COUNTY COUNCIL WORKS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 126, 20 July 1911, Page 3

COUNTY COUNCIL WORKS.

SCXDRY REPORTS. The following reports were submitted at the monthly meeting of the County Council yesterday morning:— Engineer. The heavy rain on 10th inst. did minor damage to several roads in the outlying districts. The Taihore Road was principally affected, being completely blocked in one place by a slip about' three-quarters of a diain in length, whilst sundry lesser slips occurred on different parts of the saddle. It would require a man lor about two months on tins road to make the necessary repairs, and render it in a proper condition for vehicular traffic. > nano a.h-.o iuPpi-ctea a road generally known as dark's track, running southward off the being,jeau -Road tiie eastern end of kiangaclia Rmig-' near Mr. 1‘ olsy’s property. On miroad a serious wasn-out lias occurred, and to repair same in a safe and substantial manner would necessitate the building of a 20ft. span bridge. Temporary repairs to allow of bridle traffic could, however, bo made at a cost of about £5 With a view of laying off work in connection with the expenditure of the £43 available on Mr. Humphries’ Road, 1 proceeded to the locality ;n question, but on inspection found that to extend the work from the point already reached necessitated the crossing of a deep "gorge, and the formation needed would cost much more than the money at present \ oted. 1 am therefore placing the facts of the case before the Resident Road Engineer in order to obtain, if possible, an addition to the present grant.

1 iiave inspected the watercourse adjacent to Standi sh Road, and find it to be generally in a very clicked and overgrown condition, with the result that in time of heavy rain a considerable area of ground is flooded, and the water covers several chains of road. The creek requires thoroughly cleaning, and straightening in places from nearly up to Ahuroa Road, to well down into Mr. Derby’s - section, and'also the portion consisting of road drain, cleaning and widening in places.

Tiie North Cardiff Road lias been raked in and repaired in accordance with instructions.

The thirds schedule, with proposals for expenditure as submitted to last meeting, has been forwarded to the Land hoard for its l approval.

'i he outlet tc culvert on Council p-. --U'ises has lour, cleared as far as possible, but the chief trouble lies, as in the past, on the eastern side of the railway hue, whore tiie fall is not sufficient to carry away the water. Contract No. 850 (drain cutting, New-Kopua district), is almost completed. Acting on the advice of the County solicitor (vide his memo.), and on the resolution of the Council at last meeting, re further expenditure in NewKopua drainage district, 1 have gone over the locality in question and prepared specifications for the remaining work required. These are being now advertised, tenders to close in a fortnight. xno work of replacing an old timber structure on Opunake Road, near Rowan, with a concrete bridge, has commenced. A temporary structure has been put in to take the_ traffic whilst the work of renewal is in progress, the old bridge has been dismantled, and the excavation of foundations for tlie new concrete piers put in hand.

Contract No. 841 (formation of por- < ion,' of.. Magign• -Hoad),. • is.- as yet lunlinisfaed, having been carried on in a slow and iurlilferont manner, it is only ‘fair, 'however, to state that the contractor 'has been hampered with slips, and at the present time the whole;, length'of contract is in a more or less damaged state. A letter from tlie contractor is on the correspondence file, and I understand he intends to personally interview the Council i e the matter.

