THE WAIPOUA BRIDGE

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10432, 25 September 1911, Page 5

THE WAIPOUA BRIDGE

CONFERENCE BETWEEN TY.:-3 COUNCILS. A SETTLEMENT ARRIVED AT. A conference of representatives of tlhe Masterton County Council and \ Borough Council, to consider the position that has arisen over the Waipoua bridge, was held in the County Council office on Saturday last, at noon'. There were present: Messrs W. J. Welch, D. Foreman, J. Miller, R. Beetham, i and C. C. Kebbell (representing the County Council), and the Mayor and Crs. Hoar, Donald, O'Leary, Candy, Prentice, Elliott, Temple, * Pragnell and Ewingtqn (representing the Borough Council).

The Engineers to the respective bodies were also present. ' Mr W. J. Welch said this was a special meeting called by himself +o discuss the que.tion of the Waipoua bridges. At the last meeting of the Borough Council a letter was. read from the County Council dealing »vitfi the subject, but he had thoaignt it . necessary to convene a confer3uce of the two. bodies. He. would ask the Mayor to place the position as briefly as possibly before those present. He hoped that no reference would be made to the past, and that they would not discuss the subject from the point of view of legality. He wou4d ! like them to discuss it from the view I of an eyesore. v I In answer to the Mayor, the Chairman of the County Council stated that there was a quorum of Councillors pre- | sent, and they were in a position to [deal with the matter. SPEECH BY THE MAYOR; " The Mayor then traced the history of the trouble over the bridge. He stated that the alignment was wrong, and that the bridge was too high. The matter was a very serious one. As the position stood, the bridge defeated the very object they originally had in view, which was the improvement of the northern approach, and the increasing of the facilities for traffic. With the angle as at present, it would be impossible for a motor car, coming to the town, to avoid a vehicle. More than one-half of Queen Street was blinded, and three feet on the other side was rendered useless. The Mayor stated that the matter was more serious from a County point of view than that of the Borough. It was almosfc impossible to, avoid ant accident with traffic coming from the northern end. The grade of. one in twenty-two could not be agreed to by the Borough Council. If the work was gone on with, a serious claim for compensation' might be lodged by the Trust Lands Trustees. QUESTION OF COMPENSATION. Mr W. J, Welch- stated that the? could not discuss the question of compensation. The County Council did not agree that the Trurt property would suffer. The Mayor said that the Borough Council merely wanted to absolve itself from responsibility, and it intended doing so. The Borough Council suggested as a basis of agreement that the bridge be widened to the full width of Queen Street, and that the first span be lowered. The Borough Council was willing to pay half the cost of the work. Mr W. J. Welch said the County i Council could not agree to lowering i the bridge. This would be an admission I that it could have been lowered in the first place. They could consider the | position from the point of view of an eyesore alone. | The Mayor stated that the Borough Council were of opinion, that A bebridge should be lowered. At anyrate, the i two engineers should be. consulted. | In answer to Mr Welch, the Mayor said that he had not prepared an estimate of the cost of lowering, the bridge. It was expected that the County Council would have prepared tliis estimate.

THE COUNTY VIEW

The members of the Borough Council then withdrew, and the County Councillors discussed the position with their engineer. Mr D. McLachlan stated that he was opposed to the lowering of the bridge. One span could be lowered by,, say, eight indies, but he did not agree that it was necessary. Mr W. J. Welch moved that this Council is of opinion that the bridge, as constructed, meets all the requirements of the County Council. At the same time, as some of the Borough and County ratepayers are of opinion that the bridge, when completed, would be an eyesore, the County Council is willing to pay half the cost of widening the bridge. Mr R. Beetham seconded the resoluv tion. At the same time he could nob see how the Borough Council qbuld legally get out of the position. It had agreed to the.bridge being constructed on the present lines, and the Governor's warrant had been signed/ Mr Miller asked if there would not l>e a claim for compensation in respect to the other side of the bridge if they were to widen. • Mr Welch stated that the question, of compensation, need not be considered. The Council had certain legal rights. Mr Foreman said he would vote against any more money being expended on the bridge. It would be a cruel thing to spend the money belonging to backblock settlers upon such a work. Mr Kebbell endorsed.the remarks of Mr foreman. He could hot see that the County Cbunci} was in any way liable. Nothing had been brought forward to convince him that the expenditure of more money was necessary. He would oppose the resolution. Mr Welch, in reply, said he did not think the work would be so bad when completed. At the same time, it was admitted by County ratepayers that the bridge would be. an eyesore. lb I was a main arterial road, and they should try and make the bridge look as well as possible. The expenditure of another £IOOO would only mean a rate of 3d in every £IOOO of capital value.

