WAITOTARA COUNTY COUNCIL.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12145, 8 December 1908, Page 3

WAITOTARA COUNTY COUNCIL.

The monthly mooting of tbe Wa!to: tara County Council was held yesterday.

PRESENT—Crs Ritchfe (chairman), Russell, Connor, J. G. Handley, G. Mitchell; A. Robinson.

MINUTES —The riiinubes of the proriot is monthly meeting were read and confirmed. ' ,

Correspondence inward and outward \vnr. road and adopted.

MUSEUM.—A letter was received from Mr A. E. Nixon, hon. secretary <;f Museum ro grant to Museum.—Moved by Cr Handio-y, seconded by Cr Mitchell, that the ""£25 grant be paid.— Carried.

FORMAL BUSINESS. — Resolved tl?at all tho Councillors bo authorised to sign cheques, on behalf of tho Council and that the Chairman and Crs Russell and Dempsey bo authorised to sign on behalf of the Council all contracts requiring execution by the Council and to affix the ' seal of the Council or Body Corporate to all deeds and documents requiring to bo sealed by, tho. CouncJl until otherwise ordered or provide']. Resolved that tho Dox Tax be fixed at Uho srano rat:> as last year. That tho County Council- office at Wanganui be tbe office for the registration of dogs for tho Waitota.ra County, and that tho County Clerk and Mr W. F. Jones bo appointed registrars and collectors of dog t^x for tho AVaitotara County.

APPRECIATION—Moved by Cr Robinson and seconded by Cr Russell, that h vpto of thanks. Ito passed to Mr J. S? Russoll for his gife of 500 yards of metal for the main road.—Carried.

MeNEILL'S ESTATE.—Moved by Ci* Ritchie and seconded by Cr Robinson -that"'the" owners le notified that tho strrois en the McNeill estate bo opened in a month to tlie River Bank Road. '^—Carried.

TRAMWAYS.—Moved by Cr Handloy, arid seconded by Cr Russell, tbat tho 'Chairman and Cr Robinson be a committeo to' wait on the Borough Council; re-tramways" damages Carried; . .

PATERSON STREET. — Resolved Ui.it the street known as Paterson SLrofct. Aramoho, having been frrmed to tho satisfaction of.the foreman, the Cour.;:il agrees tn the dedication thereof on the street being fenced to the satisf.Mi'tio'i of the Coiiiioil.

■: METAL '■ RESERVE—A letter was received from ]\fr E. Wagner offering £1 ,T>er anriuni for the metal reserve at Okeliu—Resolved that the offer be declined " .

MISSIONARY LINE.-Moved by Cr .Ritchie and seconded by Cr Dempsey, that Ci" Ross be authorised to arrange niv exchangn of road in lieu of tho Ngaturi. road at Brunswick.—Carried.

FINANCE—Tho bank book showed n debit balance of £1952 14s lid. Accounts, amounting to £GIG 10s 7d, werb paVed for payment. . FOREMAN VS REPORT.—The following is the foreman's leporb, which was lon fl and adopted:■— Condition of Roads, etc.—Most of tho roads are in fair order, although in some places the gravelled roads are showing signs of breaking up, from tho effents of the dry wrather. Satisfactory progress has been mad9-.with the various works of tho ordinary routine nature-. .•■ -.•■ ; ■. ;> ■' -| *•■

Contracts in hand.—Most of the contraotors havo taken advantage, of the find weather to push along with their con tracts.- and very good progress has l>oon made with these works.

Kai Iwißeacli Road.—: The gravelling contract commenced last reason was completed a few days ago, and the road through Mr Death's land has* been put in order to that gentleman's satisfaction.

Grange "arid Lily Bar.k Reads.— The contractor has recommended tin's contract, and with favourable weather I expect to sreth.S contract ciOiriplctcd by tlio end of Jaiiuary next r ; ' v KauarapaAa, .Block; Road.— The contract for ■■.■widening >:rpoi-tion of this road: Is, .pra'eticrflly. speaking, completed, all 4hat• remains to hs done is about thirty cabin yards .', of -' shell-rock work for protecting and • buildinp: up the foundation at a r-harp inside bend. While' on the ./subject of this road I might 1-ere.s^ate that: there is a suni of £75- (Government' grant;) a^ailabl^ for widpnihg and improving other portionsof tho roa,d..; Of course this grant is subioct.to the same conditions as the grant jusb; expended. If advantage is in l;e takei» of this grant the work •si]ouUV- be" taken , in. hand as socn as passible

Great , North-Western Hoad.—Tho gravolling'^contract.-between the Wnn«anii.i Borough boundary and tho Kai I\vi Beach Road junction will be commenced in the course cf a few days. At present ; tho contractor is stripping the pit and making other necessary preparations. With reference to this .gravelling,' I would strongly advise the .Council-.not to have the gravel spread on. tho road now, -but. to' have it stacked in convenient places along the sidr-s of tho road, and put on about tho month .of May next. At present the road I°.-in very fair order, and the new gravel, would'not only be agreat inconvenience" to Public traffic, but a high perATpntdgd would, bo kicked off the formation during the dry weather, whereas ie put on in the winter ssason these disadvantages would not to any great extent occur, and -a, much better road wpuld be tho result,' arid, the saving in material alone, would .more, than compensatb for ariv.additional cost.

