LOW RATES: BAD ROADS

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 173, 10 April 1923, Page 5

LOW RATES: BAD ROADS

HUTT COUNTY’S POSITION

AUTOMOBILE CLUB INVESTIGATES SOME COMPARISONS

“If we could induce the Hutt county to put down a mile or two of permanent surface on one of their main roads, wc would not have to worry t,hcm further, for they would soon enough want to extend it themselves, as lias happened everywhere else where such work has been bpgun.” This remark at yesterday’s meeting of the committee of the Wellington Automobile Club was typical of tho discussion of a lengthy report on the Hutt county roads which had been prepared by the Roads and Publicity Sub-committee of tho olub. Tho decision to look into the general question of tho Hutt county roads was taken by the committee at a previous meeting, when the proposal of the county council to erect a toll-gate on tho Day’s Bay road was under review, and tho result is a report stating tharthe Hutt county appears to be in an exceptionally fortunate financial position compared with other counties, and that if financial assistance is needed from outside sources it is only because of tho lowness of the county rates. On the motion of tho president, Air. C. M. Banks, it was resolved to ask the Hutt County Council to receive a deputation with a view to eliciting whether t.he county authorities have gone into the question of tho profitableness or otherwise of adopting more up-to-date methods in surfacing the roads, and to direct the council’s attention to various matters raised in the sub-commit-tee’s report. Air. S. George Nathan raised the question whether it was not desirable to begin with a deputation to tjie City Council instead of tho Hutt county. They were all ratepayers of tho city and tho city roads and streets needed a great deal of improvement. Would it be wisest to begin right at home. Tolls Raise Whole Question. In reply to this, Air, B. L. Donno and other members emphasised the point that tho whole matter -had arisen on tho proposal of the Hutt county to levy toll on city motorists, and motorists were therefore decidedly interested parties in the Hutt county road maintenance. . , Air. H. D. Bennett said the club could not rank tho City Council with Hutt county in the matter of road maintenance. Tho city was heavily rated, and Hutt’ county was not, and the City Council last year, after going into t,ho matter, decided it would bo unwise at that time to impose a heavier burden on the ratepayers. As it was, to carryon even tho present amount of work on the roads the rates would have to be increased. If tho club held that money spent by tho city was not laid out to tho best advantage, that was another matter, and quite a different one from their present criticism oi Hutt county. . Mr. J. J. Williamson raised the point whether Hutt county could ever provide good roads like the Taranaki roads. It was not a rich dairying district, but was mostly poor sheep country. The roads here were mostly amongst hills, with expensive side cuttings; in Taranaki tho land was open and road-formation and maintopance was less expensive. Air. A. N. Field said that even if Hutt county was not able to do as much as Taranaki, was it doing anything like as much as it could? Its roads -were not up to the standard 10quired for the traffic on them, ami the club should find ent why. It seemed to him that the Hutt county had gone on year after year in the same old way, and it w.ats time interest was taken in its proceedings. Air. F. Goldberg suggested that a large and representative deputation to the Hutt County Council should bo arranged* Tho state of the .Hutt rvads wai of great interest and importance, and they ought to have a deputation m proportion. Approval was expressed of this proposal, and it was decided t.-i hold a meeting to make the necensary arrangements on receipt of a reply from tho Hutt County Council. Air. H. W. Lloyd said the roads and publicity sub-committees deserved hearty thanks for their report, and a motion was passed accordingly on the adoption of the report.

County Already Assisted. In the course of their report, the sub-committees stated than the stand taken un by the Hutt County Council in the matter of the Day’s Bay tollgate has to be reviewed in the light of that body’s general policy. It id necessary to bear in mind that the Hutt county has already been relieved of numerous obligations in road maintenance. When the Hutt Road from Wellington to Petone was widened and improved, the maintenance of it was thrown largely on to the citizens ot Wellington by the formation ot the Hutt Road Board. Some time back die Hutt county obtained a commission in order to secure from the surrounding local bodies contributions for the repairs of bridges on tho main Hutt Valley Road, and was allotted considerable sums. More recently the Wellington Automobile Club offered the Hutt county a donation of £lOO towards the cost of fencing the laekakariki Hill Road—work which it would have been a reasonable thing for the County’ Council to have performed long iis’o at its own cost to safeguard lite and limb. It appears, however, that the Hutt County Council has written to at least ono other local body— Horowhenua county—asking for a contribution from it also lor this small work, and saying that unless one is received it is unlikely that it will be able to proceed with the fencing. Finally has come the request for outside assistance for the Day's Bay Road. „ , , . , Hutt county has of kite received extremely liberal assistance from the Government. The Public Works Department is improving and putting in good order about 20 miles of the main roads in tho county—7 miles in the Horokiwi Valley and over faekakariki Hill, 4 miles on the Rimutaka Hill, and between 8 and 9 miles of new road on the Akatarawa-Waikanae route. In addition to this there is about 50 miles of roads m the county which will come under tho arterial road scheme to bo put into operation next vear, and be eligible for grants, Hie roads referred to are the main West Coast Road from tho Hutt-Makara boundary’ between Ponrua and larcniata to tho Hutt-Horowhenua boundary at Waikanae, a distance of about 27 miles, and the 23-mile stretch ol main Wairarapa Road from the Lower Hu.tt-Hutt county •boundary to the Hutt-Fcatherston county boundary on tho summit of tho Rimutaka Hill, for a substantial relief from its existing burdens in the near future.

