THE LAST CALL.

Shannon News, 7 December 1926, Page 2

THE LAST CALL.

HIGHWAY BOARD'S TOUR. FINISHES IN LEVIN. TRAVELLED 2000 MILES. The Main Highways Board, on its return journey to Wellington from a tour of the North Island, spent about an hour in Levin on Wednesday and met the Horowhenua County Council to discuss a few matters, mainly connected with finance, relating to the official main roads in this district. The Board's Contributions. The flrot question brought before the Board '• by the Council had reference to the payments by the Board of its contributions towards highway work. The accounts have been rendered to the Department monthly, but the Council, has experienced difficulty in getting' prompt payments; sometimes two or three months elapsed before the Council , received its share, of the cost of certain works. At fche conference on Wednes- , day the Board promised the Council that its claims would be expedited in future and more prompt payment made. Question of Expenses. Another matter which was considered was that of payment by the Board of a share of the engineering and clerical expenses in connection with the constructional work. This question had been discussed at previous conferences, but the Council had not heard that any definite decision had been arrived at. Mr A. E. Jull, representative of the | Counties' Association on the Board, in- ! timated that the matter was .under eonj sideration"by the Board, and he thought.. that some finality might be reached- ■ before long. Funds Still Available! The County Chairman (Cr» G. A. Monk) stated that it, had been rumoured that there was a possibility of not quite sufficient funds being available next year to paly the Boards contributions to all the construction work which might be undertaken by the. var- " ious local authorities. As this Council had undertaken the highway scheme from an economic standpoint, base'd on the desire that the work should be car- " ried out within a period of three years, lie would like to have the assurance that the scheme, so far as this Council was concerned, would not be held up or curtailed in the event of .contribution* being retarded by the Main Highwavs Board. . y * In reply the Board assured the Cour 1 -' <il that there was no suggestion to curtail the contributions for the coming year. , The point involved is one of economy in finance, depending upon the avai'ability of contributions towards the Main Highway through the district, which is estimated to cost £145,000. By pushing on with this work, so as to complete it in three years, the Council will be saving on the high cost of tin present maintenance of metalled roads, because the same money will be utilised for paying interest on the cost 'pf a metalled road. In other words, the work has to be carried out in as short a time as possible to enable the country Mo get the full benefit of it. "Doing Good Work." Several questions of detail in eonnec- X tion with main highway operations were considered, after which the Council expressed appreciation of the Board's visit, the County chairman saying hewas satisfied that the Board was doing good work. Mr Wynyard, who represents the / automobile interests, on the 'Board, said* that as this Av s as the last meeting to be held on the tour, he wished, on behalf '■ of his fellow-members, to express their appreciation of the manner in which the tour had been conducted by the chairman (Mr MeKenzie, Chief Public Works Engineer). Other members endorsee!; these remarks, and the chairman of'the Board / briefly thanked the members for their expressions of appreciation. He added that since starting on its tour on November 19th; the Board.had travelled over 2000 miles and had visited 49 local authorities. .