WAITOTRACOU

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12145, 7 April 1908, Page 2

WAITOTRACOU

♦ The monthly meeting of tho above was held yesterday morning. PRESENT—Crs. W. Ritchie (chairman), Morrison, Demps y, Handley Mullins, and "Walker. MINUTES.—The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed CORRESPONDENCE. MUSEUM.—A letter was received from the Museum Trustees offering a representative of tho Council a seat on the Board of Directors;— Resolved, that the chairman be appointed to represent the Council on the Museum Board of Trustees. IRONBARK TlMßEß.—Resolved, that Mr. Hatrick's tender for the supply of timber be accepted. BLUESKIN ROAD.—A letter was received from Mr. R. B. Taylor, re culverts on Blueskin Road—Resolved, that the foreman, bo instructed to attend the culverts on this and at Mr. Billing-' hurst's Road at Maxwelltown. MOSSTOWN.—Mr. A. R. Fitzherbert waited on the Council re road from main road to Mosstown, and requested the Council to form piart of it.—Mr. ' Watt advised the Council that the road was not at present dedicated.—Resolved that if the owners form and clay this road to the satisfaction of the foreman, the Council will take it over, also that the foreman make an estimate of the cost. CULVERT.—Mr. A. G. Muir wrote asking permis?ion to remove the culvert near Mr, Deni'psefy's property.—Resolved, that the request be granted subject to the foreman's supervision. SPRINGV^LE,—Mr. D. Jor.e^ wated on the Council re drain at Sprin.fyale—Resolved, that the matter bs left in the hands of the foreman to carry out. - FINANCE.-—Accounts amounting to £517 14s 8d were pTssed for payment. MOTION.—The following motion wa:< moved :—"That pursuant to the understanding between Mr. Harding and the Council, this Council do exchange with Mr. Harding the lands occupied' by the roads recently stopped, namely, adjoining section 116 on the west, running from section 139 to the eastern boundary of the Grange Estate, and (3) running from western end) of the Grange Road to the Mcwhanan Creek at the north-west corner of Creek 140. for the lands occupied by and known as tho Grange Road, and the road from the Blueskin Road ..along: the south side of the railway line to the Westmere Station, and that the Chairman is hereby authorised to sign, all necessary certificate,? and documents to effect such exchange;" FOREMAN'S REPORT. The Foreman of Works submitted the following report, which was adopt; ed :—The condition of the roads is much the same as I reported a month ago, with the exception that some of those in the rough country have been blocked through slips caused by the recent heavy rains. Contracts in hand.—ln most casas satisfactory progress has been made with the various works, in some cases owing to the. wet weather experienced some'little time, ago the. gravelling works have been ■considerably retarded. . Kai Iwi Baach Road gravelling. Slow progress has been made, the work »'i at a standstill fcr about ten days.l on account of the wet weather, but i during the 'past/week'fair progress was made. I)' tho 'weather continues favourable I hope to. see the work coin- I pleted by the end! of /April. At present the contractor is gravellirin the extra half mile length. Grange and Lily Bank Roads Fair progress has been made with ihe formation works, and the gravelling on j T H T?"iA Roil i, comm Micd Kaikopopu Road Drain—l his \\ O ik is being satisfcuto il</ execi-tcd le\ pect tl c contract ill be complete 1 b\ the end of April I apphoi to \h \ Gi'moui foi o'ie o^t'e Boioug-h Com lcil & drdn han 's to saieivi&e the \ioik oi Urun&*tho iijxjs ,etc Tne ittjiusl ma-, vei\ LindK gianted and the uoik is bouip eaujel oit unc'oi Mi J Bailotts suici vi^nn, and the conti actor lias n thoiouohly piactical man emplojecl doing t' e work, so I feel con fiJont the conttact is being faithfnlh •uul i\ ell dono in oveiy lesoect and dota 1 Gomi]] _C stlechff Road—Gravel ippans to the extent of 290 cubic raids' at j, cost'of £51 4i nerp dining the u.onth, an! about a similai quantitj of giavel is ur^entl\ icqnirel fm lODinmj) the Uppei He id? RjaJ from Tayforth Road to Oastlecliff: If this latter work was done the whole of the roads in and leading to Castled iff' would be, and should keep in good order durino; the coming winter. The Gonyille Town Board is responsible for ■a portion, of the cost of these repairs. Piu-ekama Road.