MACKENZIE COUNTY COUNCIL.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 12896, 6 February 1906, Page 6

MACKENZIE COUNTY COUNCIL.

• The monthly meeting 01 the Mackenzie County Council was heid yesterday. Present —Messrs F. R. Gillingham (chairman), R. Irving. W. Wreford,, R. Guthris, and D. Stewart. Mr Schlaepfer sent an apologv. i . : CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT.

The chairman stated that the AuditorGeneral had returned the balance-sheet for the half year ended 30th ,Sqitember, certified, except that , lie took exception to tie manner in which three. Government grant accounts were treated when they were anticipated.-. It was a mere matter of book-keeping. At the beginning of the financial year .the Council had a debit balance of £435; at sCth September the ■debit-: ~was\ £1100; : now. it' was £183; the pay sheet- was £747, and the cheque- fbr the Charitable Aid Board/ passed last month, had i not yet been paid, i Against the overdraft there were £3OO to come is from, rates, and £370 for Canningt-on road." Theresas another month's accounts to pay before the end: of the "financial year, : ; snd the overdraft would then be about, £IOOO, involving the payment, of some, pounds for interest. The debtor balance was.; larger than they had estimated at the beginning of, the year,- owing- to contracts having: been' let- that were not foreseen. The.; chairman reminded the Council of what had '(been done at the previous meeting. regard-; • ing the weekly, half- holiday. It was : .,jda-; sired to have the- mid-week" double train service altered from Thursday to Wednesday and then the holiday should : be- retained on. Thursday. The Council would" find, ife more ..convement Tr toLDieet on .[Wednesday- of Thursday than. .on. Monday, as it would avoid with-stock sales. Thg>ißailway Department had- been asked for a definite reply to the request for the. alteration of the tram service,' but no recome to hand ENGINEERS REPORT.

Mif R. ~E; . Banks, county Engineer,'' ' reported' -that > the -Albury riding gaiig • haa' -beea .employed in forming t road td. Mi H. Winter's &G5 'run, tiiid ■'in 'i!&irigling the arid repaaribgvgbov&.'tlie •Chaaiiberlaiii 'Schod-.rThe be shifted ~at r ftli§ end .of tliis - week" .to repair R.. Eraser's and tie Waraiah repairing-th?. Main Burke's Pass toad, and, will continue the wort during the" month 1 . Black and Son have: completed their 1 contract on Cave to Pareora river road, including the extra w6rk of blinding-and boxing, of; the metal./ ■; A satisfactory; job •has-been made. J. Murphy is weli'ad-vaneed'-with his contract on . ITalfe'froad. He had inspected a portion of Hill road and recommended .that the road from" the junction of the'X'aa.nington Village Settlement road to the road junction at the east of. section, : 41,.. and: . widened, Vdnd drains/'aiid culverts cleaned out. -. - Tie lengths of-toad is about 150 chains .. . and the (jost' 'would be. say (£ —) v bEe,,half' chargeable to Government grant . ..With regard to the shingling" 'on, ,>th.e;same ; rpjui At this Mona Vile road'Md/ appiied for "™ 3>y Mir J. Lawlqr, ..the cost .of . the ; workwouldf, be heavy ' owing to the scarcity" of shing|| in the locality. If say 20 chains of. this softest of the rOad' were shingled /in the meantime, the rest could-: stand over , -{Estimate given.) A culvettsrpiijthe Ashwick Farmeroad~ requires renewing. As •this culveift was put in t6 carry .the Strath-, alian under bwners" •of thpL' estate should :.of the worktf;-The bridge over the creek on the Rollesby road; requires partly renewing. The |ea.se of Gravel Reserve 1682 on Silverstream road expires fonj 13th Jiily . nexL Two iftbre footplariEs should be pu;t over I the CavefPareora- road: ■ :;. It was decided that-the work .on. -Green Hill fhpuld be done as jsooi# as ; possible,' and sh£ recommendations '^ii, Monk" and Farm roads were adopted, and ;.®h|||platfks . ordered, to be. put over the the engineer was the •an opppford for tlie bridge'* oh RoUesljy i roadgsind.-the-sCoUncil "agreed- toroffer to' . lease of the Silverstream gravel reserve: .1." _ - . NURSERY: TheJ-tiiairman stated that Mr 'Matthews, •Chief forester, had visited the district, a-id had irispegted the land offered to the. Government for a . State forest nureery at horseshoe..; Bend;/'Mr Matthews approved of part of the land for seed beds, but the rest was not suitable- for planting: out. He objected to the situation as too far away, "so that-' ifc would cost too mucE- for carriage, and there was no telephone~or other •conveniences. Ha: asked whether- a suitable piece of land could not be found near ITairlie, and after looking round himself, Mr Matthews said ,-h'e (.'ors:.;,i,:ce of Strathconan nest the coa;?:: iv . " :;.id be suitable. Steps hud be;-: to communicate with the owners, io if they would sell. ■■Mr Wrefora agreed with Mr Matthews that the county's land was too far away. He thought they might get a suitable piece at Albury. HALF HOLIDAY.

