CLUTHA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2650, 28 December 1904, Page 32

CLUTHA COUNTY COUNCIL.

The monthly meeting of the Clutha County Council was held in the County Chambers, Balclutha, on Friday ; present — Crs W. Hay (chairman), J. F. Ayson, J. R. Mitchell, W. Nicol, A.. C. Saunders, D. A. M'liaelilan, J. Clarke, W. Grainger, and J. Gumming. CORRESPONDENCE. The Paymaster-general notified payment into the county fund account of ss, gdldfileds duty for August. — Received. The Deputy Chief Inspector, Department of Labour, forwarded circular letter re -the council holding a special meeting during January to decide the day on which shops would close at 1 o'clock as required by " Tha 'Shops and Offices Act, 1904." — Wednesday was fixed upon as the day for the '-weekly half-holiday. Special meeting to be held >on the day of next ordinary .meeting. The Secretary of the Marin< Department, , Wellington, wrote that an application had been , received from Captain A. Richardson, of tihe Owaka. Rifles, for permission to take Owaka ' wharf shed for the purposes of an orderly room. The Minister Jiad no objection to the council handing over the shed for the purpose mentioned, and if the council did so it -would be relieved of all liability in connection -with the shed. — Two letters were read fromi Captain Richardson in connection -with the aanie matter, and a telegram was received from "the Secretary of the Marine Department stating th»V *fter the shed had been removed from the wharf the council was authorised to sell the wharf by auction for" removal and pay proceedsi into the public account. — Granted. The Clerk of the Bruce County Council forwarded copies of returns furnished by the Benevolent Trustees to the town clerk of Milton showing the amount of "levy on each local body in Oiago, and the amount paid in outdoor relief in each district. The amount of the Dunedin city levy was £IS6S, but the arnoimt paid in relief in the city was not stated. The Bruce County Council now wished particulars aa to the expenditure in Dunedin. — Received, and considered unsatisfactory, as all the details. had not been supplied. W. D-. R. M'Ciurdy, district road enginerr, .wrote re M'Kinlay's track. There was mo money authorised for expenditure on the track at present. — Recieved. The Secretary to the Treasury aaked 1 ihe counoil to pay in to the public account on February 1 next the sum of £282 3s 6d, interest to [January 31, under the Loans to Local Bodies Act. — Hold over till next meeting. A. and J. Bain, W. H Weir, and H. Weir, Tahatika, wrote dra-wing attention to the condition of portion of Friend's road, consislirg of about five chains from M'Dougall'a gate upwards. — Work to be done, before next winter. William Griffith and eight others wrote with reference to the state of the road from Puerua bridge at Port Molyneux to Otanomomo railway station. The approach to the bridge on the north side required making up, and about 10 chains from the bridge the -road required raising, the 'formation having been partly washed away by high tidies. The block road leading to the point required some clay carted aa to it, and the road .between Meier's and

Sutherland's also required some attention ; the j culvert required filling up very urgently. The ditches on both sides of the Swamp road also ' required cleaning out. They therefore asked ( that a fair proportion of the rates from adjoin- i ing lands be spent in carrying out suggested improvements. — The Chairman said a few days . would make up iJie approaches, and there were j a few holes in the road which the surfaceman could fill up. As for cleaning out the ditches and other work, there was no money available. He moved — " That the matter be left in the hands of the chairman and engineer." — Agreed to. James IJaniond, Puerua, wrote drawing attention to about six chains of road between his i fences on Puerua Plat, near "Wyllie's bridlge. ! He was willing to give the stone and cart it | for 12s a day lor three horses, the council to quarry and assist to load the stone. He would also assist -with culveit and provide timber for new and larger one. — Engineer to inspect and report at next meeting* Dabinett and Young, Owaka, wrote that on November 26 their waggon was overturned on Houipapa road and considerable damage done to it. The po"e was broken, axle bent, top of waggon completely smashed, besides other injuries. The cost of repairs came to