HUTT ROAD INQUIRY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1742, 6 May 1913, Page 6

HUTT ROAD INQUIRY.

BENEFITS OF TRAFFIC. DISOWNED BY ALL PARTIES. Tho inquiry being conducted by (lie Oonimis.-ioner (Mr. \V. S. Short) m to how the cost of the reconstruction of I lie llutt ]{nad shall be apportioned among the several contributory local authorities was continued yc-tei'day. .Mr. .1. U'Slioa appeared for Wellington City, Mr. A. do H. Btamlou for llutt County, Mr. T. 11. Wutont for the lioiough of Onflow, Mr. T. I'. Martin, with .Mr. K. C. Kirk, for thy lioiough of I'etone, 111'. A. \V. ISlair for Lower Jlult Borough, Mr. \V. .I. Organ in' Borough, Ml'. V. ]!. Meredith for .Miraniar Borough, ill'. I). '11. . I'iu.llay fo- tho Upper Unit Town Hoard, 31r. il. ]•'. Luckic lor Makara County, Mr. O. .lerusalcm l'or the .lohnsonvillo Town Buaril, and Mr. I'. S. Maeasivy for- tho I'aiiway Department. Wellington's Water Mains, Mr. M. Wilfonl asked leave to recnli Mr. I'. C. Widdop, ol' tho HallwayDepaitinent, before the ordinary course of Hi'.' inquiry was resumed. .Mr. Widdop said, in reply to questions, that tho water-mains from Wainui to tho city of Wellington camo over tho Jlutt lioad. Mr. Uilford: As ail engineer, can yen say whether it would be cheaper for tho city to lay tho pipes on the road than in the harbour? Ml'. O'Shea: I object to this question. It is totally irrelevant. The pipes are there by statutory authority. Tho Comniisisoner: That is the answer to it. Mr. Widdop, ill reply to other questions. San! tne mains were laid by the city, and .so far as he knew, they were not hipped along the route. To Mr. Kirk: The cost of moving the m .ins was ii eluded in the bill, and part was allocated to the Kailway Department. Tho remainder of tho cost the local bodies were now being: asked to pay. To Mi. OShea: lie believed that the city o!' Wellington had power to lay tho pipes oil the road. Some of the items of cost appearing in the bill were in respect of accidents, but lio would not say that these ii tin's made up the major portion, of the bill. The Traffic Tallies.

When the Commission rose on I'rida.v the case for the Borough of Pctone was being heard, but yesterday this was interrupted 'in order that the evidence of a number of clerks who had taken, the tallies in October last could be taken. Mr. S. Cooper said he had acted as a tally clerk at the junction of tlio Ilorokiwi and Hutt Eoad, following his instructions to keep a record of all tho traffic, its place of origin and its destination. His hours of duty in taking the tally were from 12 midnight to 8 a.m., and ho had seen very little traffic. John M'G'irk, another tally clerk._ said tlint on two occasions lie entered a Wadcstown resident as coming from Onslow. He had done this under a misapprehension, but he believed the tally taken was nnsonablv corrcct. To Mr. Kirk: A - lot of the motor traffic was "pleasure" traffic. He thought about ,'lO per cent of the people had no special business. Ho judged this from tho replies made to his questions by motor-car travellers, n number of whom said tliey wero going tho "round trip." To Mr. O'Sliea: The traffic to the Treutham racecourse was very heavy. To Mr. Macassey: Ilis estimate of tlio number of people travelling for pleasure was 110 more than a. guess. Mr. J. C. "Widen said he had passed over tho road eight times while the tally was being taken. He understood that a clerk had recorded him as coming from Onslow, whereas he came from Wadcstown, in "Wellington City. In this the clerk had made a mistake. William Little said ho had taken tallies nt the junction of tbo Hutt and Ngaliauranga Roads, and had taken only tho traffic going up the gorge. Ho gavo evidence generally as to the traffic passing under his review. G. Smith, clerk, stationed at ICorokoro,' Petone, also gavo evidence.

The Pipe Bridge. The case for Petone was then resumed, and Mr. A. Cowie, engineer for the Borough of Potone, continued his evidence. lie stated that a considerable quantity of metal was carted from tho Korokoro quarry while the Hutt Pipo Bridge approaches wore being made. The cost of the bridge had been equally divided, although • the making of tho approaches made up Petone Borough's half. It was therefore not fair to debit Petone with all tho trips for stone niado while tho tally was being taken. Ilalf of this traffic should have been charged to Wellington. To Mr. Brandon: All that Wellington City Council needed was a pipe bridge. The suggestion that a traffic bridge should bo built camo from Potone, and if a traffic bridge had not been built tliero would havo been no need for approaches. To Mr. O'Shea: Petone could do without tho road well enough. It had a sea front. Mr. O'Shea: Wellington has a pretty fair sea front. The Case for Lower Hutt. Mr. A. W. Blair presented the case for the Borough of Lower Hutt. Ho stated at the outset that the borough wished to reserve all its rights, and his appearance at the Commission must not be taken as an admission that the Commission was properly constituted. To this extent ho was appearing, under protest, and Jiis reason for so doing was merely to preservo rights which might be 1 in tlio Hutt Borough in such future proceedings as might be taken for the recovery of the money. Ho regretted exceedingly that counsel for the City CouncU had seen fit to chargo all the local bodies with ail improper attempt to foist upon the Citv Council an unfair proportion of the cost.' It had been claimed that the only honest local authority represented at this commission was tho ''!' e i°'' which Mr. O'Shea appeared. He (Mr. Blair) suggested rather that they were all joined hand in hand in what he believed to ho'a laudable attempt to redupo their assessments as much as possible. and he believed they were united for the pnrposo of fighting a common enemy with regard to the extravagance of the claim, and tho 'cost of tho work. But with this latter question the Commissioner was not concerned.

