MAKERUA-TOKOMARU MAIN HIGHWAY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LV, Issue 4587, 19 December 1935, Page 2

MAKERUA-TOKOMARU MAIN HIGHWAY.

The Horowhenua County Council received advice at its meeting last Saturday from Mr H. H. Sharp, district engineer of the Public Works Department, that 60 chains of the No. 60 (Levin-Palmerston N.) main higliAvav would be widened, re-aligned and metalled free of cost to the Council. The letter proceeded: “The re-alignment work in places will be in heavy filling, Avhich Avill mean that the sealing of the section cannot Ije undertaken until late in 1936, if thep. When the contractor has completed the reconstruction Avork and the contract maintenance period has expired, the length of road will be handed back to your Council for maintenance in the ordinary wav. The resolution in your last letter states that your Council is agreeable to And onefourth of'the actual cost of sealing but is not prepai’ed to find any of the cost of preparation work prior to sealing.' In this connection I wish to advise that if adequate maintenance is carried out by your Council after the Avoriki is completed and up to the time Avhen sealing may be commenced, there should be a very small expenditure in any preparation work prior to the actual seal cost. However, as the Board Avill be finding, free of charge to your Council, the Avhole cost of Avidening, re-alignment and metalling, and in vieAV of the fact that any extensive preparation Avorlp will be due *to lack of thorough and proper maintenance, I am of the opinion that it would be definitely unreasonable to expect the Board to find the full cost of such preparation Avork prior to the application of the seal coat, and your Council should be prepared to find the usual one-fourth of any preparation cost in addition to one-fourth of the cost of the actual seal coat. I shall be glad, therefore, if your Council will reconsider the resolution already passed.” 'The Chairman (Mr G. A. Monk) suggested that the Council adhere to its previous resolution. It was quite clear what might happen—they all remembered the experience of the Council on the road south of Shannon. There the road had been prepared for sealing and then there had not been sufficient money in the highAvays fund to seal it, and the Council had been put to very considerable expense later in bringing the road back to a condition in which it could be sealed. There was no guarantee that the same thing would not happen in this case. Personally he thought that the Council had been “stretching a point” already. The Council had been asked definitely to find a quarter of the cost of the sealing and the motion agreeing to that request had been made absolutely water-tight, providing for that cost and that only. The Council had felt that that was quite fair. It Avas decided to stand by the previous resolution.