MACKENZIE COUNTY COUNCIL.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXII, Issue 12668, 2 May 1905, Page 4

MACKENZIE COUNTY COUNCIL.

The monthly meeting of the Mackenzie Councilwas. Held yesterday. Present;;. m»c«Ta f: R_ Gaiingham (chairman), J. pringle, W. Wieford, R. Itvieg, R. UothD The chairman thanked"the Council for their resolution of sympathy with his-family 'in their bereavement. He lie had only been absent from two meetings since he had been chairman, on both occasions oel account of family bereavement. THE TEAR'S ESTIMATES. The chairman reminded the council that at the beginning of last year he and the clerk made an estimate of-receipts and. expenditure for the receipts from all sources, at £5656, and the actual receipts were £3713. Xfae-expenditure of all Mads was estimated at £42b7, and the actual expenditure-was £4169-; The year commenced, with a debit" baHittce. of-.£17 15s 2d, and closed with a debit ;of £455 12s Id intha general acconnKfJEheift «as no ddhit account teuisr keptin credit bythe;:land fund account. He anticipated that there would, be a-de-' ft4fe «f fi7oo.- mHtead of£4ss;bgt'the receipts had-been larger.-aiid the expenditure ■maßer - than was estimated: ; Be -and the engineer-had dmni-dp for ilfl present year* ihnraur receipte'-from all £ovce« £3730, and'all The items•were:" —.-ifcx--"'. 7 Receipts: renta £330, jratesl ete. £45, Hems* fri^rdoj/ta^Hetc.; £2CO, l-afermfa fcwm OMO ; general rate 3d in the & on £BOO,OOO, £2500, \ total £3730 Is. Ebcpendjtuze r-Or, balance Ist April £455; cost of teogangs: feed, tepafia to plant, «to.} £lGa(t culverts £2OO, new graderand sofoteaeen works «««, intin to b«dMngs£S!o,telephone £l7. Albnry cemetery £25, small birds £6O. health officer £s2»'iraiorandßSj dog tax colkefion, valuation aind licensing expenses,etc. £2OO, interest' 3fokaki bridge loan £3tL adm&nstrat»n .'£37o, Harbour Board • SStudr HospitaL There woSldfbe'alarger deficiency at the 1 adotthetßaJV.hut.for the increase in the c : - liioVa if" nf* fiflff.flflft availw on the capiifuised rents. Makin» . for -this. : Mid taking the . HI3 53eawe- at £loo,ooa thia would bring in mm rates and more xubaidy. The estimate left » deficiency of £668. which jnight .be leduced "by zfefXi of Government grants. If so the debit at)the,.end,of.the jear was estimated at'£46BC" " Mr Wreford saul-he, had- hopedr-tjtey would be able to rtdttce the rate with the fccreased valuation. , J" . The itr'wonld be impossible to' reduce the rate j .they would have been compelled to increase it- to.» posiy if .fl® valuatfoa had not been put up per .cent. The Harbour Board i and Hospital ,B«ird > levies would increosa'vwitli the" valuation, and the Hoapital Roari'alao reqtdred mofe nbMjr. He pdnted" ont,that..the revtoue outside of rates was. oni^", £I2OO. * and 'tlie on dther' matters road iworin was £1477, so that (Be ridifig funds moat be drawn upon for, the gaiend account. and each the year with "a debit balance. He {_ihought~ diey would be able to rarry on, witjh r a,id.' rate* «s the increased: wluagim* amounted-.. to aibeot- SS per cent. of reducing rata, the mg whether Jk would -be' tp m-. erease it., but with the" increxsexE yahwiKsi be thought they could cart3^"wi r w2S < "ia. }d rate. The chairman's eatimate wae-approved. The valuations of the seveial ridings are: - —Tefcapo Fairlie. £307i923, Albury £K9,715; total £880,896. pie.vious valuation, was made teveu years ago. ESrGEfEER^r^BISEOBi: ■ The engineer reported;that good progress £od beea made dnz&g. ; .tbe >montii with work on Rocky Gully 'k cutting adJoiniog Mbna. Vale was nenr. being formed. %t would take three weeks' work to complete the lower part of the road. Work: ob Askin's road had. been deferred, as all nun cartmg over it. had been. done.\ .In Fairlie -riding, the gang, was still engaged ob the Ashwick races, and they would be another week yet; then say-two. weeks cm Jones' and Clayton road, after which they .would form, the Fairiie-Winscombe sidetrack. A wire netting apron should be put in -at . the Winscombe_calTert. trai footbridge had beea.'"lengthened and uridened for stock purposes. H. Sttiothers kad completed ha contract, for foiming road to MeMxQai s xiql. SomaL. work oir BoDesby Valley road was held, over tffl" the graaer„j|hould be available He eubmitted an esoiiat'e; for farming' and shinrSing the 'road! from Winscsmbe to Opihi Gorge—£ls to £2O for dorraing sad £6O for shingling. ' . riding shalT work up Camp Valley road to Wmter'a road; that the Fairlie gang do the Winscombe road jmd then. Ray's rood, and attend to. and form Lambrook road. Arrangements were ordered to be made » before for supply of- dog collars, and tenders ordered to be called .for supplies of ootrand chaff." Inquiry was ordered to be mads into a report that an additional gate bad been put. acijoesutbe road Pukaki, .lHthout the sanction of the Council. 7 Mr Jones, Ashwick Flat, reported to the Council that Barn's ford was in a dangerous' conrfitioii. CORRESPONDENCE.

