HUTT ROAD.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1744, 8 May 1913, Page 3

HUTT ROAD.

THE INQUIRY CONCLUDED. ADDRESSES OF COUNSEL. CITY AND SUBURBS OPPOSED. BASIS OF ASSESSMENT. The commission of imiiiiry set up io apportion among ttc several contributory local authorities the total amount payable by them in respect of the cost of remalcing the Hutt Hand, concluded its sittings yesterday. Tlic Commissioner, Mr. IV. S.' Fhort, presided. Mr. J. O'Sliea appeared for the City of Wellington, Mr. A. de IS. Brandon for Ilutt Couiily, Mr. D. 31. Findlay for the Upper Ilutt Town District, Mr. T. M. Wilford for the borough of Onslow, Mr. A. W. Blair for tho borough of Lower Hutt, Mr. M. Myers, with Mr. V. 1!. Meredith, for the borough of Miramnr, Mi'. W. J. Organ for the borough of Eastbourne, Mr. M. I\ Luckie for Makara County, Mr. 'I'. F. Martin, with Mr. I!. C. Kirk, fo'r the borough of Pctcne, Mr. U. Jerusalem for the Jolinsonvilic Town District, and Mr. F. C. ■\Viddop for tho Kaihvay Department. All the evidence hud already boon taken, and counsel were given an opportunity of addressing tho Commissioner upon it. 1 Small Borouoh—Few Benefits. Mr. W. J. Organ (Eastbourne) said lie rccognised that in fixing the total amount to be paid by the parties, and the parties who should pay, the Commissioner must be bound by the Hutt Railway and .Road Improvement Act, but the amount to bo paid by every single body depended wholly on the Commissioner's judgment. He knew, therefore, that it was impossible for Mr. Commissioner to omit the borough of Eastbourne entirely, but the benefit to bo derived by tho borough from th£ road in the future would be so small as to be negligible, and this the Commissioner, he_ suggested, would be at liberty to take into account. He submitted aIFO that along with the benefits derived the Commissioner ought to take into consideration ability to pay. Eastbourne- - was not dependent on th« Hutt Road, and would in future become rather less than more so, for the borough was endeavouring to improve the ferry service across the harbour. Eastbourne was a small borough,.with a small rate roll, a smalPrevenue, nncl without certain necessary improvements such as drainage nnd : watqF supply. Added to the consideration that it could ill afford to pay for the road, was the consideration all the contributors Eastbourne borough needed the road the least. Heavy Burden on Makara, Mr. M. F. Luckie (Makara. County) submitted that the true test of assessment was the relative advantage accruing to each of . the outlying districts by reason of the improvements which the Government had effected in tho Hutt Road. In assessing the improvements it must, be remembered thijt the not one of "ruaS or no read," but oil the present road as against the old road. The advantages to Makara of the new 'road over tfis old road were not considerable. Tito fanners in Ma- ■ kara—and there was no other population--were wholly unaffectrd by the improvement'of the road. The laud in Makara was incapable of much closer settlement, and there would therefore be no access of population such as might be expected in some of the rapidly growing urban districts which were joined as contributors. He urged, in conclusion, that these considerations should influence the' Commissioner to relieve Maknrn County from the heavy burden, which it was suggested, should'be imposed upon it. If the county were to be burdened even with the rate suggested in the Coimms-ioner's own provisional assessment, it would be burdened more heavily than nnv olhcr district. , Traffic the Final Test, Mr. V. K. Meredith (Minimal') said the borough did not specifically admit the amount debited to the borough on the traffic returns, but ho did think that the total cost to be allotted ought to be based on trafiic. l'ossibl.v the.' Government might be asked to relieve tho local bodies of some of' the burden, and if the Government acquiesced, then he thought the residue still .to be, found should be allocated on the basis of traffic among the contributory authorities. lie did not consider the.other methods of assessment nut forward by Mr. W. 11. Morion on behalf of the city, and by Mr. Brandon, on behalf of Ilutt County, were based on sound principles or on justice. Their apportionment was very unfair to Miramar, to .which the Hutt Road was not at oil necessary. The