GOOD ROADS

Southland Times, Issue 19292, 10 July 1924, Page 7

GOOD ROADS

SCHEME FOR INVERCARGILL

ELABORATED BY THE MAYOR

THE SCHEME OUTLINED. Very little interest was displayed by the ratepayers in the address given by the Mayor (Mr A. Bain) in the Victoria Hall on the proposal to raise a loan of £74,000 for the purpose of improving the Borough roads. There were less than 40 people present, including several members of the Council. THE DEPUTY MAYOR. The Deputy-Mayor (Councillor A. Glass) presided, and stated that he was exceedingly sorry that there was not a larger audience present to hear the Mayor's address on the road loan proposal. He knew that it was a difficult matter to raise the enthusiasm of the ratepayers upon such matters, but as the financial question was involved, he had that there would have been a larger muster of citizens. Something like five years ago a proposal of a similar nature had been placed before the ratepayers, but it had been turned down. At that time the fast-moving traffic was developing to such an extent that it became absolutely necessary to recast the roading system in Invercargill. The present stale of the roads, therefore, was not so much the responsibility of the Council as of the ratepayers who had failed to sanction the raising of the loan. Such a policy, in his opinion, was “penny wise and pound foolish.” It did not necessarily follow that because it was intended to raise £74.000, that it would be necessary to increase the rates, but it did follow that it was much more economical than the present unsatisfactory roads to go in for something of a much more enduring nature. He felt sure that, after hearing the Mayor, they would not only realise that it was necessary that the roads should be modernised, but also that the method proposed by the Borough was the best. Somebing had to be done immediately and if the ratepayers did not authorise the Coun til to raise rhe loan, the money would have to be provided out of revenue. This would mean an immediate and substantial increase in rates. MAYORS STATEMENT. The .Mayor state dthat he was sorry that there uis such a small attendance. Past! experien e. however, had led him not to e.xpe<■: rhe ratepayers to attend in large numi'CTs. Tears ago it was compulsory , by law to hold a public meeting before the ’ Council could even decide to go in for a ‘ loan, and at that time more interest was taken in loan proposals than at presen’, i t'ince the law had been altered, however, it had not been customary' to address rhe ratepayers l»efore a poll was taken and 1 that was probably why the road loan for ISO,OOO was turned down in 1920. He was not at all sorry that that loan had been ' turned down, because he did not approve j of some of the methods which it had been • intended to adopt. The proposal now be- ! ing placed before the ratepayers was a much better one. It was a difficult matter to get the ordinary individaul to vote for ' a loan on the understanding that >her? would be no increase in rates and a lot of people did not realise that it was possible for the Council to borrow a fairly large sum of money without increasing the rates. In this case, however, he did not anticipate any difficulty in convincing them that this • could be done. The special rate would certainly require to be increased, but the general rate could be reduced accordingly. * they > ould get seven miles of first-class >ads without an additional penny increase i i the rates, surely it was their bounden I uty to vote for the loan. If the loan pro- ’ osal was not earned, it would be an utter mpossibility for any future Council to carry »n without increasing the rates. During i - term of office it had been a very difficult task indeed to keep the rates at their I present level, while the roads were getting in such a condition that unless the loan , money became available, the cost of main renance would be so great that the estimates, so far as public works were con- i cemed, would have to be almost doubled. I TYPE OF ROAD. Referring to the type of road advocated by the Town Engineer (Mr T. O. Fox; the Mayor read the following extract from the | report recently submitted by Mr Fox to I th*’ Council:— “At the present prices of tar and bitumen the first cost of tar-macadam is ' almost exactly equal to that of bitumen- i ous macadam. ‘This last-named material is similar i to the former, except that bitumen is used in place of distilled tar. More care has i to be taken in the grading of the aggre- ' gate (stone and sand), in the heating and i •mixing of rhe same with the bitumen and j in the actual construction of the road. Its : use results in a far superior road at no ' greater initial expenditure and with a minimum annual cost of maintenance. Its use since 1894 on thousands of miles of roads and streets in American and England is sufficient guarantee that it has been thoroughly tested. During that period it has demonstrated a durability that is unapproached by any other type of pavement except wood blocks on a concrete foundation—a very expensive form of construction not warranted by local traffic conditions. It has the valuable property of being able to absorb a high percentage of any road shock due to heavy or fastmoving vehicles.” Cases were known, stated the Mayor, ’ in which roads of this type laid in 1915 ; and 1916 had not incurred any maintenance expenditure until last year. That I showed that, if the proposal were carried, a considerable amount of saving would be i made because of the reduced amount i necessary for upkeep. Another advantage ; which the bitumenous macadam had over tared macadam, was that it could be used immediately after it was laid. Continuing the Mayor said that the pre- : yions Engineer. Mr Clapcott, had suggested ' in his report to the Council that the whole | of the foundation of the North Road : should be turned up, but he held that the present Engineer’s suggestion to raise the ! level of the road was a more satisfactory one. It was proposed that in a good .many parts the tram rails should be raised to enable the water to run freely from the centre of the road to the channels on either sides. W hen that was done it would result in a first class job and one of which every citizen in Invercargill might well feel proud. He took it for granted that the poll would be carried and he hoped that before his term of office was over, the work would be well in hand. If the loan was earned it was intended to expedite the work as much a> possible by employing two or three shifts, providing that they could get men and sufficient metal to keep them going. REPORTS COMPARED. Three reports on .oad construction had j been submitted to Hie Council, stated the j Mayor. The firs! was in 1920 when the j ratepayers^ad turned down the loan pro- ; posal. A further report was prepared by j the Town Engineer in 1923. but that never j came before the ratepayers owing to the 1 change in Engineers. The first proposal i was for tar sprayed, tar macadam and one ! road of bitumen concrete, the estimated cost being £BO.OOO for eight miles. The present proposal was for seven miles of bitumenous macadam roads at a cost of £74.000, including £BOOO for plant. In the report prepared by Mr Clapcott in 1923. he h'd expressed ’he opinion that bitumen Wfa the be?l material, but had not stated

