TUAPEKA. COUNTY COUNCIL

Otago Witness, Issue 2263, 15 July 1897, Page 8

TUAPEKA. COUNTY COUNCIL

The ordinary meeting of the Tuapeka County ' Council, held at Lawrence on Friday last, was attended by Mr J. Bonnet (chairman), and i Crs R. Cotton, J. Inglis, W. Livingston, W. i Osborne, F. Oudaille, J. Sim, and J. K. Simpson. CORRESPONDENCE. Mr G. Herriofcfc, Fomahaka Downs, wrote complaining that a contract he had ' entered < upon on the Rankleburn road had been taken j out of hands and finished by another con- ; tractor. He requested, therefore, that his de- .' posit of £5 Is should be returned, as he had nob received notice to quit his contract. — Received. Mr W. Dowdall, Waipori, wrote asking permission to erect two gates on the. road leading through run 51a — one near peg C at Waipori Buah, and the other close to peg J on the road to Berwick. — Granted. Mr H. Anderson, Waipori, wrote enclosing an account for £10 16a for the time he was employed forming a road to the Lammerlaw. — Consideration was deferred. Messrs W. Hickey and J. Hewitt, Tuapeka Mouth, wrote requesting pecmission to work claims on the Rankleburn punt reserves. — The applications were granted on the usual conditions. Mr J. TamblyD, secretary to the Teviot Fruitgrowers' Association, wrote applying for a (subsidy for the destruction of small birds. He understood that the council annually spent some £13 in distributing poison. He suggested that the council should subsidise each riding to the extent of pound for pound up to 30s, so that £27 worth of poison would be procured and distributed. — It was decided to grant 30s for general expenditure in Teviot. Hiding. Mr A. Brydie, Clark's Flat, wrote with reference to a complaint made at the last meeting of the council as to a ditch on the side of a portion of the C. ark's Flat road. He stated that he failed to Bee where the nuisance was created. — Ifc was stated that the complaint had l been originally made by Mr Brydie's neighbour, j Mr Taboro, and had substquently formed the subject of action at law in the Supreme Court. '< The parties now appeared before the council, j and, each having stated his case, the council declined to interfere, and suggested that an effort should bo made to come to an amicable arrangement. — It was subsequently announcad that this arrangement had been effected. Mr T. E Sapwell (Kelso) wrote complaining that he was denied free access to his land through Mr James Drake (Kelso) fencing in most of the road line in section 20, block VIII, Kelso.— lt was decided that Mr Drake be requested to shift back the fence to a distance of I 6ffc. • Mr A. Fraser wrote drawing attention to the road leading to Mrs Ross's, and asking that the water tableß be cleaned out and g6uer«l repairs effected. — Referred to the surfaceman. ; Mr M. Patterson wrote suggesting that Mr J. Patterson be appointed as an inspector for the Kelso bridge afc a cost nob exceeding £20. — The recommendation was approved. CHAIRMAN'S REPOH.T. The chairman's report was as follows :— I have the honour to submit the following report on roads and works for the months of May and June : Contract 425b (Beaumont-Rankleburn road).— Fair progress has been made, and should be completed in four or five weeks. Contract 430 (rubbling near Beaumont).— Com- i pleted. . , Contracts 432 a and 432 d (Lawrence-Waipori ; road) are in progress. ' Lawrence-Clyde Main Road.— Good progress has | . been made. < '< Lawrence-Waipori- Road. — Fair progress has t I been made with this work. j Roads generally throughout the county are in • better order and repair at present than at any | j similar period of the year since the initiation of i the county system, though some parts are still , ' bad and are now receiving the necessary atten- ' tion. i Scrivngeour's Road. —In company with Mr Inglis I again visited this road, and we are of opinion that a better and cheaper road can be made by a slight deviation from the surveyed roadline. Mr Scrimgeour approves and consents to deviation as suggested by us. I Ifc was resolved on the motion or Cr Inglis, , ' seconded by Cr Sim — "That Scrimgeour's road . deviation be carried oub and the necessary agreement be entered into for the exchange and stoppage of road 1 !." ! SUBSIDISING MINING WOHK. The Under-secretary for Mines wrote that i after consideration ot the report furnished by ' the acting-inspector for mines for Ofcago on the Gabriel's Reef Prespecbing Association it had i been decided, instead of paying a subsidy on the work already performed, to authorise a subsidy to the extent of £200, to be expended, at the rates prescribed by the regulations, towards any < further works undertaken by the association.— The communication was received. ! Mr Uren, secretary to the Gabriel's Quartz Reef Prospecting Association, reported tbafc the association had driven the main tunnel 36ft, tae crosscut tuunel east 32ft and west 34ft, makiDg a total of 102ffc for the month. The writer asked the council to certify that the work had been done in compliance with the regulations as required, in order tbat the Government subsidy of 3s per foot might be claimed.— Cra Oudaillb and Livingston moved and seconded respectively — " That the members for the riding visit the work and report."— This was agreed to. A CHARITABLE AID CASE. The Secretary to the Benevolent Institution Trustees at Dunedin wrote in respect of a case ot relief at Waipori. The person in question was a woman whose relief had been stopped on the recommendation of the late inspector (Mr Favell), who visited the district and reported on the case. The County Council had asked that the case be reinstated on the relief books of the trustees, bub the trustees now replied by for1 warding the inspector's report to the council. The report, which was read, set forth that the woman had a family of nine— four boys (whose »ges ranged from six to 20) and five girls (whose ages ranged from seven to 19). She lived ia a 15-roomed house, for which she paid 5s a week, and she took in boarders. It j was impossible to geb at her earnings. The ; second boy was in the Tuapeka Hospital with a sore leg, but had since been discharged. The eldest boy earned 25a a week, bub threw up his work. Cr Cotton said that there was not one word of truth in the report. The woman had an old public house with a great many rooms, which were not fit to go into. The boy who was doing the sleighing and got 25s a week for it only got a week's work, and could not live at home. ' i When the people saw the report in the paper '. i they knew it was not true, and forwarded a petition to the trustees. Cr Livingston thought that the member for ! the riding should not report on the cases which occurred in his locality, but that the police should report on them. The Clerk observed that he had suggested that the trustees should get a report from the 1 } police. . I Cr Oodaille thought the member for the : riding was a great cteal more reliable than the ; inspector. From what he had heard of the inspector's doingti in the districb and in town he » thought little importance was to be attached to ' his reports

