STRATFORD COUNTY.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 June 1925, Page 10

STRATFORD COUNTY.

WORK OF PAST MONTH. THE ENGINEER’S REPORT. MEETING OF COUNCIL. (From Our Own Reporter.) Stratford, June 20. The monthly meeting of the Stratford County Council was held to-day. Present: Councillors E. Walter (chairman), W. H. Were, J. Jacobson, S. Pitt, S. Parker, J. O’Neill, T. R. Anderson, J. T. Belcher and Al. Davis.

The engineer (Air. J. W. Spence) reported as follows: North Riding (east). —The fern and scrub overhanging the Makuri Road have been cut and the formation rounded up between the Stanley Road and the Saddle. -Several small slips have taken place on the Stanley Road. A portion of the filling fronting the property of Mr. Hance subsided on the down stream side, necessitating widening the formation on the upper side. North Riding (west). —The grader has been run over the sides of the following roads: Denbigh, Radnor, Denmark Terrace, Upper and Lower Pembroke, Hunt, Regan Street, Cardiff and Barclay, the material graded from road sides has been thrown off and tb>? water tables cleaned. A small slip on the Barclay Road has been cleared away. An inspection was made of the bridge over the Waipuku Stream. Urgent repairs are necessary, and it is suggested that the attention of the Inglewood County Council (a contributing body) should be drawn to this matter.

South Riding.—The work of scarifying, rounding up and rolling the Cornwall Road has been completed. One hundred and fifty cubic yards of crushed metal and 19 yards of rough shingle were used in the won<. The Waihapa Road between the school and the factory has been patched and rolled. A start has been made with the rounding up and rolling of the Waihapa Road between the Robson Road and the old crusher site at the foot of the hill. Great difficulty has been experienced in preventing the traffic on the Climie Road from destroying the water-tables. With this end in view boulders have been placed along the sides of the metal, the height of the boulders not being sufficient to be dangerous, but inconvenient to the cart drivers who use the water-tables instead of having brakes attached to their vehicles. Water-tabling been done on the Climie and Sole Roads. Metal patching on the Skinner, Robson and Wingrove Roads has also been done.* Temporary repairs have been made to the bridge on the Upper Skinner Road near the foot of the hill. It will be necessary to ieplace the old with a new structure.

East Riding (Toko). —Three hundred yards of shell rock were quarried and crushed on the Waiwiri Road, two hundred and fifty yards being used on the track to the shingle pit, a greater amount of metal than was estimated on account of the soft nature of the country. The balance of the rock was left on the Waiwiri Road for maintenance. The metalling of the 50 chains required tb link up the metalling on the Ruapuha Road has been completed, 490 yards being used in the work. Thu balance of the stone on this road is being crushed and will be carted to the tunnel entrances on the Mangaehu Road. East Riding (Huiroa). —On the OhuraAlangaehu Road, near Air. Bredow’s property, the clay banss have been cut back to give a better view. Several small slips which came down during the recent rains have been cleared away. About 70 yards of shell rock from the Strathmore Saddle have been distributed on this road for maintenance. Aletal patching, metal banking and watertabling have been carried out on the Mangaotuku Road. The balance of the period has been occupied in assisting with the metal crushing on the Waiwiri Road and Gordon Road pits.

East Riding (Huiroa). —During the heavy rain a portion of the Douglas South Road slipped away, and a fence has been erected round the break. The Douglas Road suffered considerably during the wet weather, and it has been rounded up and improved with the grader. West Riding. —The fence at the junction of the Opunake and Cardiff Roads has been set back and the formation widened, greatly improving the recently obstructed view. The bank on the Opunake Road near the above corner has also been cut back. The formation on the Cardiff Road in front of the hall has been widened. General repair work has been done on the Cardiff, Waiongona, Opunake No. 2, Palmer, Duthie, Opunake No. 3, and Rowan Roads. Afangaehu Riding.—A considerable amount of water-tabling and slip clearing has been done on the Alangaehu South Road. The old slip on the Mangaehu South Road has again given trouble. A large quantity of spoil has been cleared away. The contractor on the Puniwhakau Road metalling has practically completed his contract, the length of the metalled gap remaining being about 60 chains. On the Whaka Road a few small slips have reached the road, but otherwise the road is in fair order. RIDING ALLOCATIONS.

Or. O’Neill asked how the accounts of the various ridings were apportioned. He pointed out that in the south riding they had a revenue of £3200 and were charged £l4OO as their share of administration charges, which did not leave much for urgent works. A comparison of the accounts of various ridings seemed to show kthat some system of readjustment between ridings was necessary.

The chairman explained that the allocations were all made on a revaluation basis.

Ur. O’Neill: In individual cases the rates in the south riding are a fair rent on the property. The chairman: Your rate of l%d on the unimproved value is the lowest of any riding that I know of in the whole of Taranaki, and even if it was raised by it would still be very low.

Cr. O’Neill admitted that there were hundreds of pounds worth of boulders distributed along the roads in his riding, and this would materially increase the assets and make the position more favourable.

