MAIN HIGHWAYS BOARD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20316, 26 January 1928, Page 10

MAIN HIGHWAYS BOARD

VISIT TO SOUTH OTAGO. INTERVIEWS WITH LOCAL BODIES. (From Our Own Corresiondent.) INVERCARGILL, January 25. The members of the Main Highways Board reached Balclutha yesterday. Mr W. S. Thomson, chairman of the Clutha County Council, presided at a short meeting, and welcomed the board members. . The Mayor of Kaitangata (Mr R. A itemson) asked the board to declare as a highway the road from Kaitangata to Balclutha. Mr Furkert said that this had beeni put forward bv the Highways Council, with a recommendation that the request be complied with. He could not say definitely whether the available moneys would be sufficient to make this move possible, but the position would be considered when all recommendations were received. Mr George Hay, representing South Molvneux on the Clutha County Council, asked if the road to Kaka Point could be declared a secondary highway. The traffic for five months of the summer was particularly heavy, and although the Owaka road was within three miles of it the Kaka Point road was less hilly and shorter in distance. This request had been .placed before the District Highways Council, but had been turned down.

Mr Thomson said he was dead against altering the present road, but was in favour of declaring the Kaka Point road a secondary highway. Mr J. R. Wilson advocated the linking up of the coast road from Owaka. Mr Hay referred to the difficulty experienced in obtaining gravel in the Clutha County as compared with other counties. In view of the circumstances, increased assistance should be given.

Mr Furkert said that the law could not be altered for the benefit of each county. The Clutha County should be compared with all other counties, not with counties which were better off.

Mr Hay was supported by Mr Wilson, who referred to the assistance given with the Selwyn bridge. Mr Tvndall: If you had to rebuild the traffic bridge over the Clutha you would ask for increased assistance. Why growl about consideration that you yourselves would ask for? Mr Furkert said that the matters would be considered.

Mr D. R. Jack (member of the Clutha Council) appealed for a higher subsidy for the bridue over the Waipahi at Arthurton. This was estimated to cost £ISOO. The expenditure on other bridges had been £2BIO. Mr Furkert said that this question had not been before the board, but it would receive consideration. BOARD REACHES GORE. THREE HIGHWAYS IN TOWN. HEAVY MAINTENANCE CHARGES. In the evening the board conferred with tile members of the Gore Borough Council. The Mayor (Mr 1). M'Dougall) extended a welcome to the board, and briefly placed the council’s representations before them. The Gere Borough was so situated that many visitors from the north passed over its main roads on their way to other parts of the province. It was consequently called upon to maintain three highways which passed through it, which to a council with limited revenue meant a fairly difficult problem. The Borough Council had also to contribute towards the maintenance of the traffic bridge across the Mataura River, which was extensively used by motorists from other parts. The cost of erecting the bridge was borne equally by the Government, the Gore Borough, and the Southland County, but after its construction the Government ceased to contribute towards its maintenance, which was now shared by the Borough Council and the County Council. The cost of maintenance was heavy, and the council suggested that the Main Highways Board should grant £1 for every £2 expended by the borough and the county. It was also suggested that the board should contribute one-third of the cost of the maintenance of the main highways passing through the borough. The main highways in the borough were four and three-quarter miles, which cost, approximately. • £4OO for maintenance annually. Mr Furkert said the board was in the happy position of being able to give the council more than it had asked for. These streets would be declared main highways in about a month, and the board would be able to pay 60 per cent, of the expenditure on their maintenance. Of the £4OO expended annually £240 would be contributed by the board. It would be necessary 7 for the council to decide which streets it desired to be declared main highways, and this would also he a matter in which the Southland County Council would be interested, and its views would require to be obtained. As far as the bridge was concerned, the board would contribute 30s for every £1 contributed by the borough and the county for maintenance. When it was intended to carry out any major work such as tai-sealing, it would be necessary to place a schedule of the proposed works before the board. The Mayor thanked the board on behalf of the council for the satisfactory manner in which the council’s representatives had been received. IN SOUTHLAND DISTRICT. IMPROVEMENT IN ROADS. MR FURKERT’S IMPRESSIONS. BURNING QUESTIONS DISCUSSED. Yesterday and to-day the tour of the board was continued in the Southland district, when the members visited Gore, Winton, and Otautau, afterwards going on to Riverton and Invercargill, through Tuatapere and Round Hill. Representatives of all the counties and boroughs were met, and the members examined the roads en route, which have been recommended for declaration as main or secondary highways. Referring to-day to the impressions gained of the present reading in South Otago, Mr Furkert expressed himself as very agreeably surprised at the great improvement that had been made on the roads throughout the areas he tract traversed since the last visit of the board two years ago. Of course, as Mr A. E. Anseil, president of the Otago Motor Club, had said at the Dunedin meeting, “ mother washed the baby’s face ” when visitors were expected. It had been evident in some places that this had been the case in respect of counties and their portions of the highway, but on the whole it was apparent that the highway was in vastly better • order. It would not do for tne board to be continually patting the counties on the back, but praise was undoubtedly merited in this case. Later, at the meeting of county and borough representatives in Invercargill, Mr Furkert paid a special tribute to the roads of Southland. which, he stated, were in a magnificent condition. “ They could not be much improved, if at all,” he said, referring to the stretches from Otautau to Tautapere, Riverton, and Invercargill. “ When one considers the condition of these roads when last wa were here it is a great advertisement to the Wallace and Southland County Councils. The members and staff of the latter _ county are specially to he congratulated.” At Winton, the representatives of the borough were met, and Mr Furkert explained the board’s decision to declare as a main highway the road through the borough. At Otautau, the Wallace County councillors put before the members their reyuiramgntj ja the shape of secondary

