NATIONALISATION.

Franklin Times, Volume 14, Issue 259, 31 July 1925, Page 5

NATIONALISATION.

OF MAIN HIGHWAYS.

PAPAKURA BOARD’S VIEWS

Advice was received by circular from thfe chairman of No. 2 Highways Council (Mr Campbell) at Monday’s meeting of the Papakura Town Board, that the Highways Board proposed to hold a conference of executives of District Highways Councils in Wellington at an early date. Matters for consideration would include main highways estimates and amendments to the Highways Act. The Town Board was invited to refer any matter it wished discussed at the conference to the writer as early as possible. Mr H. McEntee said he thought main highways should be nationalised.

It was decided to forward the following resolution: “That the Papakura Town Board, having considered the Highways Board’s instructions to district highways boards, and applying them to local conditions, finds that lh6 Papakura Town Board’s portion of the Great South Road has traffic sufficient to warrant the expenditure necessary for construction of a concrete or bituminous road, but that as approximately 90 per cent, of that traffic is through traffic, it would he grossly unfair to saddle our ratepayers with either the capital cost or the maintenance of such a road, and, further, the consideration of sucli conditions points conclusively to the need of such work as well as maintenance of the present road being considered a national und not a local undertaking.” The chairman and Messrs McEntee and W. G. Wood were appointed a subcommittee to consider whether any further remits should be sent to the conference.

Maintenance Subsidy. A further letter from Mr Campbell stated that the Highways Board had not fixed its contribution for maintenance to the portion of the Great South Road through Papakura at £ll6 per year. That merely represented its subsidy at £1 for £2 on' the Town Board’s estimate of its expenditure on the road. He asked for a proper specification stating that the nature of the maintenance the board intended carrying out this financial year. “As some better method will have to be adopted than in the past,” he added, “it will he well for you to obtain the approval of the Highways Board before commencing the work.”

Commenting that the Town Board had to pay two-thirds of the cost, but the Highways Board seemed to want most ol‘ the say. Ihc meeting left the matter to the clerk to reply that the Town Board had earmarked £240 as its share of the maintenance expenditure for the year, but it felt that it could not give an exact estimate of the relative costs of material and labour.