MAIN HIGHWAYS BOARD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20318, 28 January 1928, Page 7

MAIN HIGHWAYS BOARD

LAWRENCE TO QUEENSTOWN. POSITION OF SMALLER BOROUGHS. SHARE OF PETROL TAX. (Special to Daily Times.) QUEENSTOWN, January 27. On the whole, the members of the Main Highways Board have met with a very favourable reception from local bodies in Central Otago, and their announcements have been greeted with satisfaction. Leaving Lawrence on Thursday afternoon the party arrived at Roxburgh in the evening, and was welcomed by the Mayor (Mr F. H. Laloli), who said that the members of the Borough Council had feared, from what they had read and heard, that Roxburgh, in common with other of the smaller boroughs, was going to receive little or nothing out of the new petrol tax revenue, but it appeared from the pronouncements made by the board during the tour that things were going to work out all right. A mile and a-half of the main road was included in the borough, and on this stretch the maintenance cost was £IOO. In the past the assistance given had amounted to two-thirds. In reply, Mr F. W. Furkert, chairman of the board, pointed out the possibility of a unique position, arising out of the fact that previous assistance given to the borough had been comparatively great. The fact that it had amounted to twothirds was evidently because the county’s expenditure on the stretches of three miles ooutside the borough was high, and it was just possible that when the borough portion of the main road was declared a main highway the amount of assistance would he smaller.

Cr T. Waigth said that the council was pleased with the treatment it had received from the board to date. Before knowing that the borough would participate in the revenue from the petrol tax, he had understood that boroughs with under a certain population would be excluded Mr Furkert said that such an idea was quite wrong. The case was really the other way round, and boroughs with over a certain population were assisted in another way. The Town Clerk (Mr R. Cockburn) asKed the advice of the board in regard to motorists speeding through the borough. He had been unable to stop motorists who tore through at high speed, and when he had submitted their numbers to the police, with a request for the names and addresses of the offenders, he had been refused information. Questioned by Mr Eurkert, he explained that the case had arisen when the Duke of York’s cars were passing through on the way to pjck up the royal party. They had dashed in at 40 miles an hour, neany killing the borough inspector, and had dashed out at the same speed.—(Laughter.) Mr Furkert; You were not going to prosecute the royal party, were you? Mr Cockburn said he ‘‘ was going to have a go at them anyway.” Mr Furkert explained that in any ordinary circumstances the police would give every assistance. If the owner of a car, bearing a number that was taken by the inspector, failed to give information as to the name of the driver he was liable. CLYDE. This morning the party continued on to Clyde, where a large gathreing of Vincent and Maniototo County representatives, headed by Mr James Ritchie, chairman of the Vincent County Council, met the board members. After welcoming the board, Mr Ritchie referred to the decreased amount of roadmaking and maintenance that had been carried out in the county this year, because of the frosts and drought. The expenditure had therefore been less. It was now being found that they were not getting the right value out of the grading work, as the surface was dry and would not remain where it was placed by the grader. The secondary highways required by the couhty included the Queenstown-Mount Cook road, of which the county’s portion was 44 miles. This passed through poor country, and could not bo maintained out of rates. It was essentially a tourist road. If the board could not grant this he would ask it to consider eight miles of read from Mount Iron to the Hawea post ! office. Authority had been received to erect two bridges on this section, and assistance was greatly needed. Another section was a distance of 12 miles from the county boundary to Moa Creek. With some of the “ roads ” the council was finding trouble in the shape of surface corrugation. They were 4-40 roads—that was, a. motorist had to travel either at 4 or 40 miles an hour to avoid being badly shaken. The council was procuring machinery for the purpose of having , this trouble remedied, as from 30 to 40 tons of fruit passed over the roads every day, and because of the shaking it received some of it was arriving in Dunedin in a pulpy condition. H e had no comments to make on the petrol tax. except that it was perhaps on the low side. The county members tied invited representatives from Maniototo to be present, because the board had not included their district in its itinerary. Cr J. R. Webb also spoke in support of the chairman, referring to the road leading through Frnitlands. Mr C. Weaver asked if it would be wise to make the road narrower, and thus improve the surface. Mr E. Morgan, representing Maniototo, said that his council was very pleased with the treatment it, had received to date in support of the county’s application for roads to he declared as secondary highways. Ho stressed the fact that they were feeder routes to the railway, and it was important that they should be in good order. Mr Furkert said he was gratified that the board had been met in such a cordial

