COUNTY OF INGLEWOOD

Taranaki Daily News, 5 June 1935, Page 11

COUNTY OF INGLEWOOD

SLIGHT RATE INCREASE GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE. SMALL MAJORITY INA slight increase in rates in ridings was decided upon by the Inglewood County Council yesterday, when it was also decided to set up a general purposes committee. The rates decided upon were: ‘North riding 2%d, South 3d, East 3%d, West 2%d, an increase of a halfpenny in the South riding and of a farthing in-the others. The South riding rate also includes an extra amount for repairs to flood damage. Hospital and harbour rates remain the-same. There were present Crs. A. Corkill (chairman), R. Stuart, J. Hunter, W. N. Willans, J. Grieve, J. Stachurski, H. Jones, G. W. Gibson and Al E. Grigg. , ' Early in the month the staff’s attention was directed to the surface of the roads in the county that were not so seriously damaged by the flood, said the engineer, Mr. S. C. Judd, in reporting : on the activities of the staff and plant for May. On Mountain Road flood damage repair work to washouts was almost completed, with the exception of the Durham and Norfolk Road localities, which were held up pending the .completion of the railway works. On junction East Road surfacing work was commenced early in the month. The material had arrived and a commencement had been made with the construction of the Mako bridge on Makara Road. Public Works and Main . Highways estimates were prepared and forwarded to the department and High- , ways Board respectively. A start was made by Mr. D. Hildred to lower drains as requested by Mr. R. ‘H. Taylor. Works recommended for,the month included the completion of the surfacing work on Junction East Road,-strength-ening of Kaimata South Road, reconditioning of Lepper, Upland and King i Roads, and surfacing of the Bristol Road. The engineer said there was a total of =32 men employed by the council, of whom. 21 were permanent. The chairman said that about five years ago when the council reduced the number of men to 12 there was an outcry,,but the roads were brought up to a high standard. Now when there were so many men the roads had not been kept up to anything like the; same standard. There mpst therefore be-something wrong. '■ EXTRA.! MEN FOR FLOOD WORK. The engineer pointed out that extra men had been employed repairing the flood damage and the chairman replied that it would be better if . the extra men had- been kept separate. No ,one would object to men being engaged for:such a purpose. - The engineer said that.his object'was to put the balance.of the men off as soon as the flood damage was repaired. The' 'staff of 21 was necessary when the two miles of main highway resurfacing work was in hand. , ; \ /■■ In 1931-32, the chairman said, more .than'2o,ooo yards of top-dressing had been put on the roads, the engineer explaining that at that time unemployment' relief labour had been used for the work. ' The chairman: Some of it had been carried out by unemployment relief. 7 The engineer: Unfortunately during the past two or. three years -the council .had not. been able to use unemployed relief labour on ordinary maintenance work, except in cases where the council could not supply, transport to join ’the men with the main: gangs. That accounted for •three men being employed on maintenance work at Egmont Village and two at 'Otaraoa Road..'' Cr. J. Stachurakj 'considered the water-'; tables on the Bristol Road required further attention. He. recognised that the man on the road was doing good work .j, following the grader.The. engineer said there I was not the same, attention given to the watertables during summer as the staff was mainly devoted to/main highways.

