GREAT SOUTH ROAD

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 896, 13 February 1930, Page 10

GREAT SOUTH ROAD

FRANKLIN COUNTY WANTS BIGGER SUBSIDY

THREE SCHEMES SUBMITTED

Three schemes have been consideration in connection with th, stretch of the Great South Road tween Papakura and Mercer, undethe control of the Franklin Count,Council.

This was stated at last evenim-s meeting of the A.A.A., when the attitude of the Highways Board was et plained to members. Mr. A. Grayson presided.

In connection with the first scheme Mr. M. H. Wynyiard said the firsseven miles laid in cement concrete would be £90,000, and £6,600 was needed for two concrete bridges. The surface of the nine miles to the Eons bay Hills would cost £ SI,OOO, the total cost of the scheme being £177,600. Another proposal was for concrete to the junction of the Pukekohe Road at Drury, costing £41,000 two concrete bridges at £6,600, and bitumen surface from Drury to Bombay, a total cost of £156,000. Th e third proposal was for a road laid on the cement penetration system throughout, estimated to cost £137,000.

Both the Highways Board and the Franklin County Council were in favour of the first scheme, the difference between the £90,000 cost for the first seven miles, and the £BI,OOO for the other nine miles, being accounted for by the number of deviations which, would be made.

A subsidy of £3 for £1 for thn road, and the usual £2 for £1 sub. sidy on the bridges, had been offered by the Highways Board, and though no definite reply had been received from the county council, it was understood that the council chairman hai stated that the amount was more than the council could hear. It vas understood that a committee of the council was to wait on the Highways Board in the matter.

In offering a higher subsidy, th» Highways Board would be departing from its usual procedure. The board's credits would total about £250,000 at the end of the financial year with the present commitments and amounts in hand. Last year the annual payments had been more than £2,000,008, and the board had always adopted the policy of carrying over a credit of £250,000 to keep all finances (>a a safe basis. ALLOCATIONS REDUCED Allocations to the board had ben cut down, and unless a greater amount was received from the Government than was the case last year, it would not be possible to increase these allocations. It might even be neettssary to reduce them. The problem was one for negotation. He considered the board’s offer was quite fair, and that the county was offered a better subsidy thar tb? local bodies controlling sections of the Great South Road nearer Auckland. The chairman of the A.A.A., Mr. A. Grayson, said he thought the offer was a handsome one. The county was one of the wealthiest in th© Aurkiand province both in rating and pn> ductiveness. Residents of the count? had reaped the benefit of sums spent by their neighbours, and it was now their duty to respond. Mr. G. W. Hutchison, secretary of the A.A.A., said that though the concreting of the road as far as Fapakura was opposed by farmers wben it was first mooted, not one of t hem would now go back to the old conditions. In reply to a question, Mr. wynyard said that the present maintenance on the road was about £L9 i mile a year. ,1 HAMILTON-NGARUAWAHIA STRETCH LEVELS COMPLETED

From Our Own Correspondent TE AWAMUTU, Wednesday. The engineer ol! the Waipa Council hopes to have the wtol's _ the levels prepared before next for the length of 32 miles of the urea*South Road through W’aipa Coun.y He has completed the levels for eight miles between NgaruawaWa an Hamilton, which is considered tne .n difficult portion.