TARIKI TIMBER TRAFFIC.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 36, 1 February 1908, Page 6

TARIKI TIMBER TRAFFIC.

| EXTrSAolilriNAliV DAiLVI.F. To A KOAL). | The hearing ol the Tariki road case w.i- iv-iuut'd yeaurday woruiug before ; Mr- IT. S. Fitzheihcrt, S.M. The TaraI n-iki County ( ulul _il eMmed from T. V. , SioKjii.. ...»,„i||er. the Mim ~| tan a-:<i>rit|H-li-.Mi..n !,„■ dallLlge eau-ed to the | lanki i.'.ii b\ defendant'., limber wag;go« n.itlii- iluuug la-t winter, tin Timr, ' 1 day the t oii,„il produced evidence ill -■ipp..n of the claim. The defence wa> i e..1|.-,| on ye-i.-rd.iy morning. Mr J honi-oii. in opening, -aid that his ' evi.iemv would -ho« that there were '•■ tiler laetoi- contiihuting to the di-re- , pair of the i„.,d. Firstly, there was the j u.ilk traflic which might be tailed extra- ' ■ :<l)ll.ll> ttJllle becau-c ol it- flCpiem-V. I A- had tie.-u remarked by an expert wit- | !>•-- for the plaintiff it was the most 1 -criou- f.uni of light irallie that road en jginiei- bad to contend with, secondly, there u... ilie general .•very day trallie ■ which was fairly heavy, ihe -ettlei's driv- ■ wig r.giil.ulv to market and driving their -t.K-k along the road: and thirdly. I ther" was tl„. damage cau-cd iiv til"

j..iriage l.i-t ye.,r of the heavy material ; for the new fero - concrete biidge lon the road. He would -how | that the road had not bee,, i.iiil: to bear tlii- extraordinary milk tralli.. A. evidencing that the defend ant u.i. prepare! to treal hi- fellow--ettlcr- ..ii.l the road in a fair manner. he would ..how that Simon- had offered lo .s.ntribute toward* the maintenance of the road, and had al-o paid the wheelta\ a- lon- a- it had been demanded I from him by the Council. The <|. feinl- [ ant vv... intere-te,| in t lk- road quite uiiiii.l, a- any fanner there, for he owned

• ne of the farm-. 'lh- S.M. ..,i,| that from the iir-t it had M'eim.l in him to be merely a ipiestion of -e::!ing ;he amount to be paid. Mr. Thomson. . ontinuing. -aid lie

would produce evidence to ..how :h.,i milk eart traffic was to a large mea-iir-r.".ponsih|p for the danrairc to the road. He would .how. too. that the piece of road over which the timber wagi.ons was prnctieallv the nnlv traffic, was still ini*rf.et order: whereas the road which »r»s lisp I by the farmers' carts and the waggon- bid fallen inio di-rep.n'r. He

drew attention [■> the fail tint the •r.iiniy "li.iirtnaii had expressly forbidden repair- t.> tlw r.«.i! In.tw.cn August and t Mober. ignoring the r...i.( repairer-' ex•ellent moito about -.1 -tit.h in tim..." Tile dcfendanr wis compelled to u-p the road, for tli.-iv u-.m1.! li,. no rliruiof MMirinpr authority !.. ..hi-Ivm.l a tniwji over the farm- next the road. for the road was the mo-t convenient outlet. I* was also to be noted tint (he defendant had endeavored tn im..' the ratepayers bv reducing his load 1..-low the amounT allowed hv local hodi ~ \[ r Thom-0.11 proceeded to Mil 0vM,.ii..... Thoma- Vincent Simons, th defeiid-

.int. -iwniillor owner. s,ii,l ] lf . ] lu ] ~+. tal.li-lie.l 1«I mill at Tariki about four and .1 half voar* Tininor was car'. «1 over Hi.- r.vad rijrht throit«h la~t winter. In Anjir-t liKl.iUKift wercr'art-.-I to tli.. railway station, an average of Il'l'<i: j.ir load. In September the aver-,s-e i>a- alont 12l.ift per load, and in |> tul.rr almut the same. Prior to the '•.liii-i! writing in him be had reduced hi- load-, and when he received their letter in April he further re.lneed to IOOOfr from 1200 ft. In previous veirs he 'i.ol l-.-ti li«-ii-,-d on account' of his !><irv trarTic. I/iit year he had no< 5-