about £6. Then a valuable horse was hurt, to what extent they could not say at present. In the meantime they only charged the council with loss of time, medicine, and horse feecl — £i — in addition to the £G. Account rendered for £10 ; bxit if the horse did noi recover they would put in a claim for its value,, £3s. — Received. Mark Morton, Owaka, brought under notice the dangerous state ot road leading from the landing at Pounawea. On November 26 "his wife was driving to Pounawea, and through the bad state of the roacl she was thrown out of the trap and seriously injured, and had been confined to bed ever since. The road was dangerous to life and property ; his wife might be injured for life. For the injuries she had received he claimed JBSO compensation. — Received. George G-illespie, Purekireki, wrote asking what the council was going to do about his claim for £8 made at last meeting. — The Chairman said if the council was to recognise these claims it would eat up all the funds. The money the council received was not sufficient to keep up ihe roads. The council did not make money ; it could only do the best with what it had. — On the motion of Cr Mitchell the letter was received. Hugh Tolmie Waipahi, wrote asking the council to grant ai sum of money towards metalling the road between Waipahi Homestead and -the railway station. The road in question was the natural outlet of some 4000 acres owned by him in Clinton Riding, and be thought it would not be unfair if the portion of the rates on this land were allocated to this^road. — It was' decided to spend £50 — £25 each from Clinton and Waipahi Ridings. K-. Carlson, Clydevale punt, asked for an increase in wages, a.s within the past 12 months the had greatly increased, and would increase still more w-«n Greenfield was settled. He mentioned that all the puntmen further up were better paid than he was. — Cr Mitchell moved that he be paid 25s a- week, provided the Bruce County -Council agreed, — Seconded by Cr Nicol and carried. Oliver Andrews, Owaka Valley, wrote asking permission to erect a gate on western end. 61 what is -called Barr's road, and at the back of section 51, block I, Catlins. — GrantSd, on | the motion of Cr Saunders. ] Dr Fitzgerald, Kaitangata, wrote that he had j a disagreement with the new puntmen at j Port Molyneux. There was no distinct board j showing- tolls, etc., and the puirfcman had i charged hint ,>almost three times as much as j he had been in the- habit of -paying during the last 14 years. He was charged 16s for three - ! trips, but refused to pay till he had consulted , | the chairman. Of course, if that was the j correct charge he would have tc- pay, but if j this extra, poundage had! to be added to the U3ual fee it would bevhard on the patients. He *sked what the tariff really >vas. He submitted he should hardly be placecl in the category of usual passengers, and he thought doctors should be placed, if not on ' the free list, then on the same footing as 'farmers who crossed with mijk regularly. — Mr Carveth, thepuntman, also wrote m connection with the same matter. — The Engineer said there had been no over-charge, according to- the scale. Some olthe trips were night trips, and others were six or eight crossings. — Cr Saunders thought the charges required revising. — On ■the motion of Crs Nicol and Grainger, it was - decided that Dr - Fitzgerald be informed thtt there was no overcharge, and that the board was being repainted. — The Chairman said the time was coming when the privileges granted _to milk carts would have to be curtailed. A. M'Onie, Waitepeka, wrote objecting to Mr H. Robertson putting a gate on road leading to his property. His objection was that cattle and horses were Wlowed to ran on the road to the annoyance of his children. — Dealt with in engineer's report. John Puilar, Pounawea, wrote that there was a part of the road N from Wilson's down to the side of the Owaka River that required some stumps taking out to sllcw him' to get "to .the factory with his milk cart. If the council would give him permission to r>ut in three days on it with stumping jacks he could make it passable. In the meantime he had completed 25 chains at his own expense to get an outlet. — The Chairman s»id he had instructed Mr Puilar to put in six days at the work. Messrs Gria-or and Inglis, solicitors, wrote on behalf of Mr W. Telford, of Clifton, asking the y council to sell him a certain piece of closed road. and. il