SHANNON-FOXTON ROAD

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2659, 15 November 1923, Page 3

SHANNON-FOXTON ROAD

QUESTION OF MAINTENANCE. At Saturday's . meeting' of the _ Horowhemia County Council, letters were received from the Shan--«4on Borough Council, the Shannon Branch of the Farmers’ Union, the Whitaunni Flaxmilling Company, and the Shannon Co-operative Dairy Co., drawing attention to the unsatisfactory condition of the Shannon Fo.vton road between the Manawatn Bridge and Shannon, and asking that it he a (tended to. The Shannon Farmers’ Union further stated that the whole of the r’oads in the Tokomaru Riding were out of repair. . The chairman said that, in moving that these letters he received, he would say that the road complained of was not a good road. There was a lot. of traffic on it at present, and it was also a road which was- subject to flooding with the result that the foundations were rotten. At present there were banking operations in progress in . the neighbourhood and he did not think that there was any possibility of doing anything to put the road on a satisfactory footing until this was completed. Regarding the complaint of the Shannon Borough he had been over the road and would like to say that the Shannon Borough road was not any better than was the County road. As regards the Shannon Dairy Co., the complaint was a reasonable one.- Theirs was a legitimate and necessary industry, but he thought the factory could assist by providing wider tyres oh their vehicles. Milk -was one of the worst loads which could be carried on a road. It was a swaying load and cut up a road badly and if the factory would arrange to put on wider tyres it would help. He would mention also that the allocation for the road was more than expended so that the position was difficult. In the Tokomaru Riding the roads were admittedly out of condition, but the County had been held up through failure to secure adequate supplies of metal from Paekakariki, but he hoped to be able to get on with the work shortly. Cr. Whyte said that with regard to the complaint of the Farmers’ Union it would appear from the letter that all the roads in the riding were bad, but this was not a fact. There were really only those roads bad over which the transmission poles were being carted. The chairman suggested that where damage was done by the Public Works Department the Engineer should take steps to have a claim against the Government enforced for the damage done. "The Engineer stated that this been attempted but no satishad been got so far. Cr. Catley said that most of the trouble in the Tokomaru riding was probably caused by the class of metal used. —They had an illustration of this in Knku when the metal was put on as it came from the river. On the main roads the road roller crushed the larger stones which strengthened the remainder but in the other roads this had not been . done so that the larger stones rolled off. What was necessary was more machinery to deal with the metal adequately. Cr. Barber said that practically the whole of the trouble was in the southern end of the riding and was mostly due to the banking operations and the action of the Public Works. On the motion of the chairman, it - was decided that the matter of the . Shanon-Foxton road be referred to . the Engineer and member’s for the riding to inquire into and decide if the finances of the riding permitted of an allocation being made for the work.