WAIKOUAITI COUNTY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21710, 30 July 1932, Page 18

WAIKOUAITI COUNTY

MONTHLY MEETING OF COUNCIL The monthly meeting of the Waikouaiti County Council was held at Waikouaiti yesterday, there being present Crs P. Briscoe, Laley, Box, Gilmore, Douglass, and M'Callum. INSPECTOR’S REPORT. The county inspector (Mr T. Lang) submitted the following report on the work done during the month: — Hawksbury Riding.—The road from Flag Swamp to Mount Derdon had been graded throughout. The small bridge on this road required some repairs, and the foundation of the abutments secured, with stone and concrete. A portion of Galbraith’s road had also been graded. A nine-inch pipe culvert had been laid across Payne’s road, to replace an old timber culvert. The most of the footpath on the boundary road had been cleaned, and required about 30 yards of gravel. Some of the sharp bends on the River road were being improved. Merton Riding.—Six hundred and four yards of metal had been crushed at Omimi; 540 yards were put on Allan’s road and the remainder on Pryde’s, Brightling’s, and Pullar’s roads, and on Kilgour street, Seacliff. The metal on Allan’s road was now being raked in and water tables cleaned out. A culvert on Brightling’s road collapsed, and was being replaced with nine-inch pipes. The formation of the footpath on Scarp street. Karitane, had been completed, and the footpath gravelled. A few loads of metal would put the road from Warrington to Mr Porteous's farm in good order. The other road from the Kilmog side was 52 chains in length from the end of the metalled road, and would cost about £260 to . metal. The road at present required grading. The. extension of the retaining wall past Mr Taine’s property at Karitane proposed, was about five chains in length, and as the stone was not allowed to be taken from, the beach it would be an expensive job, probably costing about £BO for stone, besides the labour. Blueskin Riding.—The road leading to Osborne township had been widened at some of the narrowest parts, and stone quarried and broken on the road. Retaining walls had also been built at several places. The crusher had commenced crushing metal for Hayward’s Point road. The junction of Purakanui and Port Chalmers-Waitati roads had been widened, and the side of the road raised. . A few chains of Lower Harbour road had been damaged, but there was enough stone in the quarry ready to protect the worst parts. The track from the Cliffs to Mopanui had been improved, and rubble had been carted from the quarry at Orokonui bridge to fill pot holes on Kawanka road and on several roads in the township. Ridge street, Purakanui, was about nine chains in length. The lower end was too steep to form a traffic road, but a footpath could be formed by the relief workers in the district. Four chains at the top could be formed, but was very steep. The formation could also be done by the unemployed. To metal four chains would probably cost about £24. NorthrEast Valley Riding.—The principal work done in this riding during the month had been in breaking metal to widen Hugh street and Reservoir road above the bridge. The maintenance metal would probably be put on the roads next month. ~ , , . Main Highways. Evansdale-Mertoii highway: Very little work had been done on this highway, as the men were engaged on other work. The road was now being graded. Tenders would probably be calk'd next month for screenings for this highway. Dunedin-Waitati (via Leith Valley) highway: Practically the only work done on this highway had been in clearing a large slip which was continually moving on to the road. The report was adopted. CORRESPONDENCE.

The secretary, Otago Hospital Board, advised that the detailed estimates for the year April 1, 1932, to March 31, 1933, had been adopted by the board and that the amount apportioned to the Waikouaiti County Council was £1531 6s 8d. — Received.

H. Barton (Dunedin) wrote drawing attention to the very bad state of the road from the foot of the hill at Long Beach out to the sea beach. In places it was under water and was impassable for vehicular or pedestrian traffic. —Received. The secretary of the Otago Electric Power Board again wrote appealing to the

council to see its way to reduce the commission on collecting rates on the board’s behalf. The same group of ratepayers was being served. by the two bodies and any reduction of expense automatically accrued to the benefit of those ratepayers. The board was hoping this year to give some small reduction of rates to its people in these particularly trying times. The secretary of the Otago Electric Power Board also advised that the board had been negotiating with the Minister of Public Works with regard to its rating minimum for this year. The Minister had turned down the scheme for reducing the rates. The board had no option, therefore, but to levy the same rates this year as it did last year—namely, a general rate of .05d in the £ on the capital value and a separate rate of .6d in the £ on the capital value. The general rate would be subject to a reduction of 50 per cent, if the property was distant more than 10 chains from the board’s nearest line. .

Mr W. Lee, on behalf of the Power Board, waited on the council and placed before it the position in connection with the collection of the rates. He pointed out that the commission of 5 per cent, added to the burden of the ratepayers. One of the county councils in Otago was collecting the rates without commission, but this was too much to ask of the council, and he requested it to consider reducing the commission to 2J per cent, for this year.—After some discussion, in which some members advocated a reduction and others held that the council would not be justified in undertaking the rate collecting at a loss, it was decided to reduce the rate of commission to 3 per cent.

H. Omand (Port Chalmers) applied to have some work done on the Lower Harbour School grounds, which were in a very bad state in wet weather. It was suggested that the work could be done on the relief work basis.—lt was decided to arrange for the work to be put in hand as soon as possible. S. Macdonald and six other Karitane ratepayers applied for a roadway to their properties. It would require only a slight grading-down of the rise and about 200 yards of gravel.—Referred to the inspector to report. Stanley H. A. Beck (Dunedin) wrote stating that a mud hole, apparently formed by' a spring, existed in front of his property at Waitati. The hole had been filled by the writer on several occasions, but with little effect, and the council was asked to look into the matter. The water tables adjacent were also in a bad condition.: —Referred to inspector for attention. James Donohue (Seacliff) wrote asking if the council could improve the entrance to his property. —Received. J. Adamson (Waitati) wrote drawing attention to the state_ of the road_ leading to his property at Michie’s Crossing. The road had gradually been getting worse, and was now a danger to traffic. —Referred to the engineer, with power to act.

WAITATI FLOOD' PROTECTION. The chairman stated that Mr A. E. Anscll had obtained a grant of £1350 for the purpose of building, flood protection banks at Waitati, tbe work to be carried out by unemployed labour. Of tbe total cost the sum of £250 would be a levy upon the ratepayers within the protected area, and for this purpose a special rate could be - struck. A meeting of ratepayers was held, and it was decided to request the council to take steps to have the matter put in hand without delay.— It was decided that the chairman and Cr Laley should take steps to get the scheme under way at once. GENERAL.

The resolution passed at the last meeting of the council striking the rates for the year was confirmed. Or Douglass reported that in company with a representative of the Karitane Amenities Society he had interviewed the Native owners of the foreshore at the end of the esplanade with a view to arranging a lease of the ground in favour of the Amenities Society. A lease for 10 years had been proposed by the owners of the property, but the tenure of the lease was still under consideration. It was decided to apply to the Mam Highways Board for a 20 per cent, cut on the maintenance charges on the Waikouaiti section of the Dunedin-Chnst-church main highway for the current financial year. It was decided that the county treasurer (Mr Inder) be granted a months leave of absence on account of ill-health.