FOOTING THE BILL

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 17, 15 October 1919, Page 8

FOOTING THE BILL

PAEKAKARIKI ROAD WIDENING

COUNTY COUNCIL EXERCISED

The vexed question of the Paekakariki hill road was again discussed at yesterday's meeting of the Hutt County Council, when tho Minister of Public Works wrote, in reply to the council's communication, that consideration would he given to the devising of some means of raising its quota of the. estimated cost of improving the road, cW-100. The .Minister stated that in a report which he had recently received from tho distr.ct engineer it was stated that 30 chn.iis of tho hill had been widened to 17 feet, and that tho widening of a further six chains would be completed at an early date. The district engineer had been fortunate in securing tiio herviccs of an excellent party oi roadmen, with the result that good progress was bcang made, but as, the. authority for iM which was issued in-July would be exhausted in about <i fortnight, it was important that further funds should ho provided at an early date in order to a\oid breaking up the organisation and discharging the men. Under the special circumstances the Jlin.st.er stated that ho was authorising a further grant of ,£2OO, but if the council desired the work to proceed without a break it would bo ncce&sary for it to pay .£IOOO io tho ciedit of the Public Accountant without furthsr delay, and to take steps to provide tho balance of its quota when required 'by tho Department Bearing upon the sumo matter, a letter was rend from Mr. A. P. M'ackay, chairmail of a meeting of ratepayers held at Paekakariki last week. . The meeting had passed resolutions which it' forwarded for transmission to the Minister of Public Worksi, urging that tho cost of widening the road over the Pnekakariki hill should be borno out of tho Consolidated Funds, and also that a deviation should be made between'Pnremata and Paekaknriki and an entirely new road mado between these points so as to avoid the high and dangerous Paekakariki hill. The cost of this donation should, it was urged, bo part of a system of nationalisation of arterial roads.

The Proposed Deviation. In tho course of a general discussion, it was disclosed that members were not favourably impressed with the Ministerial communication,'and there was a conflict of opinion as to whether any more money should be spent in widening the Paekakariki W road, in view of tho proposal put forward by flio Minister to divert the road.. The opinion was' also expressed that it would be necessary to sot up a commission to apportion the expenditure, as the ratepayers in the various ridings would most probably not vote county funds for an arterial road. Cot/noillor HoweK commended the good work that was being at present undertaken on tho hill under the auspices of the Public Works Department. The work was being both speedily and efficiently carried out. According to Councillor Galloway, it was useless to spend .£SOOO or .£GOOO on the present Paekakariki hill road if the Department intended to promote tho formation of an alternative , memorial road through Pukerua.

It was also pointed out that there was only ono way the memorial road could be- made, and that was in conjunction with, the proposed railway deviation, and they -would have to wait about ten years for the railway to be put in hand. The chairman (Mr. F, G. Cooper) commented that tho county had been slightly "pide-stepped," at the deputation, by the Minister, but he thought that m the near future they would get what they wanted. Personally, he thought the council should in turn just "side-step" the Minister n bit, and hold the whof.o matte.r over. Tho council was not going to spend '£2WI or so on tho road when it had put' a better proposition before the Minister.

Ultimately the Min-'ster's letter was received. And the clerk instructed to refer him to a previous letter from the council pointing out that it was unable at the present time, under tho circumstances, to contrbute towards the cost of widening the road, and that it considered that the work should be undertaken by tho Government.