MACKENZIE COUNTY COUNCIL.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 13146, 30 November 1906, Page 3

MACKENZIE COUNTY COUNCIL.

The animal meeting of the Mackenzie County Council' was held on Wednesday in the Council Chambers at Fairlie. Pre-sent—Messrs-.TF. R. Gillingham (chairman), J. S. (Rutherford, D. Stewart, W. Black, 11. Guttirie, tW. T. Smith and R. Irving. An apology for absence was received from Mr. E. Schalaepfer. CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT. Mr F. R Gillingham thanked the Council for- recognising his visit to the Exhibition as an official one, and voting his expenses. -. The credit balance that day was £435. A portion of the Government subsidy, amounting to £SOO, had been received. The pay-sheet amounted to £626, of which £461 was for harbour levy due. Outstanding rates amounting to, £I3OO were still l to come in. The Council had lost the heavy traffic by-law cases, owing to an unforeseen aiccident. The Court nad failed to uphold the by-law because the clerk was 7 absent from the office while the by-law was lying open > for inspection. Mr Banks, had gone to Dunedin, oil the authority of the Council to sea Mr Matthews, Government Forester, about procuring trees for planting. ■ Mr Banks was away four days. Unfortunately, while he was away several persons came to look at the by-laws, and found the offices closed. The Councils solicitors advised that steps-be taken to legalise the by-laws. The Local Government Bill had been printed and circulated, and the Government desired that the opinions of local bodies be expressed upon it._ Mr Gillingham briefly referred to the principal clauses'; . - The annual meeting of the Council was held 1 at ®oon.

Mr Gillingham vacated the which was taken by the Mr Banks, who! asked for nominations for the position of chairman for the ensuing year. / Mr Rutherford moved that Mr F. Gillingham be re-elected to the position. He said that the Council could not possibly do better titan put Mr Giilingham. in his ; old position. , ; Mr R-- Irving cordially the proposition, and Mr Guthrie heartily supported the which was carried) unanimously. ' ' Mr Gillingham, in resuming- the chair, said* that it would- be better, if possible, to'have the position, a rolling one. ■.. Buthe was so' circumstanced that he : could cany' out the duties of chairman, 'and would be ple'Ssed to continue idoing 60. With regard to Mr: Guthrie's suggestion, rekeeping a tight hand on members he had: noticed that it was not always advisable to be too strict., A give-and-take- polipy was the best, and until: things got to extremes chairman should not interfere.;. Full discussion was/desirable, arid members themselves, as reasonable', men, could surely be trusted, to act in a reasonable manner.

ENGINEER'S REPORT. Mr Banks .reported, that the Albury riding gang wai-i now. employed in.--formr dug and regrading the road from '.Rocky Gully to Mount Nessing road. This, would be finished in about-, three weeks time, after, which. he proposed shifting to. Aibury- and forming tbe road: through -ttpwn-.i Belt and others adjoining that have, been promised. In the Fairlie riding i the gang, was now at work improving the isouth. approach to the .Opihi river light traffic bridge. -This would be finished in a day or two. The Burke's Pas's main, read was< also being surfaced. - The men- would afterwards > be shifted to Fairlie, wheal, several promised works will be done. In -the Tekapo riding the gang .shifted last ■week from Richmond road to-Braemar road. This last-named road was generally in fair repair as .far as Braemar, but beyond that station was in a bad state, and a/new track, ■was required to connect, with Connor's contract at the rabbit fence gate. The motor car bridges being erected were at present useless for sheep, owing to their having no wing fences. It would be advisable for the Council to provide /these Tyit-li the. sanction of the Government. • He had arranged for the appointment of J. Binney and J. Keeffe as poundkeepers at 1 Fairlie and Burke's Pass respectively, but. had some difficulty in finding -suitable men to act as impounding ran,gens. So far : only one had been appointed. The rates outstanding for the current year were as follows Fairlie riding, £4OB 12s 6d; Cave riding, £205 12s lid; Albury riding, £668 7s id; Tekapo riding, £lO3 14s 9d. Total, £1386 7s 7<L Mr R. Irving said .there was nothing yeiy urgent in: r the of forming the road through the ftown belt ati Albury. It wae rather for road forming, but it waslgqod: weather for carting shingle. He .-favoured sending the Albury gang to Chamberlain, road', for shingling. This was agreed to.

It was decided that while the Fairlie gang was in the township the streets b'e tidied as usual before Christmas time. ' J Mr Guthrie mentioned that some little filling in was wanted on the road down from Silverstream, and it was dfeeided to attend to this. With regard to the Tekapo gang the engineer's 1 recommendation was adopted. The engineer was instructed to write to the Road's Department asking for permission to erect wing fences for sheep on the light traffic bridges being built by the Government on the Mount Cook road. It was proposed to put these wing fences on as far up as Maiyburn. A question was .asked as to which riding would have to pay the cost of erecting these wing fences:. It was pointed out that! the main road stopped at the Dog Kennels. Therefore the bulk of the cost would fall on Tekapo riding. Mr Black desired: to ascertain from the Council's records how the road came to be fio defined, and said he would give notice of motion in the direction of having the definition amended. '-. . : After finishing work at the Horseshoe .Bend the Fairlie gang will attend to the water races at Mr Eraser's corner, and ' Will then go to the Cricklewood road and the formation of the: road at •Stratheona. Guthrie considered that it was time the county made by-laws affecting motor car traffic within the county. The Levels and Geraldine Councils were moving in .the matter, and Mackenzie should follow suit- v