What Factors? There was no dispute, continued' Mr. lilair, that tlio Commissioner's duty in this matter was merely to ascertain by tiie best means available what was a fair allocation of the money. The only dispute that did arise was as to the factors which were to be considered in arrivinf at a fair allocation. He submitted that there were three I'aclnrs which should weigh with the Commis-ioncr. The first and iikisli important' was the total traffic on the road; the second was the benefit or advantage every local Ihklv derived or enjoyed from Mich -traffic;* and the I bird facbr to bo considered was what disabilities any particular local aiilhcrify sultered by reason of' having to bear a largo portion of the cost of another pari; of 1 he road, thereby* making all the road more enjoyable I'or the other local authorities. Like the counsel for the borough (if I'elone, lie could not adoot (lie aMotmcnl suggr-lcd by the f'ilv T!mgineer Ole. \V. 11. Morton), even though it was favourable lo his client--. He had tried lo discover, and he had utterly failed to discover, (lie menial process bv which Mr. Morion had arrived at his' computation. Mr. Morton had l;: j en unable lo tell them; he had simply said, "H is a matter of judgment," and of course (ho judgment must be the judgment of Mr. Morton. In olieving such an opinion, Ihe (!ity Engineer was really usurping the functions of the Commissioner. He would argue that where I here was n large terminus at one end of Ihe, road, ami "evernl tributaries lit the oilier end and aloir,' the road, prima, facie the big turniinn*s should pay half, and the smaller bodies' should divide the oilier half l;ol ween I hem. But they must ulso look at the business benefit of the road. Recnii°o a vehicle left, one district and went lo another it did pot necessarily follow- (hat half of the item was to be debited to the place of origin and half to the place of destination. I'leasnre truffle, for instance, should be charged wholly lo the place of origin. The tallies showed fhat Ihe light Irallic—mo-lly of ninlor-eurs, motor bicvek's, and bicycles—lo Lower Hull, was very considerable, but I hat traffic, he would .urge, wus mainly plea-

miiv Iniliir, mill mil. I'nirl.v divisible l.weou Hull mill llio place iif origin. He urged that 11. would Itc i :-(>ii; 11 >11' (Imt till! of Lower llulf should |, ( i charged mom lor ilie construction of || u . l'oiul because Hid pi-cipl.. of Wellington look their rec.tvnl inn In- driving in tlisil: locality. Wellington, ho urged, liirivnt peculiar advantage.-: Imm (l u > It alt lioad, owing In ils being t lit; only out let ami inlet roiul for tin; city. Supposing tho load wrro impassable, n city would"grmv up lit llus northern cud of tiie load, lie Higgettcd thnl; Lower Unit's contribution thanld lie minced In !).:!!) per cent.

"Pleasure" Traffic. Mr. J. Jloclio. engineer for the Lower Jlutt llorough, .-aid I bore were 111. motorcars and 12 motor-cycles owned in tho Ikiiohlili. Tlo maintained (lint motor-ear Irallic was very injurious Id ranis. 'J'ho bulk of lln; miliar traiiic, on Jfult roads was for pleasure, and did nut benefit: Iho Hull, in tho slightest, degree, fIo did not agree with .Mr. Morton';; conclusion, nor could he iiluh r,stand by what stops Mr. Morton arrived at those conclusions. To Mr. Luckic: lie considered that traffic should bo lln; main factor in fixing a basis of assessment, but value and population ought to bo considered also. To Mr. Organ: He could think of no basis that wouhl not be open to objections, but he thought Ihe Commissioner's basis was as fair as any oilier that could be discovered. To Mr, O'Slica: lie considered that Wellington ought to lio debited with all traffic inwards by tho road, whether tho goods were for consumption in Wellington or i'or export. Allowance should be made for (he extension of tho road tlirongli tho Lower Il.utt Borough. Mr. O'Shea: What about Thorndon. Quay? Isn't that in the samo position? Mr. f-'oehe; No. Thorndon Quay was built lb carry the traffic of tho city, and not the traflio from the Unit. Case for Makara County. Mr. M. I'\ Luckie presented the ease for Makara County. 110 suggested that no basis of apportionment could be found which would be entirely satisfactory, and capable of application without some modification. Even traffic was not a sal'o guide without other factors being considered. Value of the land within a local body's borders, and population ought to bo taken into account. Jlakara County had not gained in population to any appreciable extent during the last ten or fifteen years. The laud could never bo other than sheep-grazing or dairying land, and its productivity or value had not baen. materially increased by the improvement in the road. Thtf road served only half of the county, and the quantity of traffic from that area was not considerable. If the schedule suggested by tho Commissioner were adopted it would increaso the indebtedness of the. people of that portion of the county served by the road by about .£3 a head. He pointed out that the Ngahauranga traffic on tho road was not a benefit, but a burde.'.i lo tho county, as it was all in the interests of Wellington or'tho Ilutt district. i Gsorge I?. Hislop, cleric for Makara j County, said tho capital value of the land in the county was .£931,356, and of this .£llo,Gol worth of land paid no rates. Of the rateable area worth of Hie land was in the Poriraa Biding, which had a population of 2473. Owing to the heavy traffic from the abattoirs, it had been ueees-ary to put an extra man on the roads at a total cost of about ,£2OO a year. The abattoirs were of no benefit whatever to the county. Tho inquiry was adjourned until 10 a.m. to-day