PIAKO COUNTY

Te Aroha News, Volume XLI, Issue 6545, 18 November 1924, Page 5

PIAKO COUNTY

ORDINARY MEETING The oi’jdinary meeting of the Piako - OotAity Council was held on Monday. Councillors .F. W. Walters (chairman), F. E. Hughes, W. McLean, W. R. Lowry, W. F. Stark, E; R. Whitechurch, J. Orr .and /W. C. Kennedy. , • With regard to the offer by the Council to accept £25 to repair the the drain and culfert at "pJstovTift was stated by Cr. Kennedy that the settlers would prefer the Council to obtain as much money as : pos tS le rom the Power Board. They ! desired to have the pipe line altered, and if the pipes were provided they were willing*later in the season to do the work.—lt w;as decided to agree to this proposal. / ” With regard to road deviation through NgakUriarpru Block (estate J. 9. Allen) the Council decided that it did not require the. deviation and to inform Messrs Allen and Needham to this effect. Replying with regard to the Army and. Navy Qharry the chairman said it would cost roughly £6OO to put it in after hearing what Messrs GreyWd Gibbs had to say they were convnced that there need for hurry.f They had two years metal in view at present. * They had had a look at the present quarry and considered it four or fiVe times better than it ever was. ' v Cf. Hughes said that' with a small of stripping they'would have a tremendous> quantity of metal. MWM The chairman said he would like the Councillors to visit the quarry in the ifternoou. v ' Cr. Kennedy said that it was only a natter-of time when they would have o get out of the quarry, but if the engineer was : satisfied that, there was ufficient metal for the suinmer he ns not going to press the opening of tie Army and Navy /quarry at prefarther shidvfhe quarry have to be closed down in the iter, Fhen it would be impossible n the motion of Cr. Lowry it was; led that the opening of the Army Navy quarry remain in abeyance he meantime. he question of the , price of metal said that aa as to bring e price at Waiorongomai into line ith that of Hinton’s, ; it was necesry that the resolution fh the minute •ok fixing the price of metal at Waiongomai at 8s be rescinded. In acrdance qrith his notice of motion he )ved thlait this be done. Cr Kennedy said that tne reason * incrtedSfog the price of metal at nt^’s f |u 8s 6d did hot ' apply to) Horongomai. It was the large caul expenditure of £2OOO that made necessary to increase the price at uton's. He. would oppose the . morn 1 )' / : Vf &. v ■.:■/)) The chairmah said he, was going to •port the motion andsaid that for benefit of the whole of the county price should go up. The ratepaywould then .have more confidence Mis riding ns well as Kennedy’s would suffer bythein-* aspd price.) He was prepared to e the price reviewed' in March, r; McLean saidthat the use of the enjoyed by those who used the f on metal was worth 0d a yard ft them. ; Lowry asked Cr; Kennedy if it jU* that the ratepayers' of the cof the cpuiity should share in losses, of. his riding. He congratu--1 the chairman on the stand j> he taken and, said it was not right ; the ratepayers should be saddled 1 the losses at Waiorongomai.. r McLean said that if the metal to be pooled before: March 31st vould not support rescinding the ion. , " !• Kennedy .said there was nothing *u|niotion dealing with the pooling tne talk about pooling was suppon. Take the metal for the far end Clstow and Matqmata roads. If il from Waiorongomai - cost 24s he could get it by rail fo 18s 6d, t would his position be? ie%2hairman: If you take moy-e your proportion of metal you have to pay the price. If the me•puld not be got from WaiorongoCr Kenedy would be entitled' to proportion by rail. ; Lowry saidthatroadsin the viy of Waiorongomai had been med very t cheaply, and was the cil mpw to assist Cr Kennedy, in dlmg the most distant roads. _ Hughes said that half of the 1 at Waiorongomai cost 10s, and balance 7s, which worked out at 1 a yard. It was a pity that Cr vbt make his remarks abWgenjtal account at the last ing whW they were discussing rn’s quarry. He did not think ' * 1'

