MANGONUI COUNTY

Northern Advocate, 21 October 1935, Page 8

MANGONUI COUNTY

meeting of council. Mr W. Vickers presided at a meeting of the Mangonui County Council on Friday, at which there was a . full attendance of members. Sympathy. ‘A motion..of sympathy with the relatives of the late Mr Russell (Rawene) was passed. , Tenders. The following tenders were accepted: — ‘. • Delivery of shale for Mangonui mani highway—Christensen and Larkins, £420. Delivery • shale for Broadwood-Kai-taia main highway —C. R. Shortland, £215. . . . ■ Delivery of shale for Wainui junc-tion-Ahipara road—J. Erceg £BS. - White Bros’ tender of £263 10s for the Oruaiti; culvert was the only one received and the matter was left in the hands of the engineer. Straying Stock. . Referring to the continuance of the stray stock nuisance, Cr. Steed said they did not seem to be getting much further in their efforts to bring about an improvement and it seemed that the council was' set at defiance. The chairman: “The only way is to prosecute.” - , The Commissioner of Crown, Lands wrote complaining of cattle trespassing on Crown lands near Waihopo and suggesting that the poundkteeper should impound some of them. Cr, Steed: “The Crown lands should not be let for grazing purposes.” The matter was not one that concerned'the council and it would be , costly to send -the ranger up. He moved that the Commissioner be informed that it was not the work of the council to gather up stray stoclc from Crown lands. The motion was seconded by Cr. Wrathall and carried. ■ Mangonui Wharf. A telegram was received from the Loans Board stating that the investigations regarding the Mangonui wharf had not been completed and that the council’s application would come before the first meeting of the board. • Landing Ground. Replying to an inquiry by the council, the Auckland Aero Club wrote stating that the landing ground it wished to have licensed was on Mr J, Morrison’s farm, Pukepoto, but the licensing of Cooper’s Beach would also be a great boon to the district. Numbers of passengers had been taken there, some being tourists,, while others were on fishing expeditions. The difficulties of communication in the North had been stressed to the Controller of Civil Aviation, who might treat the regulations a little' more leniently than usual and consider the licensing of Cooper’s Beach. The clerk said he had made application for the licensing of both grounds but had so far received no reply. / Relief Works. The Minister of Public Works advised that the following was a list of unemployment relief works in the county for immediate prosecution:

Formation of seven miles of the Waipapakuari to Tangaoake road and metalling 6£ miles of the TakahueHerekino road. The total cost for the first mentioned work would be £5750 and for the second £4OOO. No contribution in either case was required from the council. In most cases the works would be carried out under the co-operative system with rates based to enable a workman of average ability to earn the current rate of standard pay. Cr. Wrathall said he was disappointed that Valley; and Kohumaru roads were not included and on his motion ib, was decided to request that slips on these roads be cleared under, the same, : system. , The council agreed to find its share of the cost of raising the remaining portion of the road at Oruaiti. Ahipara Domain Board.

The council was asked ,if yt would be prepared to act .as an Ahipara Domain Board. ’ The clerk said the domain was opposite the Ahipara school and comprised 10 acres of gorse.; About £ls from unemployment funds had been expended but the gorse was as bad as ever. A meeting had been called for the purpose of electing a local Domain Board but little interest was shown. A resolution was passed, on the motion of Cr. Berghan, complying with the request. Awanui Pound. -The clerk reported tnat the pound property at Awanui had been put up for auction. The council’s reserve was £250, and the highest bid was £l6O, which had been increased privately to £IBO with a prospect of getting it up to £2OO. It was decided to adhere to the reserve fixed. Bad Road. Mr J. Wilkie wrote drawing the council’s attention to the state of the Rangiputa access road. The road was the worst in the county and it was seldom that a motor car could get through without being bogged at least once. There were several motor vehicles in the district, and the road provided the only communication with Awanui. For a number of culverts required the settlers would provide the labour if the council would provide the timber. Cr. Matthews said the road was about 10 miles long and to have culverts constructed it would be necessary to apply for a grant. The area produced little revenue, but the people were suffering serious disabilities. The number of settlers interested would be 10 or 12.

The chairman said the Minister had a certain amount of money in reserve for assisting in such cases. On the motion of Cr. Matthews, it was decided to apply for a special grant of £l5O. Engineer’s Report.

The engineer reported that authorities had been received for Devich’s Road, £l5O (£3 for £1); Kumi Road, £IOO (£1 for £1); Paranui Road, £IOO (£1 for £1); Puhata Road, £SO (£1 for £1 and £215 free);. Ruaroa

Road, £SO (£1 for £1 and £2OO free); Spain’s Road, £l5O free and £1 for £l.

As the Public Works Department would not authorise the expenditure of Government moneys on the preparation of a road for metalling, the whole of the cost of this work would fall on the riding cocerned. Generally, the surfaces of highways were in good order but a closer inspection would reveal the fact that in many places the thickness of metal had been very much reduced from its original depth. In such a condition there was a tendency towards the formation of potholes. He proposed to test the thickness of metal during the year. Roads had suffered severely both from the weather and the overloading of lorries carrying nonessentials. There had been in some cases a total destruction of metal put on last summer where the foundations had been weak. He strongly recommended that loading on by-roads be kept strictly to classification, particularly during the winter months. It had been found on taking levels that it would be quite practical to drain the road from the small culvert near the dairy factory’s entrance at Awanui to the culvert at Spain’s Road junction. The work would cost about £25. Sheep Worrying. Mr A. W. Masters waited on the council and asked that some action be taken that would reduce the nuisance to sheep owners from Maori dogs. He understood a dog could not be shot even if it did not have a collar. He had seen between 20 and 30 dogs coming out of sale yards recently, not half of which, he was sure, were registered. The chairman: “You have my sympathy, but to deal with the matter effectively would require the whole time of one man.” The clerk read from the Act showing that any man finding a dog without a collar on his land had the right to shoot it, as a dog in such case was deemed to be unregistered. The Inspector said that some people objected to keeping collars on their dogs, and as dogs were sometimes very valuable, care had to be exercised about shooting them. Mr Masters said the chief trouble arose from the keeping of worthless dogs, for which the owners would not pay the registration fee of 2/6. Cr. Steed said the only remedy was to increase the tax on bitches to £2 10/.

The chairman; “But we have not the power to do that.” The clerk said about 1200 collars had been sold and a profit of about £SO had been made. The chairman suggested that the £SO be used in providing the registrar with assistance.

Cr. Wrathall: “The tax collected totalled'£l7o and the cost of collecting was £77 7/.”

The registrar said that next year they could prosecute the owners of all unregistered dogs, in which case an order could be obtained from the magistrate to shoot the dogs.

Some Maoris would pay if they had the money, but often they did not have it when he called. The chairman: “We might save £2O on collecting dog fees, but the dogs might do damage to the amount of £2OO among the sheep of farmers.” The matter was held over till salaries are reviewed. Memorial Tablet. After hearing Cr. Matthews, a motion was passed agreeing to a memorial tablet to Dr. Trimmell being erected at the council chambers. Cr. Wrathall said that Dr. Trimmell was the first honorary surgeon for the hospital, and he would like to see the tablet in the new hospital, or, if there was no room for it there, in the Anglican Church at Mangonui. Cr. Vickers: “The family had approved of the tablet being in the council chambers.”