OROUA COUNTY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 274, 18 November 1937, Page 5

OROUA COUNTY

WORK OF THE MONTH MONTHLY MEETING HELD. (From Our Own Correspondent.) FEILDING, Nov. 15. The chairman, Mr. A. Campbell, presided over the monthly meetin.? of the Oroua County Council. Other councillors present were Messrs. B. McLeod, O. McElroy, T. Green, B. Shannon, and W. McLennan. Leave of absence was granted Cr. W. Grenhow. The district egineer, Public Works Department, advised that the council’s application for new highways could not be granted this year. The Public Works Department advised estimates for expenditure on main highways. Mr. R. L. Harding (engineer) said that all sealing work was provided

for, but several maintenance jobs had been omitted. The following highways were included in the estimates: Awahuri. - Mangaweka maintenance, £173; Feilding Cliff road via Stanway maintenance £1295, sealing £5866; Greatford-Ashhurst maintenance £1650, survey, Feilding-Halcombe section, £225; sealing at Bunnythorpe, £222; Ashhurst-Pohangina maintenance £243, sealing £2709; FeildingHunterville maintenance, £132; Feild-ing-Raumai via Colyton, maintenance £921. The Public Works Department advised that the work of preparing Pohangina Road for sealing could be proceeded with.—The engineer stated that a start had been made. The Red Cross Society asked the council’s assistance in opening subscription lists for relief of distress in China.—lt was decided to open a list. The chairman said the council could not head the list, but was sympathetic with the effort. The trustees of the Oliver Estate

asked the council to attend to erosion.—Referred to the Main Highways Board, Mr. Harding stated that the property was on a national highway.

The licensee of the Commercial Hotel, Ashhurst, asked for improvements to the footpath and kerbing. Mr. Harding said that the kerbing was in a bad state, the old wooden kerbing having outlived its usefulness. It was decided to effect improvements, but the council was not prepared to put in the culverts. From the Makino School committee requesting permission for the erection of a shelter on Signal’s corner.— Granted. Treasurer’s Report. The treasurer’s report was as fol- ' lows:— Rates outstanding previous 3 years, Native £454 Os 2d; Crown £123; European £419 14s 2d; total £996 14s 4d. Collected European arrears, £lB4 10s 3d. Arrears outstanding at November 11, £Bl2 4s Id. Rates levied for current year, £15,382 9s lid; collected to

November 11, £2559 8s 6d; outstanding, £12,823 Is sd. Riding Accounts.—Expenditure on maintenance, Western Riding, £2,434 8s 2d; presented for payment, £39 19s 6d. Expenditure on maintenance, Eastern Riding, £2,628 15s lOd; presented for payment, £76 Bs. Bank balance: General account, dr. £4795 12s Id. Increase in Overdraft. The chairman said that the council’s bank overdraft was steadily creeping up, mainly due to delay experienced in getting claims due to the council paid by the Main Highways Board. There was a prospect of the overdraft limit being exceeded; payments which should have been repaid by the highways board had not been made and were draining the resources of the council. Replying to a question, the county clerk, Mr. R. L. Harding, said that the council’s overdraft was fixed at 75 per cent, of the total revenue of the council last year, but it had been the

policy to keep it down to 65 per cent. It was stated that nothing had been received from the Highways Board for seven months. The county clerk was instructed to write to the board pointing out the delay and requesting that payments be made more expeditiously. Engineer’s Report. The county engineer, Mr. R. L. Harding submitted the following report on the works carried out by the council during the past month. East Riding: Authority has now been received for the construction of work on Ashhurst-Pohangina Road, and the work of constructing haunches has been put in hand. The main streets of Ashhurst township have been cleaned, and the footpath and roadside fronting the Methodist Church at Bunnythorpe have been put in order. Reid’s Line bridge has now been completed and opened for traffic for some time, and I recommend that final payment be made. The dry

weather is having its effect on the gravel roads, and on the more important ones where there is no accumulation of loose gravel I propose adding some clay and mixing. West Riding: The footpath leading to the new hall at Halcombe has been trimmed and gravelled. A new concrete culvert has been put in on Tokorangi Road. Portions of the Feilding-Halcombe Road where there is an accumulation of loose gravel are being clayed; this will later on be mixed by the grader and spread. The No. 1 crushing plant has been in operation for the greater part of the month crushing gravel for construction work. The concrete abutments of the small concrete bridge near Cheltenham on Kimbolton Road require attention. The old abutments were constructed on a conglomerate gravel foundation, but this has scoured badly in places. I consider it will be necessary to completely renew these foundations. Both graders have been fully occupied on the various gravel roads. k