MACKENZIE COUNTY COUNCIL.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 12913, 2 March 1906, Page 3

MACKENZIE COUNTY COUNCIL.

The monthly meeting of the Mackenzie County Council was held . yesterday. Present : Messrs F. R. Gillingham (chairman), R. Irving, J. S. Rutherford, W. Wreford, R. Guthrie,. D.-Stewart, E. Schlaepfer, and W. Black. CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT.

The chairman stated that the bank overdraft after paying that day's pay sheet i would be £B2O, and there ■* was another month's outlay to* be met, so that the year would close, as he had anticipated, with the general account about £IOOO in debt. There would be between £4OO and £SOO ot rents, rates, and Government giants ior Rosewill roads to come iu during the month. He had suggested to the manager of the Bank of New Zealand that he should open a branch at Fairlie, for the con-' venience of customers, amoKg whom v. as this Council, and the manager promised to consider the suggestion. The appeii in the YV'igley and Thornley case having abanaoned, the solicitors to the foai counties were co-operating in the .b;.wing up of heavy .traffic by-laws, of i S unit.'_m a. character as possible, and the drait should be about- leady now. The eng.vneer and •himself had visited Tekapo far the purpose of inspecting last season's piantation oa the island, but a fierce nor'-wis-. ter prevented their- getting t« the The planting done at the same t.me oa the mainland tear tie hotel was examined, ~nd they found not a single failure. As me Albury members would go..out of ofJi e at- the end of March, to allow members to' be elected for the two new rirlngs, ir.e chairman recommended that t.ie- Cini til' hold the April.meeting Qn 29th Marc I*, 1 *, toclear up the year's work and aecouacs. The Council approved of liol In;/ ihe meeting as suggested.

ENGINEER'S REPORT. . .! The engineer reported that during me month good progress had been siaile wilii road work in both the Fairlie and -\lbu:v ridings of the county. Details -\wre given of work done. The damage done by scmr on the road above Waratah was made good. Owing to arrangements made for the disposal of the gang a good deal of necessaiy work on this road will require to be .held over for a future occasion. The gang had now shifted to Albury as arranged, and will proceed to Cannington Village Settlement road, and afterwards form, part of Green Hill road, and. road through Killymack's section, and afterwards unless otherwise disposed of, work up and put in repair the main road to Coal [ Creek, shingle road for J. Lawlor, and -J. and form road at Ray Smith's. In the Fail-lie riding the gang had been employed oh the main Burke's Pass road, and there is sufficient work to occupy them during this month. On Gosling's road four of the cuttings have been scoured. These should be repaired and provision made for cutting off the storm water. This shouldi be done as soon as possible, and a.s the gang will not be available for some time, I have asked Mr Jones if he could have the work done. He had inspected the bridge oh the Rollesby road, with a view to substituting for it an open ford. A good deal of excavation would be required for a ford, estimated cost £ls; if the bridge is not required for traction engine traffic, it could be sufficiently repaired and strengthened for considerably less than this amount. With regard to an estimate of the cost of making good the damage done by traction engine traffic on the Burke's Pass road, of the 15J miles of road between Fairlie and Burke's Pass, he would say that at a low estimate three cubic yards of shingle per chain would be required over 9 miles of the length to make good the damage, done by the traffic. Cost, say, £270. Since last meeting the Fairlie Hotel has been connected with the Council's gas supply, and payment for the gas consumed will be made from the meter readings.

The arrangement of work for the Albury gang was approved. The Fairlie gang, it was decided, should attend to urgent repairs on main road at BurV's Pass, and then-finish the approach \ Guthrie's bridge.'... "

Tie chairman said he had examined thebridge on. Rollesby road, and supported the engineer's opinion, while Mr Guthrie held out for a ford. It was resolved to put the bridge in repair. The chairman asked Mr Guthrie whether he had any motion to make regarding flie repair of the main road, as the information had been obtained at his request. —Mr Guthrie said he asked for the report, for the information of ratepayers; lie did not purpose to take any action. An animated discussion took place on the services of surfacemen, some members being of opinion that they do not do enough surfacing, in the shape of letting water off roads.

