INGLEWOOD COUNTY AFFAIRS

Taranaki Daily News, 7 March 1934, Page 12

INGLEWOOD COUNTY AFFAIRS

MAINTENANCE OF THE ROADS. MONTHLY MEETING OF COUNCIL. Maintenance of roads formed the principal business at the monthly meeting of the Inglewood County Council yesterday, when there were present Councillors R. Stuart (chairman). F. Laurence, J. Hunter, W. N. Willans, J. Greeve, F. S. Burson, H. R. Jones, G. W. Gibson and A. E. Cowley. The county engineer (Mr. S. C. Judd) reported that in the west riding Surrey and Hursthouse Roads had been patched, Bedford and Windsor Roads graded, Norfolk Road patched, and watertables and drains cleared. Lepper Road north had been graded, patched, rolled and blinded, the watertables attended to and fern cut. Lepper Road north of Hursthouse Road had been formed from the end of the metal to connect with Mountain Road. Bedford Road south of Norfolk Road had been blinded, and the metal banked and drains cleared. Dudley Road had been patched, graded and planed. Kaiki Road had been graded and gravel for metalling stripped. A start had been mad§ to form Derby Road south of Norfolk Road from Mr. Townsend’s property. Fords were made at the creeks and the road was cleared of all fallen timber. In the east riding the Pukeho metalling had been completed and the installation of a sft culvert to replace an old bush bridge would be completed this week. General maintenance had been done on Ngatoto Road. Watertables had been attended to on Otaraoa and Taramoukou Roads. In the south riding Kaimata (south), Ratapiko and Mokoia Roads had been graded, Mana Road graded and patched, Tariki Road graded and outlets cleared. General maintenance had been done on Mangaotea Road and the bridge had been repaired. Fem had been cut back on Salisbury Road, which had been blinded. NORTH RIDING WORK. In the north riding Davis, Wortley, Lincoln, Richmond and York Roads had been blinded. Kaimata (north) and Rimutauteka Roads had been graded and planed. Bristol and Everett Roads had been graded and planed and the culverts attended to. Mangaone Road had been graded and culverts attended to. The adjustment of the running surface of Mountain Road from the Waiongona bridge to the boundary would be completed by the middle of the week. The old sealing work had considerable camber and was very narrow. It had now been brought up to the standard of a modem highway by being widened from 14 feet to 16 feet and the alignment straightened where possible. It was necessary last week to reduce the speed of traffic on that section to 15 miles per hour during the period of construction. That highway was carrying Junction Road traffic at present, which was a considerable drawback to expeditious work. The shoulders of Junction Road west were banked with 52 yards of quarry rubble. The bitumen surface was attended to and general maintenance done. The experimental stretch of cut back work at the Mangaoraka continued to hold its surface and no signs of settlement were yet discernible. Junction Road east had been graded to Tarata and general maintenance work was done. The road was also patched. Dudley Road east and Lepper Road were graded. Mr. Judd said he had again interviewed the district engineer of the Public Works Department (Mr. P. Keller) to endeavour to obtain a subsidy for the Wortley Road metalling but Mr. Keller assured him that, while there was every possibility of getting it out of next year’s allocation, at the present time the department had not the money to vote. EGMONT PARK BOARD. Work done had included the grading of the Egmont Park Board track. Suggested work included completion of the Mountain Road armour coating, metalling of the shoulders of Mountain Road at Maketawa and surfacing of Durham Road west and Junction Road east. The engineer was granted leave to take his annual holiday during the present month. The ranger reported that most of the roads were inspected and found practically free from wandering stock. Three cows were impounded. A total of 666 dog tax fees had been collected to date. The traffic inspector reported that county roads had been patrolled, owners of lorries interviewed in regard to their heavy traffic licenses and a lookout kept for breaches of regulations. A few cases of unsatisfactory lights were practically the only offences. One offender would be prosecuted. On the motion of Crs. Jones and Cowley it was resolved to support the Tauranga County Council’s resolution asking the Government to give early consideration to the granting of some easement to county ratepayers as was done in the 1931-32 period by permitting county councils to make a rebate of 20 pe’r cent, on the 1933-34 rates. The Inglewood postmaster notified a refund of £124 10s, being unemployment relief wages for the four weeks ending February 17. The commissioner notified that in future , all structures erected in main highways controlled by local authorities should conform to the standards adopted by the Main Highways Board. The New Plymouth Harbour Board forwarded a formal resolution levying the

harbour rate for the year ending September 30 and calling on the council to collect the rate. The county clerk stated that the rate represented a reduction of 20 per cent., which meant a saving of £4BO to the ratepayers within the county. He pointed out that the council had reduced its , own rates by £3OOO, but that saving to : the ratepayers had been largely offset by ■ the harbour rate of £2400. The Main Highways Board forwarded authority for the expenditure of £266 13s 4d on a £3 for £1 subsidy basis for the i maintenance of 7f miles of the Junction . Road from Egmont Village to Kaimata. ■