BOROUGH £25,000 LOAN.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3029, 28 October 1908, Page 5

BOROUGH £25,000 LOAN.

REPORTS BY THE BOROUGH ENGINEER.

WORKS STILL TO BE COMPLETED.

FUNDS AVAILABLE FOR SAME

At the meeting of. the Borough Council, last evening, the third report of the Acting-Town Clerk and Borough Engineer on the £25,000 Improvement Loan as follows was adopted: — At the date of my last report on the unexpended balances of this li; loan the total amount unexpended under Schedule A, B, C, D., stood at £5,047. At the date of this report ' such balances stand at-A, £983 16s sd; B, £1560 19s 3d; C, £867 19s 3d; D, £1,146 5a Id. I have been requested by the Council to advise technically upon the disposal of these sums, and I now put the following observations and suggestions far consideration. Firstly, I consider that the following works originally proposed should be carried out inasmuch as the Council are more or less committed to do so:— A —Lincoln road, tarpath, £100; Pine street, tarpath £148; Pine street, kerb and channel, £42; Villa street, south, channel, £147; Villa street, north, channel, £2lO. B Bentley street, formation, £180; Cockburn street, construction, £250; Cockburn street extension to Kuripuni street, £80; fire alarms, £197 2s 6d; Lincoln road, metalling, £167 13s lid; Makora road bridges, £200; Villa street, north and south, metalling, £l5O is; Kuripuni street, widening, £473 8s sd; Makora road, construction and extension, £IBO 7s lOd; Pownall street, £107: a total of £2,632 13s Bd. There will then be available the sum of £1,926. Assuming the Council are prepared to concede the superiority of a tarmac road to a macadum surface in a thoroughfare such as Queen street. I advise that the whole of Queen street between the Waipoua and Makora Creek be laid down in tar macadum. I estimate the cost of this work as follows: —Waipoua to Post Office, £500; termination ot existing tar macadum surface to creek, £425; total, £925. Such a proceeding is one which commends itself to me as not only will it add materially to the appearance of Masterton's principal street, but it will to a very great extent eliminate the dust and mud nuisance to which the tradespeople and the public have in the past been subjected tu. If the Council desire to create a favourable impression in the minds of the outside public as to the prosperity of the town, I strongly advocate the recharging of the whole of Pine street from the Railway Station to its intersection with Queen street. In its present condition the reverse must be the case. Owing to paucity of funds I advise at any rate for this year that the recharging be with macadam. I estimate the cost at £7OO. I regard Lincoln road mainly as a road for heavy traffic between the railway and the town. For that reason alone the road should be made strong enough to withstand the strain to which it is subjected and I am carrying out my operati-ns in this street so as to effect that iOject. The amount set aside for the work was utterly inadequate and I estimate when the operations are completed that an additional sum of £570 will have been expended. One of the indirect results arising out of so treating Pine street and Lincoln road is that the clouds of dust in summer will be greatly lessened, and it follows that the further outwards from the centre operation of that description are carried the less likely will it be that dust will be brought in to the town. These items alone will absorb £2,195, an amount of £269 in excess of the balances. I am hopeful that my estimates of cost will in the execution of the several works prove to be high. In the circumstances I advise that no further works be attempted until these suggested are carried out, when it will be seen what further sums (if any) are then available when further consideraI tion can be brought to bear upon I the subject. I, of course, forsee that residents in the outlying portions of the Borough will feel, if my suggestions are acted upon, that they are being made to suffer, but when it is recalled that the pressing necessities of these outlying portions as farjas footpaths are concerned have during the past winter been met out of revenue, that when the ratepayers consented at the poll to the borrowing they did so without limitation as to its application other than by the description of works to be performed, and that the central portion paying more of the loan charges by reason of its higher value than the outer districts, it should in equity be the first to receive attention if it be required. I think the Council should make provision at the earliest possible date for the complete kerbing, channelling, and metalling of Chruch, Bannister. Dixon, Park, Cricket, Ross, Victoria and Albert streets and Worksop road, and last but not least Queen street from the Makora creek to and including Kuripuni Triangle.

A fourth report of the Engineer as follows was also adopted:—As re quested by Minute 1,041, of the 13th instant, I beg to supplement my third report upon this subject with the following observations. For the sake of clearness 1 have produced the lines of my third report in the hope that the members will be able to follow the observations with more facility than might otherwise be the case. The balances at the date of the rep.irt stood at £4,559. Firstly, I consider that the works originally proposed (in No. 3 report above) should be carried out inasmuch as the Council are more or less committed to do so. These works will absorb a sum of £4,236 13s Bd, leaving an available balance of £223, and no provision has been made for Queen street tarmac, £725, or Pine street metalling, £7OO, or any sum at all for Cross street or Ngamatawa road. This but emphasises what I have stated that the amounts as allocated are totally inadequate to carry the contemplated works to completion in a satisfactory or creditable manner. I advise in view of the uncertainty which prevails as to the ultimate expenditures upon Kuripuni and Cockburn streets and upon Makora road, that Lincoln road, Pine street and Queen street

from the Waipoua be carried to completion by which time the Council will be in a position to again review the situation, and it it then be found that the estimated expenditure upon those roads has not been reached an opportunity will present itself for a further adjustment to suit the new circumstances. In any case I think the Council should now definitely say what is proposed to be done to Queen street inasmuch as weather conditions are now shaping suitable to the work being carried out under conditions which are suitable. It was resolved to instruct the Engineer to treat the road surface of Queen street with tar macadum from the Waipoua southwards to the intersection of Renall street, to complete the macadamising of Lincoln road to its intersection with Queen street, and carry to completion the widening and formation ot Kuripuni street from Kuripuni Triangle down to and including the intersection of the extension of Makora street with the termination of the original of Makora road.