CLIFTON COUNTY COUNCIL.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13744, 5 September 1908, Page 3

CLIFTON COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING.

v The usual monthly meeting of the Chftou County Council was held at Waitara yesterday. Present—Councillors Foreman (in the chair), McKenaie, O'Sulhvan, Joll, Bishell, Gaustad.

LEAVE OF ABSENCE.

Leave of absence was granted to Councillor Wright from the next two meetings. i ,T h ?t- Ch ? irman B , aid Mr - Wright bad left the district, but seeing ohat the general election was so close it was thought useless to incur the expense of a bye-election just for two meetings. The settlers represented by Mr. Wright had approved of this course being adopted.

, FOREMEN'S REPORTS J. Telfar (TTrenui Riding) re poled that a small quantity of gravol l.atl been put down on the main roa»l, which was mow in fair order. All by r.>.«ds had greatly improved during the month. A. McDonald (Mokau) reported that the main road was in good order. The maintenance gravel put down l.y Jones Bros, had set well. He recommon'Jot] the Council when building bridges to hay* the decking pladed across instead of lengthwise, as all the decking ahd under planking was much damaged by spikes. A Rolfe (Matau) reported that the road throughout his length was in fair order. The approaches of a small bridge on the Matau South Road requirSa raising, also 20 chains of watertables wanted lowering. J. McAdams (Tarata) reported tLat tho Purangi Zig-zag required some repairs. Most of the culverts between the SO and 32-mile pegs were grown up and blocked. Some of them would require to be lifted. Urgent work required to be done on the Autawa Road. More slips were down on the Pukemahoe Road. , A - **-. Davis (Pukearuhe) reporter! that Pmpi had carted thirty-three yards of lftetal from Fisher's pit to the bad placto at Papatiki hill spoken of at last meeting. He had arranged with C. N. Rowe jun.. to take off the top oi Papatiki hill. This was completed. The reports were received. The Chairman said it was very satisfactory to see that the roads "of the «"inty were in such good condition, although this was perhaps not directly due. to the attention, of the Council but rather to- the very favourable winter that had been experienced. . .Councillor Joll : If there is any credit, Mr Chairman, why should not the Council take it. If the roads are in ?u ? state, even when it was kno^ n that the cause is a bad season, the Council are blamed for it!

ROYALTY. Foreman Adams reported that Mr. LonkilK of farata, had expressed Hmtention to charge 6d royalty on a' stone taken from his property duiiiit tuft coming 'season. He would ».*.' hold the Council responsible tor same and for any damage done to gates and fences by contractors. There was a long discussion, m which several councillors expressed the opinion that 6d royalty was excessive, and ilsi that the Council should not be hyl.i responsible for damage don© by contractors. Eventually the matter was left in tho bands of the chairman.

PAPATIKI HILL, WHITE CLIFFS Mr. W. J. Freeth wrote that the settlers of White Cliffs had decided to erect a cheese factory, and would be clad if the Council would grant a further three chains of metal for the Papatiki hill. It was pointed out that there was a bad cutting, and ii it came on wet it would be absolutely impossible to get through, as the road was too uarrow, and it would cost toe much to widen it. — Agreed to. MOKAU SURFACEMAN. H. Jones tendered his resignatioj, of the position of surfaceman in tin Mpkau Riding.— This was accepted with regret, appreciative reference being made to t he work of Jones whilst in the employ of the Council. David Rea and H. H. Martin ap plied for the position. — The latter wa: appointed.

