PAEKAKARIKI HILL ROAD

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 281, 22 August 1940, Page 6

PAEKAKARIKI HILL ROAD

Move To Have It, Kept

LOCAL BODIES’ SUPPORT SOUGHT

Support for the request that the I’aekakariki Hill road be uot closed to through tratlie, which is likely Io be the result of the -Government’s returning to the Hutt County Council the responsibility of its maintenance, was given representatives of local bodies who attended a meeting yesterday convened by the Automobile Association (Wellington). Mr. E. A. Batt, chairman of the executive of the Automobile Association (Wellington) presided, and others present were Cr. 11. A. Wright, representing the Wellington City Council, the deputy-mayor of Petoue, Mr. J. C. Burns; representing the Petone Borough Council, the mayor of Lower Hutt, Mr. W. A. Andrews, representing the Lower Hutt Borough Council, Mr. S. Blackly, representing the Hutt County Council, Commissioner R. Grant, representing the Johnsonville it own Board, Messrs. E. M. Lynch and J. Barclay, who were appointed at a meeting at Pahautanui to represent the ratepayers along the road, and Messrs. A. J. Curtis, H. E, Toogood, E. Palliser, E. 11. de J. Clere, and E. P. Hay and Dr. H. Graham Robertson, members of the executive of the association. . . ~, Mr. Batt said the association did not call those present together, with the intention that they should be committed to anything, but to have a friendly and businesslike talk. He felt that the figure of £OOOO quoted as necessary to put the road in order was loaded. Referring to maintenance cost, he said that the road had now consolidated and it would uot cost as much to maintain in the future as in the past. If one or two men were employed on the road to keep the watertables clear the cost to the county council would be only between £3OO aud £OOO a year. He suggested that if that were done the Highways Board could pay for the repair of storm damage. In proposing that a scenic road be maintained in times like these they were not creating a precedent. The Milford Sound Road would, it was estimated, cost £750,000, and it was purely a scenic road. The Waitakares road at Auckland had cost £150,000, and the Summit Road over the Port Hills near Christchurch, built and maintained by tbo Main Highways Board, had cost the same as the Auckland road. Emergency Use. The emergency use of the Paekakariki Hill road was, however, uppermost in his mind. He questioned whether the other two exits from M’ellington could carry all the traffic if it •were necessary to evacuate the city. Even the tratlie caused by the Napier earthquake had blocked the roads between Palmerston North and Napier. They should urge the Government not to close the road if for that reason alone.

The meeting was uot intended to be committal, but the association asked the representatives who had attended to convey to their local bodies the opinions they had heard. The association took the subject seriously, and felt that if action were not taken now people might be sorry later. The Government’s decision had apparently been based on a traffic tally taken in bad weather in April, li£li)c petrol restrictions had been imposed. When Mr. Batt said the tally had been taken at Paekakariki interjectors remarked that it would not include much of the settlers' traffic and cars that went to the top of the hill from the south and turned back. Mr. Curtis said it was not a useless project that was being advocated, and the road had a history of more than one hundred years from the time it was a Maori track. Mr. Curtis remarked that the ratepayers along the road wanted it kept open. Mr. Andrews' said each body was chary about the type of support it gave. They wanted to ‘'pass the buck.” The most, impressive argument the association could give would be a petition signed by motorists. His council felt the road should be kept open. The new road was more vulnerable to damage than the old. The £GOOO probably, included top-dressing the surface, after which the road would need llttlo attention for a long time. Personally, he felt it would, be a calamity If the road were closed. Ho preferred it to the new road as a route. Vulnerability of New Road. Mr. Palliser said, that the new road and the railway crossed, the Porirua harbour on bridges alongside each other. An act of God or of man might wreck those bridges and, without the hill road, there would then be no exit from Wellington on the western side of the range. Mi-. "Wright said it was not fair for the Main Highways Board to shirk its resixmsibility, The city council would not contribute to the maintenance of the road. ■ "Many of its own streets needed attention. He bad, no doubt the city council would; like the road kept open, but it was no use saying that without being prepared to pay. He suggested that ti(C' Main Highways Board or the Minister of Public "Works be approached again to make sure that the Government had washed its hands of the road, and a clear idea of the expense of keeping the road open should bo obtained. 'The Users of the road should pay for it, and Wellington ratepayers would object to paying for a road so far afield. Mr. Palliser said the suggestion wa.-. that, the road users should ptiy for the road. The Main Highways Board's revenue was money from road users. He was surprised at Mr. Wright saying what he had said. Mr. Wright: But the board lias said it won't maintain the road. Mr. Palliser said the association was asking that the hoard should do so, aud it was for that that the city council’s support was asked. The money was already available. Mr. Wright said, that that was not made clear at the city council meeting. Cr. W. Appleton had said the implication was that the council would be asked to contribute. Even city councillors could be wrong, the chairman replied. Cr. Appleton had said the road would cost £OOOO to maintain, which nobody before him had ever said. The city couiieU's moral support was what was desired. • Cost of Mainieiiaiit e. Mr. Blackly said that. the Government had .slated that, it, would cost f.’IIKMI a yi'tir, not. £llOOO, to nialnlaiu the road as tr first-class highway, lie was (.•otivineed nothing would be done unless politics were brought into it, as Mr. Andrews had suggested. Ho did not think it was necessary to maintain the road us a first-class highway. It should not be handed over to the county council before the Pahiiutanui-Pliinmcrton Roarl was put in order. In negotiations with the Government the council bad offered to give the Government all the rates it: got from the land along the road. The council would not take money from other places