KOPUTAROA-BUCKLEY ROAD.

Shannon News, 30 November 1923, Page 3

KOPUTAROA-BUCKLEY ROAD.

MEETING AT KOPUTAROA

PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT TO

BE APPROACHED

A representative meeting was held at Koputaroa last night to consider the estimate of the Horowhenua Courn>ty .Council engineer (of £15,000) ior I tne proposed road -to connect KoputaI roia with. Buckley, and so provide a I direct route to Shannon. Mr E. D. Bell, who presided, briefly I outlined the position. The road it I was proposed to form was a length, of I 2J miles from Koputaroa. to Buckley | toi link up with Shannon. It was proposed to keep to -the old survey but the line was almost straight, witn ah e.ve.n grade. A deputation had been sent to. the Horownenua County Council which had sent its engineer to make an estimate. He had given one a i £15,000. This was considered, excessive. Mr Bell stressed the point that the railway did not cost £15,000 to put -through there. • He, would admit there was sotnie swamp on tihe route, but it was. not as bottomless as the engineer made ou)t. As they ail knew the bush grew all through it, and bush would not grow where there was no bottom. As a result of a meeting at Shannon Mr Linklater, M.P., had been approached. He hau expressed himself in favour of the road and stated that the tendency of the Government was to get short outs and good levels. He had promised his .support. The' speaker had con stilled Mr Ward, of Ward and Salmond, surveyors, who were surveying the site of the cuts which were to deviate the Manawatu River. Mr Ward had said that judging from a cursory examination he did not think the road would cost anything like £15,000. He had offered to give an estimate. Referring to the statements ma-die at the Levin Borough Council meeting, Mr Bell remarked that the trailwia-y over the sWarnp hald not given any trouble and had in fact not been flooded more than three times in 20 years. He went on to dwell on the saving in time the road would .afford settlers. The Levin stock market Was -the principal one in the district and from the drover’s point, of view the road would save them. a great deal. It Was all very well to- say that the road would cost a large sum for maintenance, but the railway had not done so.. Mr R. L. Tippler, representing the Shannon Chamber of Commerce, said it was very anxious to see the road through. He oould not see why Koputaroa had stayed still so long, as* the road urea,nt a saving of nine miles to them wtHen going to, Palmerston North. He had Obtained an offer from Messrs Jickell and Gihnour, of Palmerston North}, to. give an estimate lor the. road. /

Mir W. H. Gunning, of the Shannon Chamber pf Commence, agreed that the estimaltje of the County engineer seemed too high. They had. maintained that the road would have to he made on the level of the railway, but the speaker believed that the big drainage scheme would do a great deal to dry up the swamp. Mr Malcolm, the previous County Engineer, had given an estimate some years ago ior £6OOO. The difference could not be accounted for by the rise in wages or material. The. Koputaroa stream was being cleared out and. that would tend to drain the swamp. ■ He. proposed that a' levels post be put In at the lowest point of the swamp and a record kept of the height of ally floods, which he felt were greatly exaggerated. At Makerua on the main road as much as three feet of water had been on the road, but that had not made it impassable. He was. strongly in favour c.f getting an estimate, for the road as it would put them 1 , in a much stronger position. He emphasised his point that it Was not necessary to put the road on the same level as the railway. There were nothing like the floods that there used to 'be. The cost of getting an estimate could easily be raised rouind the. diistrict. The chairman stated that after the meeting in Shannon he wTOte to the Horowhenua County Council 'asking them to ge.t their engineer to give an estimate for a lower and narrower road. They had refused, maintaining that the road must be 20 feet wide and high enough to obviate damage through floods. It had been proposed that if the. estimate was suitable a Government subsidy should He obtained and a poll taken of the Tokornaru and Wirokino ridings on the question of a rating area. Mr S .A. Broadbelt, of the Horowhenua County Council, said he was in favour of the scheme. A poll had once been taken in the Wirokino tiding and had been badly beaten. He could see quite well that the real difficulty would be to. get the rate- / payers at any distance from Koputa- [ roa to. consent. He thought the Couni cil was quite justified in insisting that the road must be wide enough. A narrow .road would not. carry the traffic of to-day. The question of damage to the> road by flood water had not been considered by the Council. What they had felt was that,they did not wish to 'build a road which might be blocked by floods. Mr Tuiti McDonald., for the natives, said that the people he represented wjere still willing to donate chains of land a chain, wide for Hie site of the road. He felt Mr

