WAIHEMO COUNTY COUNCIL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2914, 19 January 1910, Page 9

WAIHEMO COUNTY COUNCIL.

i Th© regular meeting of the above 1 council was held on Saturday at Palmer- ! ston. Present: Crs.Clark (chairman), Ross, O’Neill, Bayly, Sutherland, Philip, M‘Lay. ■; and P. M'Callum. Cr O’Connell forwarded i ah apology for non-attendance. j CORRESPONDENCE. t The Treasury Department advised that ’ ±539 14s 2d' goldfields revenue for Novem- ; ber had been credited to the council’s ac- ! count with the Bank of New Zealand. — ■’ Noted. | The Receiver of Land Revenue reported . that i>2s 2s, “thirds ” and “fourths’’ acj crued to November 50, had been, remitted | to the credit of the council. —Noted. 1 Permission was granted to Mr A. D. ; Bell, in response to a request from him, | to lay a line of pipes under the main 1 road near Waiherno. ! Mr E. H. Clark, M.P., wrote acknowi ledging receipt of a letter from the council ! in respect of the royalty on scheolite, and • stated that the matter was receiving his ; attention. —Received. * The balance sheet for the half-year endj ing September 30, 1909, was returned from ; the Auditor-general, and was ordered to i be printed. inspector’s report. i Mr Cruickshank reported for the month : as follows Green Valley Riding.—The : gravelling contract is finished, but the dry I weather is preventing binding. The reI mainder of the roads arc in fair order. Dunback Riding.-—Both the gravelling contracts are finished, but the contract did not provide enough gravel t-o finish the main road, and to do which part tlaa Black Pinch would require about 100 or ’ 150 cubic yards. The Stoneburn road, bcj tween Cameron’s run and Blaekie’s boun- : dary has been repaired. M'Culloch’s road' | has" been graded. Blue Mountain Riding.— I The dry weather is affecting th© roads i in tins district, causing them to bo very } loose in some, parts. The workmen have been repairing the back-block roads, and many people with gorse uncut have been notified that it must be cut. Goodwood Riding. —The men have repaired the Village Settlement road, but the clearing of the cables has taken a long time owing to the luxuriant growth of grass this season. Macraes Riding. —The roads here are very dry and loose, and the gorse nuisance is I also apparent. —The report was adopted, i ROYALTIES ON SCHBELITE. I The Under Secretary of Alines wrote I acknowledging receipt of a letter from the ; council urging the payment of royalty on scheelit© produced from the Macraes mines. I He inquired whether the council, when dis- ; cussing the question, had taken into consideration the rent paid by the lessees of these mines. The titles were held under the Aiming Act. and a rental of 10s 6rl per acre was paid in some cases and 7s 6d in others, whereas if the ground was taken up under mineral license the rent would | be only 2s 6d per acre, together with a j small royalty. The question was whether I the council did not receive more revenue ; from the mines as at present hold than it I would if the areas Pad been taken up under j mineral licenses, paying, thertelor, a lower ! .rental and a specified royalty.—A copy | of the letter, which had been sent to the members of Parliament interested', was read, this giving a review of the whole I position and showing that the attitude the minor took up was that the licenses were for gold, and the miners were thus entitled to scheelite as a by-product. The [ council, on the other hand, contend that

royalty should be paid, irresponsive of the license held. A draft reply to the Minister was submitted, this pointing out that _if a mineral license had been taken out instead of the gold license, which the council contends should be clone, as minerals were extracted and royalties paid the council would benefit to the extent of £25 per annum. The letter was authorised' to bo sent. GENERAL. Accounts totalling £246 2s 6d were passed for payment. On the motion of Cr Bayly the inspector was instructed to bring in a report as to the cost of forming the road from Matheson’s to- Freeland's wool shed. On the motion of Cr M‘Lay it was decided to call for tenders for 150 yards gravel for the Black Pinch road. The clerk was instructed' to notify the county ranger that unless more attention was devoted to the work his appointment would be cancelled. The weekly half-holiday was fixed for Wednesday.