KOPUTAROA-BUCKLEY ROAD.

Shannon News, 16 October 1923, Page 3

KOPUTAROA-BUCKLEY ROAD.

REVISED ESTIMATE ASKED FOR

' At Saturday’s meeting of the Horowne.nua County council a letter was received irtmi the seqreiary ox tue Koputaioa-Buckley road extension scneiiie asking) mat tne .County Engineer re vise-ins estimate tor tne work so as .to pruviue lor me cneupesfc possible road connecting Koputaroa .with Shannon, and pointing out that, this road would be a great convenience to settlers from that district who wished to travel north, cutting off as it would about five miles of tiie distance between Koputaroa and Shannon.

The chairman said he had discussed the matter witli the engineer who istated that lie had gone carefully (through his .estimate and this was lor the cheapest 'possible road that he could recommend to the County. '■Cr; Broadbelt said it had been a great disappointment to the residents of the district, when the engineer’s report came out. He. understood that the engineer had made provision lor raising the level of the road to about that of the railway line. When the Makerna drainage scheme was done, however, the water would be lowered considerably, so that the level of the proposed road could be lowered. . The engineer stated that there was no guarantee that the Makerua- drainace scheme would effect the improvement stated. Further the lowering of the surface would not make the great reduction in cost that was expected. Tiie bridges, culverts, fascining. etc., would still have In be made. Another thing was that the people asking for the road put forward as. their chief contention that this would be a Main Highway. If this were so, what would be The use of piffling in a lOl'f road. The County would not take over a 10ft- road in any case. Cr. Broadbelt said that it was hoped by the people of Koputaroa that, if a. start were made by the County, the road would l>e taken over by the Main Highways Board.

Cr. Ryder suggested that if it were considered that the Makerua Drainage scheme would do as much ns was expected it would he 1 a good thing to defer consideration of the road until this drainage had been done. They would then know how the position stood

Thie motion that an estimate for a cheaper road should be prepared was then put and lost on the voting.

'At a meeting of the Council of the Chamber of Commerce in Christchurch, a letter was received from a. seed company, which stated that a. German firm with Which the company did business before the war had tasked if New Zealand importers were allowed to pay the full invoice amount or if, as was the case in England, they were obliged to pay the Government 26 per cent, on reparation account. The Acting Prime Minister had been written to on the subject and had referred it to the Minister of Customs, who .(had stated tiiat the matter was receiving consideration. In the meantime such action would not be taken and it was lawful to remit the. full amount of the invoice to the German supplier.