REPAIR OF HIGHWAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 259, 2 November 1925, Page 9

REPAIR OF HIGHWAY.

NGARUAWAHIA TO OHINEWAI. BOROUGH COUNCIL'S INACTIVITY. ACTION BY HIGHWAYS BOARD. (Py Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) HAMILTON, this day. The wretched state of that stretch of road between Ngaruawahia and Ohinewai recently prompted the Highways Board to threaten to take over and debit Waikato County Council with half the cost of putting it in a passable state, which cost would, of course, be deducted from the Government subsidies due to the council. A protest against this threatened usurpation of local body powers by the Highways Board was recently entered by the Counties' Conference, which sat at Hamilton. Discussing the position with a " Star" representative, Jlr. JI. H. Wynyard, a member of the Main Highways Board, said the board represented the users of roads, and the bulk of the board's revenue came from motor taxation. The board had control of all main highways, but the Act gave power to the board to delegate this power to local bodies. In every case except the present one, the board had delegated its power to the local authorities in whose districts roads lay, and was subsidising the maintenance of roads. The board, however, reserved to itself the right to revoke that delegation, especially where a local body neglected to provide reasonably satisfactory transport conditions. The TaupiriOhinewai road thoroughfare had been allowed to get into such a state of disrepair as not to give such reasonable facilities: The hoard ■ would, therefore, invite the Waikato County, the local body concerned, to submit satisfactory proposals for putting the road in repair, failing which it would be in tho interests of the travelling public for the board to revoke its delegation and do the work itself. It was only in extreme cases that the board used its power of revocation, and it could hardly be claimed that the present case was not extreme. If the council failed to submit a satisfactory proposal, a start would be made on putting the road in order at once.

Jlr. Wynyard added that the board was at all times sensible to the need for co-operation with local bodies, but there would be cases when doubtless circumstances would demand quick action. He added that the amount which motorists were contributing to Highways Board revenue through registration fees and heavy traffic fees to local bodies was estimated at £650,000 a year—a figure that was ' likely to increase. Pending proposals from the Waikato County Council, a good deal of filling work had been done on the road by the board, and its surface had been improved very considerably.