TARANAKI COUNIT.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 July 1922, Page 7

TARANAKI COUNIT.

' SirSETING OF THE OOUNCtL. PAST MONTH'S WORK. The monthly meeting of the Taranaki County Council was held at New Plymouth yesterday. Present: Crs. J. S. Connett (chairman), A. Alorton, S. Vickers, O. Penwarden, J. S. Wooldridge, and J. -Andrews. Tiie chairman reported on the past month’s work as follows : Weather conditions during the past month have been very favorable for carrying out the various works in .hand, and. good progress been. made. The crushing plant finished up at Frajikley Road on June 1, dealing With 272 yards of stone since last report of which 224 yards were spread on the Frankley Road, 20 yards dumped for repairs on same, 16 yards for Hurworth Road and 12- yards supplied to the Frankley Road Dairy Company. The amount crushed at this depot; totals 688 yards, being 120 yards, short Of requirements. The amount for Eliot Road will be supplied from Waiwakaiho where the plant is now working. The amount crushed to date is 1196 yards delivered, as follows? For recoating 500 yards Henwood Road, 100 yards Brown Road, 100 yards Wills £oad,. 116 yards Te Arei and 296 yards, on.’Main Road :at - Mangaoraka. In addition -there’ beeu dumped for patching Corbett Road, 20., yards, Paraiti Road 20 yards,* Egmont Road. 20 yards, Smart Road 16 yards' and to th’e' tar plant 8 yards, making a total for the month of 1468 yards, crushing time for which was 17 >4 days. Tire trucks ‘have shifted 40 yards' of shingle from Tate's dump, 28. yards from Macks and 16 yards fromParkins, all. to Devon Road, and 4 yards, to J. Linklater. 8 yards of chips were obtained from Kingdon’s for asphalt works. In addition 7% cords of wood were brought in from Mangorei and 100 posts from Koru. The total amount of metal and -shingle handled during the month was 1564 yards In connection with re-metalling work the . big roller has scarified and rolled on ITanfeey Road 30 chains and in Waitara riding on. Henwood Road 51 chains, Te Arei 32 Brown 10 chains, Wills 10 chains, and Main’ Road 30 chains, a total of 163 chains for the month. The teams have carted out 800 yards of boulders at' Waiwakaiho and '4O yards of’ shingle from Mack's dump. Repairs to the big engine were completed at the beginning of the month and she is now at work with the plant at Waiwakaiho. The small roller is now ready for the road. Contracts.—Mr. R. Hill has completed his boulder contract on the Upper Saunders Road. Mr. Northcote has made a start at. Timaru, haying about 40 yards on the ground. At Kirihau, Hill and Cross have made the best of the fine weather having only 250 yards to complete. On the Plymouth Road. Green Bros, have broken and laid 144 yards thus completing that portion between the Main Road and Timaru bridge. J. H. Mf"ee has commenced work at Mangorei and Mr. Southconibe has 2 days’ work to finish at the Mutton track. At Korito pit. Phipps has about 420 yards ready to cart out and at Sentry Hill J. Payne has 200 yards. Tar Work.—Advantage has been taken of the fine weather prevailing to push on with first coat work on the Devon Road, Waitara riding and from the Mangaoraka to Waitara Road there is now 152 chains laid; this will finish the season except for repair work now being carried out between Mangaone and Bell Block; Mangorei Riding.—A considerable amount of patching and maintenance work. has been ■ carried out on the Alfred arid Hill Roads necessitating the employment pf horse and; cart for nine days. Other work, has consisted of blinding, banking • up, and cleaning water tables on Junction, Mangorei. Carrington and Baker Roads.

Waitara Riding.—The weak roads in this riding are now receiving attention. The Henwood from Main to Upland is now in gdod order as is also the Wills, Brown and lower Te Arei. About 31 chains of main road westward from Mangaeoraka, have been recoated and with anything like .a fair run of weather the whole length of two miles should be almost completed during the coming month. A considerable amount of attention has been given the Kelly Road in patching, water-tabling and formation on the unmetalled portion. Other roads receiving attention are Mountain, Richmond, Cross and Manutahi. Posts and rails are required for repairing approach to Waiongona bridge apd maintenance metal is required for Tate, Waitara and Old Waitara Roads. Posts and rails as required were authorised.