spirit. It had missed Maniototo this year in order to visit Queenstown, which had been missed during the last tour. Mr Ritchie had offered a splendid progress report of the work that had been carried on since the last visit without wasting time or words, and the speaker ' wished to state that the question of secondary highways would be considered when the board returned to Wellington. He foresaw a difficulty in the fact that the Mount Iron road contained two bridges. If this was taken over the Public Works grants would lapse, and these would have to be taken over too. The board had not anticipated taking up any major construction work, but it was possible that the South Islam maintenance costs would be lower than was previously assumed, and in that event there would be more money available for construction purposes. He added that it was refreshing to find a county chairman who approved of the petrol tax. He did not advise the narrowing of the roads referred to by Mr Weaver, for the reason ’ that on a narrow road the wheels of vehicles were apt to track in one place, and cause trouble on that account. . The other members of the board expressed their appreciation of the county’s position. CROMWELL. The only break in the harmony of the board’s receptions to-day was at Cromwell, where the borough authorities were frankly dissatisfied with the extent of the promised assistance. The party was met by the Mayor (Mr C. C. Sanders), who headed a number of his colleagues. He stated that there was one and three-quarter miles of mam highway in the borough. Only a third of this stretch was of any direct benefit to the people of the borough, and it hau been estimated that on that third there was 75 per cent, of foreign traffic, while on the remainder the percentage of foreign traffic was 95 per cent. As Cromwell was the terminus of the railway all the heavy traffic converged on the town, uid the upkeep of the roads was a great dram on the borough finances. Mr Furkert explained the decision of the board to declare the road a highway and grant the subsidy of £1 10s for "I. The Mayor said that this was all very well, but it was not enough. No other borough in the district had such heavy through traffic to maintain. Mr Wynyard, Motor Association s representative on the board, said that such traffic brought business to the town. Mr Furkert added that the borough would receive £1 10s for £1 for work such as tarsealing. The Mayor said the council wished to do such work, but the subsidy mentioned would not do a bit of good. It would be no good to maintain the roads, ihey were still showing the benefit of the work done with the Public Works grants, but they were now becoming worn out. Mr A. E. Jull (counties’ representative on the board) said that in the event of the borough being unable to deal with the roads under the new scheme it should apply for a commission to be set up o apportion the cost among the neighbouring bpdies. The Mayor: The road is wearing out. Who is going to renew it? We cannot spend £1 to receive £1 10s. Mr A. Tyndall, the board’s engineer, explained that unless so desired no more money would require to be spent. The borough was already spending. £l6O, and receiving assistance to the amount of £3O. The new position would be that on £l5O the borough would receive £225. The meeting then closed. QUEENSTOWN. At Queenstown the party was met by representatives of the borough and the Lake County Council. Mr H. Overton, Mayor of Queenstown, said that one mile in the town came under the main highways. It was at present a little rough, because of the tact that a lot of money was required, and the finances of the borough were not good. Mr Furkert said that such boroughs would be subsidised. If the back road to Arrowtown was declared a highway the borough would come in under the subsidy of £1 10s for £l, and although the borough had received nothing in the past it stood a good chance of receiving future help. All the secondary highways would be considered with the requests from all parts of the country when the board returned to Wellington. The requests showed that the distances amounted to 62 miles, whereas only 32 miles were at present among the secondary highways. This hardly fitted in with the board’s estimated increase of 50 per cent., but it was possible (hat in the aggregate of the districts the percentage would not appear so high. Cr W. P. Reid referred particularly to the Skippers road, where horses were being hunted off the road by the motor cars, following the court’s decision to cancel the by-law limiting the hours for motors. The motors were wholly tourist traffic, and there were no ratepayers with cars on It. Cr Lee referred to the Lower Shotover bridge, which, he said, had been completed in war time by the Public Works Department as timber was difficult to obtain. It was understood at the time that the construction would not last. The cost of redecking was estimated at £560, and the county required increased assistance. Mr Furkert pointed out that the difference between the two rates was only a matter of £lB. Ho promised that the points raised would receive '’onsideraf inn. The party then left for Pembroke, via the Crown Range, and a halt was called at Arrowtown, where representatives of the borough were informed of the added assistance they would receive under the new subsidy system. This was the last meeting in Otago. FUTURE MOVEMENTS OF THE BOARD. To-morrow the party will continue on to Mount Cook, and will begin next week on a tour in the Canterbury districts.

DISTRICTS EXTENDED. (Pee United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, January 27. By resolution of the Main Highways Board the boundaries of the 18 highway districts throughout the Dominion have been extended to embrace boroughs and town districts of less than 6000 population, which are now entitled to receive the benefits which the counties previously enjoyed. Hitherto town districts and boroughs have not been included in the highway districts and have not received the same benefits from highways revenue as counties, which were entiled to threefifths of the cost of maintenance and a subsidy on road construction. The boroughs were subsidised at the same rate per mile for road maintenance as an adjoining county. Under the new provisions boroughs and town districts may apply for a subsidy on maintenance and construction work in the same way as counties, subject to the approval of the Main Highways Board.