Cr. Jones considered the fault in the use of the power grader was that the old watertables were neglected and new watertables made by the grader too close to the metal. He considered the' original watertables required attention.. The chairman considered the discussion should be defended until, the council had completed its. inspection of the f -county roads, when councillors could submit a report. , ' Cr. Willans said that there had been a good deal of pig rooting on the Kupara Road which should be checked. 1 Replying to Cr. Gibson the engineer said Lepper Road would be graded and planed during the next week or two, , JUNCTION ROAD. DEVIATION. , In ctanecfion with the proposed deviation of Junction Road at the Waiwa- ■; kaiho River Mr. P. Keller, Main Highways Board’s representative,'notified that' no plans or estimate had been prepared' in connection with the road approach on the Inglewood county side, the Taranaki County Council not having extend'- - ed the road survey beyond its boundary. He thought that it was safe to say. that the cost of the road would be considerably less than the cost of erecting and dismantling a temporary bridge and forming the temporary ■ approaches necessary if the present bridge were reconstructed on its present line. He did ' not think the road would cost more than £*3oo, and even if the saving of the cost , of the temporary bridge and approaches ' were discounted, the difference between the standard £2 fqf/£1 subsidy for bridge renewals and a 333. for £1 subsidy on £3OO would only amount to £25. If, however, the council could assure him that apart from financial considerations |he council had no objection to the proposed line, that would be sufficient to justify a start being made with the deviation in the Taranaki county. The matter had been deferred from a previous meeting and on the reading of that advice the .chairman said, a totally different complexion had been placed on the matter, and as the council was not committed to any expenditure it would be in order-in not raising any objection to which the council agreed. The Inglewood postmaster notified the refund of . unemployment relief wages totalling £3BB 10s for the five weeks end-* ing May 18, 1935. ’ 7 The Department of Internal Affairs forwarded £154 as .the amount of auctioneers’ licenses for 1935. Applications for the renewal of slaughterhouse licenses by John Butler (Surrey Road), W. J. Smith (Lepper Road) and John Rowan (Inglewood) were approved. Mr. W. C. Christie, Wanganui, asked if there were any possibility of the council making a roadway of one and a-half ' rtiiles from Norfolk Road into a property : on which he had paid rates for 15 years, - during which time the access had not been improved. The chairman painted put that the council was allowed to rate i only for the maintenance of roads. If the settler required a metalled road it would be necessary to raise a loan, with ■ a special rate. If might be possible to < improve the access by draining. j Mr. Keller forwarded a circular letter ; requesting that general maintenance of 1 highways should be carried out as re- i quired pending the receipt of the 1935-36 estimates. ' < Applications from F. A. Reesby for i permission to cart timber from Lepper f Road and Kaimata on a royalty basis t were deferred. 1

# The ehairman drew attention to the necessity for taking steps 'to recover pipes that had. been washed out hy the recent floods. The engineer stated that

[. the smaller-pipes had been recovered, but the, heavier,,: pipes' would entail, considerable . expenditure. He . had considered -itiadyisabfe‘ 'to wait. until, the -question of ’ Subsidy ’ had 1 been : decided. • > ■ The • North Committee of? the ■ Egmopt ■ National;Park Board; asked if the cbun- ■ cil <. would proceed asy soon - as 1 possible i' with'the: gmdjng? of ?the“ lower? mile? of I the metal road in-the reserve, as the sur--1 face was at present.in?poor condition. ■ The council; regarded the-matter as road ■ maintenance , and- referred the' applica- - tibn to ithe . ■■ ; , : The Commissioner of Crown ; Lands, ■ New Plymouth, -asked for . the council’s views on a • suggestion that a domain - of • five acres rat .'Egmont Village should be sold.. He ; pointed: out that it had never been used ' for ; domain : purposes and was not likely ,tp?be,*:as. i|-was considered practically useless for-.a, sports ground. It had been .'leased for some - time. The council resolved to approve, of the proposal, subject to. the approval 'of’ the Egmont Village ratepayers,; who should be asked -to discuss the matter ata public meeting. The ' chairman moved that a general purposes committee be set up eonsiting of Crs. Jones, Stachurski, Grigg and the mover. It was advantageous to have such a committee to obtain .information on various matters before placing them before the council, as the works committee had done previously. The council would have power to amend or reject any proposals. Cr. Jones seconded the motion. Cr. Hunter considered such a committee be only a waste of time and an expense. When they had, a works committee previously the item of travelling expenses on the balance-sheet was £l4O. The chairman: That is not fair. The works committee cost £33 or £34 at most, as it held only-10 meetings. Cr. Hunter held that all business should be dealt with at the council table. If necessary the council at any meeting could refer matters to a committee of riding members. The Stratford County Council, in a county which was double the size, had no works committee. Cr, Stuart also opposed the proposal. He considered the previous council had worked well without such a committee. Riding members were capable of obtaining any necessary information, , as that would also give them more interest. Cr. Willans did not oppose the setting up of a committee, but he thought it should meet only when authorised by the council and not whenever it liked. Cr. Gibson .pointed, out that the work was only confined to reading matters, and as riding members knew the general requirements there seemed no need for such a committee. They could discuss the recommendations made by the engineer at the council; meetings. The chairman said it seemed very peculiar that every local body but Inglewood had committees. In fact some had five or six. Inglewood could not pretend that it was the only local body with brains. Other local bodies did not have committees for fun. He held that it was because of the lack . of a committee that the roads haddeteriorated. The last committee cost the council £33 but had sav-

ed ratepayers a tremendous amount of money. It coiild- not have been possible to have made-the reorganisation without such a committee information. He would not like to'carry on without such a committee. . ■ " Cr. Willans: I. understand that, committee members of other local bodies do not receive any remiineration. . After further discussion the proposal was carried by five votes to • four.,