HUTT ROAD AGAIN

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2273, 6 October 1914, Page 7

HUTT ROAD AGAIN

QUESTION OF UPKEEP STILL IN THE AIR. ■ ■ . Like the poor, the Hutt Road trouble is always with us. After the ruinously, extravagant method of construction Under which the road was re-planned and re-formed by the Ward Government, the boroughs adjoining the north-western harbour front road were confronted, with a bill of costs which staggered them. The methods employed had run the .Government into the expenditure of in lanormcus amount. After much protest a,commission was appointed to "iftjuirtf ihW'theTalldcatioif or coat made by the Government, and 'a tally of traffic was.kept to determine .roughly; the manner in ■■which each local body" benefited by r the' existence of- the; road. The allocation was at length made, but this hardly lessened the : chagrin , of tho bodies concerned at the staggering , amount to be paid. Then followed the matter of maintenance, which was .thrown, on to the City, ■ without any provision being made for tho Wellington City Council to collect from other benefiting local authorities. ■ The Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke) at once protested, and now.steps are being taken-to put the whole business of attending to the Hutt. Road in somethine like business order. To that end the JVTayor has convened a conference (to be'heldat the Town Hall this after, noon) of the representatives of the Wellington City Council, Hutt, Petone, Onslow, and Eastbourne Borough Councils, the Johusonville Road Board, the Makara County Council, and the Hutt County Council for the piirpose of discussing ways and providing, means for the maintenance of the road. Mr. Luke's personal view is -that a board should be set up under the Hutt Road Improvement Act, consisting of representatives of the local authorities interested; and that powers ehould be given that board to make proportionate demands upon such local bodies annually for the upkeep of the road.

HUTT BOBOUGH COUNCIL MEET- • • TNft

A special meeting of the Hutt Borough Council was held last evening, to consider the council's position regarding its allocation towards the cost of tho Hutt Road. There were present the Mayor (Mr. H. Baldwin) and Councillors Hodgins, Meldrum, Brassell, (Jlendon, Parsonage, Ball, and Hobbs. The Mayor stated that a communication had been received from the Hon. W. H. Herries (Minister of Railways), to : the effect that in reference to the maintenance and control of the now Hutt Hoad it was regretted that local bodies did not appear to have made any nerious effort to arrive at any understanding as to the basis on which each of them would be represented on any Board of Control that may be constitut-ed-to take over and maintain the road. Indications showed that since the Railway Department's men were withdrawn, nothing had been done towards maintaining the road, which now required attention. The Railway Department was under no obligation to relieve tho local-bodies for any portion of their liabilities. In tho circumstances, it had been decided that unless some definite steps wero taken to settle the matter forwith, the Government would withdraw its offer to contribute £40,000 towards tho original cost of construction, and introduce legislation constituting a Board of Control, and providing the machinery by which amounts may be collected from the various bodies. Tho Mayor stated that tho only local bodies that as yet had not approved of their allocations • towards the cost of tho road were tho Boroughe of Hutt and Petone. In respect to tho lafcte? body, he did not think it advisable for the_council to take up the samo-atti-tude, which was to repudiate all liability in the matter. In fact, ho considered, tho action of the Government in reducing the total cost from £100,000 to £6UOOO was very liberal. Lower Hutt's allocation, was £8400. personally, bo thought. it would be unwise to fight against,their contribution, as it would only be "kicking against a brick wall." Tho mooting to constitute a Board of Control -was to bo held to-day, and ha considered that as his attendance might to some extent commit tho council, ho had called this meeting to havo tho matter discussed.

After some discussion, it was agreed fliai the Mayor and Town Clerk sftould interview tho council's solicitor (Mr. Skerretfc) before, the ineeTTng to-day, to act on his advice, and Teport tho council's position at.next Monday's meeting.