that the two quarries were bn a par and believed Hinton’s should pay a little more thiftn Waiorongomai. Hinton’s had cost neary £3OOO and had any councillor known that that was the case the money would never have been spent. The council was taken at a disadvantage, t They were getting their "metal 4s cheaper than by rail now. He did not think that if the motion, was put they would have to pay the 8/6. . * Cr McLean said that unless given an assurance that there would be no pooling for six months, he would notr support the motion. Cr Whitechurch saw no reason why they should discuss the pool. Cr McLean said that if the price was made too hot for the Chairman at Waiorongomai, Cr Lowry would have to pool with him. Now do you see? Cr Stark objected to Cr Hughes saying that he had gone behind the Council’s back. , " Cr Hughes denied that he had skid that, and was supported by the chairman.' Cr McLean said they were asked to assist in. providing Morinsville with cheap metal. Cr Lowry said that if the figures were supplied it would be found thsit Waiorongomai had'shown a loss of £ISOO. . Cl* McLean: That is alright so long as it does not come out of general) account. Cr Lowry: But it will come put of general. ■ , ; j; 'Ci* Kennedy said that- if the ntital was increased to 9s it would not effect the profit. • Cr Hughes said hb understood that if the motion was carried -there would be a refund up to 2s if the working costs were less than 8s 6d ,up to March 31st.' The chairman: Yes.* Cr Kennedy said that the Matamata County Were likely tp'be held up with then* loan expenditure,- and he- suggested that the Piako County Council should, in the meantime, try and get\ some of their metal. The price of .Te Aroha metal was 8s at thb hopper and 10s at tiie trucks. _ The chairman put the motion which was lost ,by four votes to three. The prices of metal will therefore be 8s 6d at Hinton’s and 8s at Waiorongomai. A letter was received from Messrs Brenan & Co., 'acknowledging the engineer’s letterof 25th inst., and-in restating that they cannot, agree with the engineer’s tallies, which are less than the amounts paid to the suppliers of metal and shingle actually .used on the job. “Would . you please ask your council ifi they would be good enough to instruct the engineer to return to us' the details loaned by us to him n November last for the purpose of checking the amounts of metal and shingle-used. We would alsp be glad to know if your Council propose to allow us for the stacking of 208 yards at the Morinsville station when the 5 job was stopped by the engineer, who ordered the metal to he unloaded from the trucks; also when it is proposed to pay us for \ cartage of metal to Eastport rbfid some four years ago, which ;your engineer is conversant with but so fat has not, we understand . certiled to - Opt claim. With further reference to contralt No. 11.: The distance mentioned :in the specifications chains and We suggest that the 10 chains, which was separate from the main /job has not been taken into account and the metal was spread considerably deeper than provided in the specibcations. Thanking you,to place our requests before your Council.

Correspondence was read from Messrs Brenan and Co. and reports from the engineer with regard to metalling Contract No, 11 on the Mor-rinsville-Kereone road. Brennan and Co. objected to the engineer’s tallies the latter insisted were corr.ec-m-s &) It was left to the clerk to reply setting out more fully the facts and the Council decided to back up the engineer. With regard to damage done to Stanley road by the . Council’s lorries the chairman pointed' out ; that the town clerk in his reply had assumed that the County's undertaking covered any borough streets.: This Tnust be corrected. : • , 'A ■, . It was decided on the motion of Cr. Kennedy that the speed of motor lorries on Stanley road be reduced to 10 miles an hour. This was carried and Cr. Kennedy, the chairman and the engineer were appointed a committee to assess with the Borough Council any extraordinary damage done. It was pointed out that the onus of proving the damage was on the Borough Council; 1

The Thames High School Board \yfote offering to rent the Council two buildings on section 25 of the Board’s (Waiorongomai endowment at

25/- per week.—The' engineer was empowered to. deal with the matter. Cr. Hughes stated that a number of settlers in his riding were complaining about the number of stray cattle. One man was deliberately putting his cattle on the road and a considerable amount of damage had been done to one of the road drains. No man should have stock on the road at this time of the year.

Cr. Kennedy said it was a pity to see grass going to waste alongside the road; but they would not have property damaged.

Cr. Hughes moved that Mr R. M. Taylor be appointed poundkeeper for Waitoa, Waihou and Manawaru. It was stated by the engineer that from £lO to £ls worth of damage had been done in Manawaru in one day. The motion was carried.

Correspondence was received from Mr /A. Hannah re the Herries’ Memorial.

Cr. Kennedy said the committee had decided that each county should contribute £SO each and the Borough £IOO but there had been some difference about the apportionment. Later there was a suggestion that a memorial costing £IOOO should be qrectedi. ‘ Cr. Kennedy later reported that an [expenditure of £SOO had been decided upon and they were seeking quotes for a memorial. A letter was received from No. 2 District Highways Council as follows: “In/reply to your memo. M.H.I of 24th October, as pointed out by’Mr Wynyard the £200,000 per annum to be transferred from the Public Works Fund to the Main Highways Construction Fund is to cover amounts which, in the ordinary course of events would have been appropriated by the Public Works Department for . works on roads whch have been declared main •highways, and as a matter of fact it is not legally possible *for the Minister of Public Works to spend any money on a highways On the declaration a road as a highway all rights and 'liabilities are vested in the Main Highways Board, and on the ation of highways on 9th June last, the Main Highways Board took over from the Public Works Department all balances of authorities on such' roads and it immediately became liable for any expenditure thereon.”

The chairman said that if the roads suggested are done it would cost £250,000 for the first year.