The Gorge Commission

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8198, 26 January 1906, Page 5

The Gorge Commission

The adjoarned sitting of the Gorge Bridge and Road Commission was resumed at the Courthouse this morning before Mr W. S. Short, Commissioner. The delegates present were the same as those m attendance at the previous sittings. Mr Loughnan indicated to the Commissioner, briefly, the case for the Kairanga County Council, in which body is vested a portion of the road through the Gorge. He also reviewed the case set up by the Oroua County Council, which was concluded at the prior sittings. He contended that the proposals placed before the Commission, as affecting the Kairanga County, would not be of any service at all. He suggested a fairer apportionment as far as the Kairanga County Council was concerned, as compared with the Oroua County Council, would be 5 per cent to the former and 30 per cent to the latter. The original apportionment suggested by the Oroua County Council was— Oroua, Kairanga, Pahiatua and Woodville, each 13 per cent. The Kairanga County Council, said Mr Loughnan, proposed that the Pahiatua County Council should pay 15 per cent, of the proposed road, Pohangina © per cent., and Woodvilie 20 per cent. Woodville Borough Council, it was suggested, should pay 20 per cent, of the cost. Palmerston Borough was not included in the proposed apportionment. L. Bryant, member of the Kairanga County Council, said that both from a county and a local (Fitzherbert) point of view the proposed road was not required. There was already a good road across the range ; from a public point of view the question was a different one. By Mr Fitzherbert: He thought a local body should not contribute to the cost of a work unless it benefitted by it. By Mr Sandilands : It was probable the Stoney Creek and eastern portion of the district up to Feildiug would benefit by the erection of the bridge. The rates would depend upon which portion of the East Coast their stock came from. If it came from Waipawa the bridge, no doubt, would be used, if from the Bush districts, the Range road would be preferred. Palmerston would benefit, in a measure, by the bridge. E. J. Armstrong, civil engineer, said that between 1882 and 1889 the Gorge road was maintained by Government and he thought their control lasted up till about the close of that century, 1899. Since that time the Fitzherbert Road Board and Kairanga County Council had maintained the road, though he did not know what the former body did to it. Witness quoted an instance of a drover using tho Range road in preference to the Gorge for stock movements. By Mr Fitzherbert: At an interview with the Premier in Palmerston some years ago he had suggested that the road through Siberia should be completed in preference to the re-erection of the bridge, and he had inferred he would grant £ for £ for the road work: Witness considered that as far as Palmerston was concerned the Siberia road would be more valuable than the bridge. By Mr Sandilands : The bridge would be largely used, if erected, even if the Siberia road was in existence. Settlers, except under exceptional circumstances, would take the shorter route at any time. R. Were, chairman of the Kairanga County Council, said his Council had expended £434 on the road during the past eight or nine months. Pressure was exerted by Government to obtain the expenditure. The bridge was not a necessity for his County; his Council had passed resolutions on that subject. | By Mr Fitzherbert: He thought the Pohangina County should pay 5 per cent., because it had a froutage to the road; the proportion was estimated upon the same basis as their own. He considered they would reap as mueli benefit as Kairanga, but the road was practically useless to each, and neither should contribute.