COOK COUNTY COUNCIL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 9186, 25 July 1902, Page 3

COOK COUNTY COUNCIL.

The monthly meeting of the above was held.at 11 a.m; to-day/there being in attendance the "chairman (Mr Hut chinson), and Crs Tombleson, Graham, King, Jex-Blake. . • CR. MACFARLANE. Cr Tomblesoh asked if Cr Macfarlane had obtained leave of absence while away in America. He asked this because Or Macfarlane's riding was left unrepresented ' The Clerk said that leave of absence , was not granted directly, j Cr Jei-Blake^said the Council agreed to Cr Macfarlane obtaining leave of absence, although it was not put to the, °Cr King: Cr Macfarlane did not want, the Council to be put to the cost of an election. , . , „ Cr Jex-Blake said he did not think Cr Macfarlane would seek re-election. Cr Grahnm: I understood he would remain on the Council. The Clerk said a councillor could only obtain leave for four'meetings.. If an--V other councillor were elected at the end of the four months, there would be no election for that ..riding, in November. Cr King: He expects to be back in November. Cr Jex-Blake: His idea, was to save expense. , , , Cr Tombleson said why Or Macfarlane s riding should be unrepresented for six months he did not know. Cr King pointed out that to have an election in Cr Macfarlane's absence would not give him a chance to stand at th< j November election. Cr Graham said the understanding W.is that 4ie was to have four months' absence. The clerk said two further meetings could be held before the absent coun-cillors-seat could be declared vacant. PATUTAHI QUARRY. The question of the Patutahi quarry was brought up, it being stated that the Patutahi Board was endeavouring to obtain possession of the quarry. Cr King said tin's was a serious matter, and it should be attended to. On the motion of Cr Jex-Blake, it w:is "" decided that the matter be put in Mr ! DeLautour's hands, and that he be requested to make the Council's position in regard to the ownership of the quarry GOVERNMENT GRANTS. Mr C. H. Hursthou.se, Chief Engineer of Roads, wired under date July 23: — '•You may proceed with the expenditure of £235 grant for the Gisbonie-Wairoa road under usual conditions in anticipation of agreement." The Clerk said it might be taken for . granted tliat the same thing would apply to Mahia and other agreements. Tha decision in one cuse would apply to all. Cr Jex-Blake said that this would be too risky, and it was decided to^ await further confirmation from the Govwu- ' KAiTI-ESPLANADE.. The Borough Council appro-ached the Council with a view to having .the Esplanade Road, Kaiti, which was in a. dangerous. condition, put in a passable state of repair. It was pointed out that tha road was made by the various local bodies for the carriage of Kaiti shingle, and it was this traffic that cut it up. The Borough Council agreed to contribute £50, and suggested that the Council give £50, and the.Harbour Board and Kaiti and Whataupoko Road Boards £25 each, making a total of £175, which would in the meantime fix the road up. Cr King said the matter would have" to stand over until the Council were in funds. WAERENGA-A-HIKA CROSSING. The Ngatapa Road Board wrote stating that the road from the Waerenga-a-hika Hotel to the river crossing, and the cutting into the river bed, had been made quite impassable owing to the large amount of shingle carted over it in the past few months. They trusted the Council would repair the road and cutting at an early date, as a considerable amount of traffic was in the meantime blocked.— Cr Jex-Blake said if the road and the crossing were dangerous it should be advertised.—Cr King said the crossing was a quicksand. These crossings were always'shifting.—The matter was referred to the Engineer for his inspection. ; CHARITABLE AID LEVY. The Cook Charitable Aid Board applied for the Council's contribution for the current year, 1902-1903, amounting to £1005, being equal to 7s 10U per £1000 on a capital valuation of £2,569,000. The amount was apportioned at 5-9ths Uisborne Hospital and 4-9ths Charitable Aid, and it was requested that the amount levied be paid in, lour equal instalments iv the months of July, September, November, and January. The Clerk stated that a meeting could be held on Coronation Day, if convenient, to levy the'rate, and so settle the mat's -ter. The rate would be l-10d in the £. XT' It was resolved to hold a meeting as -■' suggested' to strike the rate. FINANCIAL. The following statement of accounts to July 26th, prepared by the Clerk,, was laid on the table : — Ovei'draft, July 4, £8956 0s lOd. Collected: General rates £3 3s 2d, special £99 0s 7d, hotels £5, Arai Board interest £18, Xolaga ferry £12 10s, fines and tools £1, Patutahi supplement £200, interest ss; total collected £338 18s 9d, leaving the overdraft £8617 2s Id. Required that day £266 6s 6d, which brought the overdraft up to £8883 8s 7d; required on August 1, £786 19s 6d; probable overdraft on August 1, £9670 8s ■ (limit of overdraft £9200). Advances £120 8s sd, subsidies expected £300 net. ■ .. '. The Clerk stated that in regard to the 'amount over the overdraft limit, it had been suggested that the Council should withhold the interest until they were in J^^ls. This had not been done on a forJPRF occasion, when the Council were in r~,i~ similar position, and they had waited for the advances to tide them over. It was" decided that the Council could not attempt repudiation, and that tiic Name course should be pursued ass formerly. MINOR- MATTERS. The circular in regard to the proposed Home for Veterans was received by the Council, in which their support w,i« s,olicited by the Committee (Lord Ranfurly, chairman). —Received, the Council not opening a sub-list owing to the Borough Council having opened one, which could be used for purposes of contribution. Sir J. G. Ward notified the Council by wire that the various Government ceremonies originally .intended to have been held on June 26th vould take place on Saturday, August 9th, the date fixed for the Coronation."—Received. The Valuation Department notified that the assessment roll had been amended.—Received. Mr T. Caldwell, Doouholm, Hauiti, drew the Council's attention to the impassable state of the Tauwhareparae. road. Two slips were in very dangerous places, as the road on one side was a sheer precipice, aud consequently '"there is no room to fly," continued Mr Caldwell. "One false step at both places would mean imminent peril to either man or horse. It would_ not involve a great outlay to make the"parts mentioned passable."—To be attended to. The Department of Roads forwarded copies of proclamation in terms of section 13, of the Laud Act, 1892, taking land for a road and closing a, road , through .Matawhcro No. 6, Turanganui ' survey district.—deceived.