communication of Miramar for all purposes was almost entirely with the city, and this communication could' not be improved by the Hutt Road. contended that it was quite unnecessary for the Commissioner to consider any of the other suggested factors in ilie apportionment, because in taking a tally as correctly as wa= humanly . possible, the actual result of all factors was disrov-red. Traffic was the utitnale and oniv fair tcs-*!. The Hutt Road would hnvr r.o cfleet in stimulating the growth ei' Miratp.ar—rather it would have , a retarding s-fi'ect in giving the Northern Suburbs .m 'nlvantage as competitors for suburban growth. No ;j53 to Upper Hutt. Mr. D. )i. t'iirdlay (Upper Hutt) said he.propose.! io aitdrass himself to one or twu points raiafd. The lirat point .was: "Is liic tola consideration' ui the Commissioner io be that ot tratiicr" He did not agrt<i with this at all, because the iact oi other districts being cioseiy contiguous to tho ruad, the growth oi user would L-e much larger lor them in tlie future tliun iur ipyur Hutt. lie would have baen willing to accept trafiic as the test if it had h-jcu possible to obtain an accurate and reliable tallyproperly classiiietl. He did not admit that on any such ideal tost of trafiic—' which it seemed impossible to get—the district of Upper Hutt would bo nrcparcd to pay what the Commissioner might have to demand. It would be ruinous and outrageous for them to have to pay it, but tneso were all questions whicn would have to be fought out elsewhere. There had been a suggestion made that oJI the outlying districts would grow, and that Wellington would not grow. This was quite wrong. There was any amount of room in Wellington for very great growth and development. It was suggested that tho test slitjuld be'benefits derived from the road, but ho objected I:j tho only benefit to be considered being industrial or commercial benefit, ft'iue account should be taken ol wik'.i lie would call for inck of a tetter term, aesthetic bcnclit. This was the bcneiic j most enjoyed by the motor-car owners i of Wellington i.ity. On bclnilf of Vpper | Hutt, he urged, also, that their user of l tho road hail not increased with tho im- ! j provement of the read. Vl'lm trafiic now | running from Upper Hutt was al.-o running over the road when it' was in the ''canal" state. No One Factor Reliable. Mr. 0. Jerusalem (.Tohn?onville) s;iiil ho heartily disagreed with Mr. Meredith's ■saggeslion thai, the trafiic basis was flic i only fair ba~is of appointment. The inquiry hud already proved that no one ; factor could be relied upon as a guide,for : assessmeni. In his opinion, the more ' factors that were u-ed the better would | bj the ofoiiice of a jusl elli".ilion being | made. If trafiic were consideietl ni I the. several items m Hie ia,nes ought io be debited always to the place of origin, or to flic , place where vehicles were owned. Other factor; besides traffic were capital rateable value, population, and 1 direct, benefits, present and future. He did not care to lay down any rule as to , how these factors should be compromised. "Feeders of the City." ! ' Mr. T. M. Wilford (Onslow) said that had it not be?n for the hostility of counsel for the city he would probably, not have spoken at all. The attitude of tho city had bron very extraordinary. By its witness, Mr. Morton, it sought to inaugurate a scheme of assessment and con- ' tribution never hitherto suggested. He was sure that tho Commissioner had I never thought of urgiug such a scheme I as had been enunciated by Mr. Morton, [

Even tho boroughs that the sclicmo had favoured repudiated tho monster so brought into being, and fathered by Mr. O'Shea. Jlc claimed that tho suburbs were tho feeders of the city, and the city dependent upon them. It was a fact also that the road was the _ recreation ground of Wellington motorists. Could not tho Commissioner add 11 rider lo this report that the local bodies were astounded to discover that the cost of tho road was .CIOH.COO. It hail been their bcliel, rightly or wrongly, that the total cost of the railway anil road would be about .mom, and that the cost of Die road alone would not exceed ~£25,000. The Commissioner said he would be finite willing to state in his report that the local bodies were surprised at the high cost, and had never anticipated that it would be so high. Ho