PIAKO COUNTY COUNCIL

Te Aroha News, Volume XLI, Issue 6601, 19 May 1925, Page 5

PIAKO COUNTY COUNCIL

MONTHLY MEETING The monthly meeting of the Piako County Council was held yesterday. President: Councillors Walters (chairman), Kennedy, Orr, Whitechurch, McLean, Stark, Lowry and Hughes. The chairman asked whether the cost of repairs to the Waihou stopbank should fall wholly upon his riding. The cost was £25. The water came from other parts and it was hardly fair that his riding should pay all. The water came down chiefly from Cr Kennedy’s and Cr Hughes’ ridings.

Cr. Kennedy: When did it break away ? The chairman: About May or June. Cr. Kennedy: Well, I can remember quite well that we did not have a shower of rain in either of those months in my riding (laughter).

The chairman; Does any water come down from Walton? Cr McLean: No; all we have done is to stop Matamata water from coming down to you. The Walton people get no benefit from the drainage area. The settlers did their own draining and had no drainage board. Cr. Kennedy moved that the matter be left in the hands of the chairman, Cr Hughes and himself with power to act. He was not consulted about the expenditure and did not want the Council to put anything across him.—Carried. A letter was received from Messrs Newton King, New Plymouth, confirming the sale to the Council of truck and trailers and other equipment for £ISOO. The payments made to date from the earnings were to be deducted from the price.—Received. Replying to a letter from the clerk requesting the N.Z. Dairy Company to divert the cartage of a portion of the cream collected at Tauhei from Morrinsville to Taupiri, the Company stated that they were giving very careful consideration to the request, and they hoped to be able to meet the Council in the matter. They had taken a note of the desire that the railway be used wherever possible so as to preserve the roads, and would also give this matter very favourable consideration.. Cr. Stark said he considered it wrong in principle for a dairy company to cart cream along a road which had not been properly formed, when the railway would serve the purpose. If cartage on the road in question was continued, as at present, neither cream nor anything else would be able to get along the road. It was pointed out that the present contract for the cartage of cream would not expire for some time, and the use of the road was taken into consideration when tendering for the contract.

The engineer said that the Council might deal with the position by cutting out all heavy traffic along the road.

It was pointed out that the new railway tariff was much more favourable than the old one and it did not pay in the winter to cart cream by road when the railway was available.

Cr. Hughes said there were lorries doing just as much damage as Mr Goosman’s lorry (used for the Dairy Company).

It was left in the hands of the chairman to interview both Mr Goosman and the Dairy Company. The engineer urged that a notice be inserted in the press enforcing the heavy traffic by-laws. It was decided to have this done on the motion of Cr. Lowry, the notice to operate from May Ist. . A letter received from the Kiwitea County Council, re hospital administration, was read, as already published in the News. One of the recommendations contained in the letter was that any persons, irrespective of means, should be admitted as patients to public hospitals. The chairman said that many hospitals had honorary doctors, and these doctors objected to treating in public hospitals patients who were in a position to pay. He was very much opposed to the erection of special wards for those who could pay. In such a case the poor would suffer. He believed in the system at the Hamilton Hospital, where the Board had two doctors to perform operations. There was in addition the honorary staff who, he .thought, were permitted to perform operations on any of their own patients. Cr. Kennedy said by having a wholly paid medical staff the burden on the ratepayers would be increased. He was not in favour of the Council supporting the resolution from the Kiwitea County Council. Patients in public hospitals were as well treated

at present as those in private hospitals.

The chairman said he was not prepared to go beyond receiving the letter.

Cr. Kennedy said that any person in the Thames district could, at present, obtain admission to the hospital, provided there was room, irrespective of his position. On the motion of Cr. Kennedy it was decided that the correspondence be laid on the table and that the matter be dealt with at the next meeting.

The secretary to the Glaxo Factory writing with regard to Mace’s road drain, stated that he was at a loss to account for the Council’s complaint as the drainage from the factory was conveyed through glared pipes to the river. A small crack had developed in one of the pipes but this had been repaired long since. No complaint had ever been received from the settlers with regard to the drain and the Council was assured that there was no wish to create a nuisance.

On the motion of Cr. Kennedy it was decided to write to the Glaxo Company pointing out that the Company had not done all that the Council had a right to expect. Mr H. J. B. McCardle’s contract again came up for discussion. An offer had been made to permit Mr McCardle to finish the job and the engineer had allowed one month in which to make a start. A letter waa received from the contractor stating that he did not wish to proceed till the County Council had paid the contract price, 1/9 per yard, for all spoil removed. He contended that the engineer had made a mistake in pegging out the road and that the line was out 18 inches to 2 feet.

The action of the engineer in allowing one month to re-start the contract was confirmed on the motion of Cr. Lowry, who pointed out that the Council alone had the power to cancel a contract.

Cr. Kennedy said that it would appear that the man was trying to escape certain work provided for in the contract. The chairman: Yes.

Cr. Kennedy: Was it correct that the pegs were shifted to suit the convenience of the engineer? Even so there was a condition in every contract requiring the contractor, where insufficient spoil was provided by the ordinary cutting for the fillings, to quarry the banks uniformly till sufficient was obtained.

Cr. Lowry: That is the point. It was explained by the engineer that the original peg indicating the road line had been lost and the road line had been re-marked by taking 50 links from a section peg at tile side. This did not affect the position one iota.

The chairman said that if there was not sufficient earth in a cutting for the filling after complying with the conditions of the contract any further spoil required would be paid for as an extra.

It was stated that the month allowed Mr McCardle to start would expire on the 29th, and that if the work was not started then the engineer would arrange for the completion of the work.

The necessary authority to have the work done, providing Mr McCardle fails to proceed, was given. A long discussion took place on the question of whether the Council should always insist upon land, when being cut up, being roaded and metalled. Cr. Stark thought it did not matter to the Council whether the road was metalled by the owner before it was sold or after by creating a special rating area. All that they wanted was that the metalling should not cost the Council anything. The chairman said that a man when cutting up could add the cost of the roading to the price of the land, and people would be much more willing to take up land that had been provided with metalled roads than when these conveniences were wanting. It was decided to deal definitely with the matter the first time an application came before the Council in connection with the cutting up of an estate.

The matter of having the drain in the north side of, and crossing the road on the north side of Mr Hogarth’s property in Morrinsville, cleaned and opened up, was left in the hands of the engineer and Cr. McLean.

The N.Z. Farmers’ Union wrote urging the Council’s support to a resolution in favour of the abolition of the dog tax.—Received. Mr N. J. Neels wrote offering to erect a signpost at the corner of Scotchman’s Valley and Starkey’s road, provided the Council supplied the posts.—Offer accepted with thanks. (Continued on Page 8.)