PIAKO COUNTY COUNCIL.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 124, 17 October 1885, Page 2

PIAKO COUNTY COUNCIL .

) < • rr - The ordinary monthly meeting of the ■ above body was held at the Council | Clumbers on Thursday afternoon. Pre1 sent i Crs W. L. C Williams (chair l man), J. C. Firth, J. B. Smith, W. P. . Chepniell, and D. Murphy.

Iraraway hx tension.-— The following telegram was received from the Mines Department re the abo?e :—": — " Department has guaranteed subjidy of twothird? to one?third to be contributed by. "Coun*^, *«««ni'J* To A rnhfl. trnmWAy iac tmision. has been paid -by Mima

Department.. — H. J. H. Elliott. As the money had not been reef ired from the Government, it was agree*! to wire to Wellington and ascertain where and to whom it had been paid. Cr Murpliy was of opinion that the parties in charge of the work had received some money, but he could not say from whom. Perhaps it was their own share they were spending* Cr Firth said if the Department was paying the money direct to Fergusons party ie wag all th<* better, ** it ifoilU save the Council a lot of trouble. However they coald ascertain what was being done.

The Locomotive. — Messrs Morrin and Co. irrote to the effect that ihey had been offered £350 for the locomotive complete including charges. Recommended accepting the same. The Clerk reported that the Ohairman had accepted the offer, and so the engine had been disposed of. The Chairman's action in so doing was unanimously endorsed.

WaiorongQinai- Shaftesbury Road. — Messrs Bradley and Ferguson wrotr drawing attention to the dangerous condition of the culrerts on this road. As they had to rant a mail coach On (it next month, they desired the Council to give the matter their favourable consideration. Or Mtirpliy strongly itjpported the work. This road led to the Waiharkeke Block, which the Government bad granted to the Gordon special settlement party. These people otight to be en coaraged, and as a good road was their greatest want they shonld not hesitate to let them have one. Before long he believed there* would be about 50 or 60 hard working settlers on the block. The Council were of opinion that to do this and other works in the Aroha district, ft special rate should be struck. Cr Murphy said he believed the Aroha settlers would willingly pay a rate if they could get good roads. The roads in their present state were a great drawback. He would propose that a rate of &\ in the £ be struck in the Aroha Hiding for this purpose. The Council should encourage these new settlers in every possible way, for npon them the welfare of the district in a great n*easure depended. He believed in a few yea*rs they would give a satisf actor/ account of themselves. | , ; Or Smith seconded the motion, whicli was carried; . '

The £8000 Grnnt,-*.A telegram was' read from Mr «7. B. VVhytc to the effect that he thought the County rate should be struck at once, so as to secure ;fuU benefit of the Local Finance Bill. ■ A letter was also read from Mr Whyte ! on the sami matter. He thought the delay, of the Government in forwarding the £8000 grant might be owing to the ill-

ness of Mr Larnnch. \sl^ would do what he could to induoe^lhe Governrmnt to lotjtiieJUoitncj^hliv^ the money ' Road Murphy pre«enta|*llajrj£ely-jiifjned jjetitick^froW 't)ie residents^T^Mofrongoinai arid district a9ksig to.Mre^ the road from, the /main ©bi»;itV^/oa& to the township formed. '"At present it was almost impassable for heavy traffic. As there was plenty of material convenient, the cost would be trifling. The expenditure was warranted by the improved prospects of tiie district, and the probable increased revenue, frojn thejfoldfijeld.^ f \TW Murphy, thought the sirorfr, shotiftl be done at' once. This roadjvas ur'genfly requlfe3,**as'in"its* present sfate "Tfc : made carting very difficult and expensive. When the rate was collected tltere would be plenty of money in hand." * ** ' ' Cr Firth also advocated the work. He believed there , would, re a lot of carting done between' Waidrongom'ai and • the Kaangahake furnace. It was agreed to ask the Engineer to give an estimate of the probable cost of forming the road referred to in the petition ; also the proposed road through Wilson's property and the road between, the main road and Murphy's landing. Proposed New Ruling. — 4. petition from 34 ratepayers of the Waitoa Highway D'stiiet was received, asking thnt the portion of the district west of the Waitoa River- be formed into, a separate highway' district to be calied the Morrinsville Highway District. Crs Chepmell and Firlh expressed themselves as opposed to the movement. Or Ohoptnell did not hold with all the signatures, some of them had no business on the petition. Again he did not think that the matter had been advertised as required by the Act, Cr Firth said that though he did not believe in the thing, iStiH if all the ratepayers desired it thoy were perfectly entitled to have it, so long as they complied with the Act. It wag finally agreed that an enquiry be held by the Clerk into the matter, his report to be submitted at the next meeting. The Chairman explained that it was not intended that the petition should come before the meeting that day. It had come before them accidentally, having been : left in the cVßtofyr '6t th« Clerk: Hospital and Charitable Aid Board.— On the motion of Cr Murphy, seconded by Or. JFirth, Cr J B. Smith was elected to represent the Council on the Thames -Board. - , „ f . - . - . . Several accounts were passed for payment.

The Tramway.— The managers report and balance sheet for the month were submitted. The following are the haulage returns for the month :— New Fim! 330 tracks, £74 ss; Colonist, 334 tracks, £75 Ss ; ap carnage, ,6? 6a., Tptal, £154 14a 6d. r Watfea for inontf*, r £124 B*. ' Credit balance, £30 Us 61. Report : To ,the Chairman <&c. — Gentlemen,— l' have tiie Tumour to report that during the l?»st four weeks we have con -. vt-yed to the battery 664 trucks, On comparing this with the cost of working the line for the same period you will find a fair profit is left, and when the new battery is ready for crushing there should be no difficulty in keeping our heao!s above water. In consequence of the increased traffic I deemed it needs* cary to place a couple of hands on repairing line, culvert*, water-way, &c.. f ami an occasional new sleeper, Hhouid our returns warrant, I propose to keep them' on continually. Butler's Spur : The ropes now in use ort this afpur are considerably worn, and iriil not last with any degree of safety beyond Christmas I have one coil here that might do for one side, bnt it is rather large and too tmwieldly. I would prefer a rope say £-in in diameter, it would be much handier and last quite «8 long as a larger one. I would suggest the Councils disposing of the coil now here, and sending me in place of same the size mentioned above. The length required for each sMe is 23 chains. — I have, <&c, Edmund Cookson, Manager,