that he was going to use it. The reason for that was because he considered that there mi o ht be some difficulty in disposing of surplus tar. Mr Fox had not made this qualification, as he was of the opinion that it was no use using tar and spoiling the ; job. So far as any surplus tar was con- .' cerned there should be no difficulty in dis- : posing of that as a considerable amount I would still be required for footpaths. The 1923 proposal was for 2 miles 53 chains of tarred macadam road sealed with bitumen and this was to cost £31,000. It would be seen that the present scheme was less costly and apart from the £BOOO for plant £3OOO had been provided for contingencies, w’hile a further £5OOO was for the first year’s interest and sinking fund. It was further proposed to do aw’ay with horse haulage so far as long haulage was concerned, and for this it was intended to use a motor with a tip-waggon. By this means it was hoped to effect a further saving, while the purchase of the plant would considerably reduce any outlay in this direction for some years to come. The interest and sinking fund for the first year amounted to £5130, but on the other hand there would be a saving of £4lOO in maintenance costs. There would also be a saving in connection with the surface of the tram track. At present motor traffic hugged the tram rails very closely, and constant repairs were necessary. Apart from the work carried out by the tramways gang, it cost the Borough £l2OO per annum for keeping the road up to the level of the rails, but it was estimated that if the present proposal was carried into effect, it would result in a saving of at least £4OO per annum. In addition to that there was the dust nuisance and the streets would not require the amount of water used upon them under the existing conditions. The total yearly savings were estimated at £4962 and with the additional expenditure of £216 they would have the whole of the interest and sinking fund. He was quite sure, however, that the £216 could be saved in other ways. They would therefore be able to see that there would be no necessity for increasing the rates on account of the loan. THE BOROUGHS FINANCES. Referring to the finances of the Borough, the Mayor stated that a good deal was heard of the enormous debt the Borough had. It certainly did seem to be a fairly large amount, but when everything was taken into consideration it was not so large after all.- The total debt of the Borough amounted to £841,285, of which about half was paying interest and sinking fund. Part of the other half was paying interest on an accrued sinking fund of • £82,000, to which was added annual in- ■ stalments. The Electricity Department was assisting the Borough's funds substantially and had it not been that the Council was able to transfer some of the profits from ’hat department, the rates would have had to be raised. It- was scarcely possible to make a comparison between Invercargill and other boroughs unless the assets were also taken into account. Invercargill had more utilities than almost any other Borough in the Dominion. The i town was making good progress and this was strikingly illustrated by the large increase which had taken place in the number : of building permits issued in recent years. In this connection he had prepared the following returns: — j —1922-23 No. of

