COUNTY ROAD UPKEEP

Otaki Mail, 5 June 1922, Page 1

COUNTY ROAD UPKEEP

. * A GROWING PROBLEM. In moving the adoption of the 'ireasurer's report at the annual meeting, of the Hotowheuua County council on I Wednesday, the chairman suited thai, the time had oomo when it was neees-j sary to raise' Hie expenditure on the I main road, iu his own riding and \N trokino as well, there had heeu a good ! deal ol sub-division ol properties and; this meant more roads to serve the setHers. In I'e Horo tliere were ten miles more roads than there were a lew years ago. Settlers naturally produced more and this produce had to he carried over the roads on narrow tyres which necessitated additional upkeep. The same thing had occurred in Wirokino owing to new settlement. \\ ere the settlers in a position to pay the demand lor extra revenue made by the Council to maintain these roads: tin quoted the Geat Estate in the l'e Horo Hiding, where a lew years buck there were twtr or three families and to-day i there were !)0 settlers ail milking and carrying on steady traffic over the roads. The Chairman then referred to the condition of the main roads and considered that ii would be good policy to raise a loan to deal with at least portion of the main roads. The position was bad in the County but acute in the Wirokino Hiding. The roads there had not been well built and it? was costly to get metal to them. The I present was not an opportune tune to j get, money by loan, but oilier counties J were getting some and he did hut see i, why their County should not, The Co-J

uncillors would remember that the Main Highways Hill was shelved last j session, but a Conference was to be i held shortly between the executive ol the Counties Association, representatives of the Public Works Department, the flood Hoads Association and the Automobile Association hi regard to roads administration and the disposal of the tyre lax, etc. tie was oi opinion that the tyre tax would ultimately go to the Consolidated Fund. The way the Government should assist counties such as their- was lo increase the subsidy or by way oi Government giants. There were lew counties on all fours witli Horowhenua in its geographical position, and consequent heavy upkeep justified the County .11 asking the Government lot assistance. The Counties Association proposed ;. King lor an increase ol lrom 5 10 lu in the Governmeni rale subsidy, bin the Chairman maintained thai this should 1 e paid on the mileage oi main roads through the eouimes. lixpeiidiiuie would have to be watched \ ery closely this year in ordei to come out with a. clean sheel al the end oi next March, j The practice ul employing loadmcn a lew extra days here and there would" | have to stop in order to reduce expenditure. The collection ol tutes on Government lands was a diifkul; problem f>nd he ihouthl >he counties should combine and make a demand lor returned soldier settlers' ictes, which m many instances were overdue. Heturned .-oldie:- iii man.', cases had laken up land al high value- and wci-2 having a snuggle, but the,\ were calling their milk over the county toads and cutting them up. What that had J cost in this community he did nut j know, but ii must be a large sum. In? some districts tliere were no such di- j tliculties, but the ratepayers in general j should not be asked lo bear the whole 1 burden of road upkeep whi'st others' escaped. Where Ihe Government monies coming from soldiers they saw that they got paid out ol the milk cheques and in one case tne speaker knew hi the whole cheque was ta-

ken by the Department. Aitfi a dur-e study ul the work done j in the oflice he could say it \vm done j well although I' was increasing. That also apiJiit- 1 - to the work 61 the lingiueer. It was difficult and meant more office work when the rates were not coming in well and there was a lot to do in the adjustment if the special rates owing to '.lie new valuation. Under the new valuation the County would not collect a much larger amount. Touching on the Estimates, the Chairman said the figures would speak for themselves, but after 'paving been through the County lately he did not think the Estimates were irained too liberally. To give an idea 01 the increased expenditure which the County was being called upon to bear , he quoted the riding estimates of the years 191 S-19 and l'J22-23 to show what this! meant: 1915-l'J 1922-23 Tokomaru Biding 1785 3570 Wirokino Riding W 95 6700 Otaki Riding ISO ° ■ J ' ; - 5 (£SOO main toad, Te Horo Riding 1720 SB'-O \ The Chairman pointed out that work I •n bridges was responsible ioi some oi j ilis proposed expenditure 111 this, year's estimates, but '.ins wa- not recurring The district roads, too, were carrying much more traffic and most of it on narrow tyres. From the estimates. however, councillors would see the position that faced the County, and the maintenance of a fairly high general rate to meet increased expenditure in road upkeep. Before concluding, the Chairman referred to «ie excellent report that was -again placed before trie Council by Mr Goldsmith, the Treasurer. These reports contained a lot of valuable information to Councillors who had now got the habit of looking forward annually to thesa. ilhe repcrj will be published in a future issue). Cr Harkness, in seconding the nio- " tion, said this was the most serious stage the County had ever gone through. Revenue had not, corns ug je ££•-