Foremen. I). Brown.—Tne roads under my care arc in fair order at present. Barclay Hoad: As this road is or rather soft formation, it is cutting up rather badly, if there is money enough it would do it good to blind it with a fine gravel, which can.be got from the cutting just south of the bridge. It would cost about £8 or £lO to do it. I had it raked in last week.—Denbigh itoau: ihis road is giving, a lot of trouble at present, as the last heavy rain cut it out badly, and now it is breaking up in places. 1 had to repair one or the fords with boulders, as it had washed out rather deep to re safe for traffic. Mr. (4. Eerguson was’ kind enough to let me have tire stone from his place free. 1 also had to replace a wooden culvert with live Din. concrete pipes. I found a settlor splitting hrewoed on this road, and when i warned him he said lie could do as lie liked on his own frontage, and would not apply to the Council for the wood. 1 would like this sort of thing put a stop to, as it leads to trouble, and I do not want to have to carry a gun.—Rutland Hoad: There is* a settler putting in an entrance at the end of the new formation, and in place of filling it rip to the level of the road lie is cutting the present grade down till there will be a, drop of four to six feet to fill up if the road is carried on at any time. J would like the Engineer or some of the riding members to have a look at it. as it is a trap to tuiybbdy riding through that way.—Denmark Terrace : ! had to renew an old culvert with pipes on this road. 1 had some old pipes on hand. I used two 12in. clay pipes.—Mid hirst Township : 1 repaired some of the roads on this side with scrub and, earth, as they were almost unfit for traffic.—Monmouth Hoad: I have raked in this road again, md would like to try rolling it with the traction engine. I am almost sure it would make a good job of the low■r end ,as it is firm on the sides, and ' therefore the engine could not slip sideways. If it would not work on this portion it would be useless to try my other place, and it would not cost nucii to run her down and have a 1 rial.—Off Work:, J was off work for v week with a poisoned hand. ! am ilcased to say it is well again. J. Kovaloski.—For the time of year the metal roads are keeping in cry good order, with the exception if Stanley Hoad East, which 1 have ad to pa tell rather heavily. The eccut heavy rain caused a number of tins on the Croydon and Ackland loads. 1 am having Stanley Hoad, v -in the end of me tat to Mr. McKay’s woi'crty, rounded up, and the watertables cleaned. .-This will cost about 2. Another set of one-foot pipes is V;wired in a crook filling on Croydon lead opposite Mr. Welicr’s. property, s, v, iiii heavy min., the valor flew.-. •ver the road.— A list r.f properties m. loch there wore trees overhanging oads was included in the report. S. Barker.—All the roads are in ood ardor. I have re-motalled ten bains on Mountain Road and put in culvert. There is another culvert i icli wants renewing on Mountain b ad, in front of Mr. Trecofsky’s proi ertv. This culvert would be hotter out a chain further down the road,

which would prevent the water running to his house.- The settleis aie getting or. very slowly with tree-fell-ing, and most of them do not like the idea of cutting them down to twelve feet, b. cause it men 0 killing tbe icoo>. I have been up the Emie’ty Road, and I see they are still carting metal off the Council’s property, and 1 think that the only remedy for it h- to l ave it fenced in. 1, R 0! erts.—All the metalled reeds under my control are in very good order, being almost free from ruts. Huiinga Road: The £3O authorised lo be scent was expended in the following manner -190yds gravel •'>r patching purooses at 2s (id per yard, £23 los > ■rater-tabling, £0 ss. 1 '.m 1 18 now in a greatly improved condition. -Ohura Road;' Tiie portion of the read known as Songster's Hill was be-,-j. ho.,- io break up v»*v; considerb>’v . .-,n til II- •.-.■!!?•• a b)qpnp; - of oiinici :o ■ in--; nl Lb;.: botVC in t i rTinir- ■lpd ''■ ’“■ 1 meial left for maintenance purposes.— Beacons.field Road; The work recently done on this road lias set down well and is now quite dry.— Ahuroa Road:

Xe’v water-tables have been made ail .-.long the east cud of the road as Jar as it is formed. On the west end a portion of the road about fifteen chains in length has been crowned up iti the same manner as the lieacons.iald Road, and new water-tables iiado.—Mangaeim Road: The recent heavy rains iiavo washed this road out i pretty badly. New water-tables will require to he made along the entire length of if. I think that for this purpose it would be advisable to Jure a good plough team, as we would do a: ranch in one day with the plough as. the men would do in a week wit. picks and shovels.—Trees overhanging roads; With the exception of one or two instances all the trees overshadowing the roads have been cut 'hack, and those who have not already cut them back are making preparations to do so immediately. Number of pipes used: Mangaeim Road, -21 Din. cement; Toko Road, 7 Din. cement. I*'. G. Gattou.—Three settlers have so far failed to make a start with olio cutting back of their trees. As they are all on the north side of the East Road they keep the roacl very wot in the winter, and arc decidedly detrimental. A settler at Douglas Road has not yet made a start on nis trees. As the road runs in a northerly direction they do not do the road any harm, and J think if the crunches are cut back off tlio road that will suffice. One settlor in Gordon Road has not. started on his trees, though they keep the road wet in winter, and another settlor has made a start. The New Kopua Road is cutting up a Jot just now, owing to wood-carting. 1 nave patched lip a rotten culvert on Makuri Road tin such time as I can split timber for a new one. f have re-decked the 1 Male,uri Road bridge. For the past eight weeks there have been four oi five working bullocks running on the Ohura Road, and they have done a lot of damage to water-tables. F. Hancock.-—Mohakuu Road: Bedecked throe bridges and put in two box culverts. All the water-tables and culverts on this road need looking to from Kiore station. 1 have taken 300 ft of timber from Makura East Road for bridges on this road.— Makura Road East: 1 have put in live pipe culverts. A small drain about two chains long is needed to take storm water to the creek.— Douglas Head North: Two slips came down. I have shifted one, and made the other so that traffic can get past. This road is very much out of repair, and wants a man for a month or six weeks on the north end.—Makura Hoad West: 7 have made a start with the shell rock part of this road, but I cannot get any men to suit, and have to take anybody at times.— Douglas Hoad South: There is a culvert wanted on this portion, eight yards long, of 3 ft Guj concrete pipes.— Ho G. Hills: 1 have boon informed that G. Hills wants half pay while in hospital. The only thing I know is that on the last day he worked for mo he told me his leg was sore with shovelling, but I do not know if that constitutes a claim for wages. Later on I found out that it was nine days after lie, left the Council that he went to hospital, and that in the meantime he had started working for somebody else.-—Overhanging trees: There are only four belts of trees in my district—three on the north side and one on the south. One settler has started to fell his trees. Another belt is at the Huiroa School, but- they arc not very high, and only need trimming. I have not been able to ascertain the owner of trees at ffiorc. IT. Robinson.—Most of the settlors have made good progress with the cutting of their trees. There are only a few who have not commenced—those who are changing farms, and the new owners are just shifting to the farms. Mr. Long, of Malice, has been fcompkiging about a filling that is blocking the water back to His property. The cause of it is the intake of the tunnel overflowing. If a 12in. pipe culvert was put through the filling it would take the overflow.—Waingongoro Hoad; I have just about used up all the maintenance metal on the north cud of this road. The road is breaking up very badly. I was authorised to get some stone out for repairs. It would mean carting it over Mr. Morn say’s property, ana iic finds tlio track is too bad to cart over, so no cannot get the stone out, but ho is going to got some metal out of a pit near the now creamery for the creamery, and if the metal is good enough ne will put out thirty or lorty yards for road repairs at a cost of six shillings a yard, if that will do. Alt the otixer roads arc in fair order.

J. Savage.—Aiangaehu Hoad: The last rain brought down a good many slips, but no serious ones.—Tailiorc Hoad: There are six or seven large slips, one about a chain long, completely blocking the road. J. should like to know what is to be done.— Taurakawa Hoad; There is a bad slip on this road, and I cannot get anybody to clear it. My men and myself have been clearing slips, patching metal, and cleaning water-tables during the month. Ranger. During the earlier part of the month Milner’s work was as follows: —-On June 27th he went to Midhirst and Denbigh Road and found live cows on the latter road (released). On June 28th lie found two horses on Palmer Road and two bullocks on Opunake Read (released near pound). During the night, of July 2nd lie went to Hastings Road and impounded from there three horses and eleven bullocks. On July 3rd he went to Toko and Huiroa and found nothing. On July 9th lie again went during the night; to Upper Opunake Road and impounded twelve bullocks. On July 11th lie wont (owing to complaints) to Climie Road, and found 83 head of cattle there. ’These were released near; the pound. I have since seen the owner, who states that his drover only loft them to get another Jot. On July 12th (owing to complaints) I went with Milner to Rowan, Palmer, Duthio, Manaia, and Hastings Roads,’ but only found two cows on Rowan (load (released). July 13 I wont to Waiwiri Road and Gordon Road, but found nothing. On the 11th I went to Midhirst and Radnor Road and Denbigh Road, and found one horse in Midhirst and one on Denbigh Road (released). On the 16th (owing to complaints) i went to Beaconsliekl, Stan dish, Salisbury, Croydon, M.akara. Stanley, and Cross Roads, and found one bull on Croydon Road, three steers and one bullock on Makara Hoad, and throe horses on Stanley Road, all of which I impounded. On the loth, at the foreman's request, F wont with Milner to Palmer, Dnthio, and Manaia Roads, but there was nothing at large there.