RELIEF WORK

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 55, 3 September 1934, Page 13

RELIEF WORK

IN HUTT VALLEY'

WESTERN HUTT ROAD

Tho major relief work at present under way in the Hutt Valley is that of tho Wostern Hutt Road. This work has been in progress for some weeks now, and about 150 men arc at present engaged on it. More- and moro men will be put on to work on this road as the other relief jobs in tho Hutt Valley are finished.

The time tho new road will take to construct will depend very largely on the number of men the Public Works Department officials has at its disposal, but it is estimated that with 500 men tho work will take four years. A gang is at present working about a mile north of the Belmont railway station, another gang, consisting of men from Taita and Stokes Valley, is at work a little north of Pitcaithley, and the remainder of the men are engaged between the Belmont railway station and Pitcaithley. All the men are on task work, and good progress is being made. A big concrete bridge is to be built at a point where the road and the river are adjacent in the straight run from St. Patrick's OUege, Silverstream, to the railway bridge. The plans for this bridge will be ready next year, and a contract will be let then. Two or three smaller concrete bridges will also bo built, and one will bo just north of Haywards and another near Belmont. With the exception of a few men at Horokiwi, practically all the relief jobs in tho Hutt Valley are being done by task work, and the whole lot will be done by task work in time. A Public Works Department official said that there was some commotion when task work was introduced, but ho thought that there would be more commotion now if it was abandoned, as the men were satisfied with it. The output under task-work in the Hutt Valley represented an enormous increaso over what had been accomplished under the No. 5 scheme, and there was much less labour trouble. In the Korokoro School job the men were getting the work done in twothirds of the time, and the output was greatly increased. OTHER RELIEF JOBS. Trimming, metalling, and rolling is at present being done on the new road to Korokoro (London's Eoad), and as better weather comes the road will bo gradually finished off. There is no hurry with regard to this work, and, if necessary, it could bo completed in about a month. The Korokoro School job is taking the services of most of the relief workers in that vicinity. The work here consists of cutting away a hillock and levelling a big playing area. It will be another five or sis months before this work is finished. A number of residents in the district thinks that a 12ft high bank that has been fallowed to remain in the school grounds should be removed. A protest meeting was held at Korokoro on Thursday, and it was decided to send a deputation to the Education Board about the matter.

The number of men on the Horokiwi Road job has been cut down because of work starting on the Western Hutt Eoad. Horokiwi Boad is now in fairly good order, and the settlers at Horokiwi are very pleased with tho improvement. The road was open to traffic all the time the widening was in progress, and has been metalled as the various stages of the work advanced. There is still about four months' work to be done on the road.

The work on the Wainui Hill from the Lower Hutt side to tho summit has

been completed. This road is being used moro and more all the time, and tho Lower Hutt Borough Council officials arc very pleased with the metalling aud rolling that has been done on it. Between forty and fifty men aro at present engaged on the Hutt County side of the hill (the far side from tho Hutt Valley). Under task jyork tho output has been greatly increased. The Hutt County Council is supplying tho culverts, pipes, and other material, and the relief workers, under the supervision of the Public Works Department, aro straightening and widening the road.

There is still a considerable amount of work to be done at Gracefield. In this caso a Crown asset is being improved. As tho ground was too lowlying to allow of stormwater drainage it is being built up.