DAMAGE TO STREETS.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 January 1916, Page 6

DAMAGE TO STREETS.

CLAIM BY BOROUGH COUNCIL'. EFFECTS OP HEAVY TRAFFIC. At the Magistrates Court yesterday, before Mr. A. Crooke, S.M., the New Plymouth Borough Council proceeded against Trevor Bros., Ltd., contractors, of Wellington, claiming to recover £73, being the amount of extraordinary expenses incurred by plaintiff Council in repairing Devon street, Powderhara street, Dawson street, Standish street, Queen street and Vivian street, where, . the plaintiff claimed, damage had been caused by excessive weight or extraordinary traffic conducted by defendants between February 9, 1914, and September S. 1915.

Mr. .T. H. Quilliam appeared for the Borough Council, and Mr. A. H. Johnstone (instructed by Messrs Young and Tripe, of Wellington) appeared for defendants.

In outlining the plaintiffs' case, Mr. Quilliam said that the defendants were the contractors for the new hospital, and in conveying material to' the site they used the borough roads, which, it was claimed, had 'been damaged to the extent of £73 value by extraordinary traffic. The defendants were warned that they would be held responsible for any excessive damage to the roads. The plaintiff proposed to abandon the claim in respect of Devon street, as since then Devon street had been cut up for re-formation. On the other streets, however, the Borough Council had expended £204 6s 6d on repairing the particular portions used by the defendants. Evidence would be adduced to show that the traffic of the defendants was such as could be described as extraordinary traffic within the meaning of the Act. The streets in question were constructed for ordinary light traffic, but it was noticed that soon after the commencement of defendants' traffic the streets oommenced to break up, anil continual repair work had to be done. Without Devon street the damage'caused by defendants' traffic was estimated as at least £6O.

W. A. Collis, a member of the Borough Council, who lives in Vivian street, described the effect on the roads in question when the defendants' traffic, began. Xot long after the traffic began Powderham street and Dawson street commenced to' break up badly. The traffic was then diverted along Robe street into Vivian street, and it was then observed that Vivian street commenced to break up, and repair work was necessary. Standish Hill also became very bad, and "tons of metal were required to make the street at all passable." Witness was satisfied that tin damage was caused principally by the heavy traffic going to the new hospital, because the damage to Standish Hill ceased at Barrett street, where the heavy traffic was diverted. The carts carried loads of bricks and other heavy materials, and each cart was drawn by three horses. To Mr. Johnstone: Dawson street was the main road to Frankley road and ■yVestown, and was the only outlet to farmers who lived on the Frankley road. The same would apply to Powderham street. Westown had gone ahead considerably during the last three years, and a great deal of building had gone on.

C. Skitrop, formerly' borough engineer at Xew Plymouth, said that within a month of the commencement of the defendants'' traffic the streets in question commenced to break up badly. Witness gave particulars of expenditure in reuietalling the streets damaged, showing, with the exception of Devon street, a total cost of £204 Cs Gd. The traffic carried on by defendants cost the Borough Council at least £OO. If the defendants had not carried their traffic over these streets no considerable expenditure would have been required on the streets; only the ordinary maintenance work would have been necessary. To Mr. Johnstone: The traffic was principally from the brick-kiln at Smart road, the Waiwakaiho river and the railway station. The winter during which the traffic was carried on was a particularly bad winter. The same winter metal was carted from the Waiwakaiho to Dartmoor, and some of it went over Powderham street. Re-examined by Mr. Quilliam: But for the damage caused by defendants' traffic the streets would have carried the ordinary traffic.

This closed the plaintiff's case, subject to a right to call A. H. Palmer, surveyor.

■After briefly outlining the defence, Mr. Johnstone called

Arthur Trevor, the managing director of Trevor Bros., Ltd., who said they carted bricks and timber from the railway station to the site of the new hospital. The firm had one dray with two horses, but when the quantity of material was large other drays were employed. The firm carted in its own cart and in hired carts 450,000 bricks, making an average of three loads a day from January to October. A quantity of timber and tiles was also carried The tiles were light, and they could not pack more than a ton on a dray. All the gravel—just under 1400 yardswas delivered by a sub-contractor, while the sand—79o yards—was also supplied by a sub-contractor. Roughly, -235,000 bricks were also delivered on the job by a 6iib-contractor, and the same conditions applied to the delivery of the cement. The route taken by the firm's carft and hired carts was from the railway station via St. Aubyn street, Queen street, Silver street, Powderham street, Morley street and Harrett street. The amount of material carted by the defendants' cart and hired carts was about a third of the whole of the material carted to the site of the building. While this work was proccedng witness saw quantities of stone going up Morley street, and sometimes it went along Powderham street a"d at other times along Vivian street. To Mr. Quilliam: Just over 700,000 bricks were used in the construction of the hospital. He did not think the material carted by his firm or their order materially affected the streets. This closed the case for the defence. The case was adjourned until Tuesday, February 15, to enable the plaintiff to call A. H. Palme?.