WAIPA COUNTY ROADS.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 282, 27 November 1919, Page 10

WAIPA COUNTY ROADS.

- BIG CONCRETING PROPOSAL. SCHEDULE TO BE PREPARED. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) HAMILTON, this day. The Waipa County Council is considering a scheme for laying down all - j its main arterial roads in concrete. At . I its last meeting a lengthy report was j submitted by a committee specially appointed to inquire into the matter of !l cost and material, the cost of the scheme in its entirety being assessed at £170,000. The committee suggested that a preliminary undertaking costing roughly £SO,OOO should be entered upon, and yesterday, at its annual meeting, tithe Council went further into the , matter. |! The chairman (Mr. R. Fisher) moved t the adoption of the engineer's proposals, .land in seconding. Or. Retter said he 1 suggested the adoption of a similar scheme twelve months ago. for he was convined that a great saving would be ~ made by laying down their roads in .1 permanent material. He thought im- , | mediate steps should be taken to aseer- . j tain what borrowing powers the Council tjbad, and to try and get a £ for £ ,! subsidy for the work, which was really .| a national one. A "Mr. Maeky regarded the resolution as . a little too comprehensive. -He thought I That before the scheme wa = adopted in its entirety a schedule of the proposed . work should be drawn up and submitted , to the Council. Mr. Peacocke thought there should be .! graduated rating where such a scheme ,' was adopted, for obviously the farmer [ ; whose land abutted on the main road . I was getting far greater advantages than j the man on a side road. The chairman did not agree with thi* ; 1 point ot view, as all the settlers gained j equal advantages in the use of the con- ! Crete roads. I Mr. EUieott considered the man who j lived on a bye-road would get just as j much benefit as the main road resident, for the main roads were chiefly used in going to and from the centre, while the man on the bye-road also hod additional benefits of the bye-road to his property. Mr. Johnson considered the provision of permanent highways an urgent necessity, and the council should waste no time in undertaking some definite scheme of permanent loading. The eViuoricans were pretty shrewd gentlemen, accredited with a good deal of foresight and sagacity, and they had decided, after experiments, that concrete roads were the best for their country. If they were tiie best for America, would they not prove the best also for New Zealand, where we had not the same extremes of climate experienced in America? He thought no time should be wasted in getting to work on the scheme. Mr. Peacoeke said he did not suggest that land owner- i way from the main ; roads should not c rated for concrete highways, but that the rating sho.ild be differential. Mr. Mucky thought the proposal to raise the loan over the whole of the • country a wrong one. as it would be mii serting the thin edge of the wedge to the destruction of the riding system alto- ; gether. He moved an amendment "that • before the proposal is adopted a schedule " of works proposed to be undertaken be * submitted." 1 Mr. Fullerton urged that a schedule | was undoubtedly necessary before they ' could ask the ratepayers to vote on the ' question. Mr. McGhie said there was a danger, J if the loan was split up into riding loans, of the whole scheme falling through, as they would probabl3- land in the position of one riding having concrete | roads and the next swimming pools. ' Mr. Mandeno (supervisor) believed the council would be courting defeat to * adept the principle of riding loans. The | work in the different ridings might be carried out on different systems, and it was desired that patch-work should be ' avoided. " I Mr. Peacocke seconded Cr. Macky's j amendment, which was carried, the chairman withdrawing his motion.