INGLEWOOD COUNTY

Taranaki Daily News, 4 September 1935, Page 2

INGLEWOOD COUNTY

MEETING OF COUNCIL MAINTENANCE OF THE ROADS. LOAN CONVERSION QUESTION. Repairs of flood damage, maintenance of roads and bridges and the control of noxious weeds were among the matters discussed by the Inglewood County Council yesterday. It was a lengthy meeting, lasting until after 5.30 p.m. It was decided to hold a special meeting on Tuesday next to discuss several important matters including loans conversion, and noxious weeds control. There were present Crs. A. Corkill (chairman), J. Hunter, W. N. Willans, G. W. Gibson, J. Stachurski, H. Jones and J. Grieve. Roads had been attended to as follows, reported the county engineer, Mr. S. C. Judd: — North riding: Davis Road graded and rolled; Everett Road graded, water-tables and outlets cleaned; Wortley, Lincoln, York and Richmond roads graded, patched and rolled, and water-tables and outlets cleaned. West riding: Hursthouse Road graded and the water-tables cleaned; King Road rolled; Lepper-Carrington Road patched; water-tables cleaned on Johns and Surrey roads; Norfolk West Road patched and the drains cleared; Lepper Road north graded, water-tables and culverts cleaned; Upland South Road rolled, blinded; Bedford Road 4ft. pipe culvert at Zimmerman’s completed and a commencement made with the- earth work, the weather having been against the contractor; temporary bridge constructed at Dombroski's, and a crib log pier at Ritchie’s bridge (which was held up waiting for the delivery of decking). It was impossible to use the old beams for the bridge, so that rails had been procured; crib logging pulled for the Derby Road bridge, the settlers having commenced to build the pier. South riding: Kupara and Durham Road east patched; Kaimata South Road surfaced; Ratapiko Road patched and fem cut; Tariki and Mangaotea roads water-tables cleaned; Tariki and Norfolk east roads patched and water-tables cleaned; Tariki Road patched. East riding; Water-tables cleaned on Autawa, Taramoukou, Ngatoto and Otaraoa roads; slips cleared on Ngatoto Road and scrub and fern cut on the Autawa Road. He had hired a gig and inspected Ngatoto and Pukemahoe clay roads in company with Cr. Grieve. The road widening work requested by Mr. Webb had been attended to.

Main county roads: Lepper Road patched, graded, rolled and water-tables attended to.

MAIN HIGHWAYS WORK.

Main Highways: Junction east highway, water-tabling and general maintenance work. A start had been made early in the month to complete the surfacing but it was found impossible to crush the wet gravel. On the Mountain Road highway, the fillings at the Durham and Norfolk Road was'houts had been completed. The water-table pipes would be put in when the filling had settled. The bitumen had ben patched, the drains and water-tables were cleaned. On the junction west highway, water-tables and culverts had ben cleaned and the shoulders of the bitumen had been banked. On the Egmont highway, water-tables had been cleaned, the road patched, graded and rolled. The Bristol highway was graded and rolled.

