County Council on Roading

Northland Age, Volume XVIII, Issue 79, 15 July 1949, Page 1

County Council on Roading

Special Meeting Held At a special meeting of the Mangonui founty Council which was convened for Tuesday last in ihe Council Chambers, to discuss winter reading conditions of County roads, members of the Kaitaia Dairy Company Board headed by thf Chairman of the Board, Mr. E. R. Bird, and of the Qruru Dairy Company represented by Messrs. R. L. C. Maria and P. Francis, were present in the afternoon.

I i ; These Dairy Companies were at tht ; meeting with the object of discussing with the Council, co-operation in tht matter of cream collection schedules The morning was taken up by tht Council discussing; routes of crean I collection from datum supplied by tin i companies. Routes were carefully examined b; councillors with the aid of speciall; , prepared maps and diagrams. 5 When the Dairy Company delegate! j arrived, the chairman, Cr. W. J. Steed > stated that the Council had no wisl > to set itself up as a dictatorship, bu , that it earnestly sought the co-opera . tion of the Dairy Companies. - | Mr. W. Craig, manager of thi • | Dairy Company’s factory, stated tha his company had given full considera I tion to the collection of cream, an< 1 ; that they liked 'to feel that othe cartage operators should be though ’ of, and not only cream attacked, j, He went on to state that there wa no fixed date for a daily collectioi e schedule, and that daily collectioi T ; was instituted as soon as it becam ’ economic to do so. i Mr. E. R. Bird, chairman of th c Kaitaia Dairy Co., said that ther i must be no divergence or differenc t between the Dairy Company and th r County Council. i He was glad to see what was beini t done, he stated, but farmers and hi t company had to go on with the busi ness of producing. “Production is a number one prior ity in New Zealand,” said Mr. Bird He went on to say,that N*-\v Zea " land roading policy had collapsed, am ’ blamed Authority for the position ii " which counties found themse’ves a the present time. primary producers, I must record i strong protest at the position force' ) upon us by an obsolete and unjus roading system. Throughout th< years and under * successive Govern ments this injustice has developed t< . a point where today we have almos , to apologise for carting cream on th< . public highway because some road: are in danger of disappearing into i , quagmire. • s i “Half of the land of the County is I held by Crown and natives payinf little or no rates. The remainder, al ready paying about the highest ratt per lb butterfat in. New Zealand art sullenly watching the application o! the device called county revaluacior i to sock them some more for botl roads and hospitals. Even this device. with its attendant breaking oi moral contracts, will do no more thar a beach pebble towrds holding back the rising tide of road and bridge: costs to meet modern requirements. “It is absurd v tnt.t this most remote county in New Zealand should bt more than seif-supporting in roading expenditure against income from taxes as revealed in a. recent investigation. Our production is that of the basic industries of the land and it should be largely a national responsibility to provide a roading system, “We have no’railroad at the national expense to take any part oi our internal distribution but we are forced to pay our share of the losses for others who have such service. “In recording this protest Mr. Chairman, I appeal through you, our local authority, and to the higher authorities, to give urgent attention to the proper repair and construction of cur roads, and on an equitable basis of responsibility as between producer, citizen and the State. “Until*a more realistic approach is made to tfiis problem, all promiseand propaganda for increases in primary production for the national wellbeing and in Aid for Britain have a hollow ring. The absurdity is increased when we learn how on occasion> vast sums of money are made available by the State to construct scenic highways for tourists, the latest suggestion being a road up Mt. Ruapehu with a fair chance of blowing up, whilst our basic primary industry receives a raw deal. “This Company will be ever ready to co-operate with your Council in any endeavour to find a solution to our roading difficulties along the above lines. My company is just as concerned as you are over roading in the County,” concluded Mr. Bird. Mr. C. B. Michie pointed out to the

that the gtate had very many school buses on the roads, ai.J whilst he was not attacking this system, he thought that it was the duty of the Government to give financial assistance owing to the heavy wear and tear these vehicles caused on County roads. He went on to point out that a bus laden with 30 children travelling a road twice daily, must take a heavier toll of a road than did a cream truck, j Mr. R. *L. C. Maria assured the Council that the Oruru Company also would do all within its power to assist the council in the keeping and betterment of the county roads.