LEVEL CROSSINGS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22389, 8 April 1936, Page 16

LEVEL CROSSINGS

COST OP ELIMINATION THE GOVERNMENT'S POLICY LOCAL BODY CONTRIBUTION "I suppose Ministers of the Crown have to put on their thinking caps and not their running shoes to devise reasons for conserving the finances of this department." said the Mayor, Mr. 11. Ferner, at a meeting of the Mount Albert Borough Council last night when expressing disappointment at tho reply of the Minister of 'Railways, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, to the council's representations regarding the provision of overhead bridges at Argvle Street and Gladstone Road. According to a letter received by Mr. A. S. Richards, M.P., from the Minister, and passed on to the council, it was stated that tho estimated cost of eliminating tho level crossings was £15,000. It was suggested that the council should consider setting aside one-eighth of its receipts from the petrol tax for the purpose of making a contribution toward half the cost of eliminating the two crossings Mr. Ferner said a recent deputation to the Minister had stressed the council's inability to meet a 50-50 contribution toward the cost of overhead bridges out of revenue. It was pointed out that the borough had not received any assistance from the Main Highways Board with the exception of its share of 8 per cent of the petrol tax, amounting to about £3OOO.

Mr. Sullivan had said, Mr. Ferner added, that he proposed discussing with the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. R. Semple, the inclusion of cases of that kind in the programme being carried out in conjunction with the Highways Board. If that were done it was considered that the two crossings concerned would come fairly high up in the list of works.

The fact remained, said Mr. Ferner, that the borough was placed at a great disadvantage in that neither of the roads was under the Main Highways Board. Not only did the council miss very largo subsidies on the capital costs, but it also had to assume permanently the cost of their maintenance. Because of the early progressive policy of the borough it was to be debarred from assistance from the Highways Fund for the provision of bridges. Such assistance was given to neighbouring authorities because their roads were constructed at a later date.

"There is one thing quite certain," Mr. Ferner said, "and that is that our ratepayers will never sanction a loan for the raising of £7500 to solve the problem which is raised by, and is the affair of, the railway transportation system. The position will therefore have to remain as it is until either the Railway Department is prepared to do the work or some more equitable distribution of the proceeds of highways petrol taxation makes it possible for us to contribute toward the work." It was decided to thank Mr. Richards for forwarding the Minister's reply and to ask him and other members of Parliament in the borough to advance thy council's views in Parliament.

MODEL SIGN ADOPTED PROVISION AT WESTFIELD Traffic warning notices of the type approved by the Main Highways Board as being most, efficacious in indicating railway crossings on the main highways were completed on the Great South Road yesterday at the northern and southern approaches to the crossing at the Westfield freezing works. The crossing has been the scene of a number of accidents in recent years and a few months ago the Otahuhu Boroueh Council decided to request the Westfield Freezing Company, Limited, to provide more elaborate warning devices. Manual signals and automatic flashlights have served to indicate the approach of goods trains, entering or leaving the freezing works. The Mount Wellington Road Board, which controls this section of the main highway, also discussed the matter with the freezing company, and the painting of large road signs in white letters on the roadway yesterday is the result of the negotiations. The signs, which are the northern approach of the Westfield overhead bridge and at a point about 150 yds south of the crossing, were provided at the expense of the Westfield Freezing Company, the management of which was anxious to make the crossing as safe as possible for the heavy traffic traversing the main road..