CLIFTON COUNTY COUNCIL

Taranaki Daily News, 2 August 1930, Page 14

CLIFTON COUNTY COUNCIL

REVIEW OF MONTH'S WORK DEVIATION SCHEME AT MOKAU. PROTEST AGAINST PETROL TAX. A review of the work of the month was made at the meeting of the Clifton County Council yesterday when a comprehensive proposal for a deviation entailing tunnelling and building two bridges at near the Mangatoro junction was considered. Mr. H. C. Foreman was in the chair, others present being Messrs Sarten, C. H. Barnitt, J. F Phillips, Bower, Watson and Rogens. ‘a subsidy of £473 19s 2d was received from the Public Works Department for the work on the Mangawhcro Creek bridge. . , , .. An application was received from Mrr>. C. E. Sanson, Waitoitoi, to put a halfinch pipe under the rbad to the tanks for the watering of her cows. The engineer stated that the work would have to be done under the supervision of the surfaceman and permission was granted for the work under this condition. L . . . There were twenty motor-drivers licenses issued during the month, stated the report of the county inspector. The inspector was proceeding against the owner of a motor-cycle for riding without a license. There had not been a •rreat deal of trouble with stock compared with other years. The amounts collected during the month were:— Drivers’ licenses, £6 ss; dog tax, £1; poundage, £2; total, £9 ss. Mr. Phillips reported that he had completed the purchase of the horse aiid dray at Pukearuhe and had found both satisfactory. ■ HEAVY TRAFFIC FEES. The Taranaki Local Bodies’ Association advised that' the distribution of heavy traffic fees had been fully discussed at a special meeting and forwarded the motion carried. The chairman reported that the council had been represented at the meeting and,’as the council’s representative, he had considered, in view of the fact that most of the lorries in the Clifton County used the Waitara-New Plymouth Road, the allocations made had' been satisfactory. • The district engineer (Mr. P. Keller) advised that the Main Highways Board agreed with the recommendation made by the District Highways Council for the original radial road reconstruction work in connection with the AucklandWellington main highway penetration work north of Waitara. No further funds could be made available for paving work in the Clifton County. The engineer i(Mr. N. C. Fookes) reported: Metal patching and blinding had been attended to on the Nikorima, Inland North and Ngatimaru Roads, in the Tikorangi riding, during the month. Other roads had received maintenance attention as required. The ironwork on the Waitara River suspension bridge was in need of scraping and painting, and he recommended that it be attended to at an early date. In the Waihi riding gravel patching; water-tabling and backing had been attended to on the Turangi, Ohanga and Mataro Roads. Provision was being made at the Onaero depot for the stacking and storing of the timber from the old Urenui bridge, as it was unsafe to leave it stacked on the' roadside. The whole of the re-formation of the top end of the Mataro Road had been completed, and good work had been done by the men employed on the job. Ini the Urenui riding the power grader had been operating on the Kaka, Piko and Okoke Roads during the latter part of the month, and these roads were now in excellent condition. Numerous small slips had come down on the Okoke and Piko Roads during the wet weather, but these had been all cleared expeditiously. Watertabling, patching, banking and cutting scrub had been attended to on the Clifton, Wai-iti, Okoke, Piko and Kaipikari Roads. The plans for re-forming and metalling two miles of the Kaipikari Road had been completed, and would be forwarded at an early date to the Public Works Department for approval and authority. WORK IN URENUI RIDING. In the Uruti riding metal patching and water-tabling had been continued on. the metalled portion of the Uruti Road, and 51 cubic yards' of additional maintenance metal had been dumped along this portion of the road. Numerous slips had come down on the Moki and Tangitu Roads, and Mr. Fookes hoped to have all these cleared early in August. The culverts which had been sent up the Mangahia Road had not yet been placed owing to the .bad weather, but would be attended to as soon as the road was in a suitable condition. , . • . : : The re-formation, widening and straightening of the first two miles on the Okau .Road, in the. .Mokau riding, had been ’ commenced witli relief workers, and it ’ was estimated that about 40 men Would.be employed on the work; The balance o'f the road, from the Pqtiki Stream' bridge to the Mangatoro junction was’being surveyed with- the intention .of proceeding as soon as possible. In connection with the additional 24 miles there was tho chance that it might be possible to make a substantial deviation from McGregor’s cowshed through Schmidt’s ridge to the' flat near the school by' means of ■ bridging the Tongaporutu stream twice and constructing a four or five chain tunnel through the ridge.- Such a deviatioii would shorten the distance to the Mangatoro junction' by approximately sixty chains, and; although costly in initialconstruction, would thus enable the metal to go at' least 60 chains beyond Mangatoro junction and would also be a great saving in future maintenance. The land necessary for this deviation had been promised free of cost, and the whole proposal would be inspected by the district engineer at an early date witli’ the idea of making recommendations to the Public Works' Department. General maintenance work had been attended to oh the Okau, Mangatoro, Tohi and Mohakatino Roads during the month. The additions to the Okau cottage had been completed, this bringing all the county cottages up to a reasonably good standard.

On the Auckland-Wellington highway gravel patching, grading and cutting scrub had been attended to. Banking, widening and draining had been carried out on the portion immediately south of the new Urenui River bridge, which was'badly, in need of attention. The new Urenui ;Rivcr bridge was new open

to traffic, and although the surfacing of the deck and approaches could not be completed till the summer, a .very good job had been made by the contractors. The old bridge was being dismantled and all good timber would be stored. ’ On the Pukearuhe highway patching, banking and wa'ter’tabling had been attended to. The posts, wire and battens for the fencing of the Waikaramarama hill had been diverted and a start had been made with the erection. The new portable* metal bins and screen had been ordered from the foundries for delivery about the middle of October. The horse and dray under offer to the council at Pukearuhe had been purchased, and would be entirely suitable for work in the district. The chairman remarked that the deviation in the Mokau district would need careful consideration. Against tho saving of GO chains, there would he the cost of building two bridges. The engineer pointed out that it would be necessary to widen the present road and the advantage of the scheme was that one property entrance would be placed on the road, and none omitted. He estimated the cost of the two bridges at £2400. The district engineer was going to view the site. The council would have to stand some of the cost of the bridge building, but Mr. Fookes considered the bridge fund’ would stand this. 1 The chairman considered it would be well for the works committee to look into the proposal before anything definite was decided. Other councillors recognised the idea was a sound one and worthy of con; sideration because bad sections of road, that would require considerable maintenance, would be omitted. PROPOSED PETROL TAX. Considerable discussion arose, regarding the proposed petrol tax and the members felt that an injustice was being dime to the farmers generally. In voicing a protest Mr, Foreman moved that the following resolution be sent to the. Prime Minister, Messrs J. G. Coates, H. Holland and W. *J. Polson: “That in .view of the Government’s proposal to cease payment to the highways account of £35,009 from the Consolidated Fund and £209,000 from the. Public Works Fund, to discontinue the annual amount of £220,-000 for subsidies on rates to local bodies, to recover from the highways revenue fund interest at the rate of 5 per cent, bn the capital transferred from the Public Works fund to the main highways , construction fund, which now amounts to £1,226,000, and to make the new petrol tax responsible for the whole of this .money is, in the opinion of the Clifton County Council, a grave error and a gross breach of faith, and such proposal if carried out will put the ratepayers in a worse position than ever, seeing that approximately 53 per cent, of" the motor vehicles in New Zealand are owned or run by the rural population. Therefore the council strongly protests against the Government’s proposal to penalise the farmers by increasing the petrol tax by 3d per gallon.”