WAIHEMO COUNTY COUNCIL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2771, 24 April 1907, Page 10

WAIHEMO COUNTY COUNCIL.

The ordinary monthly meeting of the Waihemo County Council was held at Palmer3ton on Saturday; present— Crs James Ross (chairman), D. Roes, T. Muir. D. M Philip, T. StenhoiiF" G-eorgc Clark. J. O'OcnneH, and H. O'Neill. An apology wa3 received from Cr Matheson. BUSHEY BEACH ROAD. Before the minutes of the previous meeting were coufirnced, the Chairman pointed. • out that at l«£t ir.eetmg ne had ac-cepted an amendment \o a mciion already on the books dealing with expenditure on Bushey Beach road. He had allowed Ihe amendment to b3 put be<:aus.3 it was stated that he (the chairman) was opposed to the road. The acceptance cf the amendment had created an informality, and it might b3 necessary to ba'.e it ceased from theminutes. On the motion of Cr Phi'ip. seconded by Cr O'Neill, the minutes were ccnfirm-sd, and Cr O'Neill gave notice x> move at the foUowm>< meeting that bcth motion and am 411 dm ant be rescinded. 2IOONLIGKT-P.OCK AND PILLAR ROAD.W. E. Griffin end 35 other ratepayers farwarded a petition on tbe mutter of tlie Moon-light-Rock and Pillar roi.3, and pro.ested against the council with its construction on Ihe grounds that £300 was not sufficient to complete Ihe work; that heavy expense would be entailed for surveying an<i fencirg off land, over a mile of fencing btdng required ; oompen&ation for land taken would also be necessary, and the cost of securing tirles wou."d absorb all the money conring from latss, and would leave nothing fcr the road leading to the ciearaery, a most mv poilant matter fcr settlers in the vicinity. The patitict-er's s<?t out that the county mspactoi's estimate for construction cf the read was far bolow what would actually be rercquired. owing to cost of labour and horse hue having gore up The pe*.tion alleged that the load was not required, that it w^u'd cc^'t JEIOOO to make it a gcod, vfe rofd, aiul that a traffic bndg3 coding about £10)0 would also be nec3ssary if the wcrk wrs to be of wiy benefit to t.he settkrs. The road, it was stated, would berefit on'y Qvo seitUrs, who ai present had every access to the railway at Hyde, ill? actual differenc-9 m distance to them bein^ less than two ink?. The petition pointed out that the riding already h^-d rucre roads Jran it could properly maintain, and that to mcreas3 the length of reads wci'd m>olve a;i increase of r?tc= -The petition was receive-J. The Deparfcn-.e'it of Uoads wrote, undei date March 23. that tho grant of £203 fcr the road had lar=ed. Cr Clark ea,d it ceemed to him that if ihe Rook a,nd Pillar road vas ;o be gone o-i with, and he hoped it would bo. the council woa-M have to start arreih, ar.d make application fo/ a larger sum. At a later gt«ge of t.'re meeting Cr Clark, in accordance with notice, moved thrvt a motion standing iv the books, and dated February 15, be rescinded. Tho m0t.0.1 rc-fc-iied to provided for the lapse of a further vote of £100 for tbe Mocnlighftß.cvk.aiid Pillar load. In snprxwt of the motion. th<s mover stated that ihe residents ptud sorao £'-30 per year in rales, and had dove so for a numbsx of years without gat-ing anything for it A_n impression ihat had gene about that the read

was not a, surveyed or.o was mccrrect. Tho amount the oouncifr would be called upon to provicfe for {the rond would not be gieao, and, c.3 any money tbat had been expendsd in t,ho locality was from land grant", he thought tke settlers wero en tided to some coi>idjratioi'. Thp principle of allowing Go 1 ernment vote^ to lapse was not si good one, and would mako it difficult fcr grants to bo obtained in the future The petition received sgainst the c<m3tiuciion of the load contained a number of exaggerated statement", and he had heard that it was promoted in Palnierffton, and did not emanate from the district ocnoerned. Cr O'Connell thought it wcu'.d bo very hard if the farmers in tbe district did not get aomo assistance in the matter from the council. In answer to a, question, Cr Clark exp'amed that when he referred to the petniion being got up in Pahmerston he did not itbean that it emanated from any members of the County Council. Cr CArk's motion was then put and declared lost by 6 votes to 2, the mover and seconder being th« only members who voted in its , favour. i inspector's report. ! The Inspector (Mr G. Cruickshank) reported , as follows : — j There aore some very tall trees (Pinus in- ' eignis) on some of the Blue M-cuntain roadlines ; some of them overhaxg the roadway and are dangerous, ai:d I await, the council's instruction as to dealing wiih ih& matter. Tho road 9 are in fair order. Seme bridges want attention, ard some gravel is wanted on tho Shag Point road in the Macraes district. The contractors lor road-widening at Hyde bridge are getting on well, and they will finish within contract time; olher contractors are bad'y behind time, ajid there is no appearance of their starting witii their contracts, t I am getting on well with the back work. The load to th© £crry hag been repaired, m>cn aro re-fcnnir.g Hyde » road to Macraes, and the road at j

M'Lean's has been pui. in a state of repaiy. " — Instructions were give nto tho inspector to ' notify owners to have overhanging trees cufc ' down where they were dangerous, end th« " report was adopted. The inspector was instructed to report on the probable cos* oS wcrk ai. Fraser's, Moonlight. OEKEHAL. Mr Gilmour (Goodwood) waited l on the council and asked t^at a small piece of roedf be formed at Goodwood. — Referred to inspector t» report. Tha following contract was accepted: — Formation on Lincoln road, A. Gumming, £26 15sr. Accounts amounting to £283 were passed for payment. W. and G. DonaMson, under date 12th msf., wrote enclosing a let-teT from the Mines Departmen-t in reply to an application by then* for a grani of £150 towards making and improving the road leading to their gold and! tungsten mine, noaor Moumt Highlay. — On th« itt^tipn of Or Philip, seconded by Cr D. Ross, it was resolved that the ma*t«r stand in abeyance until the inspector ascertained the road! for which the gTa-nt was required.

The County C/lork (Mr W. B. Galloway) read th« motor traffic by-laws, which had been approved at the recent motor conference. Tia bylaws, aa submitted, were agreed to, subject to confirmation sit a conference, to be heldl in Dunedin beiween the. Oounay Councils and 6ho Motor and Cycle Aseeciwfcion.

It was resolved to take legaA proceedings for recovery of a.U outstanding rates unpaid within one month from date.