COOK COUNTY COUNCIL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14050, 21 July 1916, Page 5

COOK COUNTY COUNCIL.

) The monthly meeting of tho Cook County Council was held to-day. Present ; v Crs. T. Jex-Blake (chairman), G. ; Reynolds, 11. C. Murphy, T. Holden, D. - J. Parker, C. Matthews, F. J. Lysnar, H. O. Williams, and G. Witters and ' Captain !J. Tombleson. Mr J. R. Kirk wrote forwarding a photqgiaph of the Poverty Bay aeroplane presented to the War Office at a cost of £2039.— T0 be thanked for same. —Councillors expressed the hope that the machine would do some good. Mr T. N. Brodrick, Under-Secretary for Lands, wrote forwarding a circular re §tate assistance m tree-planting. — Received. The Auckland Navy League (North Sea Fund) wrote congratulating the Council on tho fact that £1460 had been subscribed m this district for the Navy Relief Fund. — Received. Mr Thos. Brook, land officer, wrote enquiring if the Council approved of Mr* McGregor removing white pina timber off tho foad adjoining his section at Tiniroto. Granted, subject to approval of overseer. Mr W. Lissant Clayton wrote acknowledging the Council's decjsion to entrust him as its brolter with the flotation of the proposed County loan of £10,000. He asked to be supplied -with details respecting the proposal.— The clerk <*aid that Mr Clayton suggested that the fttg-n should be made 30 instead of 35 years. He wanted the Council to guarantee the interest on the loan for five years, but he (Mr Warren) did not consider the Council would be justified m doing so. He suggested they should take the loan for 35 years, aaid that the Council should guarantee the additional year and a-half. — The suggestion was approved. \ Mr James, Perry and three other. resi: dents of Daphne street, Kaiti, wrote complaining of the "deplorable condition" of Daphne street, which on account of the recent rains was, impassable for vehicular traffic.— *A' communication ioi a similar nature respecting the drainage, at the .upper epd of de^La.utour .road was- received, from Mr C.'A. de Lautour. ; — Referred to Crs. Parker, Lysnar. anq,' >th© Overseer to report',-Mjr. Lysnar urged it .was an important matter,, as it' caused the flooding of a big , area of, Kaiti. ..T^ only , solution was f to take a .strip of land' thiioiugh. Mr CuthbertV un- ■ der the public Works Act/ and divert the . water into tlie riyer at the nearest point. —The committee, was requested to nieei. tlie residents .next Wednesday, Mr IV W. Bfolnies, secretary of the Tolaga Bay Progressive .League, wrote asking", for/ the formation .of Sofvander ■ street.— Overseer to report. . . Mr C. ,E. Armstrong,/ District Engineer, wrote stating, that as the metal!hng 'for the, Gisborne- Morere ,road was not regarded as a pressing necessity, and' .being, top, late iv the season, the head office had suggested- the request for, a grant should r stan'd v over.— It was decidekUto communicate with the. •Minister of Public Works and the Hon. 'W. D. S. MacDbnald ori the subject. Cr. E. B. Boland, Tolaga Bay, wrote submitting a schedule of tolls recommended by a meeting of ratepayers for the temporary fer^y. service across the Uawa riyer. The committee asked for tenders, to be called for the right, ahd cbiisidWe'd there would, be ho loss over the undertaking. — The Chairman stated that oh receipt of the letter and after conferring 1 with Cr : . Reynolds the proposal had been advertised. — Reporting oh the /Subject ithe Overseer, stated the biilk\of the tiihbcr required for tho punt is now/ in Gisborne, and. will, be .forwarded by the.first. availabie 4 boat, .'the irOnwoirk. pulle^/ and * windlass drum, etc,, will bo ready m a few days. A wire rope/was pdrthased m/ Auckland at a cost of £40, aiid is now at Tolaga. The posts, etc., for suspending the rope are being placed m position. The work of building the punt -vvill be commenced m a few days. The Overseer added that a man had gone to Tolaga Bay to build the punt, which should be running next meeting.. — It was/decided to call for tenders for the right to run the ferry. „ The,Cpok Charitable Aid Board -vVrote statisp|hat ..they desired to hear definitely whether the, Cburtcil -was desirous that the . 