MACKENZIE COUNTY COUNCIL.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13330, 6 July 1907, Page 7

MACKENZIE COUNTY COUNCIL.

"I lio moi.thiy meeting' uf Hie Mackenzie fountv Council was held yesterday. Present :" Messrs .J'. S. Rutherford (in the ihair), R. Irving, .1. Stewart, R. Guthrie, \V. T. Smith, and K. SchlaepiVr. CONDOLENCE. The chairman moved and Mr Smith seconded a. vote of condolence with their fellow member Mr Irving and Mrs Trving in the loss of their daughter. ENGINEER'S REPORT. The engineer, Mr R. L. Banks, reported on the work ilone by the gangs. Tb • Albury tenuis were now shingling at Waratah. and the Fairlie team on Clayton road. In Tekapo most of the work dono hail been patching on the Tekapo road. The shingling contract on A. Smith's road was well advanced. W. J. Black- and Son had made fair progress with the. Tengawai bridge erection, butwere being delayed by non-arrival of limbs: r. The redecking of Tekapo bridge had not. been begun, owing to the .same cause. It was understood that labour troubles in Australia, were the cause of this. The contract for Tengakai bridge approaches was progressing satisfactorily. Applicacations had been received from seven business people, for supplies of acetylene gas. If the;e were to be supplied a larger generating plant would be required, cost £SO. ' A stock bridge asked for by Mr Guthrie would cost about £2B, bub it would not cover the whole of flood streams. A contract had been let for the erection of a. feed and tool shed at Alburv at £74. On the motion of .Mr Sehlaepfer an increase of 6d per day was made to the pav'of the Tekapo riding ganger. It was agreed that Mr Guthrie's stockbridge be erected out of thirds, and that an additional gas generator be procured. A discussion took place on the directions to be given to the ganger for future work, and it was resolved that the Alburv gang, after finishing at Waratah, should repair the main road from Cricklewood to Coal Creek, and then do some work in Cave riding. ALLANDALE BRIDGETIi3 Geraldiue County Council wrote that they had asked the M<t. Cook Road Board to allow their overseer to report upon a road to the ne-iv Allandale road bridge, and to, confer with, the Mackenzie county engineer.—The Council agreed to leave' the question of new road line to the two engineers. At a later stage Mr W. Dixon, a member of the Geraldiue Countv Council, -waited on the Council, and d'iscussed alternative road-lines, and after the meeting some members drove out to see them. CORRESPONDENCE. The Education Board asked the Council for a supply of water from the. Council's r.ace for the school at, Burke's Pais. — Mr Guthrie explained the position, and suggested that 'the supply be given for £1 a year to cover cost of race.—This w;i.'< agreed to. '• ' The Resident Engineer, N.Z.R., requested the .Council to do a little road work for. the Department at Albury.— Agreed to. Mr Edgar Jones, Mount Nessing, wrote at some length re Mr Anglaud's request that five gates bs removed off a. .road throuarh the run. Mr Jones submitted that Mr Angland made very little use. of the road, and it would be unreasonable to insist that, this road be fenced for the sake of the little traffic there was on it. A letter from Mr H. Kidd (who uses the road more than Mr Angland) stated thuit he had no objection to the gates.; Mr Junes stated that he. had wrilen to Mr Angland saying that as the road continued through his (Mr Angland's) run, if fenced through Mount Nessing its continuation should be fenced too. —The Council discussed this letter and Mr Angland's request and unanimously resolved that notice be given requiring the removal of the gates within three months. Mr C; Carney applied for a creasing to lot 1 —793. Eversley.—Granted. Mr R. Smithies applied for improvement to a footpath on Clayton road. — Engineer ■. to attend to this, also to improvement' of creefc crossing in Fairlie asked for by Mr A. S. Smith. Mr W. G. Stephens, asked for some metal on his road Chamberlain. —To be done when the men are available. Mr A. McCullough offered to rent a. paddock next to the; Domain for two months at Is a week.—Declined. Mr T. Macdonal applied for a right-of- . way on road to his place on reserve 1845. —Agreed to, if the tenant, Mr Mclntovh, does not object. Mr W. C. Benbow, Temuka, offered Is per 100 ft. for the right to saw 20,000 ft. of pine timber in Ashwick Flat plantation. —The offer was declined as insufficient. The engineer thought ft too late to thin the plantation, for the sake of the English trees, and the pines would grow better if left thick. Rudd Bros, asked for metal oh part of the newly-formed road to their property! —Engineer to report. RIVERBED RIGHTS. Messrs W. Snushall ,J. W. Annan and nine others ' asked the Council to bike such action as would give them a permanent right to'| take shingle from the riverbed above the - crossing from Limestone Valley to Cricklewood. / Messrs Snushall \ and Elliott, waited on the Council in support of the petition. The present occupier of the homestead refused to let them, have shingle. They were told bv the Crown Lands ranger tßat the shingle land was riverbed, and under the control of the Council. Mr Guthrie suggested that perhaps Mr O'Neill had a. depasturing lease.' The chairman said Mr O'NeiU's objection was that taking shingle made holes that endangered his land in time of flood. :

