TUAPEKA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1682, 12 April 1890, Page 2

TUAPEKA COUNTY COUNCIL.

X.j,« o- ■""••'-' meeting of the above-named body wao u^J. m the County Chambers, Lawrence, yesterday afternoon. Present: Messn Cotton (Chairman), Bennet, Clayton, Edie, Livingston, M'Nab, M'Farlane, Oudaille, and Smith. The minutes of the previous ordinary meeting, aa well as of a special meeting re by-laws regulating the traffic on County roads, were read and confirmed. CORRESPONDENCE. The inward correspondence comprised letters as follow :— From J. F. Herbert, Ardmore station, offering to give the Council forty chains of land in block v., Greenvale district, for the proposed road, for a sum of £300. It wonld also take £80 for a double line of fencing for same.— Mr Edie thought Mr Herbert's estimate of the value of the land required for the road was altogether excessive indeed, it was absurd. He considered £80 was full value for both the land and the fencing. He moved ; " That the letter be received." • Carried. From Constablo Parker, Tapanui, asking to be appointed Inspector of Slaughterhouses for Tapanui riding.— Appointment conferred. From the mayor of Akaroa, Canterbury, enclosing subscription-list, and asking for a contribution for the purpose of erecting an obelisk at Akaroa to mark the spot where the British flag was first hoisted and the sovereignty of Great Britain formally proclaimed over this island. —Received. From Leslie A. Norman, Secretary of the Island Block Extended Goldmining Co., requesting that the road-line running up to Portuguese Hill, between sections 38 and 47 (at the lower end near main road) and 39, 40, 41, 42, 43 and 44 (on the one side) and sections 45, 46 and 48 (block in., Benger) on the other, be scrubbed and put in order, as the company are at present carting heavy plant to their property ; also, asking if the Council could do anything towards erecting a telephone at Millers Flat. - Mr M'Farlane moved and Mr M'Nab seconded : " That the member for the riding, if he deem it necessary, give the surfaceman instruction to make the roadline passable. "- Carried. Be the erection of a telephone, Mr Smith said he approved of it, but thought the settlers should take the initiative in the matter by applying to the Government for assistance. The district was increasing in importance every day, and there was not the least doubt but that telephonic communication would be of material service. From J. H. Patrick, Secretary of the Havelock Cemetery, asking that Messrs Alex. Garden and Martin Ryan be appointed managers of the cemetery in lieu of Messrs W. Anld (deceased) and D. M'Taggart (a bankrupt.) — Mr Livingston moved and Mr Oudaille seconded : " That the application be acceded to."— Carried. From the clerk of the Mt. Stuart Road Board, in reply to the Council's application for a man for a week on Boundary Road, asking the Council to put two of their men on the road for a week, the Mount Stuart Board agreeing to pay the wages of one of them.— Request to be complied with. From the Chief Surveyor, Dunedin, asking the Council to send estimates of sums required for roads to open up Crown lands, before the sale of such lands takes place in Tuapeka County for the year 1890-91, showing each road on lithograph or tracing. —Received. From John Gordon, Millers Flat, again drawing the Council's attention to the urgent necessity of having the grade reduced on the road leading to his property in block x., Benger, so as to enable him to get his grain taken away with greater ease than hitherto. Four years had elapsed since he first wrote drawing the Council's attention to the state of the road.— Mr Smith moved: "That the clerk communicate with Messrs Gordon and Forbes re exchange of land for road-line, and that the County Council pay cost of transfer, conditionally that Mr Gordon give the land for the road."— Carried. x From Jas. Lundy, who informed the Council that the chair across the river at Horseshoe Bend was in a dangerous state owing to the groove in the pulley being too small for the size of the rope, not allowing it to travel freely. If allowed to remain as at present, the rope would soon be stranded. The chair had not worked satisfactorily since its erection. —The Clerk stated that by instruction of the Chairman the work had been attended to. From Mrs Tubman and two others, requesting the Council to get the road made passable between sections 7, 8, and 10, Benger district, so as to enable them to get a threshing mill on to their properties. — Mr Smith moved : " That the surfacemen, along with the settlers, attend to the work at once." — Carried. From T. Rhodes, Waiwera, asking that a road be made into sections 24 and 25, block yi., Rankleburn, as he wished to start building on his ground. He understood that the road was in Clutha County, but as that body refused to do anything to it, he sought the assistance of the Tuapeka County. -Mr M'Farlane stated that he had informed Mr Rhodes that the Tuapeka County Council could not expend moneys on roads outside of their jurisdiction.— Letter minuted as received. CHARITABLE AID BOARD. The Chairman of the Otago Benevolent Institution wrote re Haines and family, Tuapeka Mouth, stating that Haines had been removed to the Lunatic Asylum, and that as his three elder children were getting their own living, and able also to assist their mother, and the family living rent free, he (the chairman) considered 10s a week allowed by the Council to the family as excessive. —Resolved : "That the allowance be reduced to 5s per week." Hannah Morgan, Blue Spur, wrote asking for weekly relief for the support of herself and four children, aged, respectively, 10, 8, 6, and 3 years. —An allowance of 5s per week was granted. Thomas Geeves requested to have his weekly" allowance raised from 2s 6d to ss, as he found it impossible to support himself on the firstnamed sum.— As this application purported to come from Lawrence, it was resolved that applicant be informed that the borough of Lawrence was outside the County's jurisdiction. BRIDGE OVER THE POMAHAKA. The clerk of the Clutha County Council wrote stating that certain settlers having contributed £200 towards the erection of a bridge at the Tapanui railway station road, on the Pomahaka River, the Clutha County agreed to contribute £100, and the Tuapeka County Council was asked to contribute a like sum. If the latter body agreed it was proposed to request the Government to grant £ for £ upon the sum so contributed— viz.. £400. ' Mr M'Farlane said that the Tapanui residents were very anxious to get the bridge over the Pomahaka river erected, and had already collected £154 towards that object. He> moved : " That this Council guarantee a sum not exceeding £100 towards the erection of the bridge." Mr Bennet seconded the motion. The work was a very necessary one, and when erected would be of great general benefit. The fact of the people contributing so freely to a fund towards its erection was proof of the necessity that existed for its erection. Mr Oudaille considered that the Clutha County Council were rendering very trifling assistance if the bridge was of the importance that had been represented. Mr Bennet added that one span of the bridge would be on the Tuapeka County 5 * side of the river. The motion was declared carried. COLLECTION OF DEPASTURING FEES x ■ R V M .' ln * yr . e i 1 ranger and d og-tax coUec. tor, Waipon riding, requested to be informed if his appointment gave him power to sue owners of dogs who refused payment of doe tax ; also, if cattle owners who paid depasturt ing fees up to 31st March, 1890, were entitled to a license for twelve months, or one to ex! pire on 31st December, 1890. Several of the cattleowners had paid their fees up to the 31«t March, and as his appointment was from the Ist January, he thought he was entitled to a. share of the fees in question. Mr M'Nab thought that Ranger M'lntyro "•as entitled to some consideration. If the Council had collected fees up to the end of March, and Hanger M'lnfcyre commenced his duties in January, he was fairly entitled to a portion of the fees. Mr Bennet did not think Ranger M'lntyre. had much cause to complain. The fees would all come in at the end of the nine months. Mr Oudaille said that all stock running en the commonage over six months' old nnbranded should be impounded and sold. The Chairman said the rangers could, not impound.