MANGERE.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 734, 26 May 1922, Page 5

MANGERE.

TARRED ROAD SCHEME. TROUBLE AT MANGERE. DEPARTURES FROM SPECIFICATIONS. RATPEAYERS DISSATISFIED. The Mangere tarred road scheme was considered at a meeting of Mangere ratepayers on Monday night, Mr K. B. Kirkbride presiding. .Mr S. W. House, the Mangere Riding member on the Manukau County Council, in his report to the ratepayers, paid that hs a result of the assurance Mr LopdelL gave him (Mr House), the Council, and the iatepayers of Mangere, last year, namely, that he could complete the work within his estimate, ‘after having checked his figures and given several reasons why he failed, the work was again proceeded with this year. A new crushing plant which was purchased bst year was placed in Mangere, and everything was done so as to give the engineer every faefiity for carrying out the work as economically as possible. In December n start was made to assemble the plant, and trouble soon followed, not, however, through the incompetency of the workmen but through the failure of the engineer in over staffing, and not having material on the ground to go on with. A start was ultimately made at the crossing end, and here trouble was soon afoot, as no allowance had been made for grading, which was an im.oortant matter where closer settlement was setting in, and it was recess >rv to contend with footpa'hs ; nn<’v. Getting rid of ,:< n: m water and water channelling 1 ad been a burning question lo” years

at that end of the district, and he (Mr House) was soon bombarded by the ratepayers-to know why no grading was being done. MATTER OF RE-GRADING. At a meeting lie Id in the Garage, it was further discussed, and he advised the ratepayers to move a resolution so that it would then be dealt with by the Council, which did not meet for nearly a month later. In the meantime the foreman had given instructions for the grading to- be done, as he objected to going on with the road, and over half a mile was com.pleted before the Council met The Council decided that as no grading had been allowed foi% it would have to be met out of revenue. The cost of grading was thought to be about £3OO to £4OO. INEFFICIENT WORKMEN EMPLOYED. Mr House said: “I consider the engineer is no organiser, lacking initiative, and cannot pick men ; for some he has allowed to be employed should never have been on the job. lam satisfied a very large sum of money could have been saved had there been proper supervision,, and more business methods used. I have pointed out to him, on many occasions, where improvements cou'ld have been made and that he was employing certain men that could not earn their wages, but he did not seem to care. I am now satisfied that his estimates are useless, and it is more guess work than practical.” Mr House admitted that here the ratepayers had been badly Set down, and in this he must partly take the blame, having stuck to the engineer against the opposition of last year. If the ratepayers considered it was in their interests that he should resign he would do so and admit defeat. The amount of the loan money available—£lß,ooo, having been expended it was desired to know whether the ratepayers wished the balance of £12,000 to be’applied for... As far as he was personally concerned, be would not agree to the work being proceeded with under the present engineer Should it be decided to go on with the work, he would suggest that, before anything further was done to raise the balance of the loan money, the specifications be revised, and that tenders be called for any future works. ’ > At the Mange re Crossing end,, by continuing straight on instead of going down Robertson Road, it was thought that benefit would be given to a greater number of ratepayers.

SOME OF THE DIFFICURTIES. The burning' question of Sast year was the widening of the road by the Mangere bridge. In this the member (Mr House) and the Council were not consulted. It was made 11 feet wider than was intended- The member also had to discharge two workmen for inefficiency, and he said this was a position that should never arise. There was overlapping in the control ; the member saidthathe had found it necessary to go over the head of the engineer and give the fore.man instructions. Mr Jas. Montgomerie : What : s the total length of road done? Mr House: One mile .75 chains at the Crossing end, and 71 chains near the bridge. Reading 1 the balance sheet, Mr House said that last year £l-3,754 5s 4d was spent on material, machinery, insurance, water supply, hi e of plant and lorries and wages. This year’s expenditure brought the total up to £17,464 4s Id. There was about £SO still outstanding. Mr Montgomerie Why was it Unit Mr House did not support the Ratepayers’ Association ? Mr House : Mr Lopdeli gave his assurance that he could complete the roads; within the estimates. Mr Montgomerie: The Council should have come to Mangere and inquired into the whole position. This year’s work has been only a reps.ition of last year's. MR LOPDELL’S ADDRESS. REPLY TO MR HOUSE. Mr Lopdeli said that when the ratepayers made their protest last year ;he maintained that the excessive cost of the Mangere bridge reading was brought about bv addit onal work. He and Councillor House had been : n ! close touch with one another until •recently. At the bridge end it was I decided that they would have to put ! on a new coat of metal to build up 1 the road and make it stable; On the ! approaches it was necessary to pul ion 1250 cubic yards- of metal not proI vicled for in the estimates, besides | chips and other extras.. The scarify- ! ing and roading were also extras, i The specifications only provided for i.ar scaling the approaches. From the store to the top of the hill 1100 cubic yards extra metal was rcquir-

eel. No suggestion was ever mede to reduce the width of the road. The excess of cost here was £3723.

A: Mangere Crossing this year, as no provision was made in the Joan tor re-grading, the ratepayers resolved that a departure, he mode from the specifications m this respect. It was made clear that such a departure would make the Richrg liable for any extra costs. The spec fications provided 19 2-3 of me:at to the chain. After the scarifying and regrading it was necessary to use 33 yards to the chain.

A road with 3ins.. of new metal would not take nearly as much tar as would nine inches. This was because the tar percolated down until it expended itsetff. The additional cost of the extra 1568 yards of metal was £784. There.was also additional tar and laabour. From Robertson Road on to where the work had been stopped the engineer had carried on according to the specifications, and was keeping within the estimates. That was the only piece of road where he had not been compelled to depart from specifications.

Tbe Government had brought in the Antecedent Liability Bill, whereby the Council had power to liquidate its overdraft. All the Ridings except Mangere had availed themselves of this .opportunity. He concluded by sayaing that if the cost of plant and all tht extras were subtracted from the £14,000 it would be found that, the cost per mile was just about the? same as estimated before. The deductions, amounted to £9OOO.

Mr House sa : d that the depth of the metal along towards Mangere Crossing was only sor SJo inches in places—not 9 inches. The difference in the cost of tar used amounted to only about 1 penny per square yard. When the water mains were laid at the Mangere bridge end of the district they were put out 14 feet in the read.. The tar sealing would make it very difficult to get at them if occasion arose. This trouble would not have occurred 'lf the road had not been made so wide. Mr J. r ’. Montgomerie moved that beforee proceeding with any further works in Mangere the Council be requested to dispense with the services of the engineer. A ratepayer : The great fault was in not allocating certain moneys to the various roads of the district. He seconded the motion. Mr Jas, Montgomerie : Mr House had be on active fn working in the interests of the district ; but it was his duty to see that the specifications were carried out closely in the interests of the ratepayers. The motion was carried.