WELLINGTON STREETS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 204, 24 May 1920, Page 5

WELLINGTON STREETS

AN UNFAVOURABLE COMPARISON

BY THE CITY ENGINEER

In summing up his conclusions in the ' report on his observations abroad the I City Engineer (Mr. W. H. Morton) says: of the streets of Wellington:— "The city of • Wellington compares; unfavourably with nearly all'of tho. prin?, cipal citic3. visited as. regards its road.' l ' construction. With the, exception of : our wood, pavements, which, I contend have been generally very satisfactory,; and tlio fow tarred macadam streets, tho ' greater number of our business, thorough?' fares, are surfaced with water-bound macadam. This material is totally un-; suitable for present-day traffic, and' the 1 sooner it can be replaced with.,material' of. more permanent construction' tho.bet: 1 tcr for the city, having, regard' to thei comfort and convenience of citizens,.benefit to.traffic, and; saving, in. cost: of. main?. tenance. I particularly refer, to. tho : streets between-tho harbour-front, and'Cirartenay, Place, Manners Street, Willis Stroet, and Lambton Quay,, and. especiallv il'horndon. Quay. The dust nuisance in Wellington, arising, from, tho method of 1 ' constructing,- the. street, sur-. faces and, the prevailing, high winds, is , provocative of-, serious . compliiints throughout the year.. In order to stifle such complaints tlie use of street watering carts is., resorted: to. Tho continuous sprinkling of water on water-bound macadam roads contributes-in a great deto their ultimate destruction; and the- increased cost of maintenance, by reason- of the small subsidences which take place, particularly on made ground; The' arw referred to "is- almost entirely made ground; and subject to. this disability. A light sprinkling of water-dur-ing dry weather is beneficial to a waterbound' macadam roail, but tlie. amount of ' water which is beneficial is totallSf,' inadefluate. in preventing the nuisance from dUst. In addition to the- streets referred to there-is another street prinpally under the control' of the Welling-, ton- Harbour Board;, which, along- with tlie: goods yard of Lambton Railway Sta--1 tion; contributes-in a great degree-to-tho ; dust nuisance of this city. I ; have- not,, in any- town or city that I have visitedi met, with-, the-same-conditions as regards dust that' one experiences in Wellington, j and ! look upon- the construction of-' the | loads- referred! to as ono of the- most, i important' works necessary in making-a J real! forward etep- in the improvement of j the. city. Before such permanent- paveiments can be proceeded, with, however, all l necessary extensions of' tramway, lines-and connections as well as duplications of'ttraok should- -be completed- in order- that the permanent pavements, maylie left undisturbed l after- completion; Although not- within the area referred 1 to- the- pavement- of' Cambridge Terrac'o- : should' also- be provided, for. T believe; that bituminous asphalt surfacing, is the, j best' as well as the-cheapest material' that l«an be-, adopted l in dealing with- tho ! greater- number- of these streets, but I jam- 'ofc opinion- that, wood-blocks, foriThorndon Quay and' Waterloo Quay ! would' be most, satisfactory in- view of: |tlie ; liea.vy,. slow,moving traffic thereon;

A Difficult City. "I. have in. my.'report referred, to, the. ; necessity of determining the. lines of the. principal; thoroughfares, leading out to tho. various parts, of-, the- city,, and-, locating them in such a manner that no-air-, terations may bo required in the years; to como.. Wellington, owing to its configuration,. is a particularly, difficult,' city to develop satisfactorily,, but I con- [ eider that this question should receivefull, investigation, oven though many of: thei works may. bp delayed- to a later date: when circumstances are more, favourable, to- their, being undertaken. "In, many of our secondary streets,such- \ as, 'l-inakori. Road; Tory, Street, Tara- > naki Street,, Willis Street, Clyde Quay,. Queen's Drive, and Island Bay Parade, the advisability of. renewal- with tarred, macadam as they, become worn Bliould be favourably considered. * Such work may also be extended' to. many other streets, it is-: not. necessary, to, mention here. Other streets, again, can be. per-i maaently improved' by tho use of'tar*., sealing- coats. In order, however, that the.. U6O- of- tarred, macadam and. tarsealing, coat work may, be, properly unr-' dertakenj it- is. absolutely neoessary that some, proper provision shouldv .be .mndo. for-obtaining; tar in> accordance, with- tho,, specifications of- tho,Road Board; of Great, i Britain. For somo, considerable timo- representations' have, been, mado. to, tho-. Wellington; Gas Company regarding theadvisability of having the tar properly' dehydrated. It is- regrettable, that up. to; the present nothing' has resulted- Iti may bo possible to arraaige between tliei Gagi Company; and, a-, private company; which deals with tar dehydration- to prq-, duc» a, tar in accordance with- the Bril> ( iih specification suitable.for the, require-, mento of this,city;. Whilst in England-1, full particulars, and 1 prices' of ■ a tar dehydration, plant, such as is in' use in Birmingham, and which- gave excellent results.

A, Tangle; in Tar. v ■ . "Since, writing the above. I havofound : that. the Wellington Gas Company' has ! sold the whole of ite output to a privatei company, which proposes' to. prepare, and sell tar'in the mannor suggested:

"As soon as- possible the improvement;of our road surfaces on tlio lines sug--gested l should; in my opinion, be. undertakenl. Wellington is better provided':, with- marine parades, than most cities.' In fact, I know of no- other city which , can- compare with- AYellington in the length of its- marine drives. With good, road 6urfaccs provided, not only would' a commercial 1 advantage be obtained; ■ but, the. pleasure of motoring- and the beauty of the seaside drives would- be. much more appreciated. "In order that the work may be brought i within tlio hounds of financial' possibility'i by a reasonable and equitable method 1 of: providing increased revenue somo dras-' tic alteration- is- required in the. present law. relating to registrations and licenses of motor vehicles. The taxes, on motors vehicles in. Great Britain are as follow:—

<£ e, d. Under horse-power 32. 0, Under 12, horse-power 8 3 0, Under 16; horse-power 4 •! 0 Under 2G horse-power G 6 0 Undor 33 horse-power 8 8 0 j Under 40. horse-power ...— 10 10- 0 Under 60 horse-power 21 Oi 0., Above, 00 horse-power ... 12 O Oi "In addition, the following fees are|, collected:—License, ss.j license duplicate, Is.; registration of car, ill; registration; of cycle, 55.; transfer of car, 55.; 'transfer i of cyole, Is.; dcnler's. general mark (an-' nual),. X 3;. amendment of number on' register, no cliargo; copy of entry on. register, Is. If roads were constructed about Wellington on the lines suggested, and with, the. pavement along the Hntt Road which has been provided tor, thoro can be uoi doubt, but that motorists in. this city would be perfectly willing to. pay tliosame fees as in Great Britain, and a.,: large sum of money would be annually which would go a, long way in 1 defraying the increased cost of constfuc-, tion. and. tho annual charges connected; therewith. The present system- of 'mac-, adamised, road construction is, i howevor>. heavy in cost, much too expensive as regards maintenance, and does not give, satisfaction to the users of the roads,., and is. primarily, responsible for the dust: nuisance. There is no great abundance of really suitable stone £or vond-making, ' but Iha uso of bitumen and tar, as sug-, gested, would tend greatly to better kv: slilts being- obtained."- .