Total £233,414 Since the end of the financial year 44 permits for dwellings valued at £43,676 had been issued. That, said the Mayor, was a fair indication that the Borough was not standing still. It was up to the ratepayers to see that it kept going ahead by voting for the loan. LOW RATING. Referring to rhe question of rating the Mayor stated that a good deal had been said by some of the outside districts about amalgamation, and reference had frequently been made to the high rates within the Borough. For the purpose of making a comparison it was his intention to refer to two of his own properties, one in Invercargill and the other in South Invercargill where the Mayor had recently made a glowing speech in regard to the satisfactory finances of,the Council. In the year 1907-08 his rates on the town property amounted to £6 19s 3d and last year to £l3 Ils 5d or not quite an increase of 100 per cent. For that he enjoyed the advantage of sewerage, dust collection and other facilities. His rates on the South Invercargill property in 1907-08 amounted to £4 ss. but last year he was called on to pay £3l 7s, an increase of approximately 750 per cent. In one case he had improvements, but in the other the improve ments were practically nil. He ventured to state that the whole of the improvements in connection with the South Invercargill property could have been carried out for less than the cost of two year’s rates. Although they heard a great deal about the high rates in Invercargill the statement that they were higher than in the outside district was an utter fallacy j and in comparison with the benefits reI ceived those outside the Borough were i paying more than those within it. BOOSTING SOUTHLAND. Recently a good deal had been done to | boost Southland. He thought, and rightly . so, that it was one of the best provinces in , the Dominion. The roads, however, were ' not apt to favourably impress visitors i travelling over it. However, it was their bounden duty to put the roads in ’ better condition than they were. Frst , impressions often remained and nothing ■ was likely to impress people more unfavourably than had roads. It was their I duty to do their best for the town they j were living in and if they could carry out < such an important improvement without - any increase in the rates, they should not i have any hesitation in voting in favour of the loan. (Applause). QUESTIONS. Mr J. Macalister inquired whether the Town Engineer was quite satisfied that the type of road suggested would withstand heavy traffic of vehicles with heavy shod wheels. , The Mayor replied that the Engineer had no doubt at all on that point. Mr Macalister said that he had doubts himself, because on the Hutt Road, traffic of this class was kept to the sides. The Town Engineer stated that practically all the streets in Sheffield were constructed of bitumenous macadam. In February of last year one load of 55 tons was taken

over them on font wheels 6} inches wide. Heavy loads were continually being conveyed from the Hadfield steel works, the loads frequently weighing over 40 tons. In reply to another question the Engineer said that it was not correct to state that there were fascines under the North Road at the present time. Mr Macalister said that he was quite in favour of the loan and was glad to hear the Engineer state that the type of road advocated was suitable for the traffic he had mentioned. Councillor H. J. Farrant moved a vote of thanks to the Mayor, and the meeting carried it with acclamation.

Dwellings permits Values 87 78,265 Public buildings 3 8.829 Institutions 1 366 Business premises 24 28,027 Alteration and additions 119 7,604 Total £123,091 -1923-24— Dwellings 129 117,346 Public buildings 3 17.636 Public institutions 44.939 Business premises 9 30,706 Alterations and additions , 220 22,787