could not eo farther than that. It was not in his province to express an opinion as to what should bo done. Mr. A. dc 11 Brandon (Tluft County) replied in a. few sentences to Mr. Meredith's criticism of his scheme of assessment. Mr. A. W. Blair (Lower Hutt) attacked the schemes of assessment put forward by both Mr. Morton and Mr. Brandon. He claimed again that tho proper basis was traffic and prima facio half tho traffic belonged to the city and the other half to tho suburbs. He thought all pleasure traffic should bo charged to the place or origin only; certainly tho motor-car traffic should not bo charged to Lower Hutt. Plea for Petone. Mr. T. F. Martin (Petone) traversed the scheme of assessment put forward by Mr. Brandon, taking special exception lo the duplicating factor Mr. Brandon had suggested should be applied to Petone. "Wellington City, liko ail other citics, lived on tho country, without which it could not exist. It might bo .suggested that Petone itself was ;i small city, but against this possible contention he would urge that the industries in Petone existed because of propinquity to Wellington. They were not established by Petone people* or Petone capital, and the profits did not go t° Petone. Mr. R. C. Kirk supported his leader. REPLY FOR THE CITY. TUB OTHER FACTORS. Itr. J. O'Shea (Wellington City) said that tho inquiry had more than ever convinced him that tho proposed method of assessment by traffic dlone was most improper and unfair. If ithere had b:en an attempt to adopt tho method most prejudicial to the interests of Wellington, t''o best war or eip-ying out that attempt would have been adopting tho traffic method. A great par. c'f tho traffic which came into Wellington and out of Wellington was not reailv "Wellington traffic at all. The goods were never intouded for consumption or 1 :>r sale in Wellington. The freight was taken to the wharves and 'to the railway stations, and from there distributed to London, Sydney, and all over New Zealand. By the traffic test, all this freight was debited to tho city because of the few pence the Harbour Board collected in wharfagi. The factors which he urged should be considered in addition to traffic oil tho road wero: Economic dependence, economic benefits, expenditure on highways, the fact that Wellington was a distributing centre, tits liability of each local body apart from the statute, and the question of frontages. It would I>3 discovered on examination of the remarks made by Messrs. Blair, Martin, Kirk, and Jerusalem that they had adopted traffic as tho general basis because it suited their pockets to do so, and then adopted every one of the factors he had put forward in order to cut down their own contribution. Eastbourne and Miraniar had both pleaded that they had an cutlet for all their tmffic by sea, bu.t they did not admit that argument for Wellington. 'Mr Cowie, of Petone, had been asked whether Petone or Wellington was mart benefited by the road, and he had refused to answer tile, question. Jlr (Mr. O'Shea) would suggest that Mr. Cc-wie would not answer treatise he knew that the answer wotdd bo against I'etone. When Traffic is a Test. It was, of course, admitted (hat. traffic was a reasonable basis of assessment in the ease, tor instance, of a road running through four or live h(in:ogtneoi:,> districts ! in an agricultural community. In Mich a j care the factor oi' traffic would be practically the same as all the oilier factors he had put forward. l!ut tin.-, was an important commission. In small matters rough and ready methods could l:c "iis'd with advantage, for they secured expedition without much tml'aii ir.ss. lint when there was a matter of XiUOX'flO imulvod the whole question mu»t be.' silied to the very bottom. The Cemmissioner should, if. possible, seize himself of all the lac- j tors, and then come to a conclusion. lie would refer again to Mr. Ilaselden's decision. The traffic business had b:en tried on Mr. Ilaselden. It was urged by every body outside Wellington, but Wellington studiously opposed it, and Mr. Haseldcn did not fall into the trap. In that case the Commission was dealing with only part of the read, and that the part nearer to Wellington and Wellington had been required to pay seven twenty-fourths. In the provisional" assessment on traffic Wellington wits asked to pay seven-six-teenths of the whole, and