The chairman mentioned work done in the riding, and said a big expense had been occasioned by the breaking up ot the Cheal Road through heavy lorry traffic. Speaking generally, he considered that even if the council laid down a good road and tarred it, it would not stand the strain of heavy lorries. There was no other solution but to hasten on the classification of the roads, and so kee_p heavy traffic off weak roads. This

applied to their own lorries as well as to privately-owned trucks. He believed that if there had been no heavy traffic the riding in question would not now be so heavily in debt. *‘We cannot put up with lorries of 10 to I'2 ton weight, and 1 believe the lorry of- the future will be the lighter types of from to 3 tons weight, and equipped with pneumatic tyres,” he added. WALPUKU The unfortunate part of the business is that the chief users of the bridge are Inglewood ratepayers, remarked Cr. Pitt, when discussing the state of the Waipuku Bridge, on which urgent repairs are necessary. It was resolved to ask the Inglewood County Council to arrange a conference between the engineers of the respective counties. LIMESTONE WORKS. The establishment of limestone crushing works near Stratford for the purpose of manufacturing agricultural lime was foreshadowed in a letter from Air. Al. H. Wynyard, of Auckland, who outlined negotiations between Air. W. Lorigan, of Te Kuiti, the holder of the rights to mine limestone on Air. Kilsby’s farm on the Waiwiri Road, and the council for a tramway license along the road to the railway, where it was intended to erect a siding to despatch the crushed limestone.

Protracted negotiations subsequently took place with the Railway Department, but it was found impossible to arrange for a siding except at very heavy and prohibitive expense. After fully considering the position the syndicate represented by Air. Lorigan decided that the only feasible solution was to erect the works at either the Gordon Road or Toko railway stations and to haul the rock by road. It was recognised that such a procedure would put more than the normal traffic on Waiwiri Road, and it was suggested that an arrangement could be entered into with the council whereby the lime company would agree to maintain the road (the county engineer being the judge) at its own expense, except that the county should contribute to the company a sum per year equal to the amount which the council contributes now to the maintenance and upkeep of the section of the road used. The. county, on its part, should agree not to charge license fees under the heavy triffic regulations as long as it was engaged solely on the section of road mentioned. The company proposed to use a commercial tractor and semitrailer, both equipped with rubber tyres, which would give a distributed load over three pairs of wheels. Air. Wynyard concluded by stating that lie expected to be in Stratford within the next three weeks on business connected with the undertaking, and would call upon the council then. A committee consisting of the chairman and Crs. Pitt and Were was set up to favourably consider the application and prepare a contract. GENERAL. Cr. Pitt reported upon the state ot a portion of the Cross Road and recommended that shingle should be placed on the bad parts of the hills complained ot by Air. Husie at the last meeting of the council. The work would cost £lOO, and providing Mr. Husie paid half the cost the work would be put in hand. A resolution to this effect was carried. A vote of thanks was accorded Cr. Pitt for the donation of posts to renew an old fence on the Stanley Road, the chairman remarking that posts were very hard to get and a donation such as that made by Cr. Pitt was exceedingly welcome. A councillor remarked that the day was rapidly approaching when more extensive use would have to be made of concrete posts owing to the scarcity of good posts. Cr. S. Pitt paid a tribute to the work of the engineer (Mr. J. W. Spence). He said he had never known the roads, especially in the north riding, to be so good at this time of the year.

It was decided the ask the Stratford Borough Council to collect the heavy traffic license fees for the current year. T. R. Angus, of Afangatotara, wrote asking that a culvert in trout of his property be lowered, as there was no oqtlet for water from a drain he was

constructing.—Left in the hk.nds of th« engineer. Eight ratepayers on the Mohakuu Road petitioned the council to continue the cleaning of the Alohakau Stream through StocKley’s and Hine’s sections to the railway drain, a dist u of about 36 chains. The petitions* believed that if the stream were cleared there would not be any water on the road from the Heao crossing to the railway.—Left in the hands of the engineer to report. The late acting-prime Ai.Ulster JSir Francis Bell) wrote r -King the cooperation ot the com. in the national movement having for its object the raising of a fund for the erection of a salable memorial to the late Mr. W. F. Alassey.—lt was decided to open a 'subscription list at’ the county office, and to send similar lists to neighbouring smaller centres. H. Luders, of Alidhirst, drew the council’s attention to the tact that whenever heavy rain‘fell the footpath in front of his shop was covered by a pool of water. He asked that the matter be remedied.—Left to the engineer. 9 Air. F. D. Thompson, clrtk ot the • Executive Council, advised that by Order-in-'Council the Governor-General had declared all that portion of the Auckland-Wellington highway in Taranaki, commencing at the northern boundary ot the Stratford county through Alidhirst and terminating at the southern boundary, but excluding that por- • tion in the borough of Stratford, a main highway. The distance was about nine < miles 20 chains. —Received. W. T. Bjrd, Oruru Road, wrote asking that tije metalled of the road be rolled before became too wet. —'Referred gineer. L. T. Potroz applied for to stock firewood on the upper end of York Road. J. lain a similar application spect to the top end of the Road.—Both applications were refused. H