'RATHER GOOD ROAD'

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 21, 25 January 1924, Page 6

'RATHER GOOD ROAD'

THE\NEW HUTT HIGHWAY

ABUSE BY HORSED VEHICLES

VARIOUS PROBLEMS DISCUSSED.

Kecent criticisms of the new surface of the Huttjoad (attacked in some quarters as "wavy") and various other important matters connected, with this work were discussed at the meeting of the Hutt Road Board yesterday. $ ,__ "I have just come'over the road," remarked Mr. J. W. M'Ewan,' Mayor of Petone, "and I must say, a s a layman, that it appears to fee a rather good road. I am rather surprised that TB^ much criticism has been indulged id' con^ cerning it, and our engineer is of the same opinion. One wonders how to account for certain men connected with the Motor Union having criticised it as they have. Mr. A. J. Paterson,. Acting-City EnglveiV?,ld that one of Ule tead»B m 5 aPokgised for his remarks. -Mr. Paterson went oil to explain bow - j-. very small wave would appear to' bu large wider the light of a car, and declared that the more traific that went on the road the better it would become. lUe top surface, which after all was only a waterproof coating, would gradually be rolled out and evened up Mo fault could be found with the two under courses. . . , Mr. W. T Strand, Mayor of Lower Hutt, remarked tha.t to his mind the fh JM g? mg bn very well>aiid »>e thought the board should express its appreciation of the manner in which tlie work was-being carried out. "The first mile is always worse to deal with than the last,"^he declared. • ,"#• s<: e™ *°Lme to be a first-class job, said Mr. Wright, "but we have to expect criticisms. Probably the people who are criticising don't know any more about it than we do, for after all we are laymen m this-matter. Criticism is inevitable, and someone is always ready to point out that we have done things wrongly." 9 .. a After some discussion as to details of the report and the classes of material required l the board adopted the report as presented. UNAUTHORISED VEHICLES. _Mention was made by Ihe Town Clerk k Mr. J. R. Palmer, as-secretary of the board, of the fact that iron-tired vehicles were using the bitumen surface, contrary to the provisions of the Hutt Road Amendment Act of 1917 and suggested that notices might be put up quoting the^section of the Act and giving notice that drivers of such vehicles were lia»r £ P enalty of i2O *or each offence Mr. Paterson: "I think the best thing w-3 can do is to let them have the privilege providing they pay a tax. We could amend the legislation so that steel-tired vehicles could be charged a fee. They wou d only touch the top surface, the weather coating, and this will be all right after a little warm weather and it is ironed^ out." The difficulty would be, he v S aid, that slow-moving traffic' nnght stay on the centre of the road instead of going on the sides of the surfaced strip. "If we let these steeltired lorries go over the road gratis and charge.the fniotbrist. we are sure to have a row," maintained Mr. M'Ewmi , M|'- .Wright was of the opinion th.it the board should not countenance stecltned/vehicles using iheriew road'afi all. It wds agreed that notices as suggested by Mr. Palmer should be seF^ip along the road: - .TRACKLESS CAR PUZZLE. " The matter of running the trackless car underneath the railway bridge at Kaiwarra was also discussed, Mr. Paterson explaining a scheme by which a grade of about one in fifty down and up would allow of a sufficient dip in the road to permit the cars to run underneath the bridge. He explained this in detail, and mentioned a proposal that had been made that the mnh in charge oi. the car should pull down the overhead trolley when passing under the bridge, but said that as the car is to be the one-man type, this was not practicable. , / , SUGGESTED SCHEME^IF CONTROL. A scheme .was put -forward by Mr. Strand for the joining of all districts tontiguous ■to Wellington for the govern- > ing of arterial roads and the collecting of, license fees. Mr. Strand dealt with a tlie case of, heavy motor-lorries which used the roads'm competition with the railways, these to a large extent being supported'by the taxpayer, :wh6 also provided a part of the. cost of the roads that the outside lorry driver used but did not pay for. The Thorndon road, to mention a particular casein Wellington itself, carried traffic from all over the country, and was probably the hardest road in the Dominion to keep in order. Much of the traffic over that road was of heavy vehicles, 'carting goods in competition with the railways, and yet the lorry owners paid not a penny towards its maintenance, being registered far outside Wellingon. Under his scheme the users of the road would contribute more—and ' rightly- so—than would the ordinary ratepayer. There would'be difficulties, of Course,'but these could be overcome if met in a give-aiid-take spirit. The tax for a heavy motorlorry on the Hutt road, £3, was not ■ nearly sufficient. In America, Mr. Strand mentioned, taxes were! considerably higher, and on a Ford car .the taxes might amount to even £25' per annum* " ; Mr. .Wright expressed the opinion that there would be considerable difficulties. For instance, a man should not be called upon to pay twice, but Mr. Strand maintained thaf the scheme would be. workable if all local bodies adjacent to Wellington would pull together. The Mayor remarked again on the situation which would ~arise*if motorists; were asked to pay a special tax, nnrt also to contribute under the Mnir Highways Bill. It was agreed that Mr. Strand's suggestion should be mentioned at the conference of the local bodies to be held next month. ,«,.