Brunswick Line.—^A considerable quantity of shell-rock- for metalling a portion of tho Upper did of. tin 3 road h already quarried, and the contractor will be, cbmmenchi3 the carting in a f.">w days.

Rangitatan Ea^t Read.—Tho contractor has made, fair progress with tho shell-rock metalling cojitract. I expect to see tho work completed b / the end of January next, when this contract is ! completed I think it would bo advis- > abJj toarranTe w.ith the contractor to oart ,aboUb 150 cubic yards of shell-7-ock for rbpair'ng the mile of newly-metalled load just bclo\v Mr Bayly's house. No doubt you recollect this length of road was (onsidcrably damaged by storm Avator shortl after .the metalling was done. Okohu Bridge.—-On Monday next a commencement will be made wit'i the work of building a now bridge over the Okehu stream on the Mrvin Road, with the exception of about 5000 superficial f6?t of t.otara, all tho timber required is on tho ground.

River Bank Road.—Tho gravelling contract in Upper Aramoho commenced Irish autumn should now be taken in iuur.l again.

OTHER WORKS

Road Grat'lor.—During the mouth th<?.Tmichino was workr>d s'xteen days in trimming the River Bank Road and bianeh roi( 7s abovo Aramoho, and roni- j pletiner the forming of the roadp in : MuNeill's farm, Upprr Aramoho. Wi'-l' roforcncn to ..thoso laiter-mentioned roads all that now remains to bo done i<! pulling down ihtytVnoa across two of those roads at tho'r junction with the River Bank Road. Tho cost of this g^P^-

work would bo only a few shillings. In tho ovent of the Council taking over those roads at once, it would be advisablo to have the fences removed and tho roads thrown open or arrangements made with the owners of the land whereby they will become responsible lor repairs to these roads. At present the formation is being damaged to a certain extent by stock grazing in the paddocks. Culvert Timber.—The totara for culvertmg tho Rangitatau East Road in tho Patca County was delivered at the Kai Iwi Railway Station a week or two rgo, and is now being carted on to the road. The culverts will be made and put in the road as soon, as possible. Tram Line—The gradients on the River Bank Road alongside the tram lino should be altered and made to co- ' incide with the grades of tho tram. line. In wet weather places along this portion of road will be in a very bad state, vs the water will be dammed back on to the formation. At present tho roadw»y at Binder's Creek crossing is not bo wide as before the line was put down notwithstanding the fact that the culI vert was made suxncicntly long so as rot to encroach on the then width of the rondway, and it can now easily be si:t»n whether or not the tramway takes i:p a third of the length of this culvert. Kai Iwi Bridge.—ln- the m-ovious v-jar's estimates provision was made for sheatljjng the deck of the Kai Iwi Bridge. ~N<sw this work .cannot with advantage be shelved from time to time, and should be taken in hand this summer, if allowed to go much longer f\ new deck will be required, the cost of which would be much more than that of the sheathing. If you intend doing this work this season tho timber should bo ordered at once. Trespass Charges.—With reference to the matter of charges for right-of-way to Mr John Russell's gravel pits in the Kaikopopu, from which the gravel is to be obtained for the gravelling works along the Great North-Western Road. I arranged with Mr Wadey (the owner of the land over which a portion of the road passes) for the use of his portion of tho road for the purpose. of this contract, for tho sum of £2 10s. The other "portion of the read passes over Mr Russell's land for which no charge will bo made, and Mr Russell also gives five hundred cubic yards of gravel free cf royalty, and charges the ordinary price?, 6.d per cubic yard for the balance of the quantity—2soo cubic yards. In this matter I consider Mr Russell ia "making: a handsome contribution to tho Council's funds, and I have no doubt Mr Russell^s action will b3 appreciated by every member of the Council. ; Watering Trough.—The ball tap in connection with the water supply to the trough on the road hi! Upper Aramoho is out of order, and tfie trough too, is also not in good order. I would suggest that a concrete trough be built to replace the present timber on?. In this way a more satisfactory job could bo made with the protection of the tap. TENDERS. River Bank Road.—Now that tho formation work along the upper end of this road is completed and ready for gravelling, tenders might be called for ■Lho work, and when completed the late Mr 0 Smith's donation of "£SO can be claimed. . Kaikopopu Road,—Tho lower end of this road requires gravelling and other improvements which should1 be attended to before tho coming winter. Last winter this length was in a very bad state, attributable no doubt to a great extent to tho work ol putting in tho draiu. Still, the coating of. gravel then wae very-thin, and at the present time in many places the gravel has disappeared.