VISIT OF HIGHWAYS WARD

Otago Witness, Issue 3959, 28 January 1930, Page 5

VISIT OF HIGHWAYS WARD

PRAISE FOR CLUTHA COUNTY ROADS. BALCLUTHA, January 21. The Alain Highways Board, consisting of Messrs F. W. Furkert (chairman). I'. J. M’Kenzie. J. Talbot, A. E. Jull, J. J. Gibson, M. H. Wynward, A. Tyndall (engineer), accompanied V. v the district engineer of public works (Mr T. M. Ball) and Mr W. A. Sutherland (secretary), visited Balclutha yesterday afternoon, and Diet the Clutha County Council and representatives of the Balclutha and Kaitangata Borough Councils in the County Chambers.

Mr George Hay (chairman of the County Council), who presided, welcomed the board in an appreciative speech, in which he said that the fact that the board hail arrived ahead of their schedule time in itself spoke well for the roads within the county over which they had travelled when coming from the south. The roads were perhaps not quite as bad as the Motor Club in Dunedin would have people believe. One thing he would like to mention. and that was the tendency of the present system of highway maintenance to starve the side roads in a county. The speaker concluded by asking members to bring forward any requests they might have to make. Cr Cumming said the road from Waipahi to Conical Hills was deserving of a larger subsidy from the board than £ for £, for the reason that it ran alongside a poor Crown settlement (Conical Hills), from which very little in the way of rates was derived. Some extra assistance was required in this case from the board. — Cr MKenzie supported the request. Cr Maginness said the Main South road in places with.n the county was very narrow. and it was hardly reasonable to expect the county to widen it. It particularly required widening from Waipahi to the Southland boundary. He also thought a larger subsidy should be given for the load Owaka to Fapatowai (18 miles), where the land yielded very little in rates. It was part of the highway through to Invercargill, via Chaslands and M aikawa.

. Mr Furkert: Is the land there holding its own or going back?

( r Maginness: It is going back, and values were lowered this year. Cr J. R. Wilson said the road from Papatowai to the Waipahi Stream should be made a Government road. Good work had been done by the Public Works Department on this road, and there was only a stretch ol three miles and a-half that was unmetalled. The speaker urged that other counties had received more free money from the board than had Clutha, ami he thought the time had come to get a little more for the Main South highway in ( lutha County.

The chairman (Cr Hay) said there were some very bad corners on the Bal-elutha-Owaka highway. and he thought •some free money should be spent in improving the turns. Cr MKenzie urged the need for declaring the road through Glenkenich a secondary highway. Mr Furkert said that was a matter for discussion with the Southland County Council. Cr Maginness advanced the claims of the road from Owaka to Pounawea to be declared a secondary highway. Ci Wilson asked for special treatment for the Bong Point road. It was impossible tor the settlers there, he said, to take up these £ for £ grants. There was also the matter of a £3OO free grant for the I apatowai-Maclennan road which had lapsed. Cr MTndoe spoke of the Clinton-Clvde-yale road through Pomahaka as suitable for a subsidiary highway. Cr King supported the request, and also drew attention to the road from lower Clydevale to Tuapeka Mouth on the west bank of the river, which, he said, should be declared a subsidiary hi'diway.

Cl- Harris made a request on behalf of the Clinton down Board tor the widening of part of the main highway at the Clinton cemetery, where its narrowness made the road a danger to traffic. I" C e Pjy to a question by the chairman, Mr Furkert said the l>oard might consider subsidising the cost of a traffic inspector.

In replying generally to the requests made, Mr Furkert said it was evident from what the board had seen that day that the council was doing good work on the stretch of main highway within its borders. There was a great improvement compared with last year. Members of the council had stated that it was costing £173 a mile to grade and gravel the road, but ultimately the saving on upkeep would be tremendous. Tie agreed with the necessity for widening portions at the southern end. It was not part of the Policy of the board to do work for nothing, but the relief workers would soon be finished at Stony Creek, in Bruce county, and it was quite on the cards that the board would consult the council as to where the men could be advantageously employed in Clutha county. Regarding the gap in the metalling of the road, via Chaslands to Invercargill, that was not a highway, the council would have to apply to the Minister of Public Works, and it was doubtful if a grant would be forthcoming at this juncture. No doubt the Kuriwao road would get a hearing at the annual review by the board in April, as it was on the line of what had already been declared a through route. Some of the other matters referred to could come tip for consideration then also, but he Would advise the council to make the applications in the order of their urgency through the District Highways Council. If the Kelso-Maitland road were made a secondary highway that would make three such highways running parallel with each other in a distance of nine miles. As for the Owaka-Pounawea road, that undoubtedly was a tourist road and deserved consideration. As for the road skirting Conical Hills settlement, the board had decided to jump the subsidy up to £2 for £l, and if the riding finances were straitened the payment could be spread over two or three years. As for the £253 for Tx>ng Point road, that would have to be referred to the Minister for Public Works.