The deputation denied that/ there could b? any danger from what tJiej- did. They had bsen accustomed to get^khingle. 1 , without- hindrance, and now 111' -O'Neill had put up a fence and -shut- them off the shingle. The Council agreed/yto write to the Commissioner of Crown tands to ascertain the actual position of the land. ACCOUNTS. The Treasury advised the payment of £4O for work" done oh Albury Cemetery road, and £4OO as subsidy to the Tengawai bridge. The. Department of Roads promised consideration of the requests for grants of £SOO for Tekapo-Pukaki road and £550 for bridge over the Rocky gully stream. Accounts were passed, for payment amounting to £SBO 18s Id. GOVERNMENT VALUATIONS. Mr Guthrie, had had baen appointed delegate to the County Conference, brought up an additional proposal to be placed before the Conference. This was • to the efitect that in any amendment of the Valuation Act, it should be provided that the Assessors should inspect, with the valuer, anv land the valuation of which had hesn objected to. As practical men the 'two areessors would be better able to judge the merits of an objection if they .saw the land,/and the opinions they then expressed would probably save holding the Court at all. Under "the present system the Assessors were in many cases compelled to rely on verbal evidence and in such cases thev had no advantage in being practical men. As practical men they could form an opinion from their own inspection much better than from hearsay. He moved that the following be submitted for consideration to the Counties Conference: "That the Government Valuation of Land Act be amended to provide when anv objection is mad? to any valuation that before hearing the case the land

affectc-d shall be inspect t<d by the members of the Assessment Court: together with the district, valuer, and when the assessors aiv of opinion that the objector has no satisfactory grounds for his objection and that his objection in frivolous he shall pay the whole costs of each inspection."' The Council considered this a practical and good proposal and adopted it unauimouslv. INTERVIEWS. Mr D. Ross waiter! on the Council regarding some, work he wished to have done out of his thirds, and it was agreed that the engineer should meet .Mr Ross on the ground. Mr .1. H. Doyle, proprietor of the Eversley Mill, waited on the Council once more to seek redress for loss of motive power from the water wheel of the mill by the 'Railway Department. The- engineer had looked into the history of the matter, and read extracts from the minute books, commencing with the first application by Mr Goodwin iu 1882 for a. culvert, for a proposed tailruce. The mill war; erected, and a feet box culverttook the. tail-water beneath the road, an 1 under a railway bridge. Subsequently the Government filled in the railway bridge, and extended the culvert under the railHay by a 2£ feet concrete pipe. This pipe, 5 inches thick, was laid on the floo.. of the box culvert, and blocked the wafer by so much, and then checked the drift of shingle so that the culvert bet'ame nearly filled up. Mr Doyle brought some correspondence with the Government- on the .subject, this showing that the Department's information regarding the facts' differed from thatpossessed by Mr Doyle. The Council, accepting the latter, agreed that the Department was at fault, an.l should do something to 'remedy the mischief done by reducing the size of the drain and making a bad connection between old and new, and agreed to communicate with the Department. Mr W. Dixon waited on the Council to ask for some definite arrangement regarding water supply to- Melville Downs and Trentham from the Ash-wick Flat races. The applicants were willing -to pay a fair amount for the water.—The Council asked that, 'those -interested sign a- definite offer to pay so much a year for an assured supply, and Mr Dixon agreed to obtain this guarantee. This concluded the business of the meeting:- ____'