PIAKO COUNTY COUNCIL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11948, 24 April 1902, Page 6

PIAKO COUNTY COUNCIL.

The monthly meeting', of the above.Council was held, at Morrinsvillo on Friday. ;:Present: Mr. W. P. Chepmell (chairman), and Messrs. Cox, McCaw, Farmer, : Bucklaud, and Brady. ' .■■',- A l ''-"' '/■? "°< ''"['/''

A. Edwards, in charge of. the WaiorongoI mai tramway, reported that no quartz had been iwn down during the past month. The late heavy rains had caused several slips and several culverts had become choked up, causing tho water to overflow. Most of these had now been cleared. Mr. Hardy had cleared tie tip off the track. •■'.- .; ■ ,- .#•; Tho Treasury advised that 27s 6d gold duty had been placed to the Council's credit. Mrs. Howard, of Auckland, wrote, asking that the county" foreman \ should clear»the gorse from the road front-age of her propcrtv It was decided to get the foreman to value" the work and inform Mrs. Howard <in ease she wished to do the work by contract. ,- ,- The Roads Department advised '; that the Minister for Lands had granted the Council £100 for work on Thompson's track, the plans and specifications to bo approved by the road surveyor at Rotorua. - . The Council declined the request of Mr. E. Jennings for timber to construct a crossing over the water-table at his house,' as it would be establishing a l>ad precedent.. The Council declines to recognise bridges ove, watertables giving access to private property. " Mr. McCW, on behalf of the Ma'tamata, Road Board, asked for tho use on hire of the road machine for a week. Granted. Foreman Ma hood reported that since last meeting he had done .sonic gravelling, repairing, and road-forming in the Cambridge and laotaoroa localities. There had been several slips on the Cambridge-Napier Road, and some sandy hill cutting! were washed °.£#, jHe Wolllci attend to these when he shifted camp. (In the •Waotn-Putararn Koad several pieces were very bad through heavy rains and excessive carting. He thought the beat way to get the work done on the Arahiwi Road would be by small contracts, let to settlers on plans and specifications. In any case, he would have to call tenders, as he could not afford the time to stay m the locality. Foreman Wattam reported grea.; damage in Jus district through heavy rains. Culverts, embankments, anil, in some cases, bridge;, had been washed away. About In* worst place was McLeod's hill at Cordon Settlement, where the road was impassable for milk carls. A culvert recently put in there had proved too small, and a wash-out of 7ft or Bft deep and 12ft wide had been made through the embankment. On Thomsons track several slips had taken place since the men had finished; it would cost about £4 to clear them. He was informed that the. Katikati track was impassable. On Stanley Koad two wings had been washed away from the bridge over Coleman's drain. ."■"'■' The foreman reported that the contractor tot painting the Piako bridges had commenced work before the materials were inspected, m accordance with contract. In reply to a letter from the, clerk, the contractor wrote that he had overlooked the provision, and invited inspection. . ' . the clerk' was instructed to write to the Government • ad surveyor stating that the SZ'JT* "i ,J \l ,im at McLeod's hill was tooi small i and further, was not placed in ,be line 01, le water ', aud U*t owing to this there had been a heavy washout; The clerk submitted a statement of the 2?; V" a . nC s as Allows:-General account, debit balance, £380 18s Id; Tc Arolia Riding, credit £35 Is lid; PatetWe Riding, credit: £I*7 18s: Taotaoroa Riding, credit, ■ids ~<i:. contractors' deposits, credit, £1 ; ie Aroha interest account, credit, 19s 2d Jatetere interest, credit. £65 14s 6d; Taotaoron interest, crodit, £5 3s Bd. The chairman and Messrs. Harrison nnd i'aimer were appointed a Finance Committee to consider the county estimates for the year and report as to the rates required for the ensuing year. The clerk was instructed to draw the attention of the supervising valuer to the fact that there were many anomalies and inaccuracies in the valuation roll, and to request him to make a fresh valuation of the county this year. \ , r ■ ,; <r' The late chairman of the Gordon .Special Settlement Association wrote that the association had no funds to pay the promised contribution of £10 4s 1,1 towards, the cast of the cemetery road, and asked the Council to write off the accounts. Air. Bradv pointed out, that in view of the largo sum's contributed in different forms by the settler* towards the county roads, the least the Council could do was to give them a free road to the cemetery. It was decided to grant the request. .' , . . - Mr. Farmer asked that £25 be written off the promised contribution to the Shaftesbury bridge. Ho explained that he had offered to collect £125 from neighbouring settlor" 2"* fio T t ar had nn] succeeded ..in: raising £75. He had given £25 himself to . brim' tho amount tip to' £100. The Council agreed. .' ' -~-,, "

A circular was received from the road surveyors at Auckland, Rotorua. and Tp Kuiti by direction of the chief engineer of roods' •eking' for a schedule of all roads and' bridges work for which the Council desired gioyision to be made on the Publio Works Estimates, 1902-1903. This was in order to enable the information being supplied iii a more uniform manner than wag formerly done, when the system of corresponding on each subject obtained. Councillors expressed doubt as to the utility'of complying with the request, but on the minciple that if a demand did no good it could do no harm, the following lift . was compiled:—Thomson's track. £500: Kaimai truck. £500; Arahiwi Road, £100; Tirau-Rotorua Road, bridges, £300: French l'ass Road, Vaotaoroa Riding. £50: Waiomo bridge, in la Aroha-Lichfield Road, £250. ' After passing accounts for payment, amounting to £148 6s 9d, the Council rose, i