Mr Beetham would like it known that the County Council did not agree that it was legally wrong. The motion of Mr Welch was slightly altered, and was carried by three votes to two, as follows:—"That t?he present structure is quite sufficient for the purposes of the County traffic;. but, as the Borough Council is not satisfied with its position, this Council' i> prepared to meet them in improvingwhat had already been agreed upon by l>oth Councils, by undertakingto provide one-half the cost of widening the-, bridge to tho full width of Queen Street." The County Councillors resolved: that they could not agree to the lowering of the bridge. THE CONFERENCE RESUMED. The deputation from the Borough Council then re-entered, and the resolution was read to tnem. Mr Welch said that the County Council would not acxee at all to the lowering of the

bridge. , Tho Mayor said it was not absolutely desired that the bridge should be lowered. Possibly they could do without one span instead Mr Welch remarked that the County engineer, who liad a good knowledge of New Zealand rivers, did not agree to the lowering of the bridge. The Mayor stated that tho BoroughCouncil wished it understood that it took no responsibility. It was pleased that the County Council had .agreed to the widening of the bridge, but it thought that something more should be done. Tho engineer of the respective bodies 'should consult on the point. Mr Foreman asked why the. Borough Council had not drawn attention to this matter before. The Mayor said the Chairman had asked that they should not discuss what had happened in the past. He was personally quite prepared t6 open up t'lie whole question. Mr R. Beetham stated that a. grade of one in twenty-five was not a bad one. The Mayor agreed that this was so. At tho same time they should consider their footpaths. After further discussion, the County Councils agreed that the two engineers should consult, end the conference was thereupon adjourned until three o'clock. RESULT OF CONSULTATION. On the conference resuming, Mr Welch stated that the engineers had consulted. Mr D. McLachlan stated that MiArcher and himself had discussed the matter. They could not agree as- to the span being cut out. As for the grade, Mr Archer had agreed that there was no difficulty about this. Mr Archer said he was of opinion that a span could be cut out. As for the grade, this could be obtained. The Mayor stated that, as the County Council had apparently made up its mind, he would ask that it take all responsibility in the matter. Mr Welch said his Council could not agree to this. The matter had been fixed up by Governor's warrant, and the County was going a long way in conceding an increase in the width. Mr R. F. Beetham said it looked as if the attitude of the Mayor was going to upset the work of the conference, and they would have to go on with the work as origin-ally decided.

QUESTION OF COMPENSATION. ,Cr. Ewington expressed the opinion that the Borough Council should not accept any responsibility. Mr Beetham asked what the responsibility, might be. The Mayor said the Borough Council could not accept the responsibility of claims for compensation from adjoining owners. . Mr Welch thought the question of compensation was only a, minor one. There would be a joint responsibility in such a question. , Cr. Prentice said he was agreeable to accept the proposal to widen the bridge, and to allow the question of grades to remain. Cr. Ewington stated that he would not be satisfied for the Borough Council to take the responsibility. Cr. Pragnell would oppose the taking over of responsibility by the Borlough Council. In answer to Cr. Temple, it was stated by Mr Welch that the County Council had not taken advice as to its responsibility for compensation'. Crs. Candy and O'Leary opposed the acceptance of further responsibility. They would rather that matters go on as at present than that they should accept th© proposal of the County Council.: :"• Crs. Donald and Hoar thought h would be better to accept the proposal of the County Council. PROPOSAL ACCEPTED. The Maydr said that, on behalf of his Council, he had pleasure'in accepting the proposal of the County Council. He was pleased that the difficulty had been partially overcome. He would not express an opinion concerning, the grade in the meantime. . ;./ Some discussion then took place on the question of effecting economies in the present contract. Mr D. McLachlan suggested that the macadamising of the road 'between the two bridges might; be abandoned. This would mean a saving of several •hundred pounds. It was agreed that a proposal be submitted by the County engineer to the Borough Council for its meeting on Tuesday evening. The Mayor thanked the County Council for the courtesy it had shown, and the conference terminated.