THE BEACH ROAD.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 878, 13 August 1910, Page 3

THE BEACH ROAD.

The Manawatu County Council’s road overseer, in his report on the above proposed road at last Wednesday’s meeting of the County Council, says:— "Councillor Barber, Mr P. Hennessy, and I made an inspection of the Beach road to the Foxton heads on the 18th of last month, when it was suggested to make a diversion from the old one to avoid the drift sand, and we again made an inspection of the proposed road to the Wharangi settlement on the 30th as * month with Mr Nathan, engineer from the Public Works Department. Mr Nathan Informed me that it would be necessary to get the proposed road diversion surveyed and dedicated befote the Council could receive a grant towards the construction of the road from the Public Works Department. There is a total length of 197 chains in the County which requires metalling, made up as follows Eighty chains of new formation and 77 chains of trimming up old formation, and metalling 40 chains of old metalled road. Mr Nathan informed me that he would not receive any grant on the estimates to repair the old metalled portion of the road. Estimated cost of road: Formation and trimming and culverts, ,£157 15s ; claying, ; metalling. ,£1256 ; surveying proposed road, ; metalling and trimming 40 chains, ; total, grand total, 15s. The road to the Wharangi settlement is not in very good order at present, and the ford over the Whakapuni drain is dangerous, and I would recommend that the Council build a temporary bridge for the present time.”

The Chairman (Mr J. G, Wilson) reported that Cr Barter and himself, in pursuance of the promise made at the last Council meeting, visited Foxtou to interview the local body in reference to the road. He pointed out that the only way to provide the money for the purpose of construction was that the local bodies interested should take upcn themselves the borrowing of the money, and that for this purpose the Foxton Borough Council and the Manawatu County Council should each borrow half the cost. The Manawatu County Council has applied for a subsidy of towards the work. Sixty tenants would contribute from ,£3O to .£45 per annum to the work. The interest on a loan would total If the Government did not give a subsidy, then the tenants should be asked to pay ,£45 towards the interest, and each local body ,£32 10s. If the Government gave the subsidy, the tenants would be asked to contribute ,£3O and the local bodies £22 xos each. The local authorities would have to be clear that the Harbour Board would hand over the tenants’ proportion, and that a special clause should be inserted in some measure authorising that. The oiler was made by the Manawatu County Council without prejudice to any further action the Council saw fit to take under the P.W. Act, which would not be on such liberal terms. This offer had been forwarded to the Foxtou Borough Council.

As we pointed out in our last issue, the Borough Council passed a resolution expressing its willingness to contribute its quota as suggested by Mr Wilson at the conference. We would suggest that the proposed route be submitted to the Borough Council for its approval.

Iti conversation with our representative yesterday morning in reference to the proposed road to the Foxtou Beach, senior Councillor Coley said he wanted it to be clearly understood that he recognised the necessity for the making of the road in question, and also that the Foxton Borough Council should contribute towards the cost of same, but he was certainly opposed to paying 10s per annum. He argued that, considering Foxton had formed and metalled a good portion of the Beach road, a fair contribution would be, at the most, per annum. He expressed the opinion that if the matter were referred to a commission, the fact of the Foxton Borough Council having metalled the portion of the road they had, would be taken into consideration, and the proportion fixed as Foxton’s share of the cost would not exceed ,£ls per annum. “ In any case,” said Cr Coley, “ the agitation for the road was not on the part of the Foxtou ratepayers, but by the Palmerston people.” He said it was manifestly unfair to ask the ratepayers throughout the Borough, some of whom would never use the road, to help to pay a sum of ,£32 xos per annum towards the cost of a road outside the borough boundaries. There was not a shadow yf doubt that those who would derive by far the most benefit from the road were the tenants at the Beach, and they should be asked to pay more than was at present proposed —'they should find at least ,£6O per annum. It had been stated that Foxton was also going to benefit largely by the construction of the road, but, boiled down, who would derive the benefit. Only a few of the business people in the Main Street—a couple of storekeepers and a butcher —and the great majority of the ratepayers would get nothing in return for the ,£32 los per annum which the Council had committed them to pay.