The Engineer stated that the bridges reported unsafe ut last meeting had been repaired temporarily. ENGINEER'S REPORT. The' County Engineer (Mr D. G. Fraser) reported:—l have the honor to report as regards the contracts in Mangatu. Contract 39: Altogether some 55 chains out of 117 have been done in the rough, through fairly heavy side cutting. Contracts 38 and 37, on same road: Progress has not been so good; in the former about 50 chains out of 80 chains lias been roughly completed, and in the latter about 50 chains out of 138 chains only has been done. Given fine weather, however, they may possibly be completed within contract time. On the portion previously executed by co-operative labor numerous slips have occurred, and the road will require to be further widened. Tenders have been invited to close at this meeting for two contracts in the Huanui district, and also for cutting and squaring puriri for portions of the Waimoku bridge at upper crossing. A further length of 2 miles and 27 chains of the Huanui-Tauwhareparae road was laid off by the Council, and plans and specifications prepared. This work has, however, been undertaken by the Roads and Bridges Department out of grant money, and is now being proceeded with. To expedite the work, I have therefore handed over to the Department the working plans, etc. A requisition can afterwards be made for reimbursement of our outlay, amounting to some £37. A quantity of totara timber (5000 ft) had also been obtained for culverting on the above work and landed at Hauiti, ready to be forwarded when the roads were opened up. This timber I have offered to the officer in charge at cost price. The roadmen, as per instructions, have been again put on, with the exception of two men who were temporarily laid up, and one who was unable to immediately go on his section of road. Some slight repairs have been executed with depot metal; and on the Tatapouri Hill the road was in so bad a condition that I was forced to have hands on, to save it from very considerable damage, As it was, the north side of the hill was completely scoured out down the centre, and I have been compelled to use a small heap of inferior metal, which had been previously condemned. Also on portions of this road large holes have had to be filled in temporarily with scrub and earth, and I would request that authority be given to have, say, 50 to 60 yards of boulders carted and broken and put on the hill, to save further serious damage. Some urgent repairs have also been necessary on Arakihi and Tauwhareparae, one small bridge having been undermined on the Tolaga-Takapau road. Owing to heavy rains, the lower breastwork on the Waimata (Richardson's hill) has been somewhat undermined from the creek side, and from this and the heavy pressure of earth on the upper side, the" piles and sheet planking have been in places forced out of plumb, throwing great strain on the wire ties. I have therefore made arrangements to have additional ties and anchor blocks put in as soon as possible. The upper breastwork is standing well, and is freely drained by the deep covered tracks cut some months ago. The metal on this road under the last contract is setting well, and with a little attention will make a good road. Gray's Hill is, however, still very rough for vehicular traffic. The main roads to Patutahi, Ormond, Karaka and Te Arai are all in very fnir condition. No notice has, however, been taken by property-owners of the circular from the Council, requesting them to cut the trees and hedges overshadowing the main road. It wns decided to apply to the Department for the cost of preparing plans, etc., for the Huanui-Tauwhareparae road. Authority was given to the Engineer to metal the Tatapouri hill, as recommended. It was decided that strong steps should be taken to compel property-owners to cut down trees.