DISCUSSION RESUMED

Taranaki Daily News, 17 August 1935, Page 17 (Supplement)

DISCUSSION RESUMED

MANGAPA-AKATAREWA ROAD. OHURA COUNTY METALLING JOB. (Special to Daily News.) Ohura, Aug. 14. At the monthly meeting of the Ohura County Council to- day the dispute over the Mangapapa-Akaterewa road metalling contract, completed last year, and the alteration of the job was continued. Cr. J. Ryan, a settler on the road, stated that he had further information regarding the contract. The chairman, Cr. G. Denison, said that the following letter had been received by the council from Mr. J. Ryan, Ongarue. In view of a statement made at the last meeting of the council regarding the uncompleted portion of the Mangapapa-Akaterewa road I have been requested by the settlers living on the road to make further inquiries, and to place further information before the next meeting. The settlers, who