COUNTY OF CLIFTON

Taranaki Daily News, 6 December 1930, Page 4

COUNTY OF CLIFTON

MONTHLY COUNCIL MEETING t MONTH’S WORK IN DISTRICT. 7 ■ ' < ■■■' . ' SEVERAL CONTRACTS... LET., The monthly meeting of the. Clifton County Council was held . at'-Waitara yesterday. Thosd present .were the chairman'.(Mr. II- Av Foreman),; Messrs. G. W. Rogers, J. F. Phillips, W. TL Watson, C. H. Barnitt and; F. Sarten. The engineer (Mr. N. C., t .Eookes) re-, ported that in the past month.;patching, grading and general maintenance . work had been- .attended to on various roads in the Tikorangi riding. < An estimate for metalling five miles on the' Otaraoa. Road from Ipcal pits had been prepared. : In'the Waihi riding , the ; gravel b ll " 4 ' ing- of part'of the, Turangi Road had been proceeded with.as the weather_per-. mitted. .Patching, and banking had been attended to on the Matafo and Ohanga Roads. Numerous small slips occurred-on-.the Mataro-Road during, the- bad weather, but-,were- cleared expeditiously.. One set of nine-inch pipes had ;beem delivered to the' top of the Ohanga Road and woulcl be placed when the grading had been completed. . Ten 18-inch PP had been delivered on the Allen Road for repairs and extension to the fiisv culvert on. the road and would be placed as opportunity offered. In the Urenui riding patching, grading water-tabling.and clearing slips had been attended to.on the Okoke, Pike and Kaka R6ads. The small bridge near K. Blundell’s was in a bad state both as regards abutments and stringers, lhe western approach had given way during the month diving to abnormal floods, •but had been- temporarily sheeted up, and now the- pastern approach was threatened. ?.3le; .therefore recommended that a new Structure should be erected as soon as possible; A start had been made by the ■ (contractor on the Hogan Crgek bridge. metalling of two miles on tliA/Kaipikari Road had been let to ATCalmpron, Stratford, for £1906 18s.. A cart had been purchased fiSr/tlfe.. Okoke surfaceman.. The • cleaning''and . trimming, of the. Moki and Ttefekino Roads -in the .Uruti .riding ■ wis temple ted Muring the month.; Clearing/islips'/and. trimming had. been • Tangitu district roads. Approval ?had ■. been;.received-' for ■ thd .Uruti Road metalling, and . tenders (had • been ..ifiyited;-' The: 'Public Works Department- had informed the engineei thatit"-,iwasTplacing■ relief workers, on the Rerekino*.Road to continue the widening- as/promised; ■'._■■■ In’the.Mbkau/riding general maintenance \wi>rk,.-had been-attended to on; the Mohakatino,;. Okap, Mangatoro, Manga--roa.'andJ,{Kiwi Roads during the month. The Mihisteinof "Public Works had agreed to a) subsidy- on the bridges in conneption-with the Okau Road deviation, ;and ;the; engineer had therefore put the, necessary ■ purveys' in' hand. The contract for metalling’l6o chains of the Okau Road had been let to G. Kehely, Stratford)• for’..£2600..

' MAIN.' HIGHWAYS WORK, ' On the. Auckland-Wellington highway the turfing,, metalling and-• building of shoulders oh-last year’s work had been continued during the.month. Patching, grading and slips had been attended to on the macadam portion as required. The metalling, blinding and rolling of the Urenui Pa hill had been completed. The bitumen penetration of the-Urenui River bridge deck and approaches had been completed, thus completing the contract, which amounted to £57*28 Bs., being £2B Bs, above . the original estimate. Application had been made for additional money to re-gravel Mooney’s. .Flat, and if that was approved the work would be put in hand at once.-. The gravelling of the Waitoitoi section had been held up owing to bad weather. ’Patching, banking and water-tabling had been attended to on the Pukearuhe Road. The repairs to the Mimi Stream bridge were nearing completion, the work completed being the renovation and pairs to the piers, complete new deck laid, one new intermediate strut placed in the truss, strengthening of all strutsin truss, screwing up king bolts mid-tar-ring deck, understructure and piers. The erection of the/handrails and painting the structure was expected to. be completed early this month. ~ • / One new 12-inch diameter culvert was laid on the eastern end of the Inland North Road., The gravel blinding-near the Tikorangi factory had keen completed. Patching and banking had been attended to, ’- . ' ; .I’ - On. the Ngatimaru Road a test, length of - five chains of two-coat sealing work.was laid immediately beyond the borough boundary,, and if this-method-was as good as it appeared to rbe it-would cheapen the cost of sealing to Tikdraiigi very considerably,-' Patching, banking and grading had been attended to,-on-khat road as required. . ■, . , J. .- >■ - A new 16in. by,9in. portable crusher■ had been ordered through the Highways Board, - as .Authorised, and. as soon as the Order •. had ibceri..’ definitely ' placed, - theengineer; intended to visit Auckland, in company '.wjtfi') the/agent in connection with the construction of the machine to requirements.-. The • new portable bins and-screens ; ; were almost .completed and, shduld.'.be ; .-readyby.- the’*:time the ;new; crusher came-to’ hand. A new elevator-chain-and cheek plates had been ordered for -.the Anderson crusher. 7. A recommendation by the engineer to purchase a special sprayer costing £4O for maintenance and scaling work was considered and action deferred until the next meeting.

LITTLE STOCK WANDERING. The county inspector (Mr. G. F. Rowe) reported that he had found only 12 (head of- stock wandering on the county roads during the month. This was very satisfactory in view of complaints received. One prosecution was pending. He had issued three heavy traffic licenses and 10 driving licenses. He had collected £7 19s. 9d. m fees. Authorities were received from the Public Works Department for subsidies on highways maintenance as follow: Pukearuhe Junction-Waitara, £216 9s. Td.; Pukearuhe Road, £l7B 14s. 2d.s Ngatimaru Road, £37 4s. 4d.; Inland North Road, Tikorangi-Ohanga Road, £203 2s. 2d.; total, £635 10s. 3d. The Public Works Department district engineer, Mr. P. Keller, advised that the Minister had agreed to accept the council’s offer of £4OO towards the cost of the-two bridges required on the Okau Road deviation between the 3 miles 4.60 chains and 4 miles 17.42 chains marks. The engineer reported that the surveys were put in hand this week. Four tenders were received for the reformation and metalling of the Uruti Road, and that of W. L. Larsen for 126 chains in gravel at £l6OO was accepted. The engineer’s attention was drawn to the condition of the Otaraoa Road, Tikorangi, and the Waihi Road. He was asked to report upon the second road. He stated he had given instructions for the Otaraoa Road to be graded. He submitted estimates for metalling the road. It was decided to form a proposed rating area and hold a meeting of settlers concerned. A recommendation to local bodies in the No. 7 highways district to classify

their roads down to a maximum of eight tons was received from the Taranaki Local Bodies’ Association., The county engineer stated that the limit over the county’s section of Taranaki was 6„ tons, which would continue until the main highways were tar-sealed. .