OTOROHANGA COUNTY

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 25, Issue 3762, 29 May 1936, Page 8

OTOROHANGA COUNTY

ANNUAL MEETING OF COUNCIL. (Our Resident Representative.) The annual meeting of the Otorohanga County Council was held on Wednesday, when the following Councillors were in attendance: Crs W. Bluck (chairman), V. W. Simms, P. T. Crowley, F. Potts and W. Thomson, with Mr S. J. Fortescue (clerk) and Mr G. Jackson (engineer) in attendance. Leave of absence was granted to Cr W. Kay (Wharepapa Riding) on account of continued illness. Cr Grierson (Honikiwi Riding) was also granted leave of absence. The matter of fencing in the shingle reserve in the Otewa Riding was left to Cr Simm and the engineer to set out the boundaries. The rates and usual revenue are coming in satisfactorily, the only exception being motor drivers' licenses. With only 34 days to go less than 20 per cent have taken out their licenses. All the ridings still have substantial credit balances, and the credit balance at the bank is £2,122.

The following are the credit balances of the respective ridings: Honikiwi £549 4s 3d, Mangaorongo £1584 0s sd, Te Rau-a-moa £432 16s lOd, Waipa £422 15s 7d, Wharepapa £833 19s 6d; total credits of £3,822 16s 7d. The expenditure out of riding accounts, with the amounts of the annua! limits in parentheses,* are as follows: Honikiwi £136 0s 3d (£300), Mangaorongo £2OO 7s 6d (£600), Te Rau-a-moa £54 7s 8d (£650), Waipa £55 6s 3d (£450), and Wharapapa £BB 13s lOd (£800). It was decided, after careful consideration, to reduce the charge for dogs in rabblters' packs from 2s 6d to I.’.

Consideration of tenders for contracts Nos 168, 169, 170, 171 and 172 were considered, and Councillors were astonished that so few tenderers were operating, especially as there is so much complaint of unemployment throughout the Dominion. The work of removing the Pekanui slips was let to Mr Jackson for £203 Us, for crushing metal at Korakonui, 800 cuplc yards, main highway (Wharepapa Riding), to Mr J. W. Thomson at 7s 6u per cubic yard. The shingle scooping contract at Otorohanga 500 cubic yards, for the Mangaorongo and Honikiwi ridings was let to Mr J. Te Wliau at Is 6d per cubic yard. The letting of contracts Nos 171 and 172 (crushing metal and scooping shingle respectively in the Te Rau-a-moa riding) was left to Cr F. Potts, the riding member, and the engineer to deal with.

A long letter from Mr G. Goldthorpe, demanding a legalised road to his wife’s property of ten acres, adjoining the Otorohanga town boundary, was considered. The matter, which has frequently come before the Council in recent years, was left to the riding member, Mr Grierson, to further investigate. ANNUAL MEETING. The thirteenth annual meeting followed, the clerk, Mr Fortescue, taking the chair, reading the annual report, and calling for nominations for the position of chairman.. On the motion of Cr F. Potts, seconded by Cr Simms, the retiring chairman, Cr Bluck, was re-elected for the ensuing year. In accepting office Cr Bluck stated that he thought the position of chairman should go round, and he assured the meeting that he would not again seek re-elec-tion as chairman, a position that should be filled by various Councillors in turn.

On the motion of Cr Crowley, the honorarium of the chairman was increased from £75 to £B5 per annum.

A notice of motion to strike the same rates as those of last year, in the various ridings, and also the Waikato Hospital rate, was approved. The general rate to be struck, on the unimproved value, in each riding, is in the following proportions: Honikiwi 24 d in the .£, Mangaorongo Id in the .£, Waipa 1 7-8 d in the £, Te Rau-a-moa 1 13-16 d in the £, and Wharepapa 1 l-8d in the £.

The Waikato Hospital rate will stand at 9-16 d in the £ on the unimproved value in all the ridings. The grave problem of the ragwort menace occupied the time of the Council for a considerable period. It was felt that drastic action would have to be taken in co-operation with other local bodies, and the Government, to have the menacing weed controlled without any further delay.