TURUA ROADING SCHEME

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4329, 12 October 1921, Page 2

TURUA ROADING SCHEME

£25,000 LOAN PROPOSAL, l PETITION TO COUNCIL. A further step in respect tp the eTurua reading scheme eventuated at Ngatea .on Monday. Messrs D. G. McMillan, Madgwick, P, Henry, and N. G. Davidson waited on the Hauraki Plains County Council, asking that a special rating area be formed io raise a loan for reading the Turua riding, the sum to be £25,000. Mr McMillan explained that the ratepayers desired to have the privilege pf having a committee co-operat-ing with the Council. The scheme would be an experiment for the Plains. Machinery would, be required, and he was sure the County machinery loan proposal would not be turned down by Turua ratepayers-. Mr P. Henry supported,, saying it was now obvious that the Turua and the County schemes would work in together. Some had turned the loan down because there was no provision for permanent works. The chairman, Cr. J. C. Miller, said he had long ago asked the residents to hold meetings and state what they wanted. However, i-t was a good thing that a 'loan had not been carried a year or so ago, as much better results would now be obtained as a result of the recent investigations in Taranaki. He favoured the idea of a local committee,, for he had found such organisations very useful in other places.

Cr. Death: Has the estimated cost been got ou,t by an exp.ert ? Mr McMillan: We estimated it out oh the basis of the report we got from Taranaki. We estimated the post on the maximum scale, to be on the safe side.

Mr McMillan went on to query whether or not it would be advisable io try and get the money outside the Dominion; they wanted to get right on with the work this summer.

Cr. T. McLoughlin agreed with the idea of an advisory committee, which should be representative, and not from one part onliy. - Whatever road was being worked on, there should be a resident of that road on the committee. When one road was finished the resident would go off the committee.

While supporting the proposal, Cr. Death said he thought the amount was too lbw. In the Kaponga riding of the Eltham County, 12 years ago it cost £16,000 for seven miles of roading which had previously had nine inches pf metal and tar macadam on it. The result was that the side roads suffered, and were not done to this day. He advised that a pertain sum should be allotted to each road.

Mr Madgwick replied that the costs were present day costs in Taranaki.

Cr. C. W. Parfitt asked how the Turua people would take it if the Council decided on a greater width fbr the main road' than -the committee setdown.

Voices: It would be taken very hard. ' *

Mr Madgwick explained that the width had to be made moderate on account of cost. _

The chairman pointed out that there was no use in putting tar, wider than it would 'be used. Tar was like rubber, which, if not used, perished. A 12ft road would be satisfactory and could always be added to, so long as it was not concrete.

Cr. Death: The riding is in such a position financially that it will not be able to secure anything from the county funds. Mr Madgwick: All the more reason for why a wider road should not be asked for.

Mr McMillan pointed out that the Turua-Shelly Beach toad carried a lot of traffic from outside.

Crs. Death and Chatfield did not think the laying and spreading could' be done for £3 5s per chain. Cr., Miller said the whole thing had been estimated on experts’ figures as far as possible; £1 per chain had been allowed fpr getting the metal’ onto the road.

Cr. C. W. Parfitt ,alsp held that expert advice should be secured. Not enough was allowed for forming the toads up, and it would also be found that there was not as much metal in some parts of the road as the ’committee thought.

Cr. Hayward said that if there was eight inches of metal on the road the cost would work out all right, but if not the estimate would be out. It was decided that Crs. Miller and Hayward and the engineer (Mr R. JDillon) should meet the Turua committee and spend a day going /over the roads and finding out just what depth of metal there was.

Cr. Hayward pointed out that the tar and other estimates were on the highest scale. The tar sprayer would be provided fbr in the County machinery loan.

The matter is tp be reported bn at a future meeting of th Council.