ELECTRIC LINE NEAR MANAWATU BRIDGE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3794, 19 May 1928, Page 2

ELECTRIC LINE NEAR MANAWATU BRIDGE.

BOARD DECIDES ON ITS REMOVAL.

LIABILITY REFERRED TO HIGHWAYS BOARD.

At the April meeting of the HorowhenuaM’ower Board a letter was received from the acting-en-gineer to the Manawatu County Council (Mr. Bond) calling attention to six or seven poles which might become a danger to traffic in the vicinity of the new Manawatu bridge, near Shannon. The Crown Law office had been consulted by the Highways Board’s engineer, and had given the opinion that the Council only had to serve notice on the Board to remove any poles that might become dangerous to traffic. The position, as explained by the Board’s secretary (Mr. P. W. Goldsmith) was that, about four years ago, the Board obtained an easement from a land owner and took the line through his property and clear of any road existing at that time. Subsequently the new road and approaches to the bridge were brought close to the Board’s lines on that property. When the letter had been considered, a motion was passed instructing the Board’s engineer (Mr. J. A. Smith) to interview the District Engineer of the Public Works Department and go into the matter with him. The subject came up again at Thursday’s meeting of the Board, when a legal opinion was received from Mr. T. F. Martin, solicitor to the Power Boards Association, the substance of which was that poles must not be left in a dangerous position, and consequently that the Board could obviate the present cause of danger by removing the lines, and such removal must lie at the Board’s own cost. The chairman (Mr. G. A. Monk) said that, although Mr. Martin’s opinion was correct, he (the chairman) had thought it was as well to place the position before the District Engineer and point out that the Board was not trespassing on a public road, but that a public road had been created, encroaching on land over which the Board had an easement to take its line. The Department and the County interested in the construction of the road should each bear half the cost of the removal of the poles. The District Engineer said that the above aspect of the matter had not previously been placed before him, and he would refer it back.to the Highways Board, to see if they could give consideration to the request. In the meantime, the Board’s engineer had been instructed to have the work done as soon as it was convenient to himself and the contractor who was doing the road. The lines would not be left to be a danger to the travelling public.