THE JUNCTION ROAD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 333, 8 March 1910, Page 7

THE JUNCTION ROAD.

d ■•• J J CLAIM UPON THE CLUFTON I COUNTY COUNCIL. r ' TARAXAKP COUNCILLORS TAUNTe ED BY CR. CakiEß. t At the Taranaki County Council meet(l ing yesterday a letter was received e ' from the'Cl if ton County Council stating : . its intention of adnering to its previt ous decision not to voluntarily make e any further contribution towards the n upkeep of the Junction road westward 0 of the Tarata bridge. Cr. Tate protested against the Couns! oil's intention of citing the Cliftopi n Council, saying that if this county was p going to adopt a system of citing 3j neighbouring local bodies for mainteh' nance of roads leading from one county r to the other, it was going to be a veryci serious matter indeed, and a very dane gerous precedent might be set up which d would operate very unfairly m some t .. cases. He quite agreed with the prinn ciple of citing such bodies in respect of n bridges, but with roads it was quite a i different matter. In this matter he <i thought the Council was not likely to s get very much out of the citation. XJie ie game wasn't going to be worth the ,j candle. From what he had been aDle Ito learn, the Clifton County Council ir could put up a very good defence, and n he advised this Council very strongly to let the matter drop. He considered s that the time had gone past uiien die s Council might fairly have taken up this s position. The application for a contrit bution from the neighbouring County e should have been made when the road „ was in its shocking state of repair a g few years ago, when the Clifton County I might reasonably have been asked to . assist in putting it in order. Inr' stead of thut, action was' being taken e at the eleventh hour, when it was almost too late. j Cr. Carter said that Cr. Tate should 1 have raised his objection at the previ- ,. ous meeting, when the matter was first p brought up. He pointed out that the ~ guggestion to place a tollgate on the g road, or to take some such action to i make the outside settlers pay for the j ; use of the road, came from the Moa l riding members, who had pointed out t that a similar course had been adopted j in regard to the Egmont County traffic, I which had been made to pay for using j the Main South road. The very same tiling was happening at Tarata, and there seemed no reason why the C"oun L eil should not proceed as piopssed. If i , j there wa.s any cause for moving in the i ( matte* at first, there was still the same i cause, and the Council should stick to j ; j its' guns. It seemed to him that when ! I the Taranaki County Council approached j : any other local body with a demand,! . the other body had only to jump up ■ • and put up a bit of a fight and then ; this Council would lie nown again, a, I course of action that did not tend to in-' i crease the respect in which the Covin-'. ' eil, and the individual councillors, were 1 held. He was tired of it. It was about ,- , time the Council had sufficient roick- . bone to stick to tiio i.esoiuuons \vi*ieh j it passed. ? Cr. Hopson was also surprised to :<ar i Cr. Tate's objection at this late hour. '■ i He should have raised his voice before., 'As for Cr. Tate's argument that the ! 1 Clifton Council should have been cited j 2 years before, he pointed out that that i , could not have been done, for the road ; had been in a shocking state, and the , Council had had to get assistance from i the Government to make the road passi able. Now the road was in fair order, I and the neighbouring body, whose rate- ■ payers used the road, could fairly be 1 asked for a. contribution towards the f cost of maintenance. The people in the ■ locality would rather have their r;\tcs ; : spent on the road than have a tollgate - erected. E Cr. Hill recalled tnat tue citation i was first proposed by Cr. Tate. I Cr. Stevens said that the cases of j the South road and the Junction road > were not exactly parallel, for in the i , former case the people had no outlet,! ■ whilst the Tarata folks had, in the Ota-j : raoa road. The traffic from the Clif- j i j ton district now being discussed could ij go by the Otaraoa road to Waitara, Maud was',being diverted to that route, i! Of course, that was a good thing for ■ | this county, but it was a bad thing for ■ ' Tnglewood. and if the business people ■ there had as much gumption as he had ' : given them credit for. they would pay the CSO a y-ir themselves raid keep n ■ the road clear of a .orlgate. Already most of the wool was being cart en by i way of the road with the unpronounce- , ' able Maori name, and possibly the mails' i : would go by that road soon. | The chairman said the Councillors •: were put here not to consider what was j ; best for the Stratford, Egmont or Clif- ; : ton County ratepayers, but what was ' I best for our own people. Only seven • |or eight Taranaki ratepayers used one i i portion of the road, which w:>* more • j largely used by the Clifton, people, and I for tliis this Council was paying £7O -j or £SO a mile maintenance. It wasn't ! I fgir that the ratepayers in the other . portion of the riding should have to i I pay for the upkeep of a road for the •nso of settlers outside the county. They [ would have to erect a tollgate. get a ■, contribution from Clifton, or collect a i special rate. He was of opinion that . the Council should go on with the mati. ter. A claim for £SO was being made, and thev might even get more than - that. ;, Cr. Tate: T don't '-'ay we're not eni titled to it. but. what 'will we get?_ The Chairman : We're claiming £SO. I and U believe we can get it. -, Then the Council passed on to other -! business. The citation of Clifton Conn- ' jty Council will be proeeeded with. ; ' ==^' .. [