CLIFTON COUNTY’S YEAR

Taranaki Daily News, 3 June 1933, Page 11

CLIFTON COUNTY’S YEAR

COUNCIL’S ANNUAL MEETING » RATE COLLECTION SATISFACTORY. CHAIRMAN REVIEWS BALANCES. A review of the year’s operations in the Clifton county and the state of the riding accounts was given at the statutory annual meeting of the county council at Waitara yesterday. Mr. H. A. Foreman, chairman since 1926, presided and before the commencement of the ordinary monthly meeting was elected chairman again. The engineer (Mr. N. C. Fookes) reported on the year’s work within the county on main highways, county roads and bridges, giving details of the extent and costs of the more important work and of subsidies received. The continuation of the bituminous surfacing of the Auckland-Wellington highway to Urenui was again deleted from last year’s estimates, he stated, owing to the fact that the constructionfunds were insufficient, except for works Of an urgent nature such as the replacement of bridges. The council was fortunate in receiving authority for the reconstruction of the Papatiki stream bridge on the Pukearuhe Road, which work had been duly carried out. Minor improvements had been made on the Auckland-Wellington highway at various dangerous bends; Ayton’s corner at Onaero, Urenui township hill and Zimmerman’s corner at Waitoitoi. . Those corners had been considerably widened, super-elevated and remetalled, thus improving visibility and reducing the risk of skidding, always a danger at those points. No application had been made for further re-construction and bitumen penetration work as it was unlikely that any funds would be available from the Main Highways Board. HIGHWAYS MAINTENANCE. ' The roads coming under the heading of the main highways maintenance were the Auckland-Wellington (Waitara-Puke-aruhe Junction), Pukearuhe, Ngatimaru and Inland North roads, which had all been maintained at a reasonably good standard. The principal work consisted of bitumen patching, re-metalling, regravelling, rolling and grading besides the usual routine of ordinary maintenance. During the coming season it would be necessary to recoat with bitumen the first two and a-half miles of the main road north of Waitara, and provision had been made for the work on the current year’s estimates. Application had also been made to surface seal 100 chains of the main road at Waitoitoi,- that work coming under the heading of major maintenance.

During the year reformation and metalling had been carried out on several county roads as funds were available, the location of the works being the Hickman, Matapo, Okau and Kaipikari roads. The construction of a new traffic bridge over the Makino stream on the Rerekino Road had also been put in hand- Relief work camps w'ere established on the Otaraoa, Mataro, Mohakatino, Mangatoro and Makino roads, on which a considerable amount of reformation and metalling had been done, but as the weather had broken little work would now be possible at those camps until next summer. Under the heading of maintenance, a considerable amount of work had been done, included in which had been the grading of all unmetalled roads and gravel roads at regular .intervals and the banking of shoulders along various metalled roads. Gravel and metalled surfaces had been maintained up to a good standard by the usual methods and all bridges requiring attention had been repaired, with the exception of three on the upper Uruti Road which were in hand. The extent and costs of the more important works were as follow:—

Main Highway Construction. & Papatiki stream bridge 300 Main Highway Maintenance. Auckland-Wellington (WaitaraPukearuhe Junction) .. 1491 Pukearuhe Road 419 Ngatimaru Road 163 Inland North Road H 8 County Works. > ( Hickman Road • • 224 .Matapo Road 450 Okau Road 1616 Kaipikari Road 1281 Makino Stream bridge — " Relief Works. Otaraoa Road 2048 Ma taro Road • 305 > Mohakatino Road 2048 Mangatoro Road 200 Makino Road 577 All the council’s road machinery had been kept in good repair. The county cottages had had only minor repairs attended to and were in fairly good condition, SUBSIDIES RECEIVED. The subsidies received by the council during the past year were:— Main highways construction: Papatiki stream bridge (£2 for £1), on account, £133 6s Bd. Main highways maintenance: Auck-land-Wellington highway, £lllB 7s lOd; Pukearuhe Road, £314 10s 4d; Ngatimaru Road, £l2l 18s lOd; Inland North Road, £BB Is lid. Public Works fund: Okau Road, £1174 5s 7d; Kaipikari and Matapo roads, £1193 15s 7d; Hickman Road, £149 12s; total, £4293 18s 9d. The retiring chairman reviewed the year in the light of the engineer’s report. The whole of the roads in the county were well maintained, the plant and machinery were kept at an efficient standard and the cottages were in fairly good order. 1 The credit balance, in the general account, continued Mr. Foreman, wjis at March 31 £595 0s 4d, a little less than in the previous year. The position, in the riding accounts was not quite so satisfactory, and in one or two the balances had gone back. In the Mokau riding the total debit was £1421 2s sd, but included in that was £365 advanced on the Mohakatino Road work. The true debit was £1056 2s 4d as compared with £6OB 5s 4d last year. At Uruti the credit balance was £203 10s lid compared with a credit last year of £272 19s lid. The Urenui riding showed a credit of £384 6s 9d compared with £149 17s 3d in the previous March. The Tikorangi riding had a credit of £35 2s 6d, whereas the previous year showed a balance of £402 9s sd. Included in those figures was an advance of £725 to the Otaraoa metalling scheme, of which £250 12s had been repaid. The Waihi riding debit was £679 7s 4d, compared with a debit the previous year of £606 14s. The rates for the year had been paid very satisfactorily continued Mr. Foreman. There had been £669 outstanding at the end of the year of which £ll6 had since been paid, leaving £553 still outstanding. A report on, the capital value .of the roads and bridges existing within the county had been prepared by the engineer and clerk, showing the total value as £437,200. That figure had been based on the average cost. Mr. Foreman in conclusion thanked the councillors for their assistance. The engineer stated that the main highways estimate agreed on was this year £2540 compared with £2lOO last year. , Councillors considered that in the matter of rate collection the county was very fortunate compared with other councils. Mr. Foreman vacated the chair, but was re-elected for the seventh year on the motion of Crs. Phillips and Shaw, the nomination being unopposed and the motion carried unanimously. The chairman’s honorarium was fixed at the same amount as previously, £75 a year.