The chairman said that, be .was not sure "that-, the by-laws being made by the Geraldine and Levels counties were in order, :is he was Aider the impression that the Act under which they are feeing made was repealed by the Act- of J'9o6. CORRESPONDENCE. Letters were read • and dealt with as follows: "■ "" The Commissioner of Crown Lands wrote approving of the proposals submitted by the Council for the erection of. a training bank and fence to protect the sYtirlie domain reserve. The Under-Secretary for Lands informed the Council that a vote of £SO had been placed at the disposal of the Council tobe expenclsd as >a, subsidy £ for £ on protecting the domain from the encroachment of the Opihi river. The Treasury advised the payment of £517 10s subsidy on rates. The Receiver of Land Revenue forwarded thirds and fourths accrued during the quarter ended November 3rd amounting to £69 18s.

Messrs Tripp and Rolleston, Timaru, solicitors to the Council, wrote regarding the information against S. Thornley for alleged breaches of the heavy traffic bylaw. The letter dealt generally with the cases under notice and advised what steps should be taken to legalise the bylaw's. On the motion of Mr Guthrie, seconded by Mr Irving, it was decided to hold a special meeting on December 10th ~ to pass by-laws concerning heavy trctfiic ' ~ -Mr Wither, district engineer, wrote concerning the £ for £ grant towards the Tengawai bridge. He pointed out that although money is voted, for this- bridge, the authority has not yet been issued to the Council to spend the money, and therefore he was unable to approve the plans and specifications. He would approve of the plans as soon as the authority was issued The chief engineer telegraphed the issue of authority for £SOO, Tengawai D- Burnett, Mount Cook station, wrote protesting against the erection by the Stock Department of two gates across the new road, in course of construction.... td Mount Cook Homestead. , The..new road necessitated the cutting of the' rabbit fence in six or. seven-places, and the gates proposed to be erected would, with the thirteen • erected, make a total of fifteen, almost a gate to a mil'e. The chairmani said that with regard, to the gates to be erected ' by the Stock Department, the Council could do nothing except hand Mr Burnett's letter over to the, Department. With regard to the gates on the Braemar road, he thought that some; of those near the homestead could be re- ; moVed as a little, fencing would obviate their necessity. Mr Black moved that the company be given one month's notice to remove three gates from the road. This was seconded by Mr Rutherford and carried.

Mr John Cook, Cricklewood, asked' the Council to attend to the entrance td his' property, when: the meji. are down his way-again. It- was decided that the matter be 1 -attended to when convenient. :; : ■ INTERVIEW-, Mrs Keay interviewed the Council with reference to a- privilege which had been granted ;to . her .to milk -her, cows on. the roadside because .her section, was subject to-flooding. The ranger.had caused her annoyance in this vmatter, and to know if the .Council desired to (Withdraw from her this privilege .granted *to| he«r years ago.—, said itJiaD as Mrs Keay had 'now improved her place till it was ac credit: to her, she did not re-quire-to miik on the" road,-ex-cept in times of excessive wet. -. She should therefore not place herself under an obligation to any one, and' shoiitld; use .htr own section fqr r ,. ; mjlking on. This. . Mis' Keay agreed to. . claytox road: ; .. . ■ the following motion, of which notice had been given, -fcas moved :—" That the ..Council's gang grade, and reform, the Clayton road where required, and that .tenders be called for shingling to the extent of £2OO, to be placed jwtiere the engineer thinks necessary, the work to, be started in ■ January."—-After, (discussion, the motion .was .lost, Messrs Black, Smith,. and Rutherford- voting for .it, .and> Messrs ' Gillingham; Irving;" Guthrie, and Stewart, against it. • MISCELLANEOUS.

One application was received for 'the position of dog tax collector in.the.county, —that of Mr. George Pinkerton —and it was accepted. . ' ; i Tenders were opened for the leaee. of; the pound reserve at, Burke's Pass as follows Sir J. McGregor, £4 12s; Mr W. Black, £5 10s (accepted). For erection of, a traffic bridge over the Tengawai river on the Main road—Mr W. J. Black £1476 (accepted) ; Messrs O'Brien . and Beaton, £1590. The engineer's estimate was £1444. . J A petition signed by Messrs C. JTones, J. Hornblow, W. Ross, and D. Harvey Flat) was read, asking -that the ■road to Ashwick Flat school be surfaced, and that the same, road beyond the'school should be shingled,—lt was. agreed that the work should be done when convenient. ! Mr J. L. Wilson, Punaroa, applied' for ermission to cut trees for posts out of the upper plantation at the Horseshoe Bend. —Granted. Mr Gieorge Boddye, Albury, asked for permission to put in a. flume- across the road to carry water to his premises. —Granted, ■subject to the engineer's supervision. ' ACCOUNTS. Accounts, amounting to £631 8s 4d', was passed" for payment, and the meeting terminated.