peciations and in his opinion tne present siuie 01 their roaus wa o uue lo the lack of policy in the past. Hoads UL.II; gluing woise and iai.es were using higher, and the Comity should can 1 a nan and evoive a new policy—better t roads and lower lates. Thai convinced i him a. loan was tne only lunig to alter 7 the position so far as Wirokino vas S concerned, and he suggested that the engineer uraw up an estimate lor putting the main road in condition, A way would have to be devised for the payment of the interest. 'lhe Chairman: The ratepayers woul'i have to pay a special .ate 011 mat loan. ur liarkness reierred to the tyre lax whieu ne thought should ue ijaiu :o the County lor expenditure on roads, tie also advocated, under present conditions, the use oi toii gates lor revenue purposes iu wuuiuuu riding, The Chairman: \uu can't have tue tyre tax and ton gate too, Cr liarkness; The tyre tax belongs to the counties and not to me Government ifegardmg the 101 l jate sugg-JS-jition, these couiu be ict o,> tender, givI. iug the tenderers an income and an as

sured return to the coumt - ine u,uestiuii was would trie lio\ eminent give Uie right to erect toll gales. Xne Automobile people would raise objection, but they used the county roads, ana i should pay some ol the upkeep. 'lon gates were used in i'arauaki ana 'there was no objection to them there. I lie considered about £SOO a year could he derived from three toll gate, m Wirukmo, which would jfo u long j wa\ in paying the interest on a loan } to pui the mam roads in order. *S i.i. Kyder considered it a disgrace ilmi the Government did J.ui pay rules on land held by soldiers. He consdercd Cr. l-larkness was on the right track in his suggestions, and the time was coming when improved road surfaces would have to be adopted, and referred to the portion ol tar-seuied work done at Te Horo. Estimates should be prepared by die Engineer lor such work on a larger scale. Touching on 101 l gates, he thought, these should not affect local iraliic bui through ualfic. Cr. Uroadbeit touched on the W'irokiuo roads, and said the trailic mad'; upkeep a very heavy burden. 11 they got (he ratepayers' consent to a loon it would save upkeep in the long run. He thought motorists would not object to 101 l gates, but the neighbouring counties would want a share. 11 they got an equitable portion ol the tyre lax it would be a good thing. A loan proposal was well worth considering. Cr. McLeavej staled that even d they raised a riding loan <he ordinary rate would have to be struck. At, present the county did not know what the Government was going to do in road maintenance matters. It may give a larger grant.. The chairman, in reply, relerriug to lar-sealed roads, said the cost was somewhere aboui jWUO or t-'ooo a mile, and there would be maintenance asf well. The rale would have to be struck whether a loan was raised r not. It the county tar-sealed its roads and raised a loan lor the purpose, the .Minister could come along aftenvaids and lake the road and leave the loan on the county. He had lavoured toll j gates at one tune, but did not think I them necessary if they got justice - through the tyre tax. If the county i adopted toll yates, there was nothing jto prevent llutt, Manawatu and any I other county doing the same. Howwould they like to have lo traverse ' 20 or 30 toll gates in running through to Auckland by road? Cr. Broadbelt asked if their count j could get representation en the conference which the chairman had rei ierred to. t The chairman said he had no doubt ! if u. request was made It would receive attention. It was decided to write and ascertain if representation could be secured. The motion for the adoption of the treasurer's report was then carried.