Hokianga County Council

Northern Advocate, 11 August 1938, Page 3

Hokianga County Council

The following councillors were present at the August meeting of the Hokianga County Council at Rawene on Tuesday:—Crs. A. C. Yarborough (chairman), C. H. Irvine, W. G. Freese, O. O. Ferry, W. H. White, R. Searle, J. W, Julian, O. R. Cox and W. N. Austin.

Rangers To Be Appointed. A letter .was received from a county foreman with regard to the damage done by wandering stock. It was stated that farmers could help considerably in the maintenance of their roads by keeping stock from yrandering at large, particularly during the wet weather. In some instances watertables which had been cleaned out in the morning were completely filled in again by wandering stock, before night. Pigs were chiefly responsible for the damage and the council decided to appoint rangers and to take action against any settlers who allowed their pigs to wander on the roads. Natives And Hospital Fees. The Kairanga County Council wrote asking for support in a petition to Parliament to the effect that hospital subsidies be increased to ease the position brought about by the increase in hospital levies. A letter from the Bay council regarding the same matter, expressed the opinion that the trouble was mainly due to the natives who, although using the hospitals freely, made little or no attempt to pay their dues, and there seemed to be no satisfactory way of recovering the charges for the services rendered to them. The letter asked that support be given to ,a request to the Government that fees due by natives be met out of consolidated funds.

The council expressed itself as being in sympathy with both requests and agreed to give them its full support.

Free Money For Bridges. A communication from the engineer of the main Highways Board stated that designs and estimates for four bridges on the Kaitaia-Motukaraka main highway had been prepared. Regarding finance the letter stated that the board had agreed to provide free money for the work, thus allowing the council to concentrate on necessary maintenance work with the funds at its disposal. Grading Difficulties. Some councillors expressed the opinion that it was not being done altogether satisfactorily and to the best advantage. The engineer, Mr L. S. Donnelly, suggested that one of the difficulties was due to the country slipping in various places, thus causing the roads to get out of shape, and making the work of grading them up very difficult.