TARANAKI COUNTY COUNCIL.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16448, 2 June 1919, Page 7

TARANAKI COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING. Tire monthly meeting of the Taranaki County Council was held at this Conn ty Office, New Plymouth, to-day, there being present; Councillors J. S. Connell (m the chair). _A. E. Laurence, J. B. Simpson, J. Wooldridge, C. Andrews, and. JJ. Ai'Allum. » INSPECTOR'S REPORT. The inspector, Air. B. Branch, reported for the past month

Plant For tho month a total of 773 yards had been crushed, 428 being put on the- Junction Road and tho balance (.644 yards,) on the Mangorei Road. The plant was now-'at tho Albert Road depot; about 400 yards was available at this depot and would bo put on tiro Albert Road, commencing at the Albert Road creamery and metalling towards tho Junction Road as tar as it would go in one length. The big roller was with the plant, also the No. 2 truck. All the plant was running well. If the weather continued broken he wouid have to replace tho heavy roller with the. small one as tne road would be rather weak for tho former.

Aioa Riding.—General maintenance work had been earned out in the M,oa Riding. About 150 yards of motal had been hand-broken in the Tariki pit. The tilling and metalling had boon completed at the Maugaone Bridge, The Zig-Zag had received attention and was now in good order. He would now be able to procure the railway rails for the slips as previously .authorised. Mangorei Riding The foremen’s time had been taxon up in this riding assisting each other at tho crushing plant. Tho site had boon fixed ior the depot on the Mangorei Fiat. Air. Jordan was giving sufficient land to build the loading bank. A good supply of boulder sumo could bo obtained at tins site. A. vole oi thanks was accorded Mr. Jordan tor sanction to use land in connection wiih crusher site. Waitara Riding. Four hundred yards of hand-broiion stone at the Sentry Hill pit had been carted out to tho Mountain Road and rolled down with the small roller. It would bo necessary to do inline stripping at this pit. Til© smaller roller was now on tho Devon Road scarifying and. re-rolling whore necessary. A considerable portion of this road had a very fair coat of metal and would stand rounding up. Up till tho present time he had not been able to secure a house lor a foreman to replace Foreman W. Holmes, but ho had arranged lor a house m Bell Block which lie would bo able to get in a week or two. The grader was now working on the To Aret Road; when this was completed the grader would go to the Plymouth Road, in the Ukato Ruling. The teams were still getting shingle and boulder supplies to the Viaiwakaiho depot. The shingle on the beach had been very limited this month. Ho had inspected tho umnrmed portion of tile Gplaud Road. To do anything with the two lulls he recommended deviating from the present road line. Tho proposed new bridge silos had also been inspected and it would be* necessary for him to take certain levels, etc., to get out the estimates for tho fillings required. An estimate had boon submitted to the petitioners for tho metalling and ./urination on tho Lower Mangorei Road, made up us fol-lows;—Forty-seven - chains 16 yards at 9s, £352 16s; earthwork, £BB 14s; drain pipes, £8 10s—£450. Mr. E. Andrews was granted permission to construct a crossing on tho Waitara Road, the work to be done to the satisfaction of the inspector.

Omata Riding.—General maintenance had been carried on in this riding. The stripping at the Frankloy pit had been completed and Foreman Eva was now getting tlio year’s supply of stone ready for the crusher. Foreman Seamark had been getting stone from the rivers, taking advantage of the fine spell of weather. Okato Riding..—The roads generally were in very good order in this riding. The Pitono Road was now receiving attention. The grading on the Surrey Hill Road had been completed and a very good job made of it. The grading on the Tirnaru Road had been completed. Foreman Hayes was still with the bridge gang and when the bridges were completed he would start the approaches to same, for a fair amount of filling would bo required. General.—Several offenders had boon before the Court for allowing their stock to ho at large. Convictions and fines had been obtained in each case, but this was getting altogether too common a practice amongst the settlers, and was certainly a dangerous one. An accident to a motorist occurred during the month on the Alain South Road through wandering stock. .Substantial linos would bo asked for in every case. Plant Overhaul.—Ho recommended a general overhaul of the plant during the winter so as to save delay in the coining summer, when a considerable amount of crushing will bo necessary. The whare with the plant required rebuilding, it being all to pieces, and required alterations in design to accommodate throe men, engine-driver, feeder and lorry driver, and possibly a horse driver.