A resolution was passed fixing Thursday as" the day for the weekly half holiday for shops. DAY OF MEETING.

It was resolved that in future tl; monthly meetings be held on the dey V the mid-day train service, whether tkis b< Wednesday or Thursday. CORRESPONDENCE.

Sir W. J. Steward wrote that otl'.rdom iins were receiving from the Gover mel: small grants in aid of improvement:;,

and be suggested a. grant might well be asked for the Fairlie .Domain, if the .Council undertook some improvements, a scheme for which he suggested.—The engineer said the most necessary work was further protection: against encroachmentr of the river, and it was agreed to ask for a grant in aid of this work.

-Sir W. J. Steward drew the attention oi the Council to the need for another • Justice of the Peace resident in Fairlie, and asked the Council to suggest the name of some suitable person to be submitted to tlie Minister.—Some members thought itmight. cause offence to these they did not nominate, and doubted the wisdom of interfering in. the matter.—Eventually, howei er, dt was agreed to ask a certain resident if he will accept such nomination CORRESPONDENCE. : The chairman of the Silverstreani School Committee complained that a bull and other stock were running" about the road near the school, a menace to the small children attending the school.—The ranker to be written, to. °

; Mrs Havter again called'attention-to the ?tats of Rollesby road, much in need of repwr.—Mr Guthrie asked that his access •jridge and approaches should be.attended t«. _ Except for a half day's work or so, there was nothing ■so urgent on that road ni the completion !of ■ his bridge; which had been a white elephant owing' to the lack ,of approaches.—Mr Guthrie's suggestion thq worst places oh the "Rollesby road;: be done, when' Rollesby Valley road is fixi.ished, rand rthe men -should -go to hia' Bridge.:.: X ... ; . ®•• The, district road engineer,, forwarded authority for the expenditure 1 of £IOO subsidy (£ for £j on the AlburynCoal-Pit road. Also approving of the following new .allocations for expenditure onßosewSl roadsGully, 3 4; back.of-.seer fciOn 22, £SO and £63; Gorge road, 1 £75 ard' I £SO Greenhill road, £75 *and £SO : XelWs load, 10s and £Bgsos; Burnett's, 1 load, £3/ ItJs and .-£24 lOsi; C-anningfoh I road. £LSQ fed £100; total, £IOOO. i. :. The chairman of the Cave School Coinmit-j-tee renewed gis os : |-%T °f school-for frfiad* to i|ive; the children a holiday, j the > caretaker extra .cleaning.—Tlib ch&rniatt the caretaker would have no extra worlr, if the children had a holiday.—lt was agreed that the- amount asksd for be paid.- '• - Mr T. S. Andrews asked for ai crossing over the race fronting his'prosperitv,^—Engineer to attend tor ft. • > .* :

- - A petition signed by Mr. W. S. Lewis, eight, others,'-asked for- repairs to the Gricklewood road, -which was-:-fast "getting into, a dangerous condriiion.- A'"side track could be easily made, and this would relieve •the metalled road.—To Be done-when" the men are available.

