COUNTY COUNCIL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 953, 8 May 1879, Page 2

COUNTY COUNCIL.

SPECIAL MEETING. A special meeting of the County Council, for the purpose of considering the balance sheet for the half year, was held this morning, when there were present —The Hon. It. Campbell (Chairman,!, Messrs. D. Sutherland, Johnston, Murcott, Todd, Falconer, and I^unean. The Clerk read the balance sheet for the half year. This showed the total receipts amounted, with the balance, in the bank at the end of last half-year, to L 23,689 12s, and the expenditure L 15,749 15s Id, ■ leaving a balance of L 7939 16s lid. Attached to the balance sheet was a report from the Auditor to the Chairman, stating that all the transactions were in accordance with law, except the subsidies given to cemeteries an,d the Acclimatisation Society, Bfe could not find authority in the Acts by whioh the county's powers andfunctiona were defined for such expenditure, and had, therefore, been forced to exclude those two items from the certificate. The Chairman said he could not agree with the auditor in this matter. The bala,nce sheet was then put and adopted. ORDINARY MEETING. The ordinary meeting of the Council was held immediately afterwards, when the . members mentioned above were present, with Mr. Thompson. The minutes of the'last meeting were read and confirmed, and the outward correspondence was read and approved. Mr. Shrimski attended, to bring under the notice of the Council the necessity for having the footpath on the east side of the Main North Road formed. At present the centre of. the road was-metalled, and persons, to avoid this metal, were in the habit-of:driving on the footpath; to the danger of pedestrians. A large number of people were taking up their residence in that part of .the district, the formation of the footpath would be a great boon to

them. The work was not likely to b very expensive one, as there was plenty of material on the road. He hoped th Council would favorably consider th 6 matter. e The Chairman remarked that the matt should be considered by the Council' awl Mr. Shrimski then withdrew. ' The Clerk to the Kakanui Road Board wrote, forwarding a plan shewing the road line proposed to be opened in l?eu (i f the present'one. in Section 50, block XV Oamaru Survey District, in what is known as South Oamaru township, and request ing the approval of the Council, as required by the Act.—The plan W ag approved of. The Clerk to the Waiareka Road Board wrote, forwarding a plan of the road line in the Whitstone Estate, proposed to be exchanged with the Hon. R. Campbell. It had been found that the road proposed to be exchanged was a portion of a provincial county road, and the Board therefore requested the Council to complete the arrangements by closing the road, in accordance with the Public Works Atfjf' receiving in exchange the existing rc 1 now known as M'Lennan street.— 1 decided to take the necessary steps to have the road line in question closed, in accordance with the Board's request. The Secretary to the Treasury forwarded a copy of a Treasury vouchor for L 1704 (is Id, the original of which, with a cheque had been forwarded to the Bank to the credit of the county. A telegram sent by the Hon. Roberj Campbell, while in Wellington, was read stating that he had seen about the site for the County buildings. The Council could have section 0 at once, but the site desired by the Council would possiblyunt| er a recent Act have to be gazetted four times, and then laid before Parliament for approval, with possibility of delays loss of site.

Several members expressed the opinion that the site, oilcred was totally unsuitable and it was decided to again write to the Government requesting a site north of the: gaol. Mr. Robert Thompsom, Chairman of the Mahcno Public Hall Committee, wrote stating that, relying on the Council 1 ! grant of £lO and other promised subscriptions, the Committee had applied to tie Education Board for books to the valued L'2o, to form the neucleus of a library,The letter was received. The following letter was read : —■ Livingstone, April fi, 187(1. Sir, —I am advised that some men in ftt employ of the County Council are in tlx neighborhood, sent up to effect neces&ay repairs on the MaerewhennaPass road. Had I known previous to their arrival of the Council's intention to have the wovk done, I would have drawn their attention to the advisability of effecting a diversion in the road between the foot of M'Master's gully (North Maerewhenua) and Livingstone, iustead of expending money in repairing what has always been a very objectionable pieceof road at its best, especially as I am led to' believe that the sum required to put that part of the road in good repair would go far towards effecting the diversion, and thus effest a permanent improvement with the prospect of its costing less to keep in order than does the piece proposed to be abandoned. Will you kindly ask the Engineer to call on me when in the neighborhood that I may point it out to him, and in the meantime instruct the men to commence their work at the far end to allow time to get the mind of the Council on the matter.—l am, &c., " O. F. Roberts, Chairman Mining Association. The Engineer stated that he had examined the road, and that it was not advisable to make the diversion applied for. The expenditure-would amount to a considerable sum, and the traffic over it would be very small. It was decided to reply in accordance; with the report. I i [Left sitting.] ■