WAIHEMO COUNTY COUNCIL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2390, 21 December 1899, Page 8

WAIHEMO COUNTY COUNCIL.

• The ordinary meeting of this County Council was held in the County Council Chambers, Palmerston, on Saturday last, at which there wtre present : The Chairman (Mr T. Muir) ai>d Cr3 W. E. Griffin, M. Isbister, J. Matheson, D. Phillips, J. Ross, D. Ross, and J. Stewart.

FINANCIAL.

Accounts for the month amounting to £213 Us 6d w*ere passed for payment.

COBRESPONDEXCE.

Mr John Hay, chief surveyor, Dunedin, forwarded certain maps, revised to date, of the several ridings in the county. — Received. The Auditor-general, Wellington, forwarded the half-yearly balance sheet, duly certified. — Received.

Mr James Gicsn, Waitati, wrote thanking the council for tho continued confidence reposed in him in appointing him the combined councils' delegate at the meeting for the election of trustees of the Hospital and Benevolent Institutions, Dunedin.— Received.

The Receiver of Land Revenue, Department of Lands and*. Survey, Dunedin, intimated that ho had paid to the credit of the county fund at the Bank of New Zealand the sum of £226 16s 10d, being " thirds " and " fourths " accrued during the period between July 3 and September 30, 1899.— Received. The Secretary to the Treasury, Wellington, intimated that he had remitted to the credit of the county fund the sum of £3 14s, fees and fines collected at the Warden's Court (Macraes and Naseby) at the Bank of New Zealand, {Palmerston. — Received.

Mr James Grant, captain of tho Palmersiton Rifle "Volunteers, wrote thanking the council for the grant of £10 towards the funds of the corps, which, he pointed out, had enabled the company to effect very necessary •unprovemonts to the targets. — Received. The following letter was read from Mr J.

White, jun., Macraes: — "Re mining on the Main road, Horse Flat. I am in receipt of your communication stating that we had opened holes and carried on operations on the road at Horse Flat, causing obstruction to traffic, etc. In reply, I beg to inform you that we have no holes on the road, nor do our mining operations in any way tend to interfere with traffic. The facts in connection with this matter are as follow : — This ground was held as an ordinary claim some year 3 be~fore there was any surveyed road in Horse L -Flat, and has been worked all the time by Spence, Anderson, and White. This road. j was surveyed through the claim, with their '■ -consent, and on the.conditions that they could ; mine on the road if they could get gold there. Permission was got from the County Council to mine the road in lE9O or 1891. The matter was arranged by the late Mr Hay with Mr A. D. Bell, the then chairman of the council. Mr Hay and Mr Hartstonge were the members of the council for Macraes Riding at the time, and Mr Hartstongo informs me that he has a perfeot recollection of the circumstances. Tho inspector of works will, I have no doubt, also remember the arrangement, and I suppose some note of it will be in the books. Any hole 3 that were sunk on the road were filled up when finished with. Tho same mining has been going on here for about 12 years, and it is a n.ost peculiar and significant fact that during the time M'Lennan has made no complaint, and only makes it now after taking an action in the Warden's Covri, to cancel our claim, because part of il is on his grazing run. His action, of course, failed, and he now seeks to make an instrument of the County Council to injure us if possible. In conclusion, I can only characterise the statement made as grossly misleading, and noc in accordance with fact. I also trust that the council will not be a party to hound down men who have to make their living by mining. God knows, it is a hard enough life with all the facilities they can get. I hope that on reference to the books, the matter will be cleared up. The year was 1859, lE9O, or 1891 ; lam jiot sure which."— Cr Griffin, who had visited tho ground, explained that the depth of the shaft and the nature of the drive under the road, end the manner in which the drives were filled up again in the course of working the ground, prevented the road from sustaining any damage, and the- only obstruction he saw was some dirt on the side of the road that required removing. — Cr Matheson also spoke in corroboration of Cr 'Griffin's view of the matter. — The Inspector explained the position of the workings on the road in question, and expressed the opinion that under the present system adopted by White and Co. he did not apprehend that any injury could be done to tho surface of the road, or that the mining operations would at all interfere with the traffic passing over the road. — The Chairman did not consider that the matter called for any interference on the part of the council, and tho letter was received, it being understood that tho inspector would see that the road and traffic were protected* Applications from John Eggere and C. E. Griffin (Macraes), A. Arthur (Springfield, Hyde), and A. Fraser (Shag Point) for slaughterhouse licenses wero granted.

inspector's report.

Tho Inspector reported as under : — Macraes Riding : With respect to mining on the Horse Flat road, where tlte present dispute arises, it was close to the old mining ground, which has been worked for over 30 years, and at different times since the Waihomo County Council came into existence 17 years ago. . For about J2 to 13 years it had been worked by Anderson, Spence, and White, Fen., but lately by the Whites and Company. Holes had been sunk on the road from time to 'time, and protected and filled up when finished by tho miners without any trouble previous to this, and mining was known to bo going on by all the late members of the Macrae3 Ridir.g. The fact was the miners > considered that if they protected the public, and made the road good, they had a right to mine there, being old ground. He (the inspector) had never seen nny indication of subsidence on the old workings on the present road line. The shafts were sunk near the fence lines, and the road was narrow, owing to M'Lennan's fence being some feet on the road line, but there was 56ft clear for sheep to pass. There were two barb wires stretched from post to post and one panel on each fence; but barb wire- was largely utilised for gates in the Macraes district. — Received. — Dunback Riding: The mountain track was almost finished in tho Wailaki County, but there was about 20 chains yet to improve before the road reached the place where Sir Bell wanted to build his hut. Seventy-five and a-half chains of the road had been done, but more money was required to enable the road to be improved further. The Main road from Duuback to Macraes much required maintenance metal or gravel, also the Main road from Dunback to Green Valley required gravelling. — Received. — Bushy Riding : The Muddy Creek bridge had been improved, and would now carry with safety an engine crossing over it for somo yeare. The Umber to repair the Goodwood bridge was shortly expected, and when it arrived this bridge and others would be attended to. — Received.

DOG TAX,

The council resolved, on tho motion of Cr Matheson, seconded by Cr Griffin, to impose a registration fee for the ensuing year on all dogs within the county as follows: — Cattle and sheep dogs, 2s 6d each, and all other dogs 5s each. — An amendment, proposed by Cr Isbister, seconded by Cr Stewart, that the registration fee be 23 6d for all dogs, was negatived. Cr J. Ross moved and Cr Phillips seconded — " That applications be invited for the position of dog tax collector for the ensuing year ; rate of commission, Is per dog for all dogs registered at ss, and 6d per dog for dogs registered at 2s od each." — Carried.

GENERAL

. Cr Griffin moved and Cr Matheson seconded — " That the inspector be instructed to report on the state of the road from Heffrin's gate to Sharfc'a Hill, Moonlight."— Carried,

STONEBURN ROAD.

Cr Phillips moved and Cr Stewart seconded — " That tenders be called for gravelling and improving the Stoneburn road to the extent of the land fund available. — Carried.

Cr J. Ross moved — " That the clerk be instructed to make the necessary formal application to the department for the amount voted for improvements to the Shag Point road." — Seconded by Cr Griffin and carried.

Resolved, on the motion of Cr JLHewart, seconded by Cr D. Ross— " That tenders be called for gravelling the Goodwood road from Stewart's to the Main road.

The chairman was authorised to sign the half-yearly balance as affirmed and adopted by the council.

The chairman and Crs J. Ross and Stewart were appointed a committee to >visit the Domain with the inspector, and to report as to its condition at next meeting of the council. The council then. adjourned. <-