— The 'contract fo? improvements, for which tenders were considered at your last meeting:, were not accepted, bein*r .'Considered ton high. Since then T l"t the work at the estimate, and T beJieve the job is being commence:! to-day. Brunswick Line, etc.—The contract for gravel repairs to the Brunswick Line Hill and SawelFs Road, which was let last year, has not yet been commenced. This shouldi ha taken in hand "'it-bout further delay. Clinton Road.—The Shollrock repairs -will ba taken in hand in a fendays. Main. Road—As soon as the repairs to the CJinton Read, are completed" the Mam Road repairs between Pakaraka : and TVaitotara will be taken in hand The gravelling works from Kai Iwi Beach Road junction to Western Lino junction should be. 'token- in hand1 a~, .soon as possible. ! -believe tho railway trucks are again available for the. work The length from the Kai Iwi Beach Road to the .Borough boundary will require about '300 cubic yards of gravel to put it in order for the coming win teu, I endeavoured to make arrangements for carting this gravel, but have nofc as yet suocecdedi in doing so. Kauiii-apaoo- Block Road Some short time back 1 reported being un<ablcv to.get the work of widening portions or the road dons'at.anything like a satisfactory price. Lately I have had several par-ties apply for the work, and in each instance they are willing to undertake the work at the prices then •offered by the Council. If the Council intend doing the work now, perhaps the bo-st, plan. wduM be to call tenders for t!i-:- work, and I feel confident it would 'bo dono at «i"satisfactory price. It was rather unfortunate that the work could not be let at a reasonable price while the Government grant was available. Perhaps this difficulty could be got •over, and arrangements made whereby .tho works could bo undertaken, now, and the Governmont subsidy obtained •for it later on and not only the amount 'already promised, but sufficient to complete thtf, whole longbh of road .-under consideration. I might here point out with regard to Government grants for such works ns above, generally speaking when the^e grants are made the timo allowed for spniding the money is too short, and the reason of the r/oar, too, is generally a busy -one; consequently, the labour market is not overstocked. If this could be avoided |by sy>o.ndiiV2 t^e mon-ey in tV t p, slacker j seasons of tire year very much better !rf suits wo'ill be ob'.aine-d, botli -far the : labour market and taxpayers generMly. j Under the existing conditions in many i cases it is iinr.ossibl-R to spend these j prints to the b-'st advantage, j Missionary Lin/> Bridge.—The deck oi" +ho small 1 -vid<ie on the Missionary Line is in hvJ order, and the bridge should

bo either taken down or the deck renewed. I ask the Council's advice which course to adopt. My reason, for asking this advice is, some time ago l\ was given to understand that little or I no expenditure ba incurred on the up- ' per end of this road s*> long as the gates romam, and the road used for grazing j purposes, but with regard to this ' bridge, something must be done at Qn**> ln order to avoid an accident Okehu Bridge.—l have contemplated the plans for the renewal of the Okelm Bridge on t.'-e Main, Road, and made out the oi-d rs for the hard \vood required for tho structure. The pricos tor this tm«W will be submitted for yoair con r-oration. My approximate estimate of the cost of the bridge com£l etrt IS, £520; this price includes the bhellrock work.

Kaikopopu Road Drain—lt -will be necessary at once to make application to the Railway Department for permission to cross under the railway li n ,q with the dram.. The pipes are now laid to with 111 about 2£ chains of the line 1 arekama Road.—ln wet weather the upper end of th<e Parekama Road hill is very greasy and could be very much improved by the application of "a lio-ht coating of sand. The cost, of this work would be about- £10.-1 have the honour- to be, gentlemen, your obedient servant, . .

J. H. DICK-SON. Foreman of Works April 4th, 1908.