ROADS AND BRIDGES

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10715, 19 October 1912, Page 3

ROADS AND BRIDGES

I WHAT THE GOVBRX.W.NT I'iSO-JjSi-.S. • ': !!• . dewing appeared in the Pub- !:.• u!Mai u .neat, which s;.> pre- ) ' ( : ..to;: ;n the f.u;uso ol j»eprej>cataI' .!• •~i -i nigh:.:— ! J in* proe;.aun mudo < . .i: i ear> appropriation,., tor mad ( :i;i hri'ljii' works under all votes and ' cecoimts (ineiudiitg tlie Consolidated : !'"und vote i'or maintenance) amounti «'■ i t'i a u::t<il of £838,000. As in the previous year, in nearly every ease I wheie it was anticipated that the !«•»*•;»i I iodic.-. would undertake the I nr.rk t.hev were given the opportunist ' ! <- <iso. '| he oli'ei> oi' expondis available balances oil the votj| es provided on tin* main and suppler men :a ry climates were <k>sp;i Ccliod on tile 1 lit it ami 27th October, being > l 'he respective dates on which the os- ' limates were presented jo Parliament, •so that there can he no just complaint oi' delay in advising local bo■.:eoi u hat. moneys were available. Authorities to proceed with works winch were to he carried out by tiie Ocpartmeiit's own engineers were] aiso issued promptly after the pass- j ing oi the appropriations. Including the unexpended balances of authorities brought forward front the previous financial year, the total authorised during the year amounted t<> j no less a .sum than .1:09:2,850. j Despite these facts, '.however, the ) expenditure of the year amounted to j only leaving an -unexpended balance of authorities amounting' to £140,3(57 as „t 31st -March last, between the Ist April last and 31,sL duly further aut'noi'itie.s amounting to : X'J !0,7!)G were issued, making the : total authorised as at 31st July .£012.j 103. The expenditure brought to . j charge during -the four months, j April to 3Nt July, amounted to £IOO.- j ! 003, The large sum of money antho-i 1,. . ' ' ' vised during the financial year shows j I clearly, that an earnest effort was made to give every opportunity nf i fully expending tlie votes, but the j fact that only C~>2o, 1-8!) was cxpend- , c<l seems to indicate that it is impossible to expend in the time avail- 1 j able so largo a sum as was authorised, j Shortage of suitable labour at the : time of the year, and the un- | usually wet weather conditions-which j prevailed, doubtless to a large extent | adversely affected the progress of j J work*;: but one reason T think why j j tho amount voted was net fullv ex- | ponded is the multiplicity of small votI es, O'-t last year's appropriations the j 'ivor" r e amount of votes provided u v - j | »le- "Konds. etc. 7 ' vote for the North | Island war- approximately .C2lO. the i i''ial number of items being about ' 2300. ft may safely be asserted that the smaller (he average nmomit'of individual vet":; the greater will he tV cost (if administration and the dif- I fieulty of expending them. It is much j easier and also less costly to expend I .-CoOOO on one road than to expend { £'.">oo on. each of fen reads in dif- "j ferent localities, and. apart even . from the question -of facilitating ex- | pcn.diture, T am convinced that a po- I licy of concentrating expenditure of v whatever nmneys may he available on I n::of jrimary importance instead ] <if <!o!iiig out a few hundred pounds j yoer'y to each of a ridiculously large j number of road 1 -'. some of which are j onlv of i.liiV;! or fourth-rate import- ' anee. will result in far greater ma- ' terinl urogress in the reading of our baekblnok districts. and eventually yirnve itT to the boat interests of . j all oonceriW!. The existing obliga-J tieii-: in rr'.o'i'd (■> votes 'previously pre- I j | v: •' " i'or on the appropriations and | v.-c.'i;.' i', hand rendered it impraetK'- ] I able, in make a cam meneement with I Ruc'i a palmy in compiling the estiI mat"' I* ; lie ci'i'rent year; but d tiring {he re-'ess the question will he carofidiy gone into, and, combined w'th a measure giving more assured finance to loeal governing bodies, f | hope to see results achieved in tlr; 1 noa-r future which will speedily remove the disabilities under which ! many of our settlers at present-.lab-our owing t> want of adequate means of communication with markets..' , Since assuming ofiice I have observed that difficulties frequently arise j ns to the approval by. departmental ! engineers of plans prepared by loe.al ' bodies for erection of bridges to he built out of (roverh'ment grants, With a view to overcoming this, in- - structions will be issued for the pre-, pa ration of standard drawings for J bridge- of varying sizes 1 ami clasnes, which, when completed, will be available lor use by loeal authorities. By this means I ( !nn assured that ecn- . iiomv in construction and. generally ' speaking, a very much better class of .'nidge should resu/t. predecessors have had occasion to-draw attention to the unwillingness of some loeal bodies to accept -their J proper responsibilities in regard t'i S maintenance-work, f have again to | emphasise the matter. The law pre;- j vides that all roads in a county are j county roads unless specially deela"- ' ed by Order in Council to be Ohivernmeui roads, and the duty of maintaining laieh county roads nnquestio"- - ably devolves upon t ]| ( . local governing body. Local bodies in some- cases plead jha! tlmy are financially tin-; ah!.- to u 'de-i av. ork. but i:i such cases i| is usually found that they a ! '-' not levying (he full amount of rile-; 1 ho-h ih" 'av: The ne'-l""-. of | l:i;d:'"s in ibis maiferj a.rul the exceptionally Avet season lie- I cess-i:a("d > i"' cxpeudil'ure out of the ('e;i .uilalc'l I'un.l vote '{■ r maintenance of 1'37. Ib!) durimr 1 iir-1 financial year, and during the lour months of the current year ei'uled [he :il.st .l.uiv la.-d a further sum el' (:! v. :v. atithoi'i'ssd. cousidcra Me i>"onorii>n I of Ihe i •:pendi! iire last year and of !!ia ; - !hi*- yea*- i-ush W"r'- -!:s»ve li'sen ;.;:ivid- , • i u.y a '-! cf ■ mwli-hje. ' J j Jp st a k (,f c'M!gh:i>'f. r .j- cure.. ' H.' ': •'•.'hi Wood;-.' Pepper« , Ywuvj »v he' wcli, I ; m r-nre." 2