MACKENZIE COUNTY COUNCIL.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13974, 7 August 1909, Page 7

MACKENZIE COUNTY COUNCIL.

MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Mac- . County Council was Tield at" -Fairlie yesterday. Present—Messrs, F. R. Gillingham (chairman), D. Stewart, E. Schlaepfer, A. S. Smith, R. Guthrie, Tas. Smith and R. Irving. An apology for absence was received from Mr Rutherford, who was" attending -to - Education Board business m the Fairlie district vesterdav: - CHAIRMAN'S -STATEMENT. " The chairman said the debit balance that~day stood at £BB, and. the paysheet? totalletl £6B4' including £lO4, iii- ' teresfc for the half year ?on -all their loans. The rate notices "had :, only been sellout a . week ago bnt already £260 had jbeen paid in,' which must be considered very good. He had attended, the, conference held in' Timarn in connection with the appointment of an apricuHnral instructor nrhen the matter shad-- "been fully discussed; -the Board of Education had-advertised for an instructor and the appointment C-was" 'i now/Jpendingi He had also-attended . a _meet£ng -bf the South' "Canterbury . Cfiamher 'of' Commerce as.-representa-tive of the Council, and there had heen an, interesting discussion lasting .'.two' i lionrsi? on various topics.' Ho 'Jiad :»f" rertaxned thai any member of .the i Council could attend the meetings of | the', chambfr; they need not have a fixed' ; de!egate.- ' ■ It- Was "3ecide3 that the Council., should pay tho .of tlio chair--1 man in attending -tie meeting, he. hay^-. * insr to stop in Timarn oyer night. ■> Sir Irving J asked if the agricultural" instructor to" be appointed was likely to be a Home man. He thought that a man from Home would bo very little use- hero for a few years at - ail* events. —Mr Smith, said lie supposed that most of -the work would be Uieory. —'JL'he rhmi-mnn said it was UH- ' likely that; there would- be applicants .from. th^ r position iiad only been advertised in the 'Dominion.

DEPUTATION.Mr ¥i Black waited on tho Council/ in connection withanexchanjio ofland* - for; abroad from the- Clayton 1 road to. 'Mt. Michael, fie teas' trilling to pa; a fair thine for the land lie required' to connect his farm up, (it is now,, i divided by ar disused mad) andto selL*! at a. fair price the land that would! | bo: required•forthe Toad." He mention-ill ed £lO an acre as a fair price for thfif. land, and offered tojgrve acre and £lO an-acre for' the-:extra: land" •he would hare' to buy.—The" Councif considered - this Very reasonable, and decided to consult Mr Annan,.. tHe - other landowner affected. :;. -.1" . v.- f Mr Black also mentioned the water race trouble in -his locality. He had '• spent £4O in clearing the races, but - those -below him had never cleared - their races as promised and he objected to the expense and inconvenience which this caused him. If the Comrcil did not see that the trouble was rectified he would have to go to law. i

The Council decided to give 'notice to Messra Crampton and Langridge to. have their races cleared within 14 days, failing this, tho water to be cut off' from r ail-, the land below Mr -Black's property. ;. Mr further, mentioned that some time ago he had been blamed* by the Council for cutting a branch race, and notice had been served on him that he-would be required to pay £2. a year for it. He objected to tins because-he had never cut the race in question.—lt was . said that a mistake had been made in passing this resolution and'it was decided to rescind it. : ENGINEER'S REPORT.

The" County Engineer (Mr It. I>. Banks)' reported that work in the Tekapo riding had to be .discontinued Bth. July for ten days on account of snow. The men were employed meanwhile in shingling near Burke's Pass," and afterwards opportunity was taken to repair the worst portions of .t-lic road'from the top of the loiig cutting towards Tekapo. ~ .Repairs to road; between Balmoral and Lake Pukaki,* would :be commenced • in a few dajrs;The snow: ploughs were shifted as ordered by the. Council. In the_ Albury riding work on Rocky Gnlly bridge approaches had been completed, as also the filling in. of dip at "Shepherds." The men were at present engaged m grading and breaking stones on Rocky Gully road, aiid would shift to Cave in. a day or two, and do the works authorised at last meeting in that' riding. The stock bridge at Rockv Gully bad been dismantled by _ tho Railway Department. The fencing of paddock at Rockv Gully bridge was now completed. The Camp Valley. Limestone Valley and Coal Pit roads were in need of repairs. In the Fairlie riding, metalling on O'Neill's road bad to be stopped temporarily on _ account of the weather. Soms promised works in "the Fairlie township" were done and men were now employed in forming _ a P" nroach banks at Hall's Creek bridge. The contractor for Hall's Creek bridge was making good progress with the work, most of the superstructure beine finished. The widening of Ashwick footbridge was in hand, but the work had been delayed owing to non-arrival of iron rails for piles. Tho Clayton road was in need of re grading ana metalling in places. He had inspected the emergency .road at A. S. Smith's, 'and found that the cost of making a

connection with the Main road off Mr •A; £5. Smith's freehold would bo small. .Ho had inspected the road lino running up; the Tengawai .river towards Duck Giflly,- ; the~ opening up of which was applied for by Mr F. H. Smith and Arthur Dale. The cost of making eveii a narrow road would be considerable, probably over £3OO, but would depend oiitho nature, of the banks to be excavated. The road could be deviated i to give a much better line, but the branch roads connecting might interfere with. an. alteration in the location o£ tlie road.. This .could-only be ascertained- after making a survey. The " cost ofmaking the road passable on - tho line /deviated as suggested . would be approximately. £220. It was decided in regard to Mrs Keay's application for willow protective planting at the Opihi river near Ivimbell ,- that. the engineer shou Id inspect and take some action if he considers it .necessary. V>.