Omata Riding.—With the re-coating work carried out the Frankley Road is . now in good order. Approximately 100 chains received attention. Forrpartion work authorised on the old Cowling. Road has been attended to. Cleaning and water-tabling has been carried out on Frankley, Barrett, Veale, Cowling, Hurworth. and Carrington Roads. Foreman Seamark Is still breaking at Omata.

Okato Riding.—Work on this riding has consisted principally of water-tabling and cleaning and on the Surry Hill, Timaru, Greenwood, Petone, Kaihihi, and Saunders Roads above Oxford Road factory the large stones have been removed . and holes filled up. Considerable attention has been given the Puniho which is still very weak. Wodd carriers on tills road have been warned to take only light loads and unless this is strictly adhered to the damage will be ..such that'traffic -must be absolutely _ prohibited. BRIDGE CARPENTER’S REPORT. The bridge carpenter (Mr. V. W. Ardern) reported:— . Steel Bridge.—This bridge has been chipped and painted with tar. 1 I have put in two new suspension rods 27 feet long and new diagonal stays have been put in on top .of (bridge. The 2% piping hand rails and bracquets haVe been taken off and replaced with ' timber. I consider the' bridge in good order now-. ' Waiwakaiho Bridge Devon Road.—The protective' work authorised at this bridge has been completed and is quite, satisfactory. The crushing plant whare has been repaired. I propose starting with the Kiri bridge which requires new cord leaf and riisiln struts. INSPECTOR'S REPORT. The report of the inspector (Mr. H., Y. McCarthy) stated: —I have visited the various ridings frequently during the past month, and find that the roads are fairly free from straying cattle. Impoundings: On June 5 . I impounded two horses in the LeppeYton' pound for being at large on the Kelly Road, and they were sold on the 27th for' • £"> and £5 10 respectively. Particulars of fines inflicted by . the Magls-. trate in cases brought before the court were given, the report adding: “It will be seen that the Magistrate has ceased to allow solicitors fees, so that it will be necessary for me to conduct my own cases in future if the council wishes to get anything out of the fines.’’ . GLENAVON SLrBDIVISIONS. Sladden and Palmer, engineers and surveyors, forwarded plan of the proposed subdivisions of part of the Glenavon estate, which it was understood required the local authority endorsements in accordance with a new regulation. Mr. R. C. Hughes also forwarded plan of subdivision of Glenavon allotments he proposed to make. The council approved of the town plan subdivision of applicants’ property over the Waiwakaiho bridge. Mr. Hughes will be advised that the council require that (a) a jjoad be formed 24 feet wide and that water tables be constructed to carry off the storm water; (b) road to be 66 feet wide; and (c) road to be metalled 12 feet wide and 9 inches deep. s. CIVIL SERVANTS’ SALARIES. On behalf of tlie New Plymouth Civil Servants. Mr. W. J. Ewart forwarded a resolution recently passed at a civil servants' tneeV ing protesting against the second “cut'’ id salaries. The writer said that it had been decided to. appeal for public support and it was thought advisable to get an expression by the local bodies as an indication as to the attitude of the public. The resolution, as published in the Press at the time, was enclosed. i Cr. Morton moved that the letter be received.

