WHOSE TURN FOR CONCRETE FOOTPATHS?

Northern Advocate, 23 March 1937, Page 6

WHOSE TURN FOR CONCRETE FOOTPATHS?

The annual scramble for concrete footpaths in the Borough of Whangarei is due to start almost immediately. The chairman of the works committee, Cr. R. S. Finch, reported to the borough council"'last evening that the works in hand for this financial year were nearing completion, and that if a vote for concrete footpathing was to be re-allocated, a new list of streets, in order of urgency, should be drawn up. It was suggested that the chairman of the works committee and the engineer bring down a list of streets, and that the Council then undertake an inspection. Cr. E. G. W. Tibbits preferred that councillors should individually submit lists for consideration at the next meeting. Cr. Finch: The proposal as put forward places the whole responsibility upon the shoulders of one councillor. There is a lot of pestering and influence used in getting certain streets done, and I think the procedure suggested is a wrong one. It was decided that Cr. Finch and the engineer submit a list of streets for concreting footpathing, the list to be considered by the works committee before submission to the council. Unsatisfactory Crossings. Sixty-six footpath crossings, recently laid down by the borough council under a new method are to be extended to the full width. “With a view purely to economy,” Cr. Finch said, “a gap of two or three feet has been left between the iron plates in crossings recently put in. There is a liability of pedestrians tripping or catching their legs in the hole, and I recommend that they be extended to the full eight feet, with no grate, and that the engineer be instructed to have the filling work done. All-Concrete Crossings.

Cr. Finch said that, with a view to lessening the cost, the works commitee was considering all-concrete pressings, as the steel cost an additional 10/-

“The borough should bear the full cost of filling in the gaps,” he said, “and also the additional cost of making all the crossings full width in future. The charge is heavy enough as it is.”

The recommendations were adopted, Cr. J. F. Brown commenting that many considered the type of crossing adopted in Gorrie’s Road more dangerous than the type which was now to be rectified.