THE £42,000 LOAN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 231, 18 February 1913, Page 7

THE £42,000 LOAN.

EXPLAINED BY THE MAYOR. THE COt'NUL'S POLICY. !n nil interview with a News represent;! five last week, tl'ic .Mayor (Mr. (J. W. Browne) made a comprehensive statement regarding t.lif Council's policy in going in for the. , .C 42.000 streets and water loan. Many things, lie said, combined to make tlie works rv.ibodied ill the proposals a matter of urgency. At tlie outset, lie referred to the fact that the borough was now in a transition stage. In the old days the streets in the borough were, mere bullock roads. As time went oil these had been converted into ordinary vehicle roads. We had now reached another stage and at the present time the whole of the road construction in the world was undergoing a transformation from vehicular to traction (steam and motor-propelled) roads. To cope with these new conditions it foc-earne absolutely necessary for the bor- j ough that a new method of construction for our main roads, at least, should be considered.

BEST FORM OF ROAD CONSTRUCTION. He had obtained relative, estimates of the cost of the various methods of roacl construction in vogue. To lay down tarred macadam roads would cost £7200 per mile. ;nid tarvinia roads—of an asphalt construction —would involve £7OOO a mile. The road that was now being universally accepted as the most econo° mic and giving the best results was constructed as follows:—A basic layer of six inches of boulders, on which were placed six inches of concrete covering and two coats of tar and sand, the whole costing £5200 a mile. The upkeep of this form of road was down at the lowest minimum. Last year in America no fewer than 340 miles were constructed by this method. During last year there was a conference of eminent road-con-struetion engineers in London, wbieh was unanimously of the opinion that experiments went to show' that the tarred macadam road was not a success

wIIOU flip gpner;ll Post aMl] Upkeep WOl'C taken into account, and pitted against tile ordinary granite and flint formation, as used in England. Macadamised roads had l>eoii toiiml, hold tlio conference, not suitable for the traffic of cities, and they were dillicnlt to keep up, while ordinary roads on the other hand were easily maintained. After years of experimenting the old form of road hail had to be reverted to as regards tlio heavy traffic. LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE.

The Mayor went 011 to say tkat the work proposed in the loan was really tlio ground-work for the future construction of tlie class of road referred His policy was that the main streets should be taken in hand and re-con-structed from time to time in the manner indicated. The work could be done out of revenue as funds permitted, startin™ from some recognised centre. Assuming tlje tramways scheme was adopted, the carrying out of the roading scheme in question would be greatly facilitated by the fact that the width of the roads v.ould be reduced by 7ft Bin—the space occupied by the trains. This would mean so much less to construct, so that the reconstructing of the. road each side of the tramway track would cost £4400. instead of £O2OO per mile. Before this class of road construction could be taken in hand, however, it was necessary to remove, or link up, the old patch-work road works resulting from the ward system. and this was where the loan proposals came .in. On account of the ward system—now happily deceased—the borough had works commenced in almost every street in the town, but there was not one completed street in existence. The works proposed in the loan would remedy this. In order, then, to amounts for completing the patch-work system of road construction, the Council had embodied in its loan the necessary amounts for completing the patch-work streets and placing the whole work in a shipshape and uniform state. This would involve the construction of much kerbing and channelling, formation of footpaths, tarring and sanding of paths, street formation, and the like. THE COUNCIL'S PLEDGE.

Another important factor to ho considered was til at (lie Council had pledged itself to the ratepayers of (ircater Xew Plymouth to carry out certain works. the cost of which' was embodied in the loan. Again, two years ago when the amalgamation scheme was under consideration the old Fitzrov town district was intending to raise a 'loan of .£SOOO for street improvement purposes. Tt was induced, however, to drop its loan on a promise being given that -the works it had in view would be.embodied i the first loan proposals tabled by the Council. This undertaking was now being fulfilled by the Council. Further, in merging the other portions of what is now known as Great New Plymouth in the borongh. the Council promised to relieve those districts of their water famine by embodying an amount for water extension in the present loan. It also had to he remembered that the Council now hud 70 miles of streets to keep in order, whereas the old borough comprised only 34 miles. The Mayor also pointed out that a fair amount of the loan was ear-marked for the grading of certain streets, which work would pave the way to a certain extent for the tramways when extended. This would relieve the tramways of certain construction work with which it would not: be proper to saddle them. Tt would simply be impossible, added Mr. Browne, to carry out many of the new works proposed out o( current revenue.

XUMMAIiY OF THE LOAX. The loan whs summarised under the following heart*: —Kerbing and channelling. U(il:s7: format ion of footpaths. £ 1257; tarring and sanding, £4OB-2; streets formation .C93SI ■' metalling. £555.'5; waterworks, £11,1(10; engineering and supervision. £2000; first year's interest. £2100; preliminary expenses, £387: total. £42,000. Itemising the proposed loan the Mayor said that the area served by the water reticulation had been carefully served and the number of connections involved carefully noted, and within two years should be self-supporting, auv further connections becoming a profit. The, whole of the interest on the £1.).000 involved in korbing and channelling, formation of footpaths, and the tarring and sanding of the same should be re" eouped hv the saving effected in the present method of cleaning and weeding ilie streets, wnler-chaimel.* and footpaths. The Council was continually liiliug up the footpaths, which with the first gale of wind went up in dust. The people themselves had clamored for metalled roads and tarred footpaths, and the Council was only carrying out their wishes in a Hording them the opportunity to remedy these defects. A KRASSURIXf! XOTE. Concluding, the Ma vor said that while a rate would lie pledged to bond-holder.-, it did not follow (hat it would be necessary to collect it. as instance the clec- [ trio light lpai*s. which involved £38,000. I and on'which a rate had never been collected. The people had never had to contribute a single farthing, the whole of the loan being self-nupporling. The sewerage loan of- £IO.OOO was in the same happy position, and he anticipated