"He had inspected Mr. Hall’s fence line on Durham Road east, which was in a poor state of repair; Mr. Hall had promised to effect repairs so as to avoid inconvenience to settlers driving stock. Reporting on Mr. Murphy’s application for permission to shift his fence out to the road line, the engineer stated that since the request had been granted some years ago, Mr. Hurlstone on the opposite side of the road had received permission and had shifted his fence out. If Mr. Murphy’s fence was now shifted out the road area would be too confined. He thought the request should be again reviewed and recommended that Mr. Hurlstone be asked to remove his fence if permission were granted to Mr. Murphy. As Mr. Stapleton did not want to remove the opposite fence, his request was not granted. Plans and specifications foi the Hursthouse Road bridge had been approved by the Public Works Department and tenders had been called. With Cr. Grieve he had inspected the culvert on Junction Road east which Mr. S. Askew asked should be lowered. They recommended that nothing be done in the meantime and that notice be served on Mr. Lambert to lower the stream bed, where the water is low enough. By cleaning his drains, Mr. Askew could obtain considerable fall. If the weather permitted, the Mako stream bridge would be completed within a week. An inspection of Good’s culvert on the Mountain Road showed that the deck slab had been cracked for the full length and that a new reinforced concrete culvert would be required in the near future. He asked authority to prepare the plans. Mr. Hall is to be asked to shift his fence back to the original line. CLEARING OF NOXIOUS WEEDS. The ranger reported that five head of stock had been impounded and seven head seized. In some cases farmers had been more dilatory than usual in regard to clearing their road frontage of weeds and a number of notices had been issued accordingly. The traffic inspector reported that night patrol duty for the inspection of faulty lights had been carried out. The local body official inspection had had the desired result in regard to the correct focus of headlights and a marked improvement had been noticed of late. A strict look-out has been kept for unregistered and unlicensed motor-vehicles. There were no serious breaches of the regulations calling for prosecution. The Main Highways Board’s representative, Mr. P. Keller, notified that the board had tentatively approved of the following amounts for work under the council’s jurisdiction, all on a £3 for £1 subsidy basis: Auckland-Wellington, via Taranaki, £1377; New Plymouth-Kaimata, £468; Waiwakaiho - Whisky Creek (smoothing coat), £213; Junction highway, £743; Egmont Road-radius line, £381; Inglewood-Everett, £249; total, £3431. The council would have to find £1143. For construction on a £2 for £1 subsidy basis on Egmont Road (Peter s comer deviation) £l5 was granted. The Main Highways Board forwarded authority for the expenditure of £164 on a £3 for J. basis for maintenance of the Everett highway. . Mr. P. Keller notified approval of the plans and specifications of Sutton’s bridge, Waiongonaiti stream bridge, Hursthouse Road. Mr. A. J. Webb, Ngatoto Road, and Mr. J. Macko, Pukeho Road, were granted permission to move their fence line nearer to the road, subject to the usual conditions. SPECIAL RATE QUESTION. Messrs. F. M. Standish and W. Rea, settlers of Tarata, wrote asking why there had been a considerable increase in their special rates this year. The county clerk was instructed to explain that the council was going into the question of the conversion of its loans with a view to saving £lOOO in interest

and sinking funds. If that were effected the charges for special loans would be spread over either the whole of the county or the whole of the riding, with the result that the special rate charge would drop to less than a penny. Before that could take place debits in special loan accounts must be liquidated. Though the law required that the charge must be put through the books this year the council was prepared to make arrangements for payments to be spread to suit the convenience of ratepayers.

The New Plymouth borough engineer forwarded a plan showing the position of the Waiwakaiho River, Kai.niro, where, due to rapid erosion, a possible danger existed of a change in the course. He took it that any conference would be convened by the Inglewood County Council. Mr. James Magee notified that he wag prepared to keep the lease of the Waiwakaiho reserve for five years. The Agricultural Department advised that in the event of supplies of sodium chlorate being imported from other sources than Canada and the Continent of Europe, importers desirous of claiming the subsidy of Id per pound would have to make application, giving full details of costs etc. It was decided to thank Mr. J. F. Duschenski for supplying timber and also assisting with the erection of a temporary bridge at Dombroski’s crossing on the Bedford Road south of Norfolk. The tender of the New Plymouth Sash and Door at £77 4s 5d was accepted for bridge timber. ... , . Members expressed the opinion that the health stamp campaign was a movement deserving of every support. After reading communications on the question from Mr. L. O. Hooker, the honorary organiser, the Hon. J. A. Young, Minister of Health, and Mr. R. G. May, postmaster at New Plymouth, the council, while appreciating the necessity for conserving its finance in the interests of the ratepayers, decided to instruct its clerk to use health stamps on county correspondence for a month. That, it was estimated, would mean a contribution of about £2.