CONCRETE AND TRAMS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1042, 5 August 1930, Page 11

CONCRETE AND TRAMS

MOUNT ROSKILL POLLS TOMORROW PROPOSALS EXPLAINED Mount Roskill ratepayers will have two loan polls on their hands tomorrow. In addition to the Transport Board’s proposal to borrow £58,400 for the extension of the tramway system to Avondale, the Mount Roskill Road Board is seeking authority to raise £17,000 for the permanent construction of Three Kings Road, in order that the Mount Eden extension may be carried to Mount Albert Road, thereby establishing a tram terminus in the heart of the district. Should this loan be rejected it is the intention of the Transport Board to fix the terminus at the end of the qoncrete, or some GO chains short of Mount Albert Road. It is pointed out that the interest and sinking fund on the ’loan will barely exceed the annual cost of maintenance of a scoria road, while the advantages of a concrete highway, a considerable reduction on tram fares and the enhanced value of property is expected to appeal to ratepayers. NEW WATER MAIN

The loan includes the cost of a new 8-inch water main, indispensable for fighting fires. The loan, which will be on a 20year term, will bo covered by a sinking fund of 3 per cent., and will bear interest at 5| per cent., a total of approximately 3s 2d a year on £IOO unimproved value. The saving of maintenance costs on the old road, however, will tend to counterbalance the additional rate.

The polling places are:—Methodist Hall, Pah Road; Cantelin’s garage. Pah Road; Road Board office, Mount Albert Road; Mr. Pearn’s shop, Dominion Road, near King’s Road; Baptist Hall. Richardson Road; and the Chamber of Commerce, Swanson Street. Auckland; and hours from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. On the Three Kings loan Mount Roskill ratepayers will be allowed their full number of votes, but only one vote each may be recorded on the Transport Board’s proposal. , CITY’S WORST ROAD NOT SAFE FOR TRAMWAY TRANSPORT BOARD’S VIEW I had no idea until recently tha: there was such a bad road in Auckland. It would not be safe for the Transport Board to lay tram tracks on such a foundation.” This was the main reason advanced by Air. J. A. C. Alluni, chairman of the Transport Board, at a meeting of Mount Roskill ratepayers last evening for the concreting of the Three Kings Road. Were the road concreted a start would be made with laying the tracks in October, but it the ratepayers rejected t lie loan proposals the tram terminus would not go further than Rewi Road. The board was prepared to spend £23,00U on an extension to Mount Albert Road, a sum £6.000 more than the estimated cost of paving the two concrete carriage ways. Th residents of Roskill would thus be given an efficient tram service to the city. LONG SECTION Air. Allum hoped the extension to Alount Albert Road would bo only one section, although a long one. With trams only as far as Rewi Road, residents would have to walk the GO chains us tho board could not afford a bus service on so short a route. He also appealed for support of the proposes Avondale extension loan. Air. E. F. Jones, chairman of the Alount Roskill Road Board, who presided, asked ratepayers to honour a past promise by voting for the con crCting loan. Owing to poor transport tho central area of the district had lagged behind, having neither trams roads nor footpaths. The area wouli bo retarded for at least ten years if the loan were not carried. More than £2OO a year was being saved on Dominion Road since concreting j\nd a similar saving would be made, in addition to £ 4 a year individually in tram fares. APPEAL FOR SUPPORT Air. S. I. Goodall, chairman of the Finance Committee, also Appealed for support for the loan, reminding his audience that Roskill had been agitating for years for better transport facilities. A resolution, proposed by Mr. C.. Walker and seconded by Air. W. Phillip, was carried unanimously, endorsing the board’s loan proposals and pledging support for the Avondale extension loan. •