Broadbelt had touched the root of the whole question in that the ratepayers generally under the Council w’O'Uld refuse to 1 ihave ttiß road. If they wouldi not; it was all waste of time. . Mr Broadhelt thought that the best plan would be to approach the Highways Board for its assistance and opinion. If they would approve the road as a connecting link it would provide a powerful lever. He lelt that thte road was of more national importance than parochial importance. (Hear, hear). , . The chairman said that hd found, in con,versa/ion with the residents Oliau, Kuku; and Waikanae. that when the position was explained to them sthGy were in favour of it. We. thought that with judicious canvassing they

would; support the proposal. He agreed that the riding was. of more than parochial .importance. The position was the natural one for the road .to take.

Mr Gunning felt that if a poll was taken oyer a .widie district there would he a very little chance of carrying it. It one was taken it would have to he oyer a small area.

Mr Tippler thought the Tokomaru district would object to the road. Mr Kef slake remarked that the Shannon Farmers’ Union had passed a resolution opposing the road and objecting to a poll being taken over the whole area, and that gave an indication of the probable result of a poll. He advocated following the line of least resistance, either by appealing to the Highways Board or agreeing to a smaller rating area that would have mom chance of carrying a proposal. A, strong point Tor the Highways Board was that these few miles of road would open a direct and level roujte from Levin to Palmerston North, on the main north and south highway. Mr McDonald pointed out that when the' 1 floods were up to the railway line the Foxton route was blocked. Re a poll only those people who were, on the rout& Would vote for it. The chairman, .returning to the question of an 'estimate, said! that if a fresh one could be obtained he thought they should do 50..; Then they could call a fresh meeting and proceed. Mr Tuiti McDonald remarked that there were just two cows to milk—the County Council and. tile Government. The first one was kickiug a bit in the bail! H'e thought Mr Broadbelt’s suggestion of approaching the Main Highways Board was good. Mr Honi/McMillan thought the estimate was excessive, in the light of the cost of works at present in progress. Mr Broadbelt supported Mr Guhning’s suggestion of a level post in the swamp. At the request of the chairman he moved in this directionThe motion was seconded by Mr Gunning and carried unanimously. A- motion by Mr Broadbelt that the executives get into touch with the. en-gineer-in-chief' of the Public Works Department with a view to ascertaining their opinion on the. proposed road as part of the main highway, per medium of the Horowhen.ua’ Gouhty Council was carried. Mr G. S. Keedwell, for the. Levin Chamber of Commerce, expressed his interest in the. discussion. It was the policy of the Chamber to ioster any movement Which would benefit'the district as a whole; it did not confine itself to Levin. He agreed that the best chance of success was to be obtained 'by taking up the road, as of national importane rather, as a district scheme. He. thougnt if the cost was put. at a reasonable figure it could get a fair share of support for such, a proposal they would get the support of tbe| Chamber, but he could not promise,' financialassistance. Mr Holms, of the Levin Chamber, endorsed the. remarks of Mr Keedwell. Though the highway scheme was helu up he felt convinced that it would go through at the. next session of Parliament. „ Mr Gunning said that probably the next two years would see a lev pi road between. Shannon and Palmerston North, a,s Mr Seifert was planning a road from Moutoa to. Rangitane, to cut up .some of his land. It Would be quite without hills. / ,Mr Broadbelt wa.s pleased . to see they had the sympathy of the Levin and Shannon Chambers of Commerce. The chairman pointed 1 outt that n anything practical was to be. done an independent estimate would have to be obtained., Mr Tippler moved that a canvass be made for the sum of £2O, this when obtained to be applied to procure an estimate by Messrs Jickell and Gilmour in accordance with the County Engineer’s specification. 'Mr Broadbelt 0 thought the Public Works Department’s opinion should be obtained first- . rmrmw After a little discussion, Mr Tippler withdrew his motion. ' T . Mr McDonald moved that the Levin and Borough Councils and Chambers of Commerce be asked to urge the advantages of the proposed road on the Public Works Department.—Carried. Mr W. E- Kilsby moved that a deputation wait upon the Horowhienua County Council to make a similar request for their assistance.— T. McMillan, H. McDonald, W E. Kilsby, R. Law, E. D. Bell and 3. G. Spiers were appointed as me deputation, and it was decided to ask the Shannon and Levm Borough Councils and Chambers of Commerce 1 to. be represented. A .vote of thanks to the chair concluded the meeting.