MANGONUI COUNTY

Northern Advocate, 19 July 1935, Page 2

MANGONUI COUNTY

MEETING OF COUNCIL

WEDNESDAY’S BUSINESS

ROADING QUESTIONS

A meeting of the Mangonui County Council was held on Wednesday, Mr W. Vickers, the chairman, presiding. The traffic inspector (Mr A. Mackenzie) reported- that 62 heavy traffic fees had been collected for the quarter ended August 31. Since the last meeting he had caught six offenders using sledges and konakis on the main highways, also two with bullocks snigging timber along a highway, resulting in a great deal of damage to water tables and banks. . , , A complaint had been received about unregistered Maori dogs at Parenga. A few Maoris who had refused to register had been served with notices. j Authority was given to prosecute the j owners of unregistered dogs. With regard to the use of sledges on j i roads, the chairman said a lot of people j ! had the idea that the council was only, bluffing when it threatened action, j | It was decided to prosecute m the j cases mentioned in the inspector s re- | The Minister of Internal Affairs wrote stating that he was endeavour - i ing to arrange with his Cabinet col- | leagues for officers who could be j spared from their duties to be granted ! time off so that they could participate iin any local Arbor Day celebrations lon August 7. ‘' , , , j The clerk said arrangements had been made to plant trees in the town district. ~ J , The chairman: “We should try and do something also.” Cr. Matthews; “There are a number of reserves on which tree planting could be done, but there is the danger of fire.” . . The chairman: “We might join with the Town Bpard.” Cr. Wrathall: “We should plant on our reserves. Each member could attend to his own riding.” The matter was left in the hands of | riding members. j Taipa Road. j The District Engineer P.W.D. advised that he had no funds left at his disposal for the Taipa No. 2 Block road. He had a balance left for metalling, but as that work did not seem to be warranted at present, it had been deferred. The/balance had therefore been cancelled. Cr. Wrathall said it was No. 5 road he had_ in mind, .and for that road there was .a balance of £25. There had been a misunderstanding and the matter should be referred back to the Department. The Hospital Board’s estimates were placed before the meeting. Provision was made for a levy on tlje council of £2468 7/1.

Mr T. Steed (Waiharara) wrote complaining that with rain the loose sand fr.om the road was washed to his homestead, and the water flooded his garden. He had to clear out 15 chains of drain after each flood. Cr. Steed said the trouble would be recurring till the road was metalled. Cr. Thompson said the question of whether water could be turned across a road had never been settled. The chairman said that quite a big question was opened up, and if they cleaned out Mr Steed’s drains they might have a number of similar applications at the next meeting. They had to be careful about establishing a precedent.

It was decided to obtain a legal opinion through the Counties’ Association.

Road to .Cemetery,

Several ratepayers petitioned the council witjj regard to part of the road from the Mangonui Cemetery to Mangonui, the metalling of which had not been completed; There were a large number of letters bearing on the same subject. Complaint was made about a fence erected by Mr G. W. Harris, which -obstructed the road. Cr. Wrathall said the trouble was due to a dispute between neighbours. The road had been abandoned by the council, and a fence had been placed across it over 30 years ago. The road had no further use as another and better road had been provided. He was opposed to spending money from his riding funds in giving further access to a place already served by a good road. A light dressing of metal over 5 or 6 chains of the recognised road was all that was required. On the motion of Cr., Wrathall, the engineer was authorised to have two bad portions of the proper road attended to, and it was also decided to reply to the letters stating that the council had adopted the road laid down by the Public Works Department, and had no intention of spending money on the abandoned road. Legal advice was received that the council had no authority to pay any of the workmen under Tracey’s contract out of moneys in hand for the contract. The time for doing that had now passed. If any money remained after the completion of the contract, the council should obtain Tracey’s authority to pay out to the workmen any money he owed them. Cr. Matthews: “Now we know where we are.”

Cr. Steed: “But that is not paying the men their wages, and we should not try and evade that.”

Cr. Wrathall: ‘‘lf there is any surplus after the completion of the work, the men should get it.” On the motion of the chairman it was decided to notify Mr Tracey that his contract had been cancelled. A letter was received from Messrs. A. B. Wells and J. B. Johnson, complaining that a fence erected by Mr H. J. Buckingham restricted the width of Wells’ Road to 15 feet, making it difficult for vehicles to turn. They also asked that all the rates paid by properties along the road be spent in improving the road. Cr. Thompson said he was not much in favour of the principle that all the rates should be spent on the road, but he would move that Mr Buckingham be notified that his fence must be moved back. The motion was seconded by Or. Wrathall and carried. Awanui— Mangonui Road. Mr Jenkins discussed with the council the position with regard to the Awanui-Mangonui Road. The council, he said had promised up to £2OO towards the work fhat had been put in hand. He would now like the council’s authority for an expenditure of £IOO cr £l5O. If they could get that the road could be brought up to main highway standard as far as its junction with Duncan’s Road. On the motion of Cr. Matthews, it was decided to spend £IOO out of county funds on the road. Cr. Wrathall said he would like to compliment the P.W.D. on the work it had done.