The chairman thanked the board for the courteous hearing accorded councillors, and expressed pleasure at the kindly ref<<ence made to the state of the Main South road within the county, also for the board’s promptitude in advancing

money for the purchase of power graders. One thing he would like to stress, am! that was the need for imposing extra taxation on motor vehicles competing directly against the railways. Mr Furkert: That is a matter tbit you should represent to the Government direct. BALCLUTHA BRIDGE. Mr S. V. White (Mayor of Balclutha) said the borough had only one request to make, pnd that was in reference to the proposed new traffic bridge over the Molyneux at Balclutha. The board had asked the three local bodies to contribute £BOOO, and of that the borough was asked to provide one-third, which was too much, especially as 95 per cent, of the traffic over the bridge would have nothing to do with Balclutha. For many years the borough had had to pay one-third of the cost of up-keep of the present bridge, and it was calculated that if the proposed contribution towards the new bridge were enforced it would mean 15s to 17s extra rating for every ratepayer within the borough. At present the borough had quite enough to do to maintain the protective banks. The old Provincial Council had put two bridges over the river at no cost to the borough. In answer to Mr Jull, the Mayor said it cost the borough from £6O to £lOO per annum for maintenance of the present bridge. Mr Jull: And for another £BO a year you could have a new bridge. Mr Furkert said these points had been gone over before when the Minister of Public Works visited the district, and Mr Ransom had been astonished that two bridges had been built by the Government at no cost to the local bodies. The present assessment on the local bodies was very low. only £BOOO out of a total estimated cost of £56.000. He very much doubted if Balclutha furnished only 5 per cent, of the traffic over the bridge. In any case, the borough's share was a matter for mutual agreement between the three bodies concerned. The borough’s share was only 5 per cent, of the cost of the bridge, and for £BO a year extra they were going to get a two-way bridge with a footpath that would not require any upkeep. Why. with the crowd of bridge builders that would bo employed, the town would got it all back. A KAITANGATA REQUEST.

Mr Robert Aitchison (Mayor of Kaitangata) preferred a request that the road from Kaitangata to Lovell's Flat, where it functioned with the main roa.l to Dunedin, be declared a secondary highway. Mr Furkert: It will have to take its chance at the annual review. BOARD MEMBERS’ VIEW. Mr Jull said he did not know of any other place in New Zealand that was being treated so liberally as Balclutha in the matter of a bridge. The board was really contributing £47,000 towards the bridge, but if Balclutha thought it was being badly treated it could applj- foi a commission to adjudicate as between it and the other local bodies concerned. The borough was going to get one of the finest structures in the South Island at a very nominal cost. Referring to the yearly review by the board, the speaker said that this did not mean a yearly increase in highways, for there must come a time when the board would have to decide whether any more highways could be maintained on the revenue available. In the past a great deal of assistance had been given by the board to secondary roads which had been neglected in the interests of main highways. That was not the case in Clutha, where the main highway had been at first rather neglected, but he had been agreeably surprised at the marked improvement that had been made in the main highway. Too much gravel had been put on to start with, but they would find the happy medium, and the matter would adjust itself. There had been a very great improvement throughout the South Island in the construction and maintenance of roads within the past few years, largelyowing to the use of more modern machinery- in road-making. Mr Wynward (the motorists’ representative on the board) said he was very pleased to see the improvement that had been effected in Clutha County roads In some cases, it was true, the amount of gravel had been too great, constituting a danger to fast driving. The formation was raw and new, but Mr Tyndall had assured him that it would settle down. 11 was only a matter of time. There was danger also in the number of bridges which were unpainted and difficult to distinguish at night. The remedy would be to put small wings on these bridges and paint them white. On this work the county would get a maintenance subsidy of £2 for £l. As for the conflict of interest between road and railway, the board could not always decide in favour of the general interests of the State. The job was to provide good roads for the travelling public. Motor owners were paying a considerable <mount towards road construction and maintenance, and they were very- pleased with what was being done. There was. in fact, a fine spirit of cooperation between the board, the local bodies, and the motorists. Mr Talbot (the counties’ representative) said the main idea behind the Highways Board was the maintenance of the arterial roads, and roads between towns of importance. Until the revenue was increased the board could not deal with all roads. He would like to congratulate the council on making the main highway a general charge on the county. If they would keep the graders going, the trouble with loose shingle would disappear, and if they wanted to buy more graders, the board would help to get them.— (Applause.) The members of the board left by road for Dunedin.