £650 as follows— say for a qualfied officer, £450.; say. for- assistance when out, two men, and other items connected! with the office, £200; and as it may easily be £100 more; it becomes a serious question for the -Council. to take into* consideration, and'without the co-oper-ation of the other Boards ih; the County I fear would be impossible. I would suggest that as the Highway and. Local Boards require, assistance of, this^nature, they by contributing "with .the County a share on equal proportion to their revenue, such an officer could advantageously be employed and all the. work better done. But I think the officer should be. distinctly a County officer,, and directed to do such work for theLocal Boards as applied for by requisition for his services. I have written to the chairmen of the different Boards' requesting their opinion on this matter^ The action of the Council m deciding, upon taking over the main line of roadswill involve a sum something like £I,ooo* or more m merely keeping the roads m order, actually the wages of the men m charge, without extra labour, and the* formation of new lines and extra metalling will be a still further charge. In drawing your attention to the cost of maintaining and forming the line of roads proposed to be taken over by theCounty, I do not Wish it to be tinderstood that I do not fully enter into the necessity of opening up the County, | but I do so, more to impress upon you: the necessity that exists to take over only what are the main lines, as by the Public Works Act the County. is the only power having control .of the drainage, and though road making, is one necessity m a new district, ygffiraming' is m every way as much a^pjjSfcssity.. We, on the one hand, are to^ power M that can only undertake this duty, whereas on the other there, are two — the County and the Highway Boards — . and I think upon awaiting the report of our engineer that' a small expenditure made m some .of the rivers oy removing snags here and there and by clearing out certain old outfalls, a large , amount of benefit would be conferred on a large section of the ratepayers. With regard to the resolution to come before the special meeting, I. would desire to point; out, that any conclu- >- sion arrived at, cannot come into force until the next general election of the Council m November, .1878, and it opens up the whole question of representation which will likely be considerably altered at the next session of the Assembly owing to the fact that after theprovisions made for the first proclama- A tion by the Governor the Act proyidesj^ only that the number of ridings shaja be nine, and^the number of councilf&rs as the Council may think-fit. - As. th» would be opening up a very large question, I would suggest a postponement of the debate. BUSINESS OF MEETING. The following correspondence was laid upon the table.:— .. . Letter from C. McLean, Esq., accepting the office of solicitor to the Council, .<-- and stating terms. Letter from J. T. Stewart, Esq., m- \ forming the Council of works to be taken over. Letter from Mr J. Barton, Engineer, offering, his services to the Council temporarily. Letter from Mr C. Davy, applying for situation of Engineer, at a salary of £300 per annum.