CORRESPONDENCE. Mr D. T. Todd offered £1 a. rear for grazing and dead wood in plantation ut Crk-klewood.—Engineer to see Mr. Todd and make an arrangement with him. The district road engineer -wrote that the settlers on Rocky Gully road had petitioned to have something done to the road. Of £334 allocated for this road only £74 9s had as yet "been spent, and he "would be glad if the Council could arrange to put some work in Land at ;ui early, date. Mr Wreford moved for a report and estimate for nest meeting, as a basis for calling for tenders for shingling the worst parts of the road, and this was carried.

Mr Donne. Superintendent of the Tourist Department, drew attention to complaints regarding the management of the I'ekapo Hotel, where the visitors to Mount Cook have to call for lunch.—Mr Schlaepfer explained that the lessee had been very ill for some time. The chairman suggested that as the hotel was mainly needed for the tourist traffic, the Tourist Department ought to purchase it. and cany it. on. This was approved, and it was agreed to invite the Department to make an offer for h. A petition to the manager of the Bank of New Zealand asking for tiie establishment of a branch of the Rank at Fairlic. was produced and the chairman wai* authorised ta sign-it on behalf of the Council. The Receiver of Land Revenue advised payment of £52 13? Bd, thirds accrued during the quarter ended 3rd Februarv. A PETTY DEBT. Mr Wreford moved, pursuant to notice, to rescind a resolution refusing to pay s>" for tie use of the Cave School for an election. Morally if not legally they -were

in debt for the use of the school, if only that the Committee had to pay the wiretaker 2s 6d for the extra cleaning. Ho moved that the committee be paid ss, and this was carried, and then it was resolved to pay 5s to every school used for county election purposes. TEKAPO ROADS. Mr .Schlacpfer proposed pursuant to notice, that gang of two men. two horses, and a light dray, be provided for Tekapo riding. He proposed that the gang bo empkyed In Tekqx> during the summer sir or months, and it could be employed in the lower ridings m winter. The cost bad been roughly calculated at £IOO for the plant nnd-£2CO for the maintenance for the f-even months. Mr Rutherford seconded the motion, and mover and seconder explained that the chief requirement, of the Mackenzie County roads w«j» liehfc surfacing. and they wanted for that a light gang with light plant to get over a lot of ground. After a long discussion it was unanimously resolved, t-iat the gang be established. Cost of outfit not to exceed £125. to be clir.viTC-d to the county: the season of work in Tekapo riding to be decided by c?rt nuistnnces. BURNETTS ROAD.

Mr Schlaepfer described the present- state of the road to Mount Cook station. ;:::d he opposed the proposed frrnnu ion of a deviation road as both ur.riCeci-sary and Irerond the means of the riding. Vie moved th.-.t no further steps be takea. in view o? tisc decision of the Council to procuit a maintenance gang for riding, and i::i>-- w;.s carried, Messrs Guthrie tind Blink ing. A BRIDGE DEBATE.

A letter frem die Hon. \Y. H..':i-J<-i; e s to Sir W. J. Steward in reply to a rtquest for an increased vote for tiie Opi.'ii bridge at Fairlie, stated that the matter had been referred to the Cabinet. ai;<i it. had been decided that the provision of ;;::y funds in excess of the proem vote must await consideration in the tramii:-- oi u.n estimates for 1906-7. Should thsT Oi-ji:;y Councils decide to proceed with the ««.;■•.. a further grant ot £SOO would i;e i..vourably considered. Sir W. Steward wrote thai the j>;o:i:;>e of "favourable consideration " ius;..".;- ;«.it the sum required would he piAti .1. n.s. estimates, and there was .-.!> ui-:ih\ :-.':?u\.\

its being agreed to. He :;ie:e!:>-.-e i:ii.;i fe 'i:-» the Councils could safely pvi-ceea \>;t!i .ac undertaking.