URUTI ROAD DEVIATION. Messrs. Musker, Hunter and Nicholls, Lruti Road, drew attention to +],( state the Uruti . Road ford deviation contract was in when taken over by the Council. There was a big slip dowj in the through cutting which covered nine feet of the roadway. The watertablo being blocked, naturally thewate, ran down the centre of the road, and the narrow horso track was not improving. When Councillor O'Sullivan was asked why the contractor was not made to clear away tho slip as is usual in such contracts, he said that it would cost a lot of money to do so at j i o sent. Councillor O'Sullivan was rot the only practical navvy in the district, and it was utter rot for him to &ay any such thing. The slip was jnbt about as dry as ever it would be, 'and at the time the contractor had planks on the job which he was using I<. wheel his barrows on. If the sip had been cleared away and a go.) I batter put on there would not Atnvu been any more of the bank come clown. There was another large slip dowji about quarter of a mile past the for. I which blocked the whole roadway, .m, I had been there for six weeks. Ibis they would like moved. \j oumvau said it had been a rule of the Council not to compel contractors to move these big slios, and, further, in this particular instance the work could be done much better and more economically in the 'Irv weather. Settlers will be informed that the matter will be attended to. ' ENGINEER'S REPORT. • The Engineer reported tnat: In the Waihi Riding Sayers had been operating on the new gravel face at Onaero, and quarried 220 yards, covering a distance of about 31 chains. During the current month it was intended to re-coat the hills at the cemetery ©nd with the broken stone at Waipapa * ailing greater activity being put into the metalling contract for broken stone at the north end of this riding, he suggested calling for fresh tenders. In the Tikorangi Riding T. West was proceeding with his Otaraoa Road widening, and expected to complete his first contract next week.- He had also commenced work on his second contract. ; In the-Ngatimaru Riding Adams had been instructed to prospect for gravel 1 on the Toro Road, and reported having ! found suitable material. He had "in--structed him to form up road and do the necessary work in giving access to the quarry. lr i *]"> Urenui Riding Ekdahl had reported that his sawing oontraot would be completed next -week. Whittaker's contract was not so forward, and greater expedition had been urged It was desired by; the settlers on the Mataro Road that the deviations be fenced to protect the roads from wandering atock. He proposed calling tentUlll *° se . the ***** *»<*tingj for ftifther widening on the Piko %oad

f All timber for bridge repairs, authorised at the last meeting, had been ordered. In the Mokau Riding, the metal chute at Uruti had been inspected and timber ordered for repairs thereto. In response to Mr G. T. Murray's memorandum re deviation of the MimiMokau Road, a trial survey and estimate had been made and information placed before the riding members to obtain their views. A visit had been made to Taumarunu? Creek/beyond the Parrinnihi tunnel, and the road on this section was undoubtedly bad and should receive immediate attention. He proposed that from the small plateau, going north, a road six feet wide should be cut out of the solid papa for a distance of three chains. At this point the papa dipped eastward, and a further three chains of road in earth was required to connect with the Taumarunui Bridge. The slope was such that it would make up a bit and should give an eight feet road on completion. Explosives should not be used. The small bridge over another stream where the ground sill had been undermined was to receive a bed-sill of puriri sunk below the bottom of creek. A. R. Davis had this work in hand. With reference to tho northern end of the tunnel, he was informed that about six' or seven years ago the timbering was removed for a distance of about sixty feet, and the face taken back, but not to stable material, with the result that disintegration had set in and the softer material overlying the papa was productive of constant slips and stoppage of traffic. He now recommended that this timbering be renewed with puriri and pungas for a distance of about thirty feet and the face taken back to hard material. The method of removing slips at this end by turning the creek through the tunnel was no doubt the easiest to accomplish, but in his opinion did not improve the floor of the tunnel itself and should be abolished. The shape of the floor at present was likened to the letter "V," and this method only emphasised that shape. The suggestion of taking a road round Rigby's Point was out of the question, and ho felt convinced that the original engineers of the tunnel gave this route every consideration before piercing the hill. On the Pukearuhe deviation, arrangements were made to fence the new road, the expenditure to br charged equally, against the loan and general account. In view of the engine and crusher working at Urutl, the bridges between Urenui\ and Uruti would re quire to be strengthened to carry the additional weight imposed. With the exception of the new girder bridges in this riding there were none of them up to main road strength. The report was adopted, and the various recommendations will be giver effect to. MISCELLANEOUS. Mr J. Tyrell, Tikora/igi, waited on the Council and asked 'that the Tikorangi Road be deviated to obviate the necessity of traversing a very steep hill in order to reach his property.— The matter was referred to the Engineer, with instructions to furnish a report. MrH. M. Bannister, Chief Clerk of the Lands and J3urvey Department New Plymouth, wrote that there would be no more thirds accruing on the Otaraoa special rating district, No. 3 loan. The Valuation Department notified that subsidy amOiinttng to £500 on rates collected (£1897 9s:Bd), 1907-8, had been paid to the credit of the Council. Mr G. T. Murray. District Road En gineer, wrote that the question of wici ening the proposed suspension bridg. to Mr Sowry's and other sections <km the Waitara River was now under cv.: sideration. accounts: Accounts amounting to £312 o.s $d were passed for payment.