Lagging Behind. Tho question follows as to u4ia.t the Hutt county is doing for itself at present. Other counties have bought

steam rollers and modern road-making plant, and many have laid down miles of tar-sealed road. We do not find that the Hutt county has done any of those things. It employs no engineer, and it has yet to got into line with the movement initiated ten or twelve years back by the more progressive county councils to meet tho modern development of road transport, its roads are about tho most indifferently kept between Wellington and New Plymouth. On the main Wairarapa Road a very marked deterioration in the surface is noticeable as soon as one passed tho boundary of Lower Hutt borough and.gets on the Hutt county section. The Petone-Day’s Bay-East-bourne Road is in relatively excellent order at its Petone and Eastbourne end compared with tho Hutt county stretch. Despite the heavy milk traffic by motor lorry over Alakara Hill that road is maintained in good order by tho Alakara County Council; but the same cannot be said of the way the Ihitt county maintains the road over the Wainui-o-mata Hill, it is only on a few by-roads where the traffic is relatively very small that one finds good surfaces ’in the Hutt county. Tho causes of the marked inferiority of Hutt county roads have next to be sought. If the county is financially overburdened, and cannot raise the money for necessary works the obvious remedy would seen, to bo not spasmodic assistance friKii other bodies, but a readjustment of the county boundaries or some fresh grouping of the local body areas in the district. Your committee, however, is not able to discover evidence from the official statistice that the Hutt county is by any means so overburdened. The latent volume of local body statistics published by the Government deals with ths financial year 1920-21. This is rather far back; but it affords a rough comparison. From the figures therein it appears that county (Hutt) is a lightly rated county with a negligible debt. The comparative figures show the Hutt county rates as equal to £554 per £lOOO of a capital rateable value on a 1913-14 valuation. Wellington city rates on a 1913-14 valuation basis would equal nearly £l5 per £lOOO rateable value.

What Taranaki Pays. Taranaki county, on a valuation of about the same date as Hutt county is shown as paying £14.59 in rates per £lOOO rateable capital value; Egmont pays £10.14; Inglewood £12.03, and Eitha.pi, even on a much increased 1919 valuation, pays £9.76 in rates per £lOOO rateable capital value. Those figures seem to indicate that tho internal financial resources of Hutt county must bo considered as being very far from exhausted. The same volume of statistics shows the Hutt county debt as the modest sum of £lB,OOO, equal to 0.94 p6r cent, of its capitable rateable value. Taranaki counties which believe in providing good road transport facilities in their territory have not hesitated to shoulder loan burdens equal to 4,5, and 6 per cent, of their rateable capital value. The Hutt county argument Is that as “foreign” traffic uses its roads, so foreign traffic must pay for them. If this principle were applied generally, it would mean that every local body would be paying out money to every other local body. It is not a workable principle, and it is not a sound one. By reason of its contiguity to the city Hutt county undoubtedly /does have much city traffic and outside traffic over its roads. But that very contiguity is an immense benefit for which the county must in the nature- of things expect to pay. Its proximity to the city means that the county has at its doors a great market for its produce. Residents in the more distant counties may escape tho cost of city wear and tear on their roads; but they pay infinitely more per annum in railage and freights and fares generally to reach the city, and city markets. Moreover, Hutt county rural lands are steadily acquiring suburban values by the expansion of the city and subsidiary boroughs and resorts, and this increment is as steadily falling into the hands of county ratepayers. Hutt county must take the rough with tho smooth. It cannot expect to have th© mony economic and social advaiitages of proximity to a large city, and at the same time havp the citizens of Wellington maintain not only their own roads but the county roads as well. The only justification for such a demand would be that tho county was bearing a crushing financial burden. Wo have failed to find that the Hutt county is bearing such a burden for the position seems to be that on the contrary its local’taxation is relatively light,’and its rates decidedly less than half what some Taranaki counties are paying per £lOOO of rateable capital value.

Good Roads profitable. While the poorness of the roads m Hutt county is a matter of general concern, it is not suggested that the County Council should puts, its highways in order on philantrophic grounds for tho benefit of. outsiders. If tho county will look into this matter we are convinced that it will find it a highly pay a ole proposition to have up-to-date roads. From matter appearing recently in the Press it will be seen that the chairman of Inglewood County Council, in stating the case for his county’s road improvement proposals, estimates that the saving in maintenance by putting down a permanent surface amounts to no less than £J.ol» per mile per annum. Not only is there a great saving in maintenance costs to bo effected, but county residents will benefit geratly by the reduced petrol consumption, running costs, and general wear and tear of the vehicles employed in bringing their produce into the city, and taking goods out, to say nothing of increased comfort for passenger traffic. Finally, good roads raiM- make also for a steady compensating rise in land values in tho county as the improved access will induce many city people to live in the county territory. Hutt county ratepayers have, therefore very much to gain by bringing their local authority into line. . , Tho outstanding fact is that good roads are badly needed around Wellington, and are not being provided by the responsible local authorities. If tho Hutt county is prepared to make a forward move your committee Jeols sure it will have the hearty and active support of all motorists. If there aru -obstacles not apparent to the committee, which are effectually preventing the Hutt county from meeting modern traffic requirements, it would be well to ascertain what they are, so that the general body of motorists may be able to co-oper-ati so far as possible in their renewal. Your committee, therefore, recommends that the Hutt Council be asked to receive a deputation oi club members to discuss the Day’s Bay toil-gate proposal, and also the general roads policy of the county. It might be as well to arrange this deputation in conjunction with tno Chamber of Commerce. If this part of the Dominion is ever to get into line with Taranaki in the matter ot -mod roads it will not be donu by iui-the-r pursuing tho present policy ot Inaction or waiting to be spoon-fed by the Highways’ Board, winch may be relied upon to help those who help themselves.