BRIDGE CARPENTER’S REPORT. Mr. AV. J. Clare (bridge carpenter) reported;— Mutton Track Culvert.—The concrete work in connection with this work had been completed, and all false work, etc., had boon removed ready to receive the approaches. Baker Road Bridge.—The concrete support had Upon erected against the wing wall which was fractured, and all tlie structure had been cleaned and had received a coating of tar and paint. AVaiwakaiho Bridge, Kaimiro. —Hehad obtained 250 ft. of decking for repairs to this bridge, and this bad been placed in position. Repairs to wing braces and other details had been attended to.

Old Bridge, To Henui.—This bridge was now being dismantled and lie was sending all the iron back to the AVaiwakaiho depot, and taking some of the old timbers to construct a small crossing leading to AVaiwakaiho River, Lower Maugorci. Lepper Road Bridge, Lepperton.—He was sending some boxing timber to this bridge, and proposed to make a beginning with the extension of tbo the concrete side-walls next week.

_Saimdere-Carrington Road Bridges.— No, 1 bridge bad been completed and ail false work had been removed. No. 2 bridge was now in course of erection. Oxford Road Bridge.—All the repairs to the concrete walls had been carried out, and the stone which was causing an obstruction had. been removed and the river brought back to its original course. Some now decking had been placed in position. Bridges in Waitara Riding.—As re quested lie had prepared estimates for the following concrete bridges with four-

teen feet clear roadway:—AVaiongona Bridge Leppertou, £IS2B 10s; Cornett Road Bridge, £875: Mill R-oad, .Sentry Hill, £530 10s; To Arei Bridge, £857 10s.

In addition to the estimated cost for bridges as above the estimated cost of earth work, etc., as submitted by the inspector, had to be added: —Corbett Road (including regrading). £262 10sj Mill bridge, £6O- Tc Arei bridge, £3/ Ms.

It was decided to,take tho necessary steps to raise a loam for bridges mentioned in th 3 lYaitara Hiding.

PLYMOUTH ROAD DEVIATION

He had inspected the proposed deviation line from Plymouth Read to Korn Road, and was of opinion that a very suitable road could bo put through at a- reasonable cost. The distance was approximately twelve chains. This would shorten the route to Korn Road by 13 chains, thus the cost of metalling and annual maintenance on tliis 13 chains of road would ho saved. He was of opinion that it would bo a much bettor proposition than the grading of the big hill at a-.’i approximate cost of £2OO in £250.

An approximate estimate for the proposed deviation (grade 1 in 10) was £l5O.

The cost of surveying and raising loans would have to bo added to this, and as he understood a good deal ot free labour would be put into this a small loan would meet this important piece of work. U was decided to approach the Public Trustee lo ascertain if ho would be agreeable to an exchange of land for the closed road. ESTIMATE FOR METALLING PLYMOUTH ROAD. Mr. Branch reported having inspected this locality with a view to getting the metal handy. Seeing that it would require 1700 cubic yards it was a big item, ami ho recommended the council to do the grading on tho Mew Plymonth side of tho bridge. Hy doing this it would possibly expose the extent of stono on tho point where it was now showing, and if sufficient stone could bo obtained there it would reduce the cost considerably. Failing stono being obtained there, it appeared to him the next best proposition was tho Oakum beach. 'There wou.M also be a further 87 chains of fonmation with an approximate expenditure of £l5O. It would cost say 10s per yard to metal from tho Oakura depot, where it could he put oik for about 7s if sufficient was available on the Plymouth Road. The alternative estimates were: Plymouth depot £'s2, Oakura site £lOlO. It was decided to forward copy or" tho report to the settlors interested and asking them to define the proposed rating area if they still desired to go on with the loan proposals.