WILL ONSLOW BOROUGH TAMELY SUBMIT?

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 793, 16 April 1910, Page 3

WILL ONSLOW BOROUGH TAMELY SUBMIT?

D Sir -'J~' l ? e / emarks latd y made by the President 'of the Chamber ,o£ Commerce ronoerning the Hutt Eoad are fully jusnfied by the facts. The Government at the time empowered themselves to raise whatever was sufficient to cover the cost or reclaiming and, forming the road, the local bodies responsible for the aet being _ expressly excluded from all supervision. To add to this monstrous injustice, a • clause was inserted in the Bill forbidding the extension of the tramway system to Kaiwarra (or beyond the present Thorudon terminus), so that for all.time the Onslow Borough, while responsible pro rata for the cost of a road which, as a main public highway, it should never have been charged with, is' cut off from the tramway system,. unless by the eirenicons and expensive route via 'Wadestown. And yet, incredible as it may seem, I believe. I am right in saying not one dissentient voice was raised at. tho time in the iious© against, this flagrant act of injustice. As for the inhabitants of the Onslow Borough, all the notice they had was contained in a brief paragraph in the paper the next day announcing the passing of the Bill. Still, not a voice was raised! Had it been a question involving the expenditure of a couple of pounde on some petty question in the borough, tho ratepayers would have buzzed over it like bees in the swarming time, but' as it merely meant the borough being responsible for a few paltry thousands for all time, from which it could never reap any benefit,-and implied its severance from the tramway system, merely to satisfy the irresponsible dictates of the tiovernment, nothing hapnened. It may serve, to illustrate how farirea'ching in its effects this mischievous Bill has been when I state it was largely owing to the feaiing that an indefinite and possibly, crushing / liability was looming in the near future in. the shape of the loan required to meet this obligation, . that Onslow ratepayers by so large a majority;, refused to sanction the water find, sanitation scheme lately placed before them. Shut off for so many years as the borough has been from tho city by impracticable, roads, and kept back and hindered in its progress by the-'land being locked up by absentee owners, and by one of the .worst suburban train services that human ingenuity could devise, it needed tho iron heel of Sir Joseph's Bill to stamp out whatever prospects might now be before it. It remains to 'be seen whether we are going to sit calmly down and wait for our rates to be trebled by this liability, from which, as I have said, we derive no benefit whatever, or whether there are any practical steps we can take before .the Assessment Court sits to decido \ our liability, to throw this Bill back in the teeth of the Government which devised it—l am, etc., .'■ ' ■ ' ' X April 11, 1910. THE HUTT ROAD. Sir,—The remarks made by Councillor Moore, which appeared in Saturday's Dominion, in crticising the new Hiitt Road, I consider uncalled for on his part. Now,' this road has'been under construction some five years, and I ask why Councillor Moore and these muchaggrieved councillors have not awakened to this terrible wrong that has been going on so long. . Apart from . Councillor Moore's knowledge of road-making, I say it is a' splendid job, and the engineer, whoever he is, is ,to be congratulated on his skill. In reference to this raising of the road, as Councillor Moore complains : so much about, they first of all lowered the bank to remove the mullock; then, of course, it has to be replaced with a quantity of metal, to make a good foundation. The engineer commenced his level from Petone, and has continued, sometimes lowering the road and in some places raising it, until "he has got to where Mr. Moore speaks-of. In reference to the cost of metal, I do not bolieve it could have been obtained cheaper, as it has been obtained from the Belmont quarry, with their own trucks. In reply to Councillor Bryanfs assertion that the road would not stand a week with straight traffic, ie very idle talk indeed. Does not Councillor Bryant know —if not, he should—that th,ose planks laid on the road are for the purpose of wearing the road -level when the ■ traffic is first turned on it. • Ton have remarked yourself, sir, that it is one of the best roads in the Dominion. It has been costly we know, but can we get good job, excepting we pay for .it ? Surely these county councillors know quite weil we have had enough of maintaining of roads by county councillors. _ The old road for many years was a misery, saying nothing of the cruelty to horses. Let us hope, and hope for evermore, that this beautiful road now will never fall into the hands of any -county council. Sir, I trust in fairness,.in giving credit to the skilful engineer, you will find room for these few remarks.'—l am, etc., JAMES KILMINSTBB. ■ Belmont, April 11.