THE RIMUTAKA ROAD

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 304, 19 September 1919, Page 9

THE RIMUTAKA ROAD

UNSAFE FOR TRAFFIC

GOVERNMENT AID PROMISED

The need for Government assistance in , tho rebuilding .of the road and bridges ,over. the Rinnitaka hill was urged by a. : deputation of Wairarapa members of "Parliament and ■ representatives .of local ' bodies in the district, which waited on . the Prime- Minister and ' Sir William , I'raser (Minister of Public Works) yesterday morning. The deputation was introduecd by Mr. J. T. U. Hornsby, U.IK Air. A. D. MacLeod, chairman of the I'eatherston County Council, said that the condition of tlie bridges on tho hill road had given, his county anxiety, shortly after tho war 'began. During all the time of the war a considerable amount of military'traffic had gone over tho road, some of it -heavy traffic,' and Teports which, the. County' Council had had rrom' engineers wore, to tho effect that the bridges were unsafe for loads of more-' than two tons. They had approached tho Acting-Prime Minister at the time, but he had asked them to hold the .matter over for as long as possible. Now the position had been reached when the bridges might go down at any time, and tho diversion of a great deal, .of traffic on to the wad on account of the railway cut had intensified the position. The whole six miles of the road, was within the boundaries of , tho . Featherston , county,, and on the : whole length., tho revenue collected was not more than .£ls a year. Tho estimated, cost of rebuilding, the bridges, was ,£6OOO, and to put tho road in. a satisfactory condition «1- ; together ,would cost not less than .£9OOO or .£IO,OOO. . The local bodies in the district had realised that it was not fair to put the wholo of- the burden on tho Featherston county, .and they had agreed to coma in-and bear half of tho cost, if the • Government would pay half. ; Of course it would not bo possible to do all the work in ono year or even two years. It might occupy three years. But the bridge work had to be faced immediately. . He pointed to'.the fact that _the Featherston county had undertaken works for-bridges of a total amount of and had not risked the Government for. one penny of assistance. They had difficulties in finance on account of tho fact that although they 'had a valuation of fivo millions in the county they could not borrow more than .£IO,OOO in any one year, although a county with a valuation of not more than half a million could borrow the same amount. Ho hoped that tho Government would recognise that this road was a case calling for assistance.", and that the assistance would bo given soon enough to-enable tho work to be commenced at once. The worst offender in respect- of heavy. traffic over the hill,,in contraventioii or by-laws designed and passed to prevent it, had been tho Defonce Department, and he'feared that some day soon one of tho heavy lorries would go through one of the bridges. ':-■'■.' Mr. W. J. Wen, chairman of the Masterton County. Council, said that ho . had been asked also to represent Masterton borough. All the local bodies in the Wairarapa recognised the difficult posi■tion of the Featherston county in being called upon to maintain this long road from which no ireyenue could be obtained. 1 They had therefore come together and agreed to come to the assistance of Featherston county, and to join in appealing to the Government for aid. Sir William Fraser said that in the Public Works Estimates he bad., dealt .very generously with this road. He thought they would find that ample, provision: had been made for ail the work that could be done in one year. It was very true, as had been said, that ._ the Wairarapa local bodies had behaved very patriotically during the-war, period in refraining from making demands on the Government for this and other works; and. this k*lng the case they were entitled to recognition of their claims now. But although money was easier now, there was still a serious- lack of labour, and ho feared that it would not be., possible to get labour to do all tho work asquickly as might be desired. He held the opinion that there ; would' alwayshave' to be a good road oyer the'hill, -wherever . the railway might be, '■ aid he was .verypleased to hear that the other local bodies whose people used' this road were joining with -lAxituerston . county in getting the work done. It was a fair and equitable arrangement, and tho Government should help people who, were willing to help themselves. ' . '. Mr. Mnssev. I can add nothing to that. Mr. MacLeod said that he had no wish to get from Sir William information as to tho amount of the vote proposed, but he would like to be in a position to go on with some of the bridges as soon as possible. If they could call-tenders for.at least three of-the bridges they would like to do so, and if assured. of Government assistance they were in a position to do so. The council wished-to go ahead with the work without delay. Sir William Fraser said that he could not make provision in the Estimates for the whole work in one year. He considered that he had no right to embarrass the finances of his successor by doing any such thing, because it would bo quite impossible for all tho work to be done, or all the 'money to be spent in one year.- As a matter of fact the Estimates this year were overloaded. People bad bad no works for several ■ years, and they were rushing now" that the war was over to have, every tiling done at once. Ho 'quite agreed;' however, that the works should-bo let in large amounts, and that work should proceed simultaneously on more than one bridge.