~ bury and Fajrlie gangs in about; six week's timo to complete the metalling of O'Nejll's. road and repair the man * road between Winscombe and Cricklewood.—The engineer was instructed to look into a request for a culvert on the Green Hill road, and to report on the formation* and shingling pf tlie road '■io„R.iy Smith's.—The work asked' for by, Messrs A. Dale an# F. H. Smith u as- deferred on account of the cost. "3Vith, regard to the J emergency road • * at "Mr 'A. S. Smith's, between Silver- , stream and Burke's Pass, there was '.sptno vigorous speaking between Mr 'Guthrie, Sir Smith and the chairman. ' Mf, Gutiirio contended -that 'the road should not touph Mr Smith's freehold penalised tlio. public to have to f -gate on Mr Smith's 'land. Smith- .-Jield that "the side .-road slio'uld be left asit is with the gate .hung whero tho road passed through ► his-property. Ho. moved ''that - the .twa-fludo/ba' the" formed road Abe Hvidened where- \ ever possible." / - - VvMr Guthrie moved: an' . amendment t "that the. side track, he kept -outside 'Mr-.Smith's ground;". ' vote being taken , the motion * was carried, no .one voting for- thej tunendment. i > : Guthrie, said-lie would defy the rCouncil ~ and cut an opening tlirougli -'tho ' fence 1 bounding tho emergency road as it was a pub{road and . the • - .Council: could - not'jprevent ariyone going over it.—Tl ie ' told Mr Guthrie that if lie idi&?lbis, he would find himself in ■ the box: It was explained that the i emergency road was only made to alf.lojc.a ,means of escape for any person a. timid Ahorse meetinji a motor 'can at the dangerous narrow corner of road, and that people who t wajited : to. make such use of it, would to ojien tho gate where the ' - runs through Mr Smith's ' prdpertvT ' ii.tr' CORRESPONDENCE, j Mr" A. S f Matier, Albury, wrote seeking permission to make two chains of*?»~.'ditch along tho road fence to carry storm water off his section.—: A'crqed to; work to he done under tejh-supervision of tlio enginepr. . H. A.. Innes-Jones applied for pennission to take'two or three cart- . hinds of clay ruhhle from the pit-near the l Cricklewood railway station.— . Agreed to. • The general manager, New Zealand Railways, -wrote in reference to Mr J. H. Doyle's complaint relative to the water trouble at his flour mill, stating - that - the Department recently offered to- have a portion of the culvert under the railway lowered, provided the Council would undertake to deal sir,lihirlv with that under the road.. Tho. work proposed by the Department would he useless unless the pipes under the road were also lowered. The Minister would not authorise any expenditure unless the Council would agree to carry out its portion of the work. — The chairman said that this was the first time the Railway Department had niaxle suoh an offer as this in connection with the matter. —The matter was .discussed with Mr Doyle and it was -decked to ascertain definitely what the Department intends' to do, the .Council recognising no responsibility. • The director of the Meteorological Department advised that the request - from the Council, for storm warnings to be sent direct to the telephone and tele- . gr&'ph offices in the Mackenzie County, had' been sent to the Minister for ' Marine.—The engineer said that tho reports were now being sent as desired. 'The Misses McLean, Strathconan, " wrote' - asking the Council to finish the side "tracks between their gate and Winscombe, and to fill in some- holes a lid; the disused gravel pit.—"Work to be-done. Messrs Tripp and Rolleston, solicitors to tho: Council advised that they had now received the last of the transfers in connection -with the dedication of Gall, Manse, and Hamilton streets and of the road adjoining the school grounds. Tho Commissioner of Crown Lands wrote in regard to the provision of reserves for the Council in tho Macken-zie-Country stating that when the runs were dealt with, adequate provision would be made for public reserves. This was considered satisfactory. _ The Valuation Department advised pavment to the credit of the Counc-il of "a sum of £179 9s 2d, subsidy due 1908-9, on rates collected by the Council. The Treasury notified payment to tho credit of the Council of the sum of

£37 3s for pla!iti2i£ reserves in the Mackenzie Country; also a sum of £76 os for formation, etc., on Lako Tc-kapo-Pukaki. toadi A further sum of had also been placed to' the credit of the Council for erecting a bridgo 0V rt- r 1D & oc ky Gully creek. j ho Audit Offico returned the County balance-sheet for tho half year cudecl March 31st ,1909, certified with certain exreptififis.—Tho Treasurer (Mr Banks) said, that theso exceptions on tho bal--iflce-shect for tho half year did not appear on the yearly balancesheet, thus indicating tho inconsistency of tho Audit Department. Mr Banks read a letter which ho had written to tho Auditor, taking exception to theso useless tags nnd inviting him to tako action against tho Council if tliero was anything wrong with the accounts. —The Council heartily approved of the letter. GENERAL. Mr Tas. Smith brought up the matter of erecting a light bridgo over Rocky Gully at Coal Creek, aim it was decided that tenders bo called for the work. It was agreed that Mr R. H. Smith be written to asking him if the tridge that is being erected at Hal don by Mr Preston, will meet his requirements. Mr A. S. Smith brought up a matter in connection with. the formation of the road leading to Mrs McMillan's grazing run, and it was decided to ask Mrs McMillan to put lier request formally in writing, before tho Council. TENDERS. The following tenders wero received for scrubbing gorse on Coal Pit liilj. —; J. Major £lO (accepted), SI Batison £l2, J. Connor £ll ss, D. and N. Connor £l4. ACCOUNTS. Accounts amounting to £684 were passed for payment and the Council rose at 2.45 p.m.