BOROUGH WORKS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4425, 9 June 1922, Page 2

BOROUGH WORKS.

WORKS COMMITTEES REPORT. The Borough Works Committee submitted the following report at last night’s meeting of the Borough Council : Your committee beg to report .that they, together with the other members of the Council,, undertook a complete and exhaustive inspection of the whole borough on the 22pd and 23rd ultimo, for the purpose of determining the very best uses to which the £l6BO allocated to public works during the current year could be best expended. As you are all aware, it was fpund that a very large amount of work or. roads, footpaths, and drains requires to be carried out, but your committee considers .that, for the most part these works, which are consrtuction works, must be done by way of reading loan, as the Council's revenue is far. too small to admit of their being formed and metalled out of ordinary revenue. This being the case, your committee considered that only urgent works should be undertaken, such fis giving citizens a reasonable access to their homes, repairing footpaths, patching roads, etc. There are three Works of larger proportions which your committee recommends be undertaken, the tarring and sanding of the main street footpaths at an estimated cost of. £3OO, the thorough repairing of Belmont Road (which, as yoii know, is going back rapidly) by patching the holes, spraying the whole surface with bituco, and the spreading of metal chips thereon at an estimated cost of £l5O, and the repairing of the main traffic bridge by chipping and painting, and renewing planks and trellis handrails where necessary afc an estimated cost of £loo'. These three works your committee considers to be very necessary, and should be put in hand as soon as the weather is suitable-

The smaller works, ’which are shown on the street works estimates before you to-night show that practically every street in the boroug.i will receive some attention during the current year. We recommend that Coronation Street repairs be undertaken first, and then in order, Anzac Avenue, school path in Wood Street, and the repairing of damage done to private property in Rye Lane, which latter work has been authorised some 18 months. We consider that the forema:i should be given instructions to undertake the work on the balance of the streets on the list at his discretion and as he thinks fit under your committee’s supervision. There is, as you know, a small balance in the reading loan account which we consider should be util’sed by piping the remainder, of the railway drain to Puke Road crossing, thus giving the Beautifying Society a reasonable chance to improve the strip of land from the station to the said Puke Road crossing In general we would like to point out for the benefit of citizens the very unfortunate position .tfie Council is in regarding the roads and streets, about which many complaints are rightly made. Tn past years milo after mile of streets and roads have been taken over by .the local authority without any formation or metalling being done, and mile after mile of roads with quite unsuitable metal ranging up to 9in or 10in. In many cases these roads which aie largely responsible for the extremely scattered formation of the borough, serve but few houses; in fket, it is safa to say that Paeroa could be served "with half the road mileage it has at present. This being the case, it is not only difficult, but absolutely impossible to undertake any street formation work out of revenue derived from a borough with a population if 1650. and with suburban land values assessed very low. These works can only he done out of loan moneys. When reading loan moneys are raised, and so far this has been impossible, the work qf street improvements will be undertaken, but till then citizens must put up with the present state of affairs, and grin and bear it, though the Council will, dp its utmost to give them reasonable access to t'heir homes, as .far as finances will allow. Referring to the School Coirimittee’s request to form and metal Wood Street in accordance with the engineer’s scheme, this work would cost approximately £lO9, and in your committee’s opinion can only be done out of toan money, which is not available at present, and we, therefore, recom-mc-,d that the School Committee be inarmed of the position and the Council’s regret that the work cannot be n ndertaken at present, but the same will receive consideration when loan moneys are available. In the meantime the foreman will make necessary repairs, so as to enable the school committee to go ahead with their improvements. Re the petition from Buchanan Street residents. Tbto work is in the same position as other unformed and unmetalled streets, which can onlv be done out of loan moneys; and we recommend that the footpath and road be put in a passable condition until such time as Joan money is available, when equal consideration with other streets will be afford fl this ocality. Re Anzac Avenue. This work is loan expenditure, and after consideration your committee is of| opinion that the residents in this locality should be prepared to assist by contributing one-third of the cost, approximately £BO, when the work of forming a footpath from Belmont Road to Hill Street should be undertaken, when loan money is available. In tne meantime we recommend that the outfal 1 drain bridge and fences be reerected on the correct line, the ground levelled, and a temporary footpath be formed from Belmont Road to the outfall drain at an estimated cost of £3O. Re Whitmore’s drain. The County riding member, Cr. Johnstone, has intimated that his Council is prepared to contribute a quarter of the cost from the river to Puke Road. The estimated cost ot this; work is £9, and

from Puke Road to Hill Street £24, and your committee recommends that the work be undertaken when the interested property owners contribute one third of the cost from Puke Rpa.l to Hill Street, namely,. £B. Re drain cleaning, generally. Your committee desires to point out that the cleaning of the main drains in the borough is a serious problem, and entails a heavy burden on the finances, and we would recommend that in cases where private property is affected the Council will consider an? reasonable request to clean drains, where the interests of the- general public are also affected by ths ’ncapacity, through want of cleaning, of the drain, provided the interested owners are prepared to contribute towards the cost. Three application for crossings have been received during the last month. We recommend that Mr. Lowry's suggestion to dp the work to the foreman’s satisfaction, the Council providing the pipes, be agreed to, and that the other applications be granted subject to compliance with the by-laws.