'Board /should retain the administration, Jbf ordinary., public health/ hi the Cjounty. The; Boajrd" further requested that a Conference should be held with Waikohu County m, order ? to arrive at a final decision respecting sanitary matters m th^e counties. — Dr. Sidney Smith, District Health Officer, \vrote explaining the powers under the Public Health Act delegated by the Cbuncil to th© Hospital Board. Both bodies/ he remarked, appeared to be under some .misapprehension as to the. amount of; power- delegated. It would be ;seen' that, the Cpuhcu was still responsible for the^^ removal of nighty soil, etc., aiid could not shelve its functions on to the Hospital Board. The position was , cdinplipated by v the fact that although '. the Council were a^quire^ . to' carry out the removal service, the Board had pbwer to make by-laws, regulating .the. n^anner iii which these services shall be d^ne. .He believed it would be highly •desirable ..for the County , to resume the" powers' voluhta^'ily delegatecij' and' appoint ah inspector under sole control of the Council to undertake the whole of the/ sanitary inspection. Inspector York had no time to undertake, the functions of sanitary, inspector.: to. the various small townships m the district. — The" Chairman said that! if the Council had to do part of the duties, they should. the whole', thihfe oyer.— Cr, Lysnat N isu^gesfced they might - do nothing and savo a lot of money.— The Chairman said that the* nightsoil service -.was a duty falling on the council.— -After fur&er discussion. Cr. . Holden moved that the council should undertake the sanitaryinspection of the . county,/ and . should confer .with Waikbhii with Ha view to engaging. • a man to inspect both coun:-ties.-r^Thti chairman siiggiested . rescinding the previous resolution vesting' sani r tary' powers .m the^Hospitoi Board, and that a committee should be set up. to go into the mattor.-^rlt. was decided to' take the necessary steps to rescind the previous resolution, and to refer the subject to a sub'-conimittee. of Cts. Jones, Matthews, Parkex-, and Lysnar. ; „ , The Coojjc Hdspital a'nfl. Charitable Aid Bbard Avrote demanding. £2490 18? 7d. ,behig tho CdUncil's' share of expenditure for the ensuing year. A copy of the estimated rebeipts/aftd expenditure was submitted" (as already published).—^Received. : . •, . '-.-,. „ .- .'.•:.' . - .y. . The Hop. W. Eraser, Minister of Public »Works,> acknowledging: a request for assistance tq^ord^ restoration Of flood damage, stated hie was obtaining-a report on the/ subject j-^The Hon. W. D.' S. Mac Donald wrote stating ho would do. what he could' to assist the Council.- — The- grant asked for totals £5950. — Received. V Mr. R. J. Collins, Controller and Audi-tor-General, wrote forwarding audited balanoe : sheet.— -Received, i ' Messrs. de Lautour, Barker and Co. forwarded deed of ..dedication from Mr. Chas. Gr^iy, respecting a'. # flev s . roa-,4' i tlirbugh his property at Waionika.—^Approved. /•.... *». ;Mr. X G. Appl[qtpn, clerk of the Waikohu County Council, wroto submitting a letter f rom' Mr. H. # C. .Jackson, suggesting a further-deviation of NgatapaWaipaoa stock track. ;. Tho poi^t, hi,- question was on the common boundary, and his council suggested the cost should be equally divided between the two counties; — Approved- „,..-■ ....,- Mr. R. Thelwall, . acting; Health Inspector, reported that a building (apparently ji dwelliiig house), was being erected, at To Hapjara with, timber >vhich had, been m- «sq hi-, a building m town, such timber being m a \Bonpii : state' of decay, insanitary,, : and ,no longer fit for biiiiffing purposes.— The xlorlF stated that.. action had. been taken. ! The Public Works Department forwarded an authority f p? expenditure of £100 foiv.formaoba^ ar >4 t culverts, block 15,,Tutomc«.S'.prt|^ ) oeived, „,/ „.,;-, • The Waikohu County Council,, adyis6d that it had been decided to appoint its own public health and sanitary inspector, and to tako back tho powers vested iii the Board.-— Received. A deed of dedication from, Mr. J. R. I\lurphy re road m Repoiigaere subdivision was accepted. , Messrs. Nolan and Skeet wrote enquiring the Council's decision '• respecting proposed road provided m subdivision of SievwrightT estate.— To be held

