COUNTY OF TARANAKI

Taranaki Daily News, 7 July 1931, Page 2

COUNTY OF TARANAKI

meeting of council held

ROAD AND BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION

EXPENDITURE ON' HU ATOKI ROAD.

The monthly meeting of the Taranaki Council Council was held at New Plymouth yesterday. Those present were Crs. J. S. Connett (chairman), W. Hall, W. Cartwright, R. Wood, S. Vickers, L. Carey and W. Thomas. Hill Road settlers had notified they did not wish work on the road proceeded with at present, the chairman reported. Settlers had made an application for formation on the upper Mangorei Road, said the chairman, but after an inspection he thought formation was out of the question without metalling, and the setters would be better advised to leave the road as it was unless a grant could be obtained. Cf. Woods agreed with the chairman and the settlers are to be advised of the opinion of the council.

Korito Road bridge had been inspected by council members, Mr. Connett reported, and improvements necessary could be effected with the money available. It was decided to proceed with the work.

In reply to a. letter from the council the Department of Lands and Survey wrote that the district engineer of the Public Works Department was given authority for the expenditure of £330 17s 6d for formation and metalling on the Huatoki Road, No further funds for the work were held by the department and if the whole sum had been expended on the metalling already done no further help was available from the department. The chairman stated the work had been done for £284 2s by the council and what the council sought was to, recover the balance of the grant. The money must be in the Public Works fund somewhere.

The clerk; You have to spend it before you can get it. There were still several bad corners that needed attention, Cr. Wood said. •The council had been too kind in doing the work for less than they had been allowed.

Cr. Thomas: We get no thanks for our economy. The council decided to apply for the unexpended balance of the grant for the purpose of improving corners. USE OF OLD BRIDGE. Referring to the inquiries made by the council about the use of an-old railway bridge to replace tho steel bridge on Te Arei Road the county engineers, Messrs Sladden and Palmer, reported that though the Railway Department could supply one bridge of 70ft and another of 20ft the 70ft span was only 67 feet in length and to utilise these two bridges it would be necessary to have an intermediate pier sft ..long. These bridges could be re-erectcd oiily as a single-way bridge about the same width as the existing bridge. The price quoted for the two spans was £217 delivered. Additional stringers would be required. The engineers were of the opinion that Rolled I. bridges would be more satisfactory and cheaper. The foundations of the bridge abutments were in perfectly good order, there being no signs of scour. The abutments were not sufficiently wide to allow of a two-way bridge to be erected. If a concrete deck were adopted it would be advisable to encase the steel beams in concrete.

Councillors agreed it was not necessary to encase the beams in concrete and that a one-way steel bridge would be sufficient.

The matter was left to the riding councillors with power to act. Permission to hang a gate across upper Carrington Road on the south side of the Momona stream to keep stock from a section was granted Collett and Co. Ltd., provided no exception was made by ratepayers in the vicinity. Replying to a request from the council to raise the rate of interest on the loan to 6 per cent, the Treasury wrote that the matter need not be placed before the Loans Board, as under the provisions of the Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1926, a local authority might with the precedent consent of the Minister of Finance borrow on such terms as might be prescribed by Order-in-Council. It was not, however, considered desirable to recommend the issue of an Order-in-Council giving authority for interest at the rate of 6 per cent, as this would create an undesirable precedent. No objection would be taken to the issue of an Order-in-Council prescribing 6 per cent, provided the loan were raised on the instalment repayment system. If this could not be arranged for nor the loan raised on a sinking fund basis at a rate of interest not exceeding £5 15s per cent, it was suggested the work should be postponed until the finance could be arranged at a reasonable rate of interest, as it was not considered desirable to increase the rating burden on the farming community at present by the raising of loans for a long period at a high rate of interest. REFUTATION OF LIABILITY. The effect of the refutation of the liability of the rown for outstanding rates on Crown lands or on properties that had reverted to the Crown was dealt with in a tetter from the Waitomo County Council, asking for support in having the Act altered. The council decided to support the Waitomo council and to approach the member for the district. The Taranaki counties joint model bylaws were formally adopted by the council. A provision was included that the building and sanitary building laws contained in the schedule should apply only to areas immediately contiguous to New Plymouth as the council from time to time should determine.

