DEPUTATIONS GIVEN GOOD HEARING BY MINISTER

Grey River Argus, 3 May 1949, Page 2

DEPUTATIONS GIVEN GOOD HEARING BY MINISTER

Mr. Semple At Greymouth A sympathetic hearing was given to Greymouth district deputations which were introduced to the Minister of Work, the Hon. R. Semple, shortly after his arrival yesterday afternoon by Mr J. B. Kent, M.P. for Westland. . , The first deputation received was from the Grey County’ Council comprising the Hon. J. Ryall, MLC„ Messrs C. Clayton, R. Clark, J. Ryan and H. E. Higgins (acting engineer). Mr A. B. Bremner, district Public Works engineer, was also present. Mr Ryall brought before the Minister the question of the Crooked River Valley Road, the construction of one and a quarter miles of which, and the building of a bridge across the Crooked River being estimated to cost £12,000. Mr Ryall said that the Te Kinga people wanted a bridge to Te Kinga, and those at .Rotomanu a connection with the railway line. The cost of the road with the Te Kinga bridge would be £33,000, and the County felt that a free grant should be'made. Mr Semple: I’ve known you for 2U years, and vou have never changed. I want to .congratulate you on your The Council wished the Minister to decide which road should be constructed, added Mr RyallMr Higgins said the Crooked River Valley’ Road was included in the 10year 'plan. The estimate for the road was £3300 and for the whole job with the bridge £12,000. This would shorten the route to Greymouth from Rotomanu by five miles. Mr Ryan said that there was an agitation to take the road to Te Kinga. ~ . . Mr Semple: So there is a division of opinion? The deputation: Yes. Mr Bremner said that _ the only justification for the major scheme was that it would serve Te Kinga, a small milling township which might peter out. As a compromise he suggested the £12,000 scheme which would serve over 30 Rotomanu settlers and be of benefit also to Inchbonnie. Mr 'Semple: Who’s got the heaviest guns out of the two contending parties ? Mr Ryall replied that Rotomanu with its'settlement had. “There is no chance of getting the two, and I am not going to say how long it will be before you get one,” said Mr Semple. The route he preferred was the one in the 10-year plan. . n Mr Bremner said he did not thmk there was any question about which route was to be preferred. Mr Semple: Then we might make up our minds rieht now. These petty quarrels have got to cease. He promised to look into the question of a grant and asked what the Council did with its rates. Mr Rvall replied that they were all spent in flood domage and the hospital rate. HAUPI RI-AHAURA FLOOD DAMAGE A request for a £3 for £1 grant in place of £f for £1 was made by Mr Ryall for work estimated to cost £3996 to restore the Ahaura-Haupiri road after damage done in the flood of January 1948. Mr Higgins said that the authority for £ for £ had not yet been accepted by the Council which had spent some money in re-opening and clearing the road. The rest of the cost was too severe for the County to bear. Only £6B in rates was paid to the Council from beyond the slip. Mr Semple: What about the rest of the County? After Mr Ryall had stated that it had not been the policy of the County to spend large sums in any one area, Mr Semple said that any part of the County in trouble should be helped by the rest. “Here you say no, and ask for the Government to find most of the money,” added the Minister. Erosion was going to cost the country millions, and all would have to share the burden. The Government would measure up to its responsibilities and asked local bodies to do the same. The patchwork business was no good, but they would have to get to the cause and prevent a recurrence. Mr Semple offered to increase the subsidy to £2 for £1 and suggested that the Council consider his offer, which meant that they had to find £l3OO. Mr Ryall: That is very nice. Mr Semple: Well you see that you get them to agree to it. ACCESS TO BLACKBALL Mr Clark asked the Minister to consider the construction of a new road from Blackball to Moonlight which would give better access to Reefton. The work had been started when the Blackball mine took fire, but shortly after the survey was completed it was stopped. It would be more ' convenient and would be much safer than the present road. Mr Semple instructed Mr Bremner to take out an estimate. "If it is convenient and more safe, I will look at it very sympathetically,” he said. The declaration of the BlackballRoa Road as a main highway was requested by the deputation. Mr Semple said he could put it to the Main Highways Board, but some declarations had been turned down by the Treasury. He himself wanted to see more State and main highways. At an estimated cost of £220 Mr Clayton asked the Minister to have a drain 312 feet long in front of the Ahaura school piped, as it was a menace to the health of tfhe children. Mr Semple said it was a matter for the Education Department and he would bring it before the Minister. He would say that he thought the work should be done, but could not commit Mr McCombs. WAIKITI RIVER BRIDGE Replacing the cage across the Waikiti River, to give access to soldier settlers who would take up blocks recently purchased by the Crown, a 160-foot bridge was ’ requested, as well as a deviation round a slip. If it were a soldier settlement it had to have proper access, said Mr Semple. The Government would have to road it. The Council had been asked by the Commissioner of Crown Lands to provide the bridge, said Mr Ryall, but the Council was unable to do so. Th P Minister is to take the matter up’with the Lands Department and Mr Bremner is to prepare a report. RAPAHOE TAR SEALING When this question was brought before the Minister, Mr Ryall asked when the work would be done. In reply to Mr Semple, Mr Bremner said that over eight miles of road near Reefton had been sealed last summer. It was questionable if th e Rapahoe-Runanga section could be done next summer, as a good deal of reconstruction was required. Mr Semple advised Mr Bremner to have the reconstruction done during the winter and the road prepared for sealing next summer if labour was available. FENCING ALONG RAILWAYS Some farmers had been big losers of stock through defects in the rail-