agreeable, asking on what , terma. — Referred to the member for the ridine; (Cr Avson) to see Mr Telford and arrange with regard to price. •C. W. Hursthouse, chief engineer for roads, forwarded circular letter explaining procedure necessary with regard to the adontion of heavy traffic and other by-laws under " The Public Works Act. 1894," and its amendments. — Received. engineeb's report. The Engineer (Mr J. Walker Johnston) reported as follows for the month ending 28th December: "The chairman and myself opened tenders on December 9 for contracts, and the following were accepted: — Contract 137. Kirk's road, widening formation — Walter Little, £60. Contracts 146 and 147 combined, quarrying and carting 450 yards metal, at 5s 6d per yard — Steele and Taylor. The following contracts have been completed during ttie month: — Contract 141, Kaihiku-Waiwera road, metalling; 139, Main road, opposite Jackman's, 40 cubic yards spalls; 138, Port road, 2 chains m«fcalling ; 132, 6 chains metalling, oprjosite bakery, Waipaihi; Tolmie's road, 6 chains, metalling. Progress payments have been ma.de in the following cases : — 143, ClintonOwaka road, metalling; 146, School road, Kaihiku, maintenance metal; 135, Mason's road. Owaka; 125, Clintoii-Pomahaka road, metalling. A good deal of 'permanent work has been done by day labour and by using the surfacemen's services — such as the approaches to Finegand bridge (the thanks of the council are due to Mr R. Campbell for horse -woi-k and labour in connection with this), formation and culverting G-lenshea road, Waipahi; maintenance metal on Port r©ad, South M-olyneitx; maintenance metal Church road, Kaihiku ; ditching, on Cleghorn's road, Keleo ; formation Waipahi-Arthurton road, and one or two items of Land Fund expenditure. Durjng the month plans have been prepared m duplicate of Frances's road-closing and new road, and forwarded to the chief surveyor. Application has also been made for

£222 Government vote flood damages, and the work has been inspected by the Government officer. With Mr Hay I valued the buildings erected by the late puntman at Port Molyueux, and we recommend that £25 be offered to Mrs Thomson, subject, of course, to the Bruce County Council agreeing. Ec H. Robinson's application for gate. Mx Robinson has land on both sides of the road, but the county is closely settled; that is, the holdings are very small. Cattle are kept for dairying, etc., and I a-m inclined to think that under the circtimstarjces the application should not be granted. Timber has been sent to Kelso for repairs and additions to culverts, and to Kaihiku for rebuilding bridge at church. During the month I met the chairman and 1 some members and the engineer of the Tuapeka County at Kelso re Elliott's road. If: was decided to take the work under the Public "Works Act, and this matter is now in "hand and proceeding. It was arranged lhat your council's- officers do the work and forward the necessary documents to the Tu&peka County for signature. This will save a good deal oft'he expense." The report was adopted on the motion of Crs Mit«nell and Ayson. GENERAL. Tenders were accepted as follows : — Contract No.- 128: B. Taylor, £A 18s per chain. Contract No. 144: Wm. Spence, £95. Contract No. 145: W. Spence, £62 10s. Contract No. 148: Jas. Turnbull, £3 19a psr chain. Contract No 149 : W. .Beccard, £27. Contract No. 150: R. Dynes, Is Sd, 2s 7d, 3s 6d per each of 'three miles. The Clerk reported the receipts for the.month as £104 7s 9d. The expenditure was £659 10s lid. The statements were adopted, and paysheet passed for payment. The Chairman said the clerk had been at considerable trouble in working out the riding accounts, and had now got them correctly, brcught forward to date. He wished the council's authority to make a fresh start according to the statement. He moved accordingly. — Agreed to. — A vote of thanks was passed to the clerk for the trouble he had taken in the matter. The Chairman said the rates were coming in very badly. — Notice to be given that all rates not paid by January 31 be sued for. Moved by Cr Ayson, seconded by Cr Mit- a chell— " That tenders be called to metal four and a-half chains at the end of Clinton road, joining Main South road.'' — Carnied. Moved by Cr Cumming, seconded by Cr M'Laren — " That the engineer call for tenders for metalling up to £50 on Tolmie's road, Waipahi. half of saild amount to be paid by Clinton Bidting." — Carried.