con-ed. and ho offered to supply and diliver on th.. road where directed laOyds of metal. It wa- not correct to say ; hit lie had hid three waggons running. One of (lie three mm- not his. and the •hie- ran perhaps for a month: no more. The wor-t portion of the roid «i- from tli.. bridge to the railvr.lv. From the bridge to the mill it was lie';. t-r. and one mile of it was good, al•hoiHi it had been down for eight vears and lie had carted over it regularlv. But there wa- little or no milk traffie there. The road liegan to break up •limit the end of August. The eheese factory had comnieneed operations at the beginning of that month. There was a lot of general traffie. for the road eonnected with the .function roai. Nearly all thp farmers drove over it to market twiee weekly, besides attending the -took sales. He honestlv considered that the milk cart traffie had largelv rontrihttt.il to the state of the roan. There wat no attempt to repair the road liefween August and Otolier. and that. too. made it bad. After the funned had put on a little metal in October the road was in fair order. He was interested in the r oad a- much a- anv other settler wa-. an.l he was willing to renew hi- licen-e. H,. had ii..t been asked l.v

Hie Council 10 do -o. On-s.examined |, v -\r r Ouilliani: 11,. 11-i.I no r"a-on to doubt the accuracy or" the -Mtioniu.ister'- figures, which -honed that 1-21JKKI feet of timber from

hi-_ mil! had been delivered at the Tariki railway -tation between .lulv H> and Augn-t 17. Practically the whole >.f tih- output of his mill 'went to the Tariki railway -tation. In addition to liuil traflio aUiu six tnick- of drv slabs had liecii .-.irteil to the station.' Tliev would make eight load-. I„ April he had reduced his loads to I.VNI feet. He did not think his waggoners got off the waggous at the Alaiiganni bridge and drove ilk- team, ados-, lollowing on root wliuu the weight luid c-lvartd. Ho had otlcred to jiut o.xlra decking oil tinbudge lo a-si.,i it t„ carry the tralliv. He i-onsiderwl the bridge wa, then unaal'e t:V«:u lor the milk Irallic. He admitted that his loaded waggon had had to be 101 l on the road all night because the team oouldnut take it through, tic could not jay if the teamw from two waggon- had lud to be attached to 0m: waggon to get it through. He did not wn-ider ho wa- respousible for the damage done by lue tliird waggon, which wa- owned by a contractor.

Jlis Worship remarked that iu tic lour weeks ending August 17th there wvr<- 24 working dayis, and lie eomputed tbat if the teanis were working daily there must luve been .3000 feet a day pa-sing over the road. At another period the load- must have been at least 170'J ieet.

Mr. yuilliam: And the witness says hk. teams did not work,on weL day's, which would increase the average. *ross examination continued; lie did not agree with Mr Skinner's statc-iiK-ut that any repairs to the road during Augu-i. with the timber traffic running, would have been money wasted. To Mr. Thomson: There was a small amount of milk trallie on the road ri«lit through the winter, life timber was mostly white pine, which was neariv a third lighter than rirmi.

"Jo the Bench: He had paid a licence I'.* of C2'i ~ year, for on.' waggon. The —<»!u! waggon wa- put on .luring last yetr. 11.- would have been prepared to TV Comity" (...until- bylaw did" not |ir.-vi.ni hi. u-ing the load for tiinl K T fr.irtV during the live inr,ntl*. of May. ■lull.', duly. Aiigu-t. and September. j t -1n4.1v provided f,, r ih,. m |u.-iion of the load-'. 11.- vv-a- aware iliai the payment of 11V li-on- lee would not relive him from liability in the event of hi- traffic cutting iij. the road.

William Smith. ; , farmer on (he Tnriki road, -aid l.e had had about 2n ve.ir-' evjieiicne. in 10.i.1-makin". Since Auen-i la-l there hn.l 1..-PI) ~l«u,t twelve utiik '.lit- iv»iil,n-|y lining Hi.- road. ~„lv " f tb"'" coining from the mill -i.le

of the bridge' In his ujiiniun a i'/ 3 iii tyre of a spring carl would do more damage than ihe lyre of a timlier wag gon. The wheel of the latter would tend to lift a nil iiil dm by a narrower wheel, it was not fair lo allrihute all the damage to Lliu limber trallie lor, apart from ilie milk trallie there was a good deal ol general calling along the road.

To Air. J{oy: The loaded timber wagyon would smash the road down, bin the luo-wheelod tip-dray w,i- more injurious to ihe road. The spring,, on the milk-cart-, ol course, improved matter... He had never eoiii|>lainod of the timbei irallie. He. had -old hi- timber to .Mr. Simon-, but thiit would not color his evidence.

