Taking of Roadside Spoil To Be Restricted

Chronicle (Levin), 15 April 1948, Page 4

Taking of Roadside Spoil To Be Restricted

The question of carriers and cpntractors te.king soil from the : sides of thd roads was fully . dischssed at yesterday'S meeting of the HofOwhenua County council. The niatter was' raiSed by the ■ chairman, Mr. A. M. Colquhoun, who was in favour of this privilege being stopped altogether-. In x his opinion,. the position had- gone\too far. Now was the time to say that no more spoil could be takeii from the roadsi'de. ^ It wrould not . be long before the council would" want it themselves. . > , ..1 Be agfeed w'ith the chairman, said Cr. t). K. Giiy, and added that he thought the time was opportune to direct the counc'iTs officers ' not to g'ive any further permission for soil to be taken. In many places in the county it was to the councirs" advantage to have the -^oil tak.en, commented Cr. J. D. Aitchison. He did not think that the present system should -be altered, and Wopld be very soiTy to see this privilege taken away from the settlers. Generally speaking, what the chairman said' was correct, stated the-engineer, Mr. W. H.-Fraser. .The position was most difficult, especially near Levin. The carriers were not being fair with the council, and he had reeently stopped giving them permission to take any spoil. Added to this, they were endangering- fences and telephone and power poleS, and were leaving the grounds in a bad state afterwards. It was SUggested by Cr. F. Brown that all applications for soil should be made. ift writing to the council. It was decided to resti'ict these measures to the Otaki, Te Horo and Whirokino Ridings. This now means that any person who wishes I to take soil froni the roads in these ridings wiil have to apply to the council in writing.