MINISTER TO INSPECT BLAKETOWN BRIDGE The Borough Council was wholeheartedly behind the request, of the Blaketown residents for the provision of a footbridge giving access to Gresson Street, the Mayor, Mr F. F. Boustridge, told the Minister of Works, the lion. R. Semple, when introducing Messrs F. McEnaney and J. ,//. Walton, of the Blaketown Ratelayers’ Association, yesterday. Photographs of the bridge, in its present dilapidated condition were handed to the Minister by Mr McEnaney. The people quite appreciated the Harbour Board’s difficulties, as the bridge was tied up with the aarbour scheme. A lengthy statement handed to Mr Semple by Mr McEnaney, set out ..he history of the bridge. Last week’s census showed that 1248 persons used the bridge between 6.30 а. and 10.30 p.m. “Blaketown residents are progres-sively-minded, and by community effort have succeeded in improving the amenities oi their area”, said . the statement. “Ar the moment plans are in train for substantial improvements to be made at McLean Park, which is an area bounded by the breakwater and the beach; this when completed, would be a rendezvous, not only for children of Blaketown, but also from the borough, but would be outside easy access until Blaketown Lagoon is spanned by a bridge. We might mention that this work is proposed to be done by voluntary labour. Another project contemplated is the building of nine basketball courts in the recently filled in portion of what was known as the ‘frog pond’—this is only eight to ten chains from the bridge and will bring hundreds of girls to the locality. The absence of bridge access would be a great hardship to these players. . “Many returned servicemen, as well as other workers, have built or acquired homes in the area that would be affected by the closing of the bridge and if this course is adopted it would mean a very serious loss to these people by reason of the fall in values through inaccessibility. “You might wonder to what extent this bridge is used and how many people would be affected by its closure. To enable us to obtain accurate information on this point, it was decided to take a census, and I can state truthfully that the date on which the information would be taken was not made public (in fact, many of our committeemen were unaware of the chosen date), and on Wednesday last records were taken. From б. a.m. until 10.30 p.m. on the 27th April, the number of persons who traversed the bridge totalled 1248; this, I think, conclusively proves the necessity for the retention of the structure. Our people require the bridge, and we ask you kindly to assist us by seeing that this service is continued for us. “Whether the Government is able to make a grant in money and/or materials for this work is a question we cannot answer. We have, however, given thought to the practicability of your Department installing a Bailey bridge; this we feel would solve the problem until such time as Harbour Board is in the position to erect the bridge that Hon. Mr Hackett advised us would be built as part of the harbour scheme”. The Harbour Board did not seem lo be too sympathetic, sqid Mr McEnaney. referring to requests for an improvement. Another bridge was to be provided at a cost of £lOOO, according to the Minister of Marine, said Mr Semple. Mr McEnaney: Well vte think the other will fall down while they are thinking about that. The commonsense thing seemed to be to rush the new bridge as soon as possible, said Mr Semple, announcing that he would make an inspection immediately. Later deputations prevented the Minister from going to Blaketown, but he will inspect the structure before leaving for Westport this morning. 'V~.— —

way fencing along their properties, said Mr Clayton who said that they had been maintained by the Government for 60 years and were in bad repair. The district railways engineer, Mr W. E. Buddy, said that fences on the Reefton line were in poor repair. There was almost no fencing wire available, and any that came to hand was available immediately to farmers who did the work. The farmer was responsible for his stock and if they got out it was his fault. Fences were maintained by the Department as an act of grace. It would prove very costly if the farmers had to do the work themselves, said Mr Clayton. “The real cost is the wire and posts isn’t it?” asked the Minister. The Department would help as much as possible. If there v.’as a real hardship to any farmer in having to do the work, lie would do what he co.uld to assist, but was not going to leave the gate wide open. They would have the wire as soon as possible, as he understood stocks were improving. Mr Ryall thanked the Minister for the hearing he had given the deputation.