MOUNT WELLINGTON ROADS.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 168, 17 July 1924, Page 8

MOUNT WELLINGTON ROADS.

MODERNISING SCHEME. BITUMEN > AND CONCRETE. Means by which Mount Wellington district can keep up with the trend of municipal affairs to-day, have up-to-date roads, and still save £100 a year on its present expenditure upon endless patching that does no permanent good and is often merely a waste of good money, were outlined at a meeting of ratepayers held last evening at Panmurc, Mr G. Kay presiding. A very clear statement of the present position was prepared hy the chairman of the Mount Wellington Board, Mr. J. Wood, and the following extract, puts the matter in a nutshell: — • "At present, revenue expended each year on ohsolete methods of scoria applications barely keeps the roads passable, making re-construction in the near future imperative, and the ratepayers would not be able to support the cost of restoration out of each year's contribution, except by means of a loan financed to pay itself off in a definite period. When a business is expanded, when a home is bought, a railway built, or a dam constructed hy whomsoever, a loan is resorted to when the money in hand is insufficient to meet the cost. It is just calm, cool business; f 15.000 will concrete your portion of the Great South Road, of which cost £7500 will be paid by the Highways Board, and £7500 by your board. Altogether, the loan proposals comprise 1J miles of concrete construction on the Great South Road; 1 mile 71 chains of bituminous macadam on the Ellerslie-Panmure Road; 2 miles G5 chains of bituminous macadam on the Panniure-Otahuhu Road; and the purchase of adequate machinery; involving the raising of a loan of £29,000. The interest, sinking fund, and maintenance charges, sufficient to liquidate the debt in thirty years and keep the roads in condition during that period, would amount to £2300 annually, while the present cost of maintenance is £2400 per annum, with deplorable results. If only on their cash saving merits, the loan proposals are sound business, and urgently necessary." The meeting decided to recommend the board to make the loan sufficiently large to cover the cost of putting the side roads of the district in a good state of repair. It was pointed out that the money on side roads need not be expended all at once.