highways. The Otautau Town Board received the tentative approval of the engineers present in regard to their action in placing a light bitumen emulsion in the main street. Mr Furkert pointed out that the assistance of the board waa available for only a limited width of roadway in the towns on main highways. In several cases the representatives of smaller boroughs had asked the board members to state the width of roadway on which the new subsidy from the petrol tax revenue would be placed when these stretches were declared part of the main highways. In every instance it had been announced that a width of 18ft was the only portion of the street in each town that could be regarded as the main highway. The subsidy was being given to assist boroughs in combating the wear and tear caused by foreign traffic, and it could not be said that motorists passing through the boroughs used the whole of the street. In special cases, however, it was possible that the hoard members would open their hearts and allow this limit to become 20ft or even more. In reply to Wallace County’s request for a substantial extension of the secondary [ highways in the county, Mr Furkert said that the estimated extension was in the neighbourhood of a little less than 50 per cent, of the present mileage. The actual proportion could not be fixed until the requirements of the whole of New Zealand had been received and considered. It was feared that the pruning knife would have to be used to a considerable extent in many cases. At Riverton the representatives of the Borough Council were given information regarding the portion of the main highway in the town similar to that supplied in Otautau. It was expected ihat the burning local question of a new traffic bridge over the Riverton estuary would come up for discussion, but the Mayor (Dr Trotter) contented himself by a brief reference to this, in the course of which he stated that the matter “ had ceased to become a bone oi contention and was now a bone of anxiety. ’ —(Laughter.) A day would come when the crazy structure at present linking up the highway would fall into the estuary. It is estimated that a ne« bridge will cost in the vicinity of £28,000. The party reached Invercargill this evening, and was met by representatives of the Southland County, the Motor Association, and the South Invercargill and Bluff boroughs. One of the chief requests of the delegates was that the road from Invercargill to Bluff should be taken over by the Government. This was stated to be in a very bad condition. Mr Furkert promised that the case would be investigated by the board on its return to Wellington. Mr M. D. Wynyard, Motor Association s representative, assured the representatives of the Southland Motor Association that positively no South Island money transferred from the revenue account to the construction account would be expended in the North Island. He stressed the fact that the board had full control over this money. The Southland County representatives complained that they were receiving one thirty-eighth of the money expended on the highways in New Zealand, whereas they were maintaining a twentieth of the total mileage. Mr A. Tyndall (engineer to the board) pointed out that only the South Island could be included in the comparison, as the revenue accounts of the two islands were separate On behalf of the county, Mr E. Bowmav asked the board cither to agree to Southland’s request for 220 miles of secondary highways or to an increased subsidy, on the ground that Southland’s maintenance costs were low and the amount of subsidy consequently less. Mr Bowmar was supported by Mr Adam Hamilton. Mr A. E. dull (counties representative) said that such an argument was impracticable when applied to the country as a whole. Mr Hamilton said that he would not have supported the petrol tax if he had known that it was to be nationally spent. It was to relieve the taxpayers, and could have been locally levied. The position was discussed at length, but no indication was given by the board as to any alteration of its expressed policy regarding secondary roads and the subsidies on them.