EGMONT COUNTY AFFAIRS

Taranaki Daily News, 9 March 1932, Page 2

EGMONT COUNTY AFFAIRS

FINAL MEETING OF COUNCIL CREDIT BALANCE ANTICIPATED. , . fo MAINTENANCE OF THE ROADS. Il a The monthly meeting of the. Egmont P County Council, the final meeting prior to the election of the new council next month on the new riding basis, was held at Opunake yesterday. There, were pre- C sent Crs. W. C. Green, (chairman), J. 1 ( Young, E. G. Holmes, A. J. Lilley, J. S. n Toeland, G. Gibson, E. A. Collins, J. F. P Shepherd and R. C. Watson. The county engineer (Mr. J. _G. Me- B Ivor) reported, that a considerable it; amount of pit metal banking had been d done on the Opua length of Main South o Road. Oeo and Punehu hills had been h blinded and the bridges attended to. 11 The maintenance sealing contract. had V been delayed until bitumen had arrived, but miles had been completed. On Eltham Road a little cold patching had been done. On Skeet Road 30 chains, of a drains had been cleaned and new sealing ,c work kept gritted. . 'h In the Oeo riding water-tabling and w blinding had been done on Patiki, Kiri, ©] Stratford, Watino and Oeo Roads. Forty ih chains of drains were cleared on Patiki « Road, and bridges on Kiri and Stratford >a Roads attended to. . ti In the Opua riding 40 yards of pit “ metal had been used widening a por- ili tion of lower Kina Road. Eighty-nine If] chains of drain had been cleaned on lb upper Arawhata Road and new metal clay-blinded. The worse portions of the Upper Ihaia Road were being given at- C tention to provide temporary access, and similar work, was being done on Kaweora Road below Wiremu Road. A little draining had been done on Namu Road, and upper Waiteika Road had been graded. In the Rahotu riding Witiora, Manihi, Rahotu,' Tipoka and Ngariki Roads had been graded. Water-tabling and blinding had been done on Kabul Main Road and Qpourapa Road. A culvert on Taura Road had been lifted, cleaned and replaced. *1 Draining, water-tabling and blinding I had been done on Pungarehu and Wata- j roa Roads in the Newall riding. Bayly j Road had been patched and blinded and water-tables cleaned on. Kekeua Road. The Kapoaiaia bridge on Okahu Road had been repaired and the steelwork I tarred. Men had. been employed under No, 5 scheme cutting ragwort on native sections bn upper Arawhata and Opourapa Roads. A survey to relocate upper Parihaka Road' prior to preparing roading - plans, had been nearly completed. A fire, due to a faulty stove and. chimney, had started in the Te Kiri dwelling but had been quelled before much damage was done. Repairs had been effected. THE FINANOIAiL POSHTION. The clerk submitted a statement showing that to the end of March_the council’s commitments were £8549 (overdraft £5780, that day’s accounts £1134, 1 antecedent liability repayment £825, in- A terest £H6O 17s. 6d., hospital rate £lBO A 16s. Bd., Taranaki County Council £268, A refund on rates £200).. Against that 1 there were assets totalling £9935 (outstanding general rates £7905, A rates £I2H4, special rates £250, Public t Works payments £566). It could thus I be seen that the council was well on the right side as far as balancing its b.xpenditure ■at the end of the financial year was concerned, but, the clerk pointed out, as far as the overdraft was . concerned the council was £5OOO worse off - than was the . case at the time last year, when the overdraft had been £3700. That would not affect the position this year, but it would next year, as the amount of overdraft allowed.next 1 year would be computed on thfi. amount of rates collected this year—-60 the overdraft would be considerably cuttailed. Cr. Tosland considered that rates amounting to a further £5OOO would , be collected before the .end of March as ratepayers would recognise that by bo doing they would save 22J per cent. J The Waitemata County Council noti- - fled that a favourable response had been received from 25 per cent, of the county councils approached for assistance in the costs of the proposed, appeal case regarding removal of power poles from county roads. The majority of the J others considered that it was a matter for the executive of the Counties. Aesoi ciation. The Waitemata council forL warded a letter showing that an en- > deavour had been made to persuade the ; association to take up the matter. In I view of the shortness of time the ap- - peal had had to be lodged. r Cr. Gibson considered the executive of the association should, have taken action. > The chairman said the Waitemata . council had first gone to Court ever the > matter and then applied to the associa--5 tion to help meet the costs. The chairman of the association had held that 5 the association could not bind its memr bers to contribute until the matter had r been dealt with by them. Cr. Green considered, that the Waitemata council L should first have approached, the asso- . ciation with a view, to arriving at some t agreement with the power boards beL fore going to law. . On the motion of Crs. Gibson and Collins, it was resolved to reply stating r that the council could not. contribute j towards the costs. It considered that , the matter should, have been referred to the association before legal action was . taken, 3 The Taranaki Local Bodies’ Associa- , tion notified that the council’s letter on the question had been considered , and. the matter had been. referred to „ the Counties’ Association with a reconi- » mendation that an amicable arrangement be made with, the Power Boards r Association, j OANCEILtLATION OF AUTHORITIES. e A telegram was received from the Minister of Public Works cancelling all , road expenditure authorities, excepting where definite commitments had been made, A telegram was also received from ® Mr. P. Keller (district engineer), asking , the council to telegraph to Stratford , a lijst of the works done on the contracts let” under approved proposals and the minimum authorities required to cover l j the departmental quota. The engineer stated that the informa,- ’’ tion had been forwarded. The. council 10 was affected to the extent of £6OO for 0 Newall and Mirikau Roads, both of ‘ which were finished. The Commissioner of Unemployment 3 (Mr. Malcolm Fraser) wrote recommending that where possible local bodies 0 should utilise unemployed labour for 10 planting suitable areas as trees were V being made' available by the State Forest Service to local bodies on payment of lifting, packing and freight charges. The Main Highways Board forwarded authorities for additional maintenance on a £3 to £1 basis on Eltham Road ( £9B 4s. 7d.) and Ihaia Road ( £33 2s. 9d.). ;o Mr. D. F. Greenway’s request that is the council metal 20 chains on lower N Pungarehu Road so as to enable him to ;e ■ milk on his lower section was referred i- to the engineer for a report. JI The Taranaki County Council will be paid £142 195., that being half the B, cost of maintenance o( the I’uniho