_ George Winter. Cave, wrote regretting that Mr Wreford had objected to the expenditure required-to- form^va road throiigh Klymaek's paddock, that he 1 must -use, and which impossible. •'. He f.,had arranged with. ,the Wai'mate Council for the/latter to pay half the cost.—The engineer said Mr " Winters letter was misleading. Mir Winter told him that Black and Son would do the work for £5, and'that the Wailmate County would pay half. He (Mr: Banks) afterwards saw the contractor, who" j told' him that he had never seen the- road, nor given any for it. When told what the work "was/ Mr Black .-said- the cost would be £2O or more. Mr Wreford' said- be had arranged with the owner of the land, to leave tjke oSI track open with a gate, -until-the men can b<j spared to form the road.-,' , BRIDGE PROPOSALS. . The G eraldine County ..-Council renewed its former offer" (of. March, 1904) to provide, an.equal share in £2OOO-towards the cost of a bridge on thevClayton road, and to join in pressing the Government to increase their, grant' -up to -£, for : £ : oii- th 4 total cost. : z

Mr Wreford said that a "bridge muck; more needed .-was -the one over the TengawaE : should" be the firstbridge theywent in for. --.There JiaicLvbeen many narrow- espapes there. He\ that the engineer tQ on T the . proposal. | Mr Irving said there was great neces'; sity fQr this biigge. .He thopghtl it woull be wise : to "advance, "so "wouldrbe ready. for the bridge. " & The' chairman" suggested that if they were going to build bridges, they should undertake both and raise the money required in one loan.

The engineer explained that the contraction of the river before the bridge was built would mate a deep and bad ford.

Mt W. iDixon, a member of the Geraldine County Council, waited on the Council in the afternoon to discuss the proposal td bridge the Opihi at Fairlie, and a number of details were, talted! over. The chairman, in reply to a question by Mr Dixon, said the Mackenzie Council. would not inrmnse their contribution, beyond £IOOO. aiid they thought they were liberal in giving so much, in proportion to the much smaller interest of ratepayers of this county.

On the occasion of Messrs Wreford and Irving it was determined to take steps to raise two loans of £IOOO each from the Government for the erection of the twql bridges. RATING OX UNIMPROVED VALUES. Mr Wreford brought up the question of rating 011 unimproved values. He said this system would give the CotiEcil; ameans of getting more rates from the back country sheep' runs. Many people in tbe lower end of the district had been t::Jl:irc:

the matter over, and they, were sure that if a poll was taken on the question it

would be carried. He understood tliar. there was time to take the poll before the next rate was struck. The settlers down below had been talking of the mutter for a long time;" ever since Mr C. N. Macintosh had been there talking about rating on. unimproved values, and the traction engine business had brought the tiling to a head. The chairman said it was evident those people did not understand the matter. The change of system would not affecr. the runholders at all. It would be of r.o advantage except, to the township properties, the stores whose carts ran over the roads every day. Other members assured Mr that that was no way of geiting at the squatters, who would pay on the rent. Th:ir freeholds were very trilling. It was agreed that the clerk should supply information asked for by Mr W reford, "as to mode of procedure to obtain a poll. TENDERS. Tenders were received as follow : —Metalling Coal-pit road, with right, to extend the contract—T. Sugrue, £126 Os lOd (accepted) ; J. Murphy. £l3B 4s 8d; M. O'Gallon, £l6B Is 3d"; W- J. Black. £lB5 15s. ACCOUNTS. Accounts amounting to £769 5s were passed for payment, and the Council rose.