TARANAKI COUNTY ROADS

Taranaki Daily News, 8 July 1930, Page 13

TARANAKI COUNTY ROADS

MEETING OF THE COUNCIL REVIEW OF MONTH'S WORK. DANGER ON FRANKLEY ROAD. The monthly meeting, of the Taranaki County Council was held, yesterday, Mr. J. S. Connett presiding. There were also present Messrs. W. Hall, W. Cartwright, K. Wood, S. Vickers, L. Carey and M. Thomas, Mr. G. Meredith, the county overseer, reported that during the month the rotary crusher* had been worked three days at the Oakura dept crushing 306 yards of metal, three days at the railway pit, Sentry Hill, crushing 195 yards of metal. Material received from the Fitzroy quarries was 121 yards. Metal and blinding material carted from Brixton quarry amounted to 606 yards. This was all dumped on the roads in the Waitara riding for maintenance. The total of metal chips and blinding carted during the month was 1284 yards. The crushing staff had been engaged patching asphalt on the Main South Road, metal patching on the Lower Mangorei, Egmont and Smart roads and assisting with the earth fillings behind the concrete walls at the Waiwakaiho weir. The Carpenter has been engaged with the. reconstruction work at tho Waiwakaiho weir, repairing the roof of the shed at Waiwakaiho and making alterations to the metal bin. The motor roller had been worked on the Mangorei and Alfred roads shearing the grass shoulders off the metal and scarifying, shaping up ami the metal wnere necessary. Metal patching had been done on tho Mangorei, Baker, Hurworth, Carrington, Kent and Alfred roads, The asphalt on the Carrington Road had been patched. The metalling on the Union Road, Waitara riding, had been completed with the exception of cleaning the water; tables and rolling. The contractor was making very good progress with the grading on the deviation south of Lepperton on Hie Auckland-Wellington Highway, . Scarifying, shaping the old metal and rolling had been done on the Upland, Henwood and,Hursthouse roads. On the Devon Road the side tracks had been patched with metal and the asphalt had been banked. The surfacemen had been metal patching, attending to water-tables-and banking the metal on various roads in the riding. In the Omata riding the surfacemen had been engaged cleaning water-tables and metal patching on the Fraiikley, Barrett, Cowling, Elliott, Doralto, Veal, Hurford, Pheany and Sealy roads. The asphalt on the main road hud been patched and banked in places. The grader had been shearing the grass shoulders from the metal on the Hoani, Perth, Leith, Pitone and Surrey Hill roads in the Okato riding. Foreman Southern had been cleaning drains on the Puniho and Carrington roads. The metal on the Katikara deviation had been partly rolled but owing to the continuous wet weather the road had not-.yet been opened to traffic. Asphalt patching aild banking bad been done on the main road. Portions of the Ahn Abu Road had been recoated with metal and rolled. A concrete culvert consisting of 14 9in. pipes had been put in on the Pitone Road opposite Mr, Taylor's property. The old culvert had been beyond repair. The surfacemen had been attending to water-tables and metal patching bn most of the roads in the riding, assisting 1 with tho grading on various roads and metalling on the Ahu Aim P°-d. The road in front of a resident’s house in upper Frankley Road was in a very dangerous condition due to the resident’s cows crossing from one paddock to another, tho inspector stated. This, together with the amount of rain, had caused the metal to cut away and the mud carried by the stock had made the locality dangerous for motorists. The inspector suggested that the difficulty might be overcome if a new entrance were made and a culvert put in. The only alternative would be for the resident to metal and culvert the entrance. Mr. Vickers and the overseer were deputed to investigate. The chairman reported on a confer- . ence with members of tho Egmont County Council at tho upper Puniho Road where the two counties joined. The Egmont councillors had no fault to .find and upon explanations being given wore satisfied. All they desired was that maintenance should be kept as low as possible. CARRINGTON ROAD CONTINUATION The chairman had waited upon the Minister of Public .Works, the Hon, W. B. Taverner, concerning the previous Minister’s decision against continuing with the formation of the upper Carrington Road. The Public Works district engineer (Mr, P. Keller) had reported that the cost of the work was excessive. Mr. Connett said he had pointed out that although the work might be costly, yet the men were on the job and the work was warranted as a connecting link. He had pointed out that there was no high ridge, as the engineer had stated, and the country was high where the road was already formed. Mr. Cartwright drew the council’s attention to the dangerous bend at the foot of tho Mangaone hill. The only method of remedying the trouble would be a large filling on the outside of the bend, said the chairman. .The road was not banked. . The matter was referred to the overseer for report. The condition of Beach Road, Omata, leading to the Omata oil bore, was mentioned by Mr. Vickers. The road was carrying a large amount of traffic and was in very bad shape. The drainage was damaging the road. The overseer was instructed to provide drainage for the road. The question of further improvements was referred to the chairman and Mr. Vickers to confer with representatives of the company. A request for council assistance in metalling his road off tho Puniho Road was made by Mr' Hay, who waited upon the council. The council agreed to accept payment of £4O from Mr. Hay for metalling five chains of the road, the total cost of which would be £59. The usual 20 per cent, would be paid by the council, and allowance made for metal supplied by Mr. Hay. COUNTY TRAFFIC. The county’s traffic inspector, Mr. R, Aroa, reported that during June his time had been spent in collecting heavy traffic licenses, motor drivers’ licenses and general work. Drivers’ licenses and the brakes and equipment of motor vehicles had been inspected, a considerable number of motorists being found

who had neglected to renew their licenses. Numbers of vehicles were insufficiently supplied with brakes. Two vehicles that had not been licensed for 1930-1931 had been found in use on the roads. Eight eases had been brought before the magistrate, convictions being entered in every instance. Nine were pending. Tho inspector stated that he found motorists in general more lax in renewing their licenses than in previous years. The menace of unlighted vehicles was not as bad, however, as only two had been detected after considerable time being spent on the road at night. Numbers of stock still wandered at large on the roads and farmers with faulty fences bad been warned to have them attended to. In some cases owners did not realise the danger constituted by stock wandering about the roads at night. Danger notices had been erected on Manutahi Road, Lepperton, Egmont Road and Frankley Road, and school notices at the Egmont, Mangorei and Carrington schools. A letter from the Taranaki Automobile Association forwarding a request for the erection of school signs at the approach to the upper Mangorei school was received and the matter • was referred to tho inspector. With regard to the Stony River bridge deviation the council decided to meet Mr. Brooke in the matter of grassing the old road.

Au application from Mr. J. Tuck asking that the time, of his contract on Mountain Road be extended as he had been faced with wet weather was granted. The- clerk was instructed to inform a firm of solicitors that the council would accept no liability in connection with an injury to a workman at Sentry Hill and refer the solicitors to the council’s insurance. company.