A draft of the proposed Order-in-Council consolidating and amending the regulations as to the use of heavy motor : vehicles submitted to the council was reported on by the inspector, Mr. R. Aroa. The inspector commented favourably on the draft, though in his opinion the erection at the end of each road of classification notices would be costly. About 200 notices would be required in the county.

A hospital rate of o-8d in the £1 was struck in each of the four ridings. The general rates struck for the ridings were: Mangorei, 3d, Waitara 2d, Omata 2d, Okato 23-16 d. A special Oxford Road rate of 1 13-16 d was struck. The resolution of the council authorising the raising of the upper Puniho Road loan of £4OO was confirmed and a special rate of 3jd in the £1 was struck. REPORT FROM. OVERSEER. The overseer, Mr. G. Meredith, reported; —The rotary crusher worked two days in the Fankley Road pit crushing 143 yards of meta) of which 135 yards was delivered to Frankley Pioad. The crusher was shifted to the Waiwakaiho depot for repairs, which have been completed. The plant is ready to be shifted to the Sentry Hill pit. The Hope crusher was worked at the Mangorei depot. 14 days crushing 03 yards of metal, which' has been spread on new

work on Junction Road. The crusher was shifted, to Plymouth Road, a site has. been built and the crusher set up. The amount of metal, chips and gravel carted during the month from the quarries to the different roads was 860 yards. The carpenter has been engaged building a small bridge on the upper Timaru Road.

In Mangorei riding on The New Ply-inouth-Kaimata highway construction work Smith’s corner on No. 4 mile has had the foundation course of metal laid and rolled. A new entrance has been made into Mr. Smith's road at Marsh’s corner. The fillings opposite the factory have been fenced. The bank at the corner of Albert Road has been cut back and the road has been widened at the northern end of Jordan’s filling to improve the entrance to the Mangorei factory road. Asphalt patching has been done on Junction Road and the sides of the asphalt are being banked with gravel. In the Waitara riding the grader has been worked, on Kelly, Ackworth, Tc Arei, Cross, and Richmond Roads shearing the grass shoulders off the metal and cleaning watertables. Metal patching has been done and water tables attended to on Egmont, Smart, Paraite, Henwood, Dorsett, Te Arei, Waitara, Kelly, Richmond, Ackworth, Wortley, Corbett, and Manutahi Roads. A start has been made quarrying metal on the railway pit for the roads in this riding. Asphalt patching and banking up has been dtme on the Auckland-Wellington and. Lepper-ton-Hawera highways. The contractor has made a start with the earth fillings at the overhead railway bridge on the Auckland-Wellington highway. The re-metalling on Frankley Road has been completed in the Omata riding. The motor roller is working on the Frankley Road scarifying, shaping up and rolling portions of the road that have not been recently re-metalled. An old ponga culvert on Frankley Road, which collapsed, with the weight of the roller, has been replaced with concrete pipes. OKATO RIDING WORK. In the Okato riding metalling with old metal from the Katikara Hill on the upper Pitone Road has been completed. A total of 12 chains of new metal was laid down and four or five chains of the old metal re-coated. The metal at the bend below Mr. Luckin’s has been widened and the metal at the intersection of the Upper Pitone and Main South Roads has been widened and the entrance to the Pitone Road greatly improved. Mr. Corbett took up his duties as foreman in the Oakura length and is engaged supervising relief work on the Plymouth Road. The contractor is doing his best to carry out the formation and metalling on Plymouth Road, but under the present weather conditions it is almost impossible to make any headway. The report of the inspector, Mr. R. Area, stated: — Very few stock have been found at large ‘on the roads. The menace from this source seems to be getting less. Owners of stock realise that with, the large number of motor vehicles on the roads the risk is too great to have their stock out. There are still a fair number of road, frontages that require cleaning up. Farmers have been notified to have this work done but some are very slow to make a start. Motor driver’s licenses issued during the month totalled making a total of 1259 to date, compared with 1281 to June 30 last year. The sum collected in heavy traffic licenses totals £llO Is 9d, £2a Ils less than was collected to June oO last rear. There is still £3O outstanding. Dogs registered to date total 1201.. lees collected for June are: Heavy traffic licenses £llO Is 9d; motor drivers licenses £92 15s; fines £4; dog tax £l. 2s 6d; total £207 19s 3d.