HIGHWAYS BOARD

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 4, 1 December 1934, Page 7

HIGHWAYS BOARD

TOUR THROUGH DISTRICT. b, ri INSPECTION OF ROADS. MANAWATU COUNTY MET. e Responsible for 12,000 miles of ?- highways, the Main Highways Board, which is at present touring the North Island and meeting all local authorities engaged in road administration, r arrived at Sanson at 11.30 a.m. today, and met the Manawatu County Council, from which it heard repre- ' sentations concerning the maintenance of highways and the surface sealing programme in that district. The Highways Board members present were Messrs C. J. McKenzie (chairman), J. Wood, Greensmith, Torbitt, Morrison, and M. H. Wynyard (Automobile Association representative). Others present were Messrs Knapp (the board’s secretary), Albertson (the baord’s chief engineer), H. H. Sharpe (district engineer) and A. R. Acheson (Public Works Department engineer). County representatives present besides the chairman (Mr W. E. Barber) were Messrs J. H. Perrett, A. N. Morcom and D. Reid. Gratification at the good work being done by the board was expressed by the county chairman in welcoming its members. It appeared, he said, that the people who had supported the - county’s highways reconstruction loan were actually receiving little benefit, as these roads passed through sparsely populated areas and only skirted the real centres of settlement, particularly in the case of the western highway between Himatangi and Sanson, for which a subsidy of £3 for £1 over five miles had been promised. Feilding was the main stock centre for the district, and he appealed to the board to recognise that_ the through road of 14£ miles to Himatangi from Sanson was really more of a national road. Sandon had. a greater community of interest with Palmerston North and Feilding. There had been many requests for the sealing of the two roads to Feilding. DURDEN OF RECONSTRUCTION. Indicating the position of the 1926 main highways reconstruction loan of £60,000, the chairman commented that by November 30 of this year £44,500 had been raised and expended. . Liabilities incurred totalled £46,200, including £I2OO for the HlmatangiRangiotu Road, £IOO for the Foxton borough section, £IOO for the Rongotea township, and £3OO for bridges between Sanson and Bulls. There was a contingent liability of £4200 for five miles of the Himatangi-San-son highway, increasing the aggregate figure to £50,400. Roads to be completed were the Awahuri-Feilding arid Stewart’s Line requiring £SOOO, Rongotea-Lon,gburn requiring £5200, and the Shannon Road, requiring £6OOO. These three items of expenditure added a further £16,200, making the grand total £66,000. Other highway works for which loan money would be required for main boundary bridges were Awahuri, Rangiotu, Longburn-Rongotea, Bulls, and Whirokino.

Mr Sharp said no mention had been made, after referring to the subsidised five mile section, of the balance of nine ■miles of the road between Sanson and Himatangi. That was bound up with the board’s policy in conjunction with the county. The chairman stated that no provision had - been niade for the nine miles, as loan moneys available would be absorbed before this undertaking, which' was really a national one, was touched. It would rest with the board if this road was sealed before others. There was considerable traffic, both through and local, on the LongburnRongotea Road. “I take it that the gist of your request is-an increased subsidy for the remaining nine miles of the SansonHimatangi Road,” commented the board chairman (Mr McKenzie). ‘‘Yes that would help us very considerably,” replied the county chairman. , , ' . - An assurance that the board would go into the position was given by Mr McKenzie. Seaside traffic on the LongburnRongotea Road -was increasing, said MiBarber, in putting forward the case Unsealing on that road. COST OF HIGHWAYS'.

Emphasising the extent to which main highways drained the county revenue, the county chairman stated that rates struck for general and interest purposes for the year ended March 31, 1934, were £14,631, but an amount of £3067 was unpaid at that date, leaving available £11,5t>4. The subsidy received on general rates increased the total to £l3, / 37. Some £7,934 of this was required to meet the present interest and sinking fund liability, leaving £5,803. The cost of maintaining main highways m the county during the same year was £1590, while £2492 was expended on ridings, county roads, boundary bridges, etc. Including sinking funds, the county’s present interest liability, as stated, was £7,934, but of this amount the main highways reconstruction loan accounted for £3099, _ and loans for main bridges and road bridges on main highways a further £628, so that a total of £3727 was contributed to this class of expenditure, and to other loans. Outlining the present cost per annum of main highways to the county, Mr Barber stated that with the £3099 interest on .the reconstruction loan, £628 interest on bridge loans, and £1590 on maintenance it totalled £5 317 or 38.7 per cent of the rates and subsidy received by the council. Salient features advanced for consideration were the need of surfacing certain county roads that carry the concentrated traffic of ratepayers: the fact that a subsidy was allowed for a consulting engineer, but not for the county engineer for extra assistance emploved for him : that there should be a subsidy for the transport of the clerk of works while actually employed on road works; and that consideration and the settling of the programme of work be completed early in the year to allow provision to be made in the countv’s annual estimates. ‘ routes to feilding Comment, was made by the board chairman that in finding three-quar-ters™ the cost of main highways, the board considered it was doing very, well It would deal with any special circumstances so far as the transport of PS S-7to y 7o a ikrtvelve months mi7s o^thfSan^on-Him^tang^stretch W M e r C McKenzie Commented that" the v• „i co liked to have the proboard also liKea b f ore the work grammes bet™ Vas to be u omild be done without !S£ Hi ”S'rk‘ u^ o rf JS b s, 7aling was undertaken, but h« was in-

formed by the board chairman that the circumstances were exceptional in that case. Mr Wynyard said the HimatangiSanson Road was a very important one in the view of the Highways Board. Replying to this, Mr Perrett said the road between Awahuri and Feilding was more important to the county Internal roads were going back and 39 bridges in the county required renewal It was estimated that the total cost of the 14i miles between Sanson and Hnnatangi was £48,000. F.ven with a £3 for £1 subsidy the county would have to find . £12,000, and it had no prospect of raising further loan money. The sealing of the roads to Feilding was more important. It was felt, said the county chairman, that more assistance must be received towards the cost of the Huna-tangi-Sanson Road, also for county roads The Awahuri bridge had practically been condemned the concrete bridge at Rangiotu was badly cracked, and the Rongotea-Longburn structure Zt condemned. All were boundary The board chairman said the Ran-ciotu-Rongotea Road had been declared a main highway on November 15 The board would give considers, tion to the representations made by the county council. TATC „„ r , TIS , T) bulls bridge INSPECTED. Prior to arrival at Sandon this morning the Highways Board met at Bulls representatives of the iovn Board and of the Rangitikei County Council. It made an inspection of the Bulk bridge, Mr A. Stewart, w.r., being present. The board also viewed the protective works on lie banks ot the Rangitikei River and the pioposecl shortened crossing in the event 7 the Bulls bridge being renewed. No d€ Tb7board prodded to Feilding this afternoon and was due in Palmerston North early this evening to meet represent atives of the Kairanga County Council.