Mr Rutherford moved, and Mr K..hi.:ep:er seconded that in addition to the u>:.i» pioposed to be borrowed for the Tonga-,v:ii and Alkmdale bridges, there be bo< .-owed £4OO for The purpose of strengthening the Tekapo bridge for all traffic.

Mr Rutherford claimed so m-.u-h ce.-,<d-deration lor Tekapo ratepayers, ,-s tuey would be compelled to -pay rates ior the other two bridges. In reply to Mr Black, the engineer said the Pukaki bridge was built to carry ;i action engines, the Obau bridge was m»t. Mr Guthrie objected to strtngihening the bridge for engines ~ a.s they would thereby be doing something to the detriment of the lower ridings. The back country squatters knew very well that tho engine owners had said again and again that i: paid better to have the wool all the way. and if they had a. free hand they would have it all to Timaru. That very day they had a bill for £ls from the Levels County Council for a share of the cost of lnnintaiuiui: the road from Cave to Timaru. ttecattse of the carting of wool over that road, and he believed the engineer's estimate <•: damage was too low. A license would be a mere trifle.

[ The chairman supposed that not one- | twentieth of the ratepayers were e-oncerned , in-'the bridge, but all had to pay for. tho damage done.,by their ? wool catting Messrs Rutherford and Black explained that the Tekapo settlers would have contributed £IOO towards die cost of strengthening the bridge, quite willingly ;? but tney would not submit to the restriction in the .promise that they should, not haul wool .past Fairlie. They did not see why their carting- should be pur. under limitations. I while those on this side the river were let [oft'. They did not see why the Council, (should act as agent for the Government, railways. If the engines- could haul wool to Timaru cheaper than the railways were doing, the remedy was to reduce the railway rates. iThere ought to be a decent license fee, but it was the Council's own fault that there was no fee.

Mr Wreford said he had no objection to having the fridge provided they promised" not to cart patt Fairlie, but as they insisted on doing so, he could not support the proposal to strengthen the bridge- They compelled'' the lower ratepayers to look after their own interests. Tie chairman said the Council would have put the same restriction on all of the engines, but they could not get at iho«e which did not cart across the bridge- *

.Mr Guthrie moved as an amendment thac the bridge be only redecked and retailed and painted, and that tenders 'oc called for the work. He reminded tlie Council that the Government had grained £125 towards .this work.

A leng conversational discussion of motion and amendment took place, in the course of which the engineer s.dd th.it redecking would not enable the bri-tge to cany tractien engines;-for this a.l-,lit:»r.al strmgeiv? must be put in, and ii. any >.asc seine r; pairs or restoration <d :s:e upper chord or top rail were needed.

Some members said the bridge will have to be strengthened at an early daK. ;md others, that it would be foolish to redeek the bridge witliout restrengthening 5: while the deck was off. It was finally suggested tin.; dc-i'iMon

should be held over ri:i the new by-law are ready, so thus- it can be >-ee:i "now they will affect the question : and the chairman also rnigd that it was extra'trdinaiy hi>incss and must be given r.-.tioe of. An amended mirtiioi was ?':«;> j. reposed, and carried un::r.:n:i.*.i-iy : " Th.;t .in additional £SOO be "borrow ed :<■!- e.\;.sr.diture on Tekapo bridge." the •x.:<;. i :;:;,•»*> of thf expenditure to b; d-.-vi'.«-"i •>:. j..:er. Tlie muti;-n was car.k ', : ,:: ;'. ; j- ;• nr. «■<> that action to bf t:.Uc:: :'•-r need not be delayed. UNPAID RATKS. It was resolved to sue a certain propertion of defaulting ratepayers in each riding, if tlie rates are not paid r-fur i:<.tice to that elTect. Ac ts, -amounting to £-128. were pas- Sot payment, and tio Cuuncil rose-