DAMAGE TO ROADS

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 108, 7 April 1926, Page 6

DAMAGE TO ROADS

AND LIABILITY TO PAY. AN EARLY LOCAL INSTANCE. The recent case in the'South Island where a firm of contiactors was held liable for damage done to roads by excessively. heavy carting of material calls to mind an early instance or a like character in this district. A local resident informs the “Standard” that, about 1886, the Palmerston North Gas Company, in the matter of conveyance of coal from Wellington, decided to rail it as far as Longburn, then the terminus of the private Wellington-AlaTiawatu railway, and to cart it thence to Palmerston North. At the time a Government railway linked up with the private line between Longburn and this centre, but the gas company, objecting to the freight, preferred, as stated, to cart the remaining few miles by horse-drawn vehicles, with consequent extensive wear on the Palmerston North-Long-burn road. The Manawatu County Council, at the time controlling this road length, took action against the company, which, although it had saved some £6O by liorso carting, was mulcted in substantial compensation and thereafter made use of the State railroad between Longburn and Palmerston North.