said. the’“council, liad face the same position themselves in regard to _ their own , employees who had taken a. proper view of the position. The opinion was expressed by councillors that the matter was not one for the councilCr. Penwarden seconded the motion, which was carried.. UPPER-CARRINGTON BRIDGE. Their engineer’s report on the protection of the Lepper-Carrington Road bridge was forwarded by the Inglewood County Council. The report stated, inter alia: “A boulder netted groin was apparently doing useful work, but had buried part of its western extremtiy in the river bed. A dray track immediately south of the bridge and giving access to the river bed by a cutting is a serious menace to the structure as it acts as a passage for flood waters getting behind the piers and should be penmanently stopped. I examined the position from the viewpoint of another groin, but formed the opinion that it would not be so effective as the method I propose and consider if erected that probably in the future both attention and protection might be necessary on the opposite and western bank. I also considered the method of a boulder training wall between points on the plan and packing and fashioning the. wall would not differ much in cost from filling the whole gap with random stone. The proposed: methods of such protection ,can he reduced either (a) to the erection of concrete wall and apron or (b) random stone deposited in an eroded gap -and. a -boulder apron. The method of timber sheet piling I <lo not consider, practicable ;-owing to--tlie hard nature of the substrata in vthis-: locality. This does not exhaust s 1 ho methods of protection or preservation, but are the major issues. With a view, therefore, of using all the natural resources I recommend that scheme 2 be adopted. The sunken nose of the groin should be protected with an apron of heavy boulders. The cost of the scheme was estimated at £175. In addition the down-stream corner of. the eastern pier should be watched for further scour. Some members of the bridge require attention and as it is fairly thickly studded with clusters of moss and lichen indicating moisture, it should be cleaned -and painted in the near future. —Approved subject to the agreement between the two councils being signed. THE CHAIN BRIDGE. The Inglewood County Council. replying to the letter in reference to the chain bridge, informed the council that, they considered that as the bridge is very old and the dismantling process may reveal further necessary repairs, the Inglewood Council favored only minor repairs with a view to rebuilding the bridge in concrete, this work to be done out of a joint loan.—The Inglewood Council will be informed that ita regard to the Chain Bridge this council -is of opinion that the main portion of the structure is still- in good order and the only work required to put the bridge -in good order for several years is as proposed to be done by the Taranaki Council and further that the council is quite prepared to consider and deal with the matter of the re-erection of the ’ bridge in concrete when the present structure is no longer fit to carry the traffic which will probablj’ not be for several years GENERAL. The county solicitors (Messrs. Govett, Quilliarn and Hutehen) intimated that it would be necessary to call a special meeting in order to pass the first resolution of the special order for the proposed new by-laws. The hon. secretary of the New Zealand Society of Civil Engineers (incorporated). Taranaki branch intimated that a hearty vote of thanks had been passed to the council for the use of the chambers on the occasion of the recent conference at New Plymouth. The State Advances Office acknowledged receipt nf the council’s preliminary application for a supplementary loan of £lOO for the Ahu Ahu Road loan of £lOOO. The office was now proceeding to obtain the precedent consent of the Governor-General-in-Council. R. G. Wells, Lepper ton, asked thait something should be done, to the hill on his road as he understood the loan for Cross Road, from Kelly to Richmond reads was now available.—Referred to the chainman to deal with. In reference to the proposed bridge loan of £3400, the State Advances Office stated that until an application lias been submitted to the members of the board of the office for consideration, it was impossible •to say whether the application would be entertained or not, but no reason was seen why it should not receive favorable consideration. W. McCane, Sentry Hill, asked that his rates be spent on metalling that portion of the Kairau Road between Richmond Road and the railway, as this, he said, cuts up badly in the spring.—Referred to the overseer. W. Hooker, Richmond Road, Lepperton, asked permission to put a drain down on the roadside for about three chains to prevent the water from coming down the roadside and washing across the front of his farm. He wished to plough this piece of land during the spring, but said he was unable to do so at present as the water washes the loose soil away into a gully.—Referred to the overseer. The Inglewood County Council intimated that they would like the Tarknaki Council's sanction to cart imetal from Crow’s pit, near Lepperton, to the Richmond Road. This road, the letter continued, was being metalled out of a loan raised by the settlers, and owing to the grade on Griffiths’ Hill, etc., it was practically impossible to metal the top end of the road from the Inglewood side-,. It was understood that there were 64 chains to do, with 16 yards to the chain. It was not intended to start until the road was sufficiently dry for carting.—Permission was granted, the necessary safeguards to be taken, and the Inglewood Council to he responsible for the reinstatement of the roads to the satisfaction of the Taranaki County overseer.' The rates, as formulated for the various ridings at a special meeting of the council, were approved as follows: Mangorei riding, general rate of 4%d in the £ : Waitara riding, 4 9-16 d; Omata Riding, 4 3-8 d; Okato riding, 4 l-16d. The hospital rate is 9-16 d .for each ridi n £- All rates are to be calculated on..the unimproved value. The raising of the following loans was authorised: Tate Road, £400: Corbett Road, £1009; King Road, £700; Albion Road, £365.