boundary road for the year, and. .£135, that being the council’s quota, bf upper Puniho Road loan -work. The ranger (Mr. W. Weaver) reported that he had visited a considerable portion of tlie roads in the collection of dog tax. He had seized on the roads 13 horses, 17 cows, 11 weaners and a bull, a total of 42 head, all of which had been released. THE PUNGAREHU DOMAIN. At the previous meeting of the council a letter was received from the Commissioner of Crown Lands (Mr. W. D. Armit) asking whether the coiiueil had any objection to the reservation being lifted off the recreation reserve of 27 acres 2 roods at Pungarehu so that, it could be permanently disposed of, as it was understood that there was a domain at Pungarehu. The council referred the matter to a committee consisting of the chairman (Mr. W. 0. Green) an.fi Crs. Gibson and Lilley to ascertain the wishes of the Pungarehu residents and the position generally. Cr. Gibson reported that the chairman of the Pungarehu Domain Board (Mr. W. E. Corbett) expressed the opinion that the board would be'prepared to. take over the administration of the reserve as well as of the present domain. Mr. Gibson said he had interviewed Mr. Armit and understood that there would be no objection to that course, though it would be necessary to keep two sets of books as a domain was not a recreation reserve, and vice versa. The present council goes out of office on March 31 and the election of the new council will take place probably on Apiil 27, the first meeting of the new council for the election of a temporary chaiiman being held early the following week. In the interim the clerk (Mr. G. W. Rogers) and the engineer (Mr. J. G. Mclvor) will have charge. The chairman. thanked the councillors for the assistance they had given him. During its three years’ term the council had endeavoured to do its work faithfully, and though not pleasing .everybody it had done its best. He hoped there would be sufficient interest shown bv ratepavers to ensure contests for the seats and 'that tliose councillors who sought re-election would be successful. The chairman stated that unless there was a considerable improvement in the position the new council would be faced with a general reduction of wages and expenditure. It would not be able to pay its lorry drivers and engine drivers 14s or 15s per day as it had done in the past. Unless rates amounting to £6OOO or £7OOO came in before the end of the month the overdraft would be cut down considerably next year, which would greatly limit the expenditure. It was “reatly to the advantage of ratepayers to make an endeavour tq/pay their rates this month as by so doing they wou d save 221 per cent.—l2| per cent, rebate and 10 per cent, penalty. Some ratepayers considered that the penalty - should not have been imposed this year, but while the council hated imposing it it could not avoid doing so.