State Will Not Help

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 241, 31 December 1927, Page 6

State Will Not Help

LEVEL-CROSSING MENACE

Local Bodies Agitated

THE hard and fast dictum of the Government in making local bodies pay half the cost of eliminating dangerous level railway crossings is causing some agitation among the local bodies themselves, and in Auckland particularly there is a feeling that the greater responsibility for the safety of these crossings should fall upon the shoulders of the State.

It is now revealed that when the Government was approached in respect to the Argyle Street crossing, the official reply was that there were plenty of other crossings in New Zealand more important and requiring attention more urgently than this.

IgEFORE the 1927 session of Parliament ended the Prime Minister, the Right Hon. J. G. Coates, made it clear in the House of Representatives that the Government was prepared to undertake the elimination of as many level crossings as the local bodies wished, so long as the councils concerned paid half the cost. However generous this offer might have appeared in the eyes of the Prime Minister, the local authorities do not view the Government in the light of a philanthropic institution,

a? % as a; as as as as and apart from the belief that the primary responsibility for public safety is that of the State, other obstacles are raised In the way of councils which are ready to go ahead with the work. The job must be done by the Government, and the local body must pay half the Government’s cost. This is the provision that is holding back some of the boroughs and counties In which level crossings constitute a standing menace to the safety of the ratepayers. The Mount Eden Borough Council suggests approaching the Government with a view to eliminating the crossing which gives access from Mount Eden Road Into Boston Road, near the gaol site. It is the hope of the council that by diverting the traffic from the city over this route—-assum-ing that the chief outlet from the new railway station will be Grafton Road —the congestion In Symonds Street

and that locality will be relieved. “The cost of this overhead bridge unquestionably should come out of the Consolidated Fund,” the Mayor of Mount Eden, Mr. E. H. Potter, saul this morning. "It is a crossing for general traffic, and placed there by the Railway Departme-*. and the feeling in this district is that the State should bear the cost of making it safe.”

Even if the council agreed to share the cost of this work, Mr. Potter ob served, the Government insisted that the State should do the work, and the council would be forced to agree to pay on the estimate of the State. “And the Government’s costs are by no means the lowest,” the Mayor added significantly. There appears to be a genuine grievance in connection with the Argyle Street crossing. Correspondence tiles produced by the Mayor ’of Meant Albert, Mr. Leonard E. Rhodes show that the council has been in persistent negotiation with the Government for making this crossing safe, and when everything else failed the council virtually said: “Well, give us a wigwag signal; it is better than nothing.” But the Government would not, and the tragedies go on. “HAD TO GIVE UP”

“We had to give it up,” said Mr. Rhodes to-day, “but now that further accidents have oc mired we will have to approach the authorities again after the holidays. After all, it is the concern of the railways, but we must do our best to protect the lives of our ratepayers. “The Government told us that there were plenty more dangerous crossings in New Zealand than the Argyle Street crossing, and these would have to receive attention before we could get even a safety device for ours.”

Endeavours have been made to secure safety devices for Woodward Road crossing as well, minor accidents having occurred there, but the Government remains steadfast in its refusal.

The conciliatory spirit of the Mount Albert Council in the past was exemplified by its contribution of £IO,OOO toward the cost of £22,000 for the overhead bridge at Kingsland. The Mayor says if the Government wants a contribution of 50 per cent, of the cost of such a bridge at Argyle Street the ratepayers would have to be consulted, because the money is not available at present. Local bodies are suffering under this “help yourselves" policy on what they believe to be a responsibility of the Government itself, and the feeling gathered .in Auckland was that they are prepared to help themselves up to any reasonable extent, so long as they are not compelled to carry too great a share of the authorities’ burden.