over pending a reply from the Minister, Mr. A. Parsons, county ranger, reported the impounding of. 224 head oJ norses and cattle. Mr J. J. Keane, county overseer, submitted the following report: — Cbnt. 464 : Erection of bridge Bartlettfs crossing, proceeding satisfactorily; tho contractors, snould. coihplete the work m about six weeks. Lavenhaq. bridge : Work on the erection of this bridge will be completed m a couple of weeks. The tilling of approaches is proceeding slowly, bad weather having iiiterl'errcd with the work. Martin's bridge, Waimata : Repairs to this' < bridge - are well m hand and should be' completed shortly. Repairs are being effected to a small bridge on rl-us-sell's road. . ' Road roller: The work, of scarifying and rolling a portion of tho ManuttikeIvarawa "road tiad to be suspended, us very little headway could be made during the ; wet weatner. This work will b j resumed as jSopn as the weather permits. A shed .has been erected' at Matawhero for the storage of benzine. The heavy rains of the past two mbriths halve done considerable damage to the bihs at, Patutahi quarry; 1 nave had the bins emptied and mtend parrying oujt the necessary repairs during the connng month. On the Whataupoko-Ofcmond road a small bridge across Gray's drain, is too low, and on 'several occasions this winter the debris brought down, during the floods was piled up against the bridge, thereby blocking the channel and causing the water to flow down the road. ' To prevent a recurrence of this trouble it will be necessary to raise the 'level of the bridge and build up the approaches on both sides ; the cost would be about £65. The erection of a small stop bank at Ormond, authorised at last meeting, is m hand., ... ' • , . . / The drains on DeLautour and Owen roads, Kaiti, are again giving -troubjle ; this is, due to the large quantity of, rub 1 bib coming down froni the hills. Owing to' the continued spell of bad weather, the roads generally, are m a very muddy .state, and although it , is necessary to keep a certain, number of men ployed, yery little improvement can be made until the .weather clears up. . In the "folaga district work has been practically confined to repairing flpo"U 'damage and generally keeping the roafds •open for traffic^ Oto the _\_kngatokerau road, the gang . employed^ are-; steadily progressing. *with the widen&g of rpek cuttings, and scoop, hands/are engaged m putting m, a out.; to turn the river m • order to allow tlie hew toad to be made alsng the preaent. river bed. , .., V Oh, the Tauwhareparae road, repairs to culverts, bridges and,, have been, carried odt where practicable. Hands are, now engaged ,m putting m" kerbing on, footpath m. Cook street, Tolaga, .township., This work, will he-, completed . during, the present , week,, but . tho gravelling liaye to stand over until tha spring. ■•,-:/ I have pegged/ off i -a new site for bridge aiid, ,^ A chains' of .road deviation at . Mwig^tiuia-. Extra timber required , f or this bridge has been- sent to Tolaga/ and will be carted^to., the site as soon as the weather ; ana roads permit. I wish, to dras thtf .'Council's jatitention to' the large number ;of stop banks that are,; being ;built up, around private properties .m the.Bushmere aiid Waerenga-a-hika districts. If this work continues it will eventttallyyresult. m the cbunty roads m that locality : becoming tho principal, outlets fpr* the floo-d w,ater when/the river overflows .. its banks. When this occurs the da^rriage to the roads, will be considerable.; I have prepared estimates for the year 1916:17, and beg to submit a schedule of' requirements for- each riding for your approval. , . i . , . Tlie overseer's suggestion respecting raising the bridge across Gray's drain and at Stevens' store, was adopted. Payments, totalling £6003 were passed for payment. ....-..'.•