BETTER ROADS
EXTENSION OF PERMANENT SURFACING DEPUTATION TO HIGHWAYS BOARD SUBSIDY PROMISED Yesterday morning tho deputation appointed at last Friday’s conference of delegates of local . bodies with the Hutt Road Board waited upon Messrs. F W. Furkert and G. Murray, representing the Main Highways Board, in order to gain some idea as to how they stood with regard to assistance from the Highways Board for the
local scheme to extend permanent surfaces over certain roads within and contiguous to Wellington city. The deputation consisted of the Mayor of Wellington (Mr. R. A. Wright), the Mayor of Lower Hutt (Mr. AV. 1Strand), the Mayor of Petone (Mr. J. A. McEwan), the chairman of , the Hutt County Council (Mr. McKay), the chairman of the Makara County Council (Mr. E. Windley). and Councillor H. D. Bennett. There was a general talk with tho Government representatives as to the position of roads generally, and as a result the position has been clarified. Mr. Furliert was encouraging and sympathetic towards the proposed scheme, and stated that the Highways Board was prepared to subsidise such roads as it approved, to the extent of £ for £. This did not mean that the Hutt Road Board as it was at present constituted, or as it might be constituted, would have the. power to lay down any kind of road and call for the subsidy on it. The width of a road; with the depth and manner and matter of its making, would have to be formally approved bv the board before any road work undertaken bv a local bodv 9r group of local bodies would be approved for subsidy. 3 lie general idea, however, was to encouiaop the local bodies to lay down permanent surfaces on their main roads, the cost of which would be shared by the Highways Board. When main roads passed bevond tho control of a local bodv, or uncontrolled by a local bodv. with insufficient funds to attend to such work, they could bo declared Government roads, and the work of surfacing could bo undertaken by the Highways Board. In the course of an interview subsequently, Mr. Wright said that ■Wellington roads were difficult to deal with. The Hutt Road was. according to the Act, not a main highway, but a citv street, whereas the road up the Ngahauranga Gorge was a main highway, and a very important one, as it was the main arterial road to the East Coast and the Manawatu. as well as passing tho site of the city abattoirs, which meant a great amount of live stock traffic. As it was constituted at present, the Hutt Road Board could not attend to this road, as it was onlv set up to lay down a permanent surface on the existing Hutt Road. The Nqahauranga Gorge Road wanted regrading and widening at certain places, a work which devolved upon the local authority (the Makara County Council!. As that body, however, could not finance such a. work, and the road was generally used, it was thought that bv broadening the powers of the Hutt Road Board it could, with the assistance of the Highways Board, undertake the work to the i/H.sf action of all concerned. A further meeting of the General Committee set un hr the local bodies concerned will bo held to-morrow to ascertain the position of tho Makara and Hutt Count” Councils in resnect to putting in order those roads which R. is pronosed shall bo surfaced later. The roads chiefly concerned are the No-rdianranoa Gorge Road, the Gorge R oad near Sil verstream, and the narrow parts of the road to Eastbourne.
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Bibliographic details
Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 215, 5 June 1924, Page 8
Word Count
601BETTER ROADS Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 215, 5 June 1924, Page 8
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