• lohn I'abi.h. i-irminjr mi the liatitpiko road, oil' die Tariki road, -aid ilia', the road bail been metalled ahoul four years ago with about nine inches of metal.

Mr. 1,1111111,1111 objected to tin- evidence. hi in. u.eful purpose could be served by going into ihe aiieienl history of auv other road. They were mil con.-criicil Willi any road bin the Tariki road or any Irallie but it- traffic. -Mr. Thomson -aid it would be material evidence, for the Ilatapiko road »» a new neighboring road which could be . eiied to -how the rllecl of tli- milk car! trailic.

His Woi-hip -aid thai if lie adinilted tlii- ~,,! of evidence Ihe other side Mould be entitled to call rebutting evidence, and there would Ik- no end to the empiiiy. If the defence proved that half-a-dozen other road- had been cut up by milk trallie he would pay no intention to that in deciding this ease. Mr. Thoiii-ou: Very well, voiir Worship. Stand down, al'r rahi-h.

Charles Theikh-oii. tanner in the district, -aid he had known the road lor 15 or lli years, lie gave evidence of the number of milk carts traversing th> road, and considered tl damaged lin road, but to what extent he could not

To Mr. ijnillinni: He had been living on his prc-eut iftrm for three yean-, leasing it from Mr Simons, the defend ant. it was not true Unit be was one of those who waited upon Mr Knowles and asked him to prohibit or regulate the limlier Iraflic. lie knew many ol the settlers complained of the result oi the irallie.

lauest a (armor nil tin' "I";i----riki road, farming with his partner :!7(l acre-, .111(1 milking li 7 cow- to -ll|l|ily til.' Tariki Dairy l «... -tatnl ihai in September hi- expre-s war. carrying :ilimit Soil Hi- of milk ami iu (>. i.ilwv probablv l-JlKilh,. .Scjitciiilirr mill October weio very wot months, but they went to the factory .-very day. The mail fmiinicuwl to out up iu the hitler <inl of Angu.-i. lie considered, that part of tin. damage in the mail was done bv the milk Ira:'lit-. : 'l#i Air. liny: 11,. hail boon a driver for 1 In. defendant. His figures given as to his output of milk wore only approximate. Ho ailmittod Hint the'mill waggons damaged the road considerably. To .Mr. Thoinson: Siinons' I radio had never broken through tin- pioco of g 1 ro.nl near tin. mill."

Vpnn the Court re-mniiii.'. the afa"istrale gave jndgmenl. The eoiiiplainl. he -aid. was laid under section lab of the Public Work- Ad. Inn:,. The defondant had praethally admitted (he e\ traordinary tradio, and that -ome dam a»e t„ the mad had been done bv his waonoii-. lie had. thr-minli Ids conn-.1. altoniploil to prove that the damage hid been |irincipally caused by the farmers' milk cart-, and not by hi* waggon-. However, taking the evidence for the complainant and that for the defence. he thought it had been clearly shown that the major portion of the damage had been done by the extraordinary t radio of the timber waggon-, and (he minor portion by the traps and vehicles belonging to the farmers taking the milk to the dairy faetorv. The Ma-is-trato held that the defendant had been engaged in extraordinary tradio as dolined by the section previously mentioned, in the months claimed fur. The next question was the amount of damages to be awarded. The total co<t of repairs appeared to bo U7S Ss. and iherwas no evidence to -hnw that the damage hail been caused by anv (radio other llian that of the milk carts and (he timber waggons. Other traffic 11111-r, (hen. have been slight. Tie could conic to no oilier eoiiohiMon than that the principal portion of (he damage ha.! been done by the milk earl- iiiiil (he The defendant had boon us. in« tiro waggons, for which he had been prepared to pay Utfl f 12(1 each) i„ li-een-e foe-, which would have enabled bun to 11-e the road on onlv seven m.nths of (lie year, for heavv Iradic of Ibis kind wa-s prohibited from Ist Mav to ISiith September. P.iit he had 11-,.! Hie roads in those months, and it was then fharho major portion of the dan' age was dune, although it only liee.-ini;. apparent in August. He thought thai toll was a jii-l and lea-uiable claim, and made an order for pavim-nt of (1,.,; amount, with wit in—o-' expenses. Conr! Co-Is CI Is. couiwl Co lis: a total of CHI as.