CONTRACT OR ROYALTY?

Putaruru Press, 18 October 1923, Page 3

CONTRACT OR ROYALTY?

THE WAOTU ROAD. % Timber Company’s Contribution. New Arrangements Made. The vexed-"-question of the maintenance of the Waotu road was the subject in regard to which Messrs. Noonan and W. R. Pass, representing the Waotu Timber Co.. Ltd., waited on the Matamata County Council on Friday. They repeated their oiler of a year or so ago, that instead of paying a cartage royalty on their timber output as their share of the, cost of maintaining the road, they undertake the maintenance work themselves at their own cost. Mr. Noonan submitted that, with all due respect to the Council and its staff, the company bad ways and means that would enable it to do this work more economically and efficiently. The fact was that they had men and transport facilities —in the form of their own mo‘or lorries—practically always on the spot and thus could fill in holes, etc., immediately it was seen such work was required, avoiding the delay doling which the damage: became greater and the cost of repair consequently increased. For instance, H'' . company could often quite convnniently utilise their six bushmen on the road, especially at times when the e men iur'lv gained some days on ihe mill with trtoir supply of logs. Mr intimated that .the agreemen for royalty had just expired, and the company put forward th? new suggestion as likely to provide a better solution of the problem ot keeping this .road in order against' the timber traffic. Despite the royalty in the past, the road had been far from satisfactory, anil, in fact, so far this season the company's lorries had had only about five day’s running in all. The company understood that no rate money was available for present work there, and it was prepared to put the road in good order at once, to the.satisfaction <>f the engineer, keep i£ m g throup-Ttjbut the; cartage season, aw hand it back Itq the Council’s control on Mav 31. at the end' of the season, in p’ood order to the engineer’s satisfaction. By utilising its buslmon for the work when they were ahead with their supply of logs, the company would not feel the cost. Moreover, its lorries came back to Ihe mill emptv’ and thus when occas.on demanded could land metal a< one 01 the quarries en route and put it down where required. This agreement would, of course, be in lieu of the company having to pav carta'**e rayaltv for the season and should he entirely to the benefit of all concerned, including the settlers. rmmmdQßS- SDPm.RU . _ In supporting -the proposal. die Futaruiii-.- riding lumber, Gri: E. J. Darby, pointed out tliat £95/ had been speoSmit 1 of the riding's esti-" mated income of 51481 for the current financial year, while there were already further commitments amounting to £3OO. This left a balance of only about . : ; £IOO for the next six months to March .31 next, which would -gl practically nowhere in maintenance work for that period. Consequently, his only hope of managing was to make each road self-supporting. In this regard the Arapuni road was at present under the charge of the Public W ork.> L)3partment, ami for a further -1 i ..years would bei maintained, Fy the. contract-.-, or for tlifc installation of tree Arapuni headworks scheme. The next, road was the' Waotu road, and as the timber company was prepared to put itself out to some exte.it and put this road in order to tile engineer’s satisfaction, keep it in good order to his satisfaction, and hand it back to the Council 5b such order at the end of the term, they should certainly be given % trial. This road had given a great deal of trouble in the past, and " he would ask the Council to give the company this chance to shou what they could do to, remedy the matter. The chairman (to the deputation): Do vou want to say anything more? Mrs Noonan: No; that is practically our whole story. We do think we can keep the road in a better condition that it has beer, kept before. Mr. Pass: It is entirely in our interests to do so, -as we have to cart -practically ali our, output over the. road. We want to -start on .the road straight away and, -put d in good order" for.the se;>.\iuw Dr. Darby explained that although on the basis, fixed by th: Court, namely. ~ that the- company, by royalty, should pay. two-thirds of the cost of the maintenance of the road, there was a small debit balance against the company for last year, this was more than off-set by an item of £6O for spawls paid for by the company, but wrongly used for contract No. 148.

At the chairman’s request the deputation here withdrew, while the Council came to a decision in the matter. The engineer, Mr. M. E. Fitzgerald, said he was not uuite clear as to the financial effect of the company’s proposal as far as the Council- was, concerned. He agreed that the company could probably do the work <>n .the road more cheaply than the Council, but he would point out that if the agreement with the company covered only six months of the year, the Council would still have to keep the road in good order for the winter, when the costs were heaviest, without having received anv royalty to■w: rds the work. If. however, the agreement, were continuous for a number of years, this matter woujd prmali.se itself. Another small complication was that £2OOO of the £IO.OOO metalling loan was to he spent on this road. (Continued in Next Column.)

- Cr. Darby said that £473—or in round figures, £soo—ryas spent last rear on this road, but it was unsatisfactory throughout and very had during the . winter. He strongly urged the Council to support him in the new idea, as, he considered, it should mean a good road. .. Cr. H. W. Allen asked what would be the Council’s position if an accident happened on the road through a road-fault while the company were responsible for its maintenance. The engineer: An accident clause could he inserted in the agreement, putting the liability on the company. Cr. Judd asked whether, if the road were left in good condition by the company, at the end of the autumn, ' there would he any appreciable maintenance cost during the winter. The engineer; No; about the only work then should he the cleaning of the culverts occasionally. The engineer added that if the proposal was adopted, the company would really- he contractors for putting, maintaining, and handing hack the roa* in good order,' to his satisfaction. ) Crs. Darby and K. S. Cox moved that the company’s proposition he accepted, the agreement to be drawn -U'i forthwith and to ho continuous, subject to one month’s notice hv either party, terminating- it on May 31 in any ,year, 7 , . The deputation was then called in again and Informed of the Council s decision by the chairman. Mr. Noonan: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We do not think you will have any trouble with us. It will be our object to please the Council in the m fitter. Tr. reply io Cr. Cox. Mr. Noonan said the company anticipated that its mill would be operating- for about another six years.