THE WAKANUI RIVER ROAD

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1792, 17 March 1888, Page 2

THE WAKANUI RIVER ROAD

The Court did not resume till 3.40 p.m. yesterday, i Mr White opened his case at some length, arguing that the road proposed to be opened by the Board wo>ild be the moat beneficial for the ratepayers m every respect. He called Meredith Wilson, who said he was the owner of property surrounding portion of the road proposed to be made— that portion already constituted a road Since the River Road bad been destroyed he had to travol 3£ miles extra, if not more, each way going to and from Ashburton, making a total of about Beven miles more thnn when the River Road was intact. He did not think the formation of the proposed road would cause any damage to Mr Jameson's property, because the fall of the country was nob that way, By MrPurnell: Witness thought he would save about three miles m each journey if the proposed road were male. Jf the fence at the ond of the unformed road running through witness's proporty were removed, the water backed up there m times of flood would flow on to Mr Jameson's property. It was not beoauae complaints wore made of witness cropping the unformed road running through his land that he now wanted the road carried through. 0. 0. Fooke, surveyor to the Road Board, was called to give information as to the financos of the Road Board. Mr Purnell objected to the evidence as irrelevant Mr Ollivier said he would take Mr Fooks' statements as being perhaps uaof ul for his guidance, bat he would not take them as evidence. Mr Fooka said that the income from the Ward was about £300 a year. It would be cheaper for the Road Board to construct the road now proposed than to re-open the River Road, as there would be great risk of my work dono being swept away. If the road was diverted — taken some distance back, say 25 chains — and the river left m its present state, there would be no guarantee of the safety of the road, as every fresh took away a large quantity of land, besides which the expense of acquiring the necessary land would ba greater than tho Road Board could undertake. If tho proposed road was formed, no more water would be brought on to Mr Jameson's land than at present. The coat of diverting tho River Road, without protection, would take all the year's income of the Ward, while the cost of the proposed new road would be only £50 or £60. — By Mr Purnell : Witness was not taking into account any pompensation that might have to bo paid for the road. If the River Road instead of beiug taken bacjc 35 chains were taken behind the errbankniont, about three chains from the river, the cost would bo less. The proposed, road was liable to damage by flood, but not to such an extent as the River Road. — The witness gave evidence us to what had transpired at a ratepayers' meeting m regard to this road. This was all the evidence. Mr Ollivier said that he would carefully pqnsider the evidence and would send his report to Wellington on Monday. Ho would see that each of the parties recelyed a copy of the report. Ihe Court then roße.