WAIHEMO COUNTY COUNCIL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1852, 20 May 1887, Page 13

WAIHEMO COUNTY COUNCIL.

A meeting of this body was held at Palmer* ston on Tuesday. Messrs Bell (chairman), Todd, Dent, M'Laren, Robertson, Fraser, Hay, and M'Leod attended the meeting.

CORRESPONDENCE. The SuYveyor-general forwarded- an amended agreement for £300 for the construction of a horse bridge over tne Taieri river, and . £300 for roads to open up blocks surveyed on run -210, Deepdale. It was, he wrote, understood that the countyand settlers required no further roadmskrag in this locality than that now to be done. The county and settlers would have to find anything over £300 that -was required for the bridge.^The letter was received. . The Secretaiy of the Railway Reform League wrote from Waikato forwarding a petition to be presented to the Government with the view of obtaining reform in the railway policy according to the suggestions of Mr Vaile.— The ChAIRMAK said he did not think it was the business or local bodies to interfere in such a matter.— The .letter was received. Joseph White sent in a report of the worB; being done at the prospecting claim at Horse' Flat. They had, he said, now got to a deptlt ox 76ft, and were sinking through tough clayThrough putting down false bottoms they had got half a grain of gold to the dish. The water made way in the claim at the rate of lft per hour. They expected to reach the bottom at about 85ft or 901 *.--It was resolved to continue the grant in aid of the work till exhausted. The Perpetual Trustees wrote on behalf of K. Hunter, Moeraki, regarding a closed road line which he was to get in exchange for one taken thf oagh his property.— Received J »teps having been already taken in the matter. The Engineer for working railways wrote stating that the silting-np of the creek at Jordan's, Waihemo, would be attended to.—Received. ; ' James Ramsay wrote regateHng the bndgff over the Taieri river. As tile bridge would benefit them, Messrs Howard and I<ogan were, he said, agreeable, and he believed Mr Glendining would be satisfied to allow £100 of the Maniototo vote to go towards the bridg«.— lfe was resolved to take no action in the matter till hearing from the Maniototo County Council": W. Dodd, Dunback, wrote asking for an extension of time to complete his contract.— Agreed to. J. and A. Sutherland wrote offering to repair the road leading to their property if the inspector would lay off the work.— Agreed to.

inspector's report.

The Inspector reported that the roads ir» Goodwood riding were in fair order. The bridge 1 on the road to the Native Bush reserve required some extra beams and new planking. It would, require about 1500 ft of blue gum timber, some of which could probably be got from the Shag" river bridge. In Bushy riding the Shag Point road on the north side of the river had been put in good order, but it would get very bad in -the event of a heavy flood. In the Blue Mountain riding there was .a bridge over the mill race which was a constant source of trouble. Itwould take from £40 to £45 to build a new one. Another bridge on Robertson's road was also very bad. It had been in a tumble-down state, ever since it had been erected. In the Dunbackriding Davis was fencing his road line, and the repairs to the road necessary in consequence would cost £5. The main road was getting very flat and would require attention. The roads in Macraes riding were in good repair. A piece of the road leading down to Fillyburn required repairs to the extent of £60. — The inspector was instructed to repair the bridge in Goodwood riding. The question regarding the mill bridge was deferred till next meeting, and it was resolved that Robertson's bridge be repaired after the removal of the Shag river bridge timber. The inspector was instructed to^ report as to thecost of repairing the worst portions of the main road at Dunback.

TENDERS.

The following tenders were received : —

For taking down and removing superstructure of Shag river bridge : D. W. Philip, £28 10s ; W. Paul, £29 17s 6d ; T. M. Smith, £29; W. Fowler, £32 ; A. Grey, £40 ; J. Rendall, £44 195 ; A. M'Donald, £80.— Philip's tender was accepted on condition that he does not start the work till receiving notice from the council within four months.

Calcutt's road : J. Rendall, £44 13s; A. Grey, £49 2s; M. Flannagan, £49 18s; D. W. Philip, £51 10s. — The lowest tender was accepted.

No. 78, at the Houndburn : L. Flyn, £59 2s ; Sweeting and Baker, £75 18s ; Ritchie Bros., £63 17s 8d ; J. Fitzgerald, £95 15s ; P. Luhnam, £104 5s. — Flyn's tender was accepted.

No. 79, at the Houndburn : Ritchie Bros,, £68 19s ; L. Flyn, £77 4s ; Sweeting and Baker, £87 7s 6d; J. Fitzgerald, £133 ss; P. Luhnam, £137.

The council, sitting as a domain board, accepted the tender of T. M. Smith, at Is Id per acre per annum, for leasing the Puketupu Reserve for a period of 10 years. The other tenderers were— J. Caldwell, Jas. Cochrane, Thos. Lindsay, and B. Aymes.

THE SHAG RIVER BRIDGE.

Cr Robertson moved that tenders be called for the reconstruction of the Shag river bridge according to the original plans and specifications. There had been some delay in the matter with the view of gaining information about the durability of the timbers suggested. Mr Robertson now gave the council the result of certain investigations he had made, which proved that kauri did not last in the railway bridges for more than six or seven years, whereas ironbark used at the same time was now perfectly sound. Under these circumstances, he thought they ishould use ironbark instead of kauri for the bridge, as stipulated in the original specifications.

Cr M'Leod seconded the motion. He had himself noticed the decay of kauri in the railway bridges. Or M'Laren said they might as well carry out the work at once, as the ratepayers had approved of it, and the money could be borrowed from the Government

Cr Todd also supported the motion,- which was unanimously agreed to.

— A society item in Western paper says : " The wedding was strictly private, owing to the bridegroom being still in mourning for his first wife." This explanation should have satisfied those pers.ons who felt offended because they didn't get invited to. the wiedding. It would be a hard-hearted wretch who would intrude upon a man's grief a,t such a time.