EAST COAST ROADS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19454, 13 October 1937, Page 4

EAST COAST ROADS

PUBLIC WORKS VOTES MEMBER NOT SATISFIED SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS (Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. Though the Bay of Plenty electorate has been receiving increasing amounts from the public works estimates of recent years, the needs of the district demand considerably more, in the opinion of Mr. A. G. Hultquist (Lab., Bay of Plenty), who, since the publication of this year's estimates, has had a discussion with the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. R. Semple, who, states the member for the district, is thoroughly informed regarding the special conditions of this area, though perhaps this opinion is not sufficiently reflected in the current votes. Mr. Hultquist informed the Herald correspondent that in 1935-36 £109,000 was authorised for the Bay of Plenty in the way of public works, including main highways. The following year, the total rose to £166,825, and the current estimate's" provide for'an''expenditure of £213,000. "Since November, 1935, the amounts authorised for expenditure in the Bay of Plenty total £416,360, but despite this," declared Mr. Hultquist, "I am by no means pleased at the current allocations, and am impressing on the Minister the local problem of native rates, particularly in the Waiapu County, and the great expense <<f securing road metal, which has to come from Napier. All the counties along the East Coast are under these handicaps, and their settlers are undergoing hardship through poor roads, involving high freights on urgently-needed manures. "I am hoping to see more provision made in the supplementary estimates, and will expect another £50,000. It is my intention to utilise the financial debate to urge more attention to the district's needs in this respect."

TWO BRIDGE CONTRACTS OPEN FORDS ELIMINATED HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENTS Tenders for two new bridge jobs on the East Coast main highway, between Tokomaru Bay and Te Araroa, have been accepted by the tenders board of the Public Works Department, the bridges being one-span structures de i signed to eliminate fords at small streams which in time of heavy rain have caused traffic stoppages. The first of these jobs, working northward from Gisborne, is a bridge adjacent to Mr. A. G. Sherwood-Hale's homestead in the Maungahauini Valley, just beyond Tokomaru Bay, this, job having been secured by Messrs. Solon and McLean, a Napier firm which is at present engaged on the construction of the new Uawa River bridge at Tolaga Bay. The second is a crossing at the Whakatu Stream, known as Kemp's crossing, a few miles north of Ruatoria, the successful tenderer in this case being Mr. J. Reynolds, who has the contract for the Turihaua Stream bridge, now approaching completion, on the Gisborne-Whangara section of the highway. Bitumen Surfacing Work JThe main East Coast road between Gisborne and Te Araroa will be greatly improved with the addition of these new bridges, and by the work now in the hands of Messrs. Goosman and Company, between Makarori and the Pouawa bridge, where reconstruction and bitumen surfacing is being undertaken in one of the largest contracts ever let in the district for road works.

Messrs. Goosman and Company's gangs are at" work at present on and near Tatapouri Hill, where substantial alterations are being made in the roadline, entailing a large amount of excavation. Mechanical means are being employed to good effect in the excavation work, and an impressive showing is being made by a special pusher type of excavator now in use on the top section of Tatapouri Hill.