Mrs If. Mallett, Fairiifl,.«sked that the water-race at heeproperty b« shifted.— Engineer toreport-, Mr W. ,Q. Rutherford drew attention to the need for attgidlng to-Camp Valley road, and asked that his ro*d. be done up.— To be done as aooaa»convenieirt,. j Messrs Miliichamp jßroe., Aahburton, offered toaupply aad planfe forest trees, as specified, and guarantee them against natural deaths jar one year, at £6 perlOOO.— It waa agreed that tpe Commissioner of, (Lands be again written to about a vote for thenlanting operations. -.' j Mr Kershaw, sanitary inspector, Christ- ■ church, askedthe Council to take steps to remedy a nuisance arising from the drain- j age of the AGrary Hotel.—Mr "Irving and the oigmeer aaid .it was « very bad place. Mr Irving suggested that the drainage should be kept on the occupier's own ground.—Engineer to advise as to remedy. Mr A. H. McLean asked that the'road running west from Wins combe be surfaced before winter.—To be done whea the gang are there. Mr T. Smith applied for culverts to be put in three swampy creeks.—-To be done. Mr Dabniett watted on the Council to ask for an improvement fo a creek crossing.—To he surfjKreman. Mr Guthrie stated that a meeting had* been held at Burke's Pass, in accordance with.the wish of the "Council, and a com-' mktee of seven bad been nominated for appointment to look after the cemetery.—The Council approved of what had been done, appoints those nominated, and it was agreed that Mr Guthrie should call thgcommittee together to inspect the cemetery and make an estimate of expenditure required. The Council agreed that meetings should be called to form similar committees at Fairlie and Albury. In connection with this matter the chairman denied a statement that had been published a few weeks ago, that the Council had refused to supply funds for keeping the Burke'* otder> the Council had nevarrefdsM'any request for money. Besides he Council should be blamed, the pnvaie-plotg.were not well knit there. . DAT OFMEKEEgG. Mr Wreford'e notice of nStion for altering the day of meeting .to -Thursday, was postponed, as an attempt' is being made to get the sale days altered toiltorsdayH. ENGINES ON TEKAPO "SBIDGE. Mr gams, manager of Balmoral Station, applied for himself a«d fot.Mt W. Grant for a special permit to take a traction engine or a portable engine across the Tekapo bridge, for the purpose of chaff-cutting on the other side of the fiver. Mr Sams offered to provide planks to lay on the bridge to distribute the weight. A long discussion took place on the ■ request. jk resolution being on the books, founded on a report by engineers, that enbe prohibited from crossing the MrSams said a waggoner had taken a load of 5 tons of wool from hie place, and the waggon and horses would weigh some tons more. He wasted as light as weine «• could fit got;

Mr Guthrie feared it would be the thin, end of the wedge to let haulage engines oVer. The chairman drew a distinction between haulage and chaff-cjitt|ng. ' . Mr tiuthrie insisted that they- could not make any such distinction, and that' they coukf not grant permission without rescinding a ~ - •' - * "The chairman'pointed out that the reso-lution-did not prevent portable engines being taken, across the bridg?, * and portables were frequently used for chaff-cutting. 2,1r Irving said traction engines could not be got in any case, until the threshing was *Tr Sams offered a guatantee that no attempt would "be'" madfe Jto do any haulage over the bridge eo far as he and Mr Grant concerned. They had been put to great inconvenience in.. cutting chaff by horse power, "and-it wotald be a great boon to get- steam power' up.- - The engineers report-stated that to carry traction'engines, the "bridge wouM need to be strengthened, and Mr Wreford said they, must soon see about doing that. _ | _■ Mr Wreford proposed to move that the permit v be granted, but the cliairman said, -he conlcLnotput the motion withont notice. 03 Mr Guthrie : was opposed to it._ The; latter said he opposed-it as the : thin end lof the wedge. All other would have consented. Mr Irving was also in doubt about the' propriety of granting the permit, because. Mr Rutherford, had been abruptly refused permission to take an engine acros®. . It was decided to inform Mr Sams that he may take a portable engine over the -bridge, but not a traction engine. ACCOUNTS. : Accounts, amounting, to £259 lis 4d, were passed" for payment..' .