COOK COUNTY COUNCIL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3212, 6 May 1911, Page 2

COOK COUNTY COUNCIL.

CORRESPONDENCE

ORDINARY AND SPECIAL . MEETING.

A LONG LIST OF BUSINESS

Tile Cook County Council met yesterday. Present: Tlie Hon. Capt. Tucker ' (chairman), Crs. E. Lysnar, 1. Holden, T. Jex-Elalce and E. Poland.

Mr Witt. Smith asked to have the drains from Robb’s corner to the outlet below his gate cleaned. The engineer said that. he was almost inundated with requests for the cleaning of drains, and there were hundreds of miles in the county. Mr Lysnar thought that now the winter was coining on the engineer should be given power to put the' work of cleaning drains in hand if lie considered it necessary. This was agreed to. The Waikoiiu County Council wrote re fourths from runs 76 and 77, Ngatapa S.D. Consideration of the matter, the letter stated, had been, deferred) till next meeting, when it was hoped the necessary details to assist the Council to arrive at .a. decision would come to hand. Regarding the expenditure of the Government grant for the Waiapu inland road the Government grants th'at had been received by this Council had been expended at the direction of _ the resident engineer, and not by direction of the Council. Mr Trafford was quite wrong in making the statement that the Council objected to spend grant moneys on boundary roads. The letters were received. Mr Geo. Winter forwarded a locality plan of road formation on the Gisborne Extension No. 14, for approval. He wanted) to know whether the Council wanted the roads and footpaths gravelled and the quantities to be put on. It was decided to reply that in accordance with a previous decision the road would require to be gravelled. Mr Michael Barnett applied for permission to erect a hitching rail and posts at Kaiti. —The .request was granted.

.Mr W. S'. Short, assistant. UnderPec rotary to the Public Works Department, wrote in reference to the amount available for Mangatekerau. He had to state that he was unaware by whom the information was furnished that there was £IOO available for this work. There was £3O .(£ for £) available.— The letter was received.

Mr Geo. Hyde, Patutahi, asked to be released from the Munaga drain contract. as lie could not get men to work for him. —The matter was held over till the engineer’s report was considered. Mr John Burgess wrote stating that the three big bridges in the Hangaroa Valley were badly in need of a coat of paint. —It was decided to reply that the engineer had interviewed the resident engineer, who had stated he would recommend a grant far the purpose. It was also resolved that the Minister for Public Works be written to asking for a grant. Mr W. Baird drew the Council’s attention to the state of the drains along his property at Waerenga-a-hika. He hoped that the Council would see that they were cleaned out.—This was referred to the engineer. Mr H. Pollen, Under-Secretary for Internal Affairs, wanted to know whetl>er Mr A. H. Wallis was prepared to acce.pt an appointment as assessor under the Bating Act. —The clerk stated that he had replied that Mr Wallis would accept the position.

Mr J. W. Poynton, Secretary to the Treasury, wrote with reference to the refund: of £228 which the Council made to the credit of the Public Account, ff the Council desired the full amount of £228 written off the inscribed debt, then it would be necessary to pay the balance owing, lls 9d. —The letter was received and it was decided to pay the amount.

The Hon. R. McKenzie, Minister tor Public Works, informed the Council that the matter of the Willows Settlement road was under consideration. — Received. Mr W. H. Jones wrote stating that owing to wet weather he would be unable to finish contract 307 in the required time. He therefore asked for an extension of the time. —This was granted Mr John Griffen wrote asking the .Council if he vfas to be allowed to have the crushing at Patutahi, quarry for another year. The engineer had attached a memo, stating that 3000 yards would be required Cr. Jex-Blake said that he intended to give notice of motion' that- a portable crusher be obtained.

Tile engineer said that the present plant was owned hy Mr Griffen, and if a new crusher was purchased perhaps it could he handed over to Mr Griffen to supply the power. He did not think that Mr Griffen would he disposed to put in a new crusher, as he was only going on from year to year. iCr. Jex-Blake pointed out that the metal contained a good deal of dust and small metal. He did not think that the metal was very satisfactory. Tlie engineer thought the metal was superior to that obtained! from' Gentle Annie.

It 'was decided to refer the matter to the engineer to confer with Mr Griffon on the subject. The Hon. R. McKenzie -wrote regarding the Council’s letter of April 27th, urging that .a grant of £2500 should he provided for the purpose of constructing a dray road from the Hangaroa river to run No. 62, Hangoroa S.D. In reply ho had to state- that the question of providing a subsidy of £ for £ would receive due consideration when the road estimates for the current year were being compiled. Or. Lysnar said that the Minister promised a subsidy of £ for £ and bethought it would be wise to inquirewhether there was any certainty of getting the grant before the -work was proceeded with. If the settlers raised £2500 and there was no subsidy, that amount would not do the- work and it would put the settlers- to a great deal of unnecessary trouble. It was decided to write to the Minister and point out that the settlers were going on with the matter of raising

the loan arid wanted* his, official‘‘confirmation that if the ‘jmontijt; were raised the subsidy*' 1 would be' fortiico^ming.'' 1 , v. ‘ v The secretary of the Hospital Board. (Mr H. M. Porter) wrote stating- that ho was directed to advise the Council that his Board intended going on with the building of the" new hospital'on the site purchased at Mangapapa, the total cost of which was:.estimated at £45,000. Of this amount, contributing local [bodies would be required to find €22,500. ‘the balance being Government subsidy. It was the intention of the Board to requisition the local bodies for the above amount of capital expenditure, proportionate payments to Le made during the ensuing three years. The amount required for this year was GSOOO, of which the Council’s proportion would bo £4194, and for which he now made formal demand. —The letter was received.

