LOW MAINTENANCE COSTS.

Putaruru Press, Volume VIII, Issue 335, 24 April 1930, Page 5

LOW MAINTENANCE COSTS.

■ ! TAR-SEALING PROCESS,

No. 1 Road, Waitoa, Mentioned.

The low cost per mile of maintenance on No. 1 road from Waitoa to Springdale were described by Cr. W. F. Stark (Morrinsville) at the April meeting of the Piako County Council as a splendid argument for pushing on with the tar-sealing of other county roads. In a discussion of the road it was mentioned that the maintenance costs were only £32 during the year, or about £5 a mile. This was laid down about six years ago. The engineer, Mr. B. H. Horner, stated that he had asked Mr. Tindall, the Highways Board engineer, to go over No. 1 road during his visit to the county and suggest what should be done to improve it. Mr. Tindall had stated after a close inspection that the condition of the road physically was good, and it did not require re-sealing. He advised the council to go on patching as before until the road was in good order, so that later on, when the time came for re-seal-ing, the surface would be level. He stated emphatically that the Highways Board would not consider spending money on No. 1 road, while the main road through Waitoa remained as it was.

Cr. F. W. Walters (Waitoa) said only £32 had been spent on No. 1 road during the year, but over £9OO out of the rates had been spent on No. 8 road and other roads of the riding. The places where there were most corrugations were those where only 4in of shingle had been put down, showing that 4in was enough. On the rest of the road 6in of shingle had been laid down, and there was not a blemish on the surface of the road. Referring to criticism of expenditure on roads in the Waitoa riding, he saj[d he wanted the settlers on No. 8 road to know they had been getting the rates paid by settlers on No. 1 road, wKere very little maintenance had been re-

quired. Cr. Stark asked Cr. Walters if it was not a fact that the maintenance on No. 1 road had been only £5 a mile during the year. If that was so it was a good argument for tarsealing all the roads. Cr. Walters agreed that the maintenance costs had been only about £5 a mile.

The chairman, Cr. W. R. Lowry, commented that if No. 1 road had been a macadamised road the maintenance Would have cost about £7O a mile a year, and would have been thrashed to pieces by the traffic.