STATE OF PORTAGE ROAD

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22574, 12 November 1936, Page 14

STATE OF PORTAGE ROAD

MT. WELLINGTON PROTESTS OTAHUHU COUNCIL CRITICISED Strong protests against the inaction of the Otahuhu Borough Council in regard to the maintenance of Portage Road, which marks the boundaries of the borough and the Mount Wellington Road Board district, .were voiced at the board meeting on Tuesday night. Control of the road and full authority for its maintenance are vested in the Borough Council under the finding of a commission, which also apportioned the costs at two-thirds for the borough and one-third for the Road Board. A statement outlining the grievances and protest of the Mount Wellington district residents and ratepayers was submitted at the board meeting, which decided to make representations to the Borough Council. "The time has arrived for the Road Board plainly to point out that it disagrees with the attitude of the Otahuhu Borough Council," stated the protest. "The Road Board had previously declined to'voice any protest out of regard for local body etiquette and procedure, it being felt that there should be no need for one local authority to point out the obvious duty falling upon another. The board, however, has now to deplore the spirit in which tho Borough Council has ignored its responsibilities for the adequate maintenance of the road under the terms of the commission's finding. It appears to the Road Board that the Otahuhu Borough Council lias determined upon a policy of studied neglect as it is very evident that the road is in a dangerous condition for traffic. "Public attention must bo drawn to the risks that schoolchildren and passengers in buses are called upon to face in traversing the road, apart altogether from tho great discomfort which is caused," added the statement. The clerk. Mr. H. G. McElroy. was instructed to forward the protest to tho Borough Council, and to request- that the reconditioning of the road and also Lower Portago Road, which gives access to tho Westfield Kaleyards and the Auckland municipal abattoir, should be undertaken without delay, the Road Board being prepared to meet its sharo of tho cost involved.