A petition signed by 120 ratepayers requested the Council to give earnest deliberation as to the ways and means of preventing the flooding of the Waipana river. It was decided to apply to the Gov-ernor-in-Cquncil asking him to proclaim the Council a Drainage Board, under section 233 of the Public Works Act, in accordance with the petition. ENGINEER’S REPORT. The following report was submitted by the engineer, Mr. D. G. Fraser: “Contract 322, Whareongaonga 'bridle track. (Government grant):' 115 chains lias been completed, and a further length is being laid off. Contract 330. Mangatokerau Roadi (Government grant: This grant for improvements on above roadi has been expended. Contract 32G, metal repairs Lavenham Road: 217 yards has been carted out and spread. Contract 322,, Rotorua stock track .(Government grant): The contractor has made a start with above work. „ Contract 321, formation Tutaliioe Road (Government Grant): This work lias been let and is now under way. Contract 320, Whataupoko loan works, Ivaiti side: Paraonc Road and Edison Road formation completed, sidewalk Wainui road from Hill to Russell Street completed, and from Wainui to Huxley Road and on to Owen Road nearly complete. I have laid off work along upper Huxley Read to the brickyards, etc. Contract 319, Whataupoko loan works, Whataupoko side, 305 yards of Patutahi metal delivered, 114 yards 'of shingle for sidewalks spread, 66 chains of sidewalks formed, 10 chains of main road regraded. The wet weather will delay further carting of Patutahi stone for main road, and the contractor will in the meantime push on with the sidewalks. Contract 319 a, clearing Muhanga drain: This work lias been abandoned by the contractor, after having nearly completed 117 chains out of 13-5 chains; the lower portion of the Muhanga creek is being cleaned by day labor. Contract 317, . metalling Riverside Road, Pouawa district: Groat credit is due to the contractor for the energetic way this work has been pushed on. every advantage being taken of fine days; 10 drays are at work on the contract. Contract 314, formation Arai deviation ,Government grant): Plans for this work have been forwarded to the Department, but have not yet been returned. Contract 313. Ivaiaua lload formation (Government grant): This work will probably be completed in a few days. Contract 311, formation Hangaroa-Tahora: The contractor has moved his camp to the ground and is now engaged on the contract; the hush throughout has been felled and cleared. Contract 305 : formation and breastwork Riverside Road: The work is being pushed on; 14 men with drays and scoops are engaged; the breastwork is practically complete and a considerable amount of filling in effected. Contract 307, metalling on Waimata Road (Government grant) : The contractor reports about 1000 yards of stone collected and knapped; this will be carted and spread if weather permits. Contract 306, metalling Gisborne-Wairoa Road near Carmichael’s (Government grant): 322 yeardis broken and spread; about 78 yards more is required to fill in a gap of three chains. Contract 304, metalling Gisborne-Hangaroa Road (Government grant): 712 yards have been spread, but owing to broken weather delay is unavoidable in completing this contract. Contract 278, metalling Kopua Hill, Gisborne-Morere Road (Government grant): About 40 chains have been metalled and 90 yards left in depot. Contract 299, metalling Hauiti to Wigan (Government grant) : Nearly 500 yards have been delivered and spread. Contract 291: All metal depots have been completed, including 13 separate contracts. “A letter from Mr. Griffin re Patu r tahi quarry has been forwarded to the Council, which will require consideration as regards next year’s supply. It would request the Council to pass a resolution with reference to the protection of footpaths, which are being injured by horse and! wheel traffic. The matter of improving the. approach to a small bridge on the .Pouawa Road, complained of by Mr. Fitzgerald, has been left over for consideration at this meeting. “Re Pa'kowhai Road.-—With reference to on application from. Mr. Black for a subsidy of £lO towards work effected on above’road, I may state that some 70 chains of the surveyed line at the southern end of the Arai settlement has been made more or less available for summer traffic. Light side cutting has been effected in places and rushes, etc., cleared off to form a track; the value of the work effected is considerably more- than the so biddy asked for. The line, whes. property will run on and off the present track, and it is difficult to say how much can bo utilised. The rest of the track is through Pakowhai estate and not on the surveyed road, but on a. line approximate to- where the road eventually will be taken, as the surveyed 1 route runs at present thorugh swampy ground quite unfit for formation.” The report was adopted. GENERAL.

At the. suggestion of Cr. Boland, the engineer was instructed to inspect the Mangapeka bridge, as it required renewing. Cr. Jex-Blake brought up the matter of the bridges on the MuriwaiWbarerata road and he suggested that the engineer should report as to the cost of constructing them. iThe Government could' then be applied to for a subsidy. The engineer was instructed accordingly. The engineer was also asked to report on the question of adding another pen to the Mata whom pound on the suggestion of Cr. / Lysnar. Special orders were made authorising the raising of a loan of £SOO tor completing the /Riverside road; £2500 for construction of the Hangaroa Valley roadl to run 62. A special order was made fixing a. .special rate of l-20d, l-24d, and l-18d in the £ in the Gisborne, YV’aimata and Tologa Bay Hidings respectively, to provide for the bridge fund. • On the motion of the chairman, the engineer was instructed to proceed with such work in connection with Gray’s drain as lie considered necessary for the road protection, on the sum of £25 being deposited, and that the resolution of March' 24th be rescinded to permit such work to be undertaken.