SADLY NEGLECTED

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 167, 16 July 1936, Page 17

SADLY NEGLECTED

MELROSE DISTRICT. RATEPAYERS' COMPLAINT. BIG DEVONPORT DEPUTATION. The Devonport Borough Council Chambers were too small to accommodate the many ratepayers and residents of the Melrose district who turned up as a deputation to wait 011 the council last night. The first speaker, Mr. T. C. Enwriglit, said they had not come to the council to criticise or to blame any councillor or official, but merely to appeal for better treatment for the Melrose area. Residents had already made arrangements with the North Shore Transport Company for a special restricted bus service, which would start as soon as improvements were carried out in Victoria Road, Cowper Terrace and Abbotsford Street to enable buses to traverse this route. Improvements to most of the streets in the Melrose district were also badly needed. "We have not a single tar-sealed road or footpath in the district, and this is a state of affairs that should not be allowed to continue," he added. The other speaker, Mr. W. A. Thompson, compared the large amount of work done by the council in improving the waterfront with that done in Melrose. The waterfront was as good as anything else of its kind in the Dominion. "There is no doubt that Melrose has not had'its fair share of the revenue it contributes to the council," he said. "We would earnestly ask you to do a little mprc work in our district. The council could, for instance, eliminate some of the ditches —some of them look more like the cutting at the entrance to a tunnel. Melrose has been sadly neglected in the past, and we look to the council to do something for us."

The Mayor, Mr. 11. F. W. Meikle, pointed out the difficulties of laying down better roads, and instanced the fact that' of the Main Highways Board funds contributed by the users of heavy traffic and through the petrol tax, the Devonport Borough received only 8 per cent, while counties got 92 per cent of that revenue. The council was sympathetic to the requests made, and he assured the deputation that if the council could find the funds to carry out the suggested works and improvements, they would receive favourable consideration.

Mr. E. Aldridge pointed out that the backward state of the Melrose district was no fault of council management, but with vendors of property years ago. "These vendors left the matter of forming roads and footpaths with the council," he said. "Before legislation was completed vendors did not properly road, kerb and channel or lay down water supply. Things were different in other districts with modern subdivision." Mr. Aldridge agreed that along the streets named a proper strip of good road should be laid to permit of a l>us service being run.

After further discussion the works committee was authorised to inspect the district and furnish a comprehensive report to the council.