WAIMATE COUNTY FINANCES

Taranaki Daily News, 11 October 1929, Page 6

WAIMATE COUNTY FINANCES

CHAIRMAN REVIEWS WORK. POSITION OF THE LOAN FUNDS. 1 ' The fact that W.tiniate West County had reached its majority was alluded to by tho chairman, Air. E. Long, tne monthly meeting of the council jcst'-i--day. He read a telegram .from Air. J. JI. Fowler, now Deputy-Auditor-General and a former audit inspector, congratulating the county on its coming ot age. "In looking back I find we have not much to be sorry for,” said Mr. Long "The council is in a good position and members did not make many mistakes. The results speak very well for their work. “In June, 1914 F; . the council decided to raise a loan of; £60,000 for the following purposes: Widening and metalling, £43,000; tarring 'Toads, £10,000; erection oi bridges;., £3PQO; employees’ dwellings. £2000; "p'tir'ehase of maclrnery, £2OOO. "Before the schedule of work was completed tho State Advances Office declined to advance'Snoro than £45,000, so it was necessuryg.i'o raise another loan of £9OOO to complete the scheme. At present we have (>(> miles of far-s-ialed roads of a total of 93 miles. With the exception of three or tour miles the balance is in good order. All bridges and culverts are in concrete and a cred t to the county. In 1917 new concrete offices were erected of £BOO. “On the formation of the county we received portion io'f the Eltham county and agreed to "pay.'that county £lOO a year. We have paid altogether £lBi)i.’, but these payments have ceased. In 1920 ratepayers of Oeo Road who were then in Egmont ./county, petitioned to have their properties merged into Waimate county. As a result 5577 acres were added. At that time these roads were in a bad state and they wcie a drag on the county, but they have :>incc been surfaced and in future this area should be a help as it would do away with a boundary.road. Wo have a boundary road on the east, but these are not very satisfactory for local bodies. “In 1921 an area of 161 acres of the town district of Manaia was added to the county. The general rate of l}d had not been increased and from it the following annual payments have been made without the necessity of an additional special rate: Antecedent liability (7 years), £1000; Hawera hospital levies, £■2830; loan interest and ‘ principal, £-2523; South Taranaki Power Board (one year), £1090; Eltham county subsidy (IS years), £100; inscribed loans, £387; total, £7730. "Following are particulars of the various county loans. Of a total of £83,850, £29,514 has been paid, leaving a balance of £54,336.

' *£l9,S2>B matured. _ “I think we have done fairly well,” the chairman's statement continued. "In the near future we ought to be able to make considerable improvements to our roads out of revenue. I am opposed to the idea of increasing the rates. We could have had 109 per cent, of our roads tarred by raising loans for the work, but that would have meant a load of expenditure on interest and sinking fund hanging over our heads. We can still attain our purpose by doing the work gradually out of revenue.” Mr. McKay: “If it paid to do work worth £45,000 out of loan it must pay to do the rest.” . The chairman; , “Not necessarily.

WAIMATE WEST COUNTY. MAINTENANCE FOR THE MONTH. The work of raising’the filling on Upper Glenn Road was finished during the month, reported the engineer to the Waimate West County Council yesterday. . A new 12-inch concrete pipe culvert .had been put in and the filling raised about three feet in the centre, rupnino- out' to nothing about two chains away at each end. This had been metalled, rolled and blinded. Altogether over 60 chains had been re-metalled and rolled on the’ road. A 9-inch pipe culvert had been put in across the road a little higher than the new filling. The fillina over the new concrete culvert on Skeet Road had been raised, remetalled and tar-grouted. The crusher had been moved to Lower Oeo Road, where crushing was now proceeding, The balance of the road, about one mile and a half, was being re-faced. Tar-patching had been carried, out on Skeet and Main South Roads. Maintenance work had been carried out on various loads throughout the county. • “With the chairman’s permission I agreed with the Taranaki Electlic Powei Board to supervise a small job for them. While doing this I kept in close touch with the county’s work,” concluded the report. • The chairman explained that members of the Taranaki Power Board had mentioned to him that they desired the services of engineer to supervise work ju connection with the Ratapiko darn, and after consultation with the county engineer it was agreed ,to help the power board with the latter’s services. The chairman stated that there was no provision in the new, motor traffic Bill for the exemption of farmers’ motor lorries from the heavy traffic tax. Recently a farmer was prosecuted because he had not paid, although he used his lorry only on the farm. Milk waggons with horses did as much harm to tarred roads in onp trip as motor milk lorries on pneumatic tyres did in twelve months Mr. Buxton: Farmers motor lorries ought to be encouraged. The council’s meeting was held yesterday, there being present Messrs. E. Lon» (chairman), F. Mourie, J. 8. McKay° H. H. Buxton, S. H. Le Fleming and J. Leslie.

Amount & Repaid Bal. Matures £ £ ‘Inscribed . 27,000 10,828 7,172 1951 Pmmt.v . . . . 45,000 8,409 36,531 1955 Waimate Ending .. 7,0'00 630 6,364 1959 Kauipokonul Riding 2,000 151 1,849 1961 Oeo Road . 1,850 388 1,461 1953 Rama Road 1,000 42 058 1962 « ' Totals .. 83,850 29,514. 54,336