two-thirds of the road was further away. He could confiilently say that if it had been suggested at'all to tho representatives of the City of Wellington'that this immense increase wonUJ bo made on the old apportionment, which was ratified by Parliament, they would never have agreed to the pessing of tho Act in its present form. The increase was.rc-ally more than 00 per cent., j because tho road extended three litres as far, and the cost of formation also was much greater on the section of the road more distant from the city. If the Commission increased Wellington's ratio to the extent that was proposed )>v these returns, it would require only another Royal C'em-mis.-ion to fix the contribution Yi'ellington shenld pay on the main read to Palmer--te-n. Probably the city would bo asked to pay pretty nearly tho lot. The -Extravagance. No doubt the expenditure on the read was excessive. The work was done in fits and starts; the money was not available for the engineers when they wanted it; they were not supplied with up-to-date appliances; men were put on atvarious times for reasons not necessary to specify; and the road was made 80 feet wide, instead of the width asked for. That part of the road which was made for the purpose of duplicating and straightening the Hutt line should be paid for by the Government, and the passenger traffic on tho railway from the outlying districts should be charged with it. Now that the cost was excessive, the small bodies were alarmed. They knew they would be crushed if they were asked to pay a fair share, and now they had joined to make Wellington pay. If the Commissioner would persue Hansard of 1911 he would learn that the request for the roa 1 originated with the outside boroughs. The Wellington Chambsr of Commerce joined in the request afterwards. No stronger support could be found for Mr. Morion's contention that the demands lor increased facility of communication came always from the outlying districls. Now the'ioiial bodies were so fearful of what might be imposed nj on them llia'e they were willing to do anything to put the cost on to Wellington. Mr. Martin had siro-ed the point that the industries in Petone were mostly owned in Wellington. There was one industry about to be established there whie.h was lerfe.iliiy not owned by anybody in Wellington, but by Lever Brothers, and the fact that it was being established there was proof Unit Petono was a suitable, place for it. He would suites' also that the firm judged Petone suitable largely because of the present good condition of Ihe Hutt Road. Case for Supreme Court. The Commissioner asked counsel whether they had anything to say on the question of whether he should state a case for tho Supreme Court to determine what his rights were in fixing a basis of assessment. Mr. O'Shea said he thought it would be a much safer and more satisfaclory courso for all parties if the Commissioner would state a ease to find out on what basis the assessment was to be made. Mr. Blair said his opinion was that the Court, if it answered the question at nil, would not answer it in such a way as ft, determine the basts, but. would simply leave a wide discretion to tho Commissioner. Mr. Martin said he was anxious not to increase the cost of tho litigation, and he apprehended that the Supreme Court would simply copy down the section of the Act concerning the. Commission and (rive that as judgment, because I»v tho Act tho Commissioner appointed by th? i

Minister had full powers to deckle upon what principle he should proceed lo noportion cost-. The Commissioner said the. case was one of such extreme gravity that he was not sure that he ought not to state a ease. 'lie would not yive his decision at the moment as io whether he would do m>. It' hp decided to state a ease the draft slaloment. of the case when he had I-iT'jinrcd it would bo scut to the parties, and they would have an opportunity of remarking upon it before lie finally stated the ca--c for the Court. If he decided not to •state a can' he would advise the partic,<: to that clfoct also. A. de B. Brandon, on behalf of the Liar. e.\prc>sed appreciation of the courtesy and consideration extended to counsel by the Commissioner in tho course of the inquiry. In acknowledgim* tho compliment the Commissioner said that the inquiry, though a diflicult task for him, had been a very interesting one.