Cr Inglis was also of opinion that little reliance could be attached to the inspector/* report. The Chairman said that if the inspector* report was true the trustees would be justified in theic action. Cr Cotton said all the people of the district were willing to sign the list. Cr Sim thought that until each county looked after its poor the system of administering charitable aid would be unsatisfactory. He thought that if a woman had a grown up family like this woman had she .should nofc come before the council for relief. " People knew that the council could be easily " got at." j The Chairman hoped that Cr Sim would | nob advocate each county maintaining its own poor. Cr Cotton said that one of the woman's boys was in the hospital with a bad leg, and he was nofc better yefc. He had spoken to the local policeman, who said so far as he knew the report was not true. The council appealed to a resident of the district, Mr Blackmore, who happened to be present. He stated thab the woman paid 5s a week for rent. One of the boys earned 25s a week, and th&fc was all the income she had. The girl, aged 13, was a cripple, and one of the boys was in the hospital with a bad leg. The Chairman: How many boarders -has she? Mr Blackmore j I never saw any boarders. I know exactly how the woman'is situated. The rain comss into the house everywhere. It is an old hotel. Cr Cotton moved, and Cr Osboene seconded — " That the Benevolent Trustees be recommended to grant her 7s 6d a-week." Eveufcually ifc was agreed, on the motion of Cr Sim, thab the police be asked to report on this and all other cases. SNOW POLES ON THE OLD MAN BANGS* A petition, containing the signatures of 207 of the residents on the Old Man Range goldfields, was presented to the council setting j forth thab the track across the range from Rox- ' burgh to Potter's, Campbell's, and Waikaia > Junction was very 'inaccessible and difficult to 1 cross, more especially during the winter, from the mouths of May to September, when the country was most liable to snow storms and heavy enow drifts. In view of the heavy loss of life both formerly and recently, the council were requested to build the upper shelter sheds on the Campbell's track, and also to re-erect the snow poles which formerly stood there, and do such other work as was necessary. Cr Inglis said that there were 82 miners who lived on the ranges who had signed the I petition. In the early days the Provincial Government had erected the poles. In the 1 p*sb the number of lives lost on the range was about 40 or 50, and the major part of the casualties occurred near the upper shelter ahed. In one g alone 14- lives wero lost. - There was no doubt the sheds that had been erected in the past had saved a good many lives, but the poles and sheds were all in ruins now. Latterly there had been a lot of prospecting, and & large hydraulic claim was to be worked, so that the population in that locality would be larger than ever. Furthermore, Mr Gunn had recently lost his life on the ranges. His body had nofc yet been recovered, and his swags and horses were found near the ruins of the old shelter sheds. If the latter had been in good repair the chances were that he would nofc have ' losfc his life. Even in summer time there i was a danger from the blizzards, which 1 came down on the ranges with great I rapidity. In the month of February last ' a number of horses and bullocks perished. Fonr 1 miles and a-half of .poles would be wanted. ! There would have to be 170 poles in all and placed at 30 chains apart. He thought the Southland County Council should bear a part ! of the cost, and he believed £100 would cover ' the whole work. If they could nofc do ifc they might apply to the Government, but he thought they should rely on themselves and nofc run to the Government; for every little thing. Cr Simpson thought ifc was » work which should be undertaken by the Government. Cr Sim said that seeing the Government had , undertaken this work before tney should do it . again. The Provincial Government had originally erected the poles. Nothing could be done this winter, and while they allowed ifc to stand over they could in the interval apply to the Government to re-erecfc them. I Cr Jnglis moved that the Southland County i Council be approached in the matter. Cr Simpson seconded the motion, which was carried. FINANCIAL. Accounts amouatiDg to £1273 3s were passed for payment. ' PAYMENT BY MISTAKE. Cr Sim drew attention to an exception made ! by the auditor in the last balance sheet in respect of an amount paid by the council to the engineer, Mr R. Hay, for the survey of Crooksfcon Cemetery. It was explained that the Crookston Cemetery trustees had engaged the services of Mr Hay's assistant, and through a mistake the surveyor s fee was paid by the council instead of by the trustees. Ifc was resolved that the secretary write to Mr Hay for the repayment of the amount. MISCELLANEOUS. It was decided that; the loan for the Miller's Fl&fc bridge be drawn from the Government as required. It was resolved that the sum of £12 10s be granted for work on the Table Hill boundary road. Ib was aleo resolved that an account be sent to the Clutha River Board for half the amount of expenditure incurred in connection with the Tuapeka Mouth punt.