COUNTY AFFAIRS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 10 January 1929, Page 2

COUNTY AFFAIRS

MEETING OF COUNCIL BUSINESS OF THE MONTH Tho monthly meeting of the Waimea County Council was held to-day. There were present: Councillors J. Colder (chairman), T. Hewelson, E. 11. .'Jones, L. Higgins, 0. C'. Wilkinson, J. Hagen, L. M. Palmer, G. Mucmahon, and A. O. Kenyon.

FINANCE Bank balances as at 9th January were

Workers’ Dwelling Loan Ac. nil. Account's, were passed for payment as follows:—Gqqeral account, £2610; bridges apd t pljuit loan account, £820; contractors’ deposits (refund), £55 5s 6d ; Land. Fund Thirds, £36 13s.

ENGINEER’S REPORT The County Engineer (Mr W. Bullivant) reported,:— WangaiiKia Riding: General mainten!ance work has been carried out throughout the riding duping the month. The grader has. worked over the Nelson-Lud. section of. the main highway. As in other parts of tho County the heavy ■rains'during the holidays brought down ivarious' small, slips on the Wangamoa and ,w,ashed gravel'olf the road in tho WangainOa. and Collins valleys. The reforming'end; 1 metalling of about 15 ichiMijs of road in ihe Maitai Valley has been completed. Troublo witii flood water from the Maitai, and Shar<land’s creek was. encountered. A larger amount of gravel had to be put op the road than was called for in tiro specifica‘tihns.

Stoke Riding: Progress is being made with the-laying of the foundation course between Stoke and Richmond. It is hoped;-.to . conpnep.ee Tutumen work in about ten days time and further days arp. needed for work.on the road but do not appear to be available. The road was opened, to traffic during the Christmas holidays and the.recently laid portion; waV.rather badly cut up. Traffic will again be. diverted, down the back ;road, as soon as bitujncn operations comprtyigc,'. Timber for the two'footbridges in, Boorman's Valley has been delivered. Tho grader.' lias worked over the Je'ri; kin’s Iiill" and,' Stqke-Iliohmond sections lof’llhe.Wjn. Highway, j. Wai-iti Riding.; General maintenance :has been carried. on throughout the ■riding, The crusher has been moved down' to, Spring Grave and; as, much crushed metal as funds will, allow‘ will be put/bn the highway between BrightwatCr' and, Wakefield. Instructions have been given to do a amount of metalling, on the Mount Hesliiigton.road. Owing to tho heavy rains nothing has been done in the way of repairs, to the Wai-iti splash at Brightwater. The grader has. worked, along; the main highway through the riding during the month. A-further amount of metalling will be carried-out on the WakefieldWoodstock highway. The old, bridge at Brightwater has been practically dismantled and- the. timber will be used as falsework for the concrete structure.

Appleby Riding: It has not been possible: to-complete the metalling on the Nelson-Westpprt: main highway- owing to the necessity of crushing bitumen metal for Stoke. The camber on the road surface has been taken down at eight corners on the Appleby-Mapua main highway. EddyveanS road and portions of this highway will have a little metal put on them when the contract is let for the Mahana district roads. The grader has worked, through the main highways in tho riding during the month and also along the Waimea West road. Motupiko Riding: Spooner’s Range and Norris Gully are showing the need of a grader and, it will be necessary to bring the' No. 2 outfit back from Tadmor to put this highway into shape which will, postpone tRe grading of the Baton saddle for, a week or ten days. The No. 1 grader has twice worked along the main, highway as far as Bel r groye. . A bad bottom was struck in carryingexcavations for Higgins’s creek culvert" anfl it will be necessary to put in a floating base here. The heavy rains about' Christmas have also made operations more difficult-. Warigapeka Riding:' Tadmor Creek bridge has. beep completed. Damage by fire to a! small bridge on the TadinorGJenhope road has been repaired. The grader.' has been working through the Tadmor district! Metalling has been carried out in the Clarke Valley on the Kprere-Glpnhope section of the main highway. " Plans for the Rainy River bridge have been submitted to the. Public works Department. Dovedale Riding: Metalling has been completed, between Thorpe and Woodstock and some metalling is being done between Pokororo and Orinoco.. Mr C. Johnstone’s offer, to re-deck the Baton bridge was accepted. The suspension bridge over the. Big Pokororo was carried away at the beginning of the month. Instructions have been given for its re-erection. Culverts have been put in on the Rosedale Hill and on the Motu-eka-Kohatu main highway. Two bridges have been repaired, on the Clarke River road, ’ settlers'"and" coalminers providing the labour free.

Motueka Eliding: A . considerable amount of work has been done on the Sandy Bay road. A small bridge on the main, highway has been redecked. Patching has been carried out on some of the Itiwnka district roads, Progress has been made on 'the Rocky River to Shaggery road and a considerable number of extra culverts have been put in. All the piers have now been completed for the Motueka bridge. All steel for the bridge lias been bent and there now remain three deck slabs to be put in in addition to which surface carpet, handrail posts, etc. have to be completed. "Moutere Riding: Plans for a concrete culvert at Bookman’s creek on the Main Highway have been approved and tenders’will be called. Special attention has been paid to the urgency of metalling roads in this district before the commencement of the fruit season. Various other grading work and repairs to culverts have been carried out during the month.

TRAFFIC INSPECTOR’S REPORT The Traffic Inspector (Mr J. T. Brough) reported for the month as follows : —Owing no doubt to the holidays applications for drivers’ licenses have been numerous during the month, notably in the Moutere, Ilovcdale and Motueka ridings. Two renewals have been taken out and 26 additional licenses have been issued. I have had to hold over quite a number of applicants until more proficient. Six heavy traffic licenses have boon issued during the month. One hawker’s license lias been taken out. During the holidays motor traffic lias been very heavy in all parts of the district,’ and a largo number of cars from all over the Dominion have passed through the county, Altfiough I have

received information of a number of mishaps having taken place in various parts of the county, I ha.ve no serious .accidents (o report. 1 have patrolled the roads ill tho county at all hours during tho month. A few culprits have been interviewed in various ridings

CORRESPONDENCE

In reply to a letter from the Council tho City Council wrote that it saw no reason why it should alter its previous decision to protest against (he city’s inclusion as an outer area of the Waimea Electric District.

The Marlborough County Council wrote about the proposed Nelson-Pelorus stock route via Maungalapu. Oil the motion of iho chairman it was decided that application bo made to the Main Highways Board for assistance in improving the route in order to keep slock off tho main highway. The Nelson Technical School’s application for a grant of £25 was granted. The Nelson Harbour Board wrote declining to make a reduction in wharfage charges on bitumen, , The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co., Ltd. (Nelson branch) was granted an auctioneer’s licenso' in response to a written request.

HEALTH INSPECTOR’S REPORT

The Health Inspector (Mr H. Coltman) reported that during the., period ended 3isl December one case of scarlet fever and one case- of pneumonic in fluenza were investigated. Fifteen sanitary inspections were made. Ten samples of milk were taken under , the Sale of Food and Drugs Act and all were found satisfactory.

The number of infectious diseases reported still continues lo ho very light. This also applies to the remainder of the district. Complaints of nuisances have been reported. These have been investigated and the nuisances abated, A septic tank, drainage and sanitary conveniences have been installed at Brightwater, also additional drainage at Stoke, whilst alterations have been made to three other tallies. GENERAL O’Brien’s tender of £144 16s for erecting a bridge at Dovedale Hill creek bridge was accepted. W. A. Ivenning’s tenders for metalling roads were accepted as follows :—Mahana district roads 8s 9(1; a yard,; Old Mqtueka road, 8s 6d a yard; Baton Saddle and Bato'n-Wangapeka road, 10s 9d a yard. The necessity of purchasing a 2J,-lon motor truck was stressed by the Engineer arid after some discussion it was resolved that a truck he purchased and that the matter bo left to the chairman, Councillor Kenyon and the Engineer with' power to act.

shown as follows :— Dr. £ s. d. Wuiineu County Fund Ac Dr 4158 9 10 Cr. Waimoa Countv Fund Ac., No. 2 Cr 575 0 8 Bridges and plant loan ac. 802 11 7 Contractors’. Deposit Ac. ... 79 14 A Interest Ac 199 7 b Land Funds Thirds Ac 933 17 5