NEW MAIN HIGHWAY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 332, 18 April 1928, Page 16

NEW MAIN HIGHWAY

ROSKILL BOARD MEETS COST OF ANZAC WREATH At a meeting of the Mount Roskill Road Board last evening a letter from the clerk to the Mount Albert Borough Council asking the board to lay a percolation drain on its side of Mount Albert Road, between Beagle Avenue and Vincent Road, to prevent water soakage breaking up the bitumen surface of the recently-constructed main road, was received. The engineer reported that the soakage was not coming from the board’s area. In his opinion, if when construction was in hand, subsoil drainage of the road bed had been attended to, the conditions now complained of would not have arisen. The chairman, Mr. E. F. Jones, read an extract from the New Zealand Government Gazette of April 5, announcing that the Mount Albert road from the Royal Oak to the Mount Albert boundary had been declared a main highway. He said that this news was very gratifying to the district, and the board could now go to the ratepayers with confidence for a loan to concrete this road, seeing that the Highway Board’s subsidy would have The effect of materially reducing the cost.

ft was decided to forward to the Mount Albert Borough Council the engineer’s report and draw its attention to the Gazette notice declaring this road a main highway. The board agreed to a request of the Auckland City Council to pay 6 per cent, interest on £3,740 over a period of five years, to cover its share of the cost of putting the boundary loads between the two districts in permanent repair. Referring to the sewering of the Wesley Training College property, Three Kings, the engineer reported that as the Health Department had objected to the use of a certain subdivision of this land for building allotments until the area was satisfactorily drained, the subdivision was held up. He suggested that the Wesley College trustees be asked to undertake the construction of two roads through the property immediately the sewerage .scheme is approved by the ratepayers. The additional cost would amount to £3,300. Mr. T. Davies said that this must be added to the drainage loan for the district, because if the scheme did not comprise the whole of the board’s western area, special loans would have to be raised whenever an additional block was cut up, resulting in a repetition of the confusion now existing in the eastern area. The board agreed with Mr. Davies and the engineer’s report was adopted. WREATH OR POT-HOLES

The Auckland Returned Soldiers’ Association wrote asking the board to purchase a wreath for £ 5 5s to be placed on the cenotaph on Anzac Day.

Mr. L. A. Tozer pointed out that the board was allowed onlv £SO a year for unauthorised expenditure, and there were so ’Vations made for donations that he felt the board could not afford more than £2 12s 6d. Mr. J. R. Robertson: The relatives of the dead have to be considered. Give them five guineas or nothing. Mr. E. W. Foote: There are plenty of bad holes in the roads. The money would be better spent on them. Eventually after further discussion the board compromised with £2 12s 6d, the amount to be remitted to the Returned Soldiers’ Association. A letter was received from the Technical College Board applying for a donation to the funds of the college for the purpose of improving the apparatus to be used by the 2,500 students attending the classes. Another request for a donation was received from the secretary to the W.E.A. Each institution benefited to the extent of £1 Is. The secretary of the Suburban Transport Committee wrote suggesting that until the sitting of the Transport Commission any business done in connection with it be taken in committee. The board agreed to this suggestion. Permits were issued for the erection of seven buildings to cost £2,645. The clerk submitted a return of the number of building permits issued for the year ended March 31. 1928, which showed that 280 permits had been issued for buildings valued at £118,340. Of these 113 were dwellings (£101,140) and six were business premises (£4,961). Alterations and additions amounted to 161 permits to the value of £12,239. The total permit fees collected were £489 7s 6d. The general account is £1,208 13s 2d in credit. The annual meeting of ratepayers was fixed for Wednesday, May 2, being three days before the annual elections. Mr. J. R. Robertson suggested that it be a recommendation to the incoming board to erect rest rooms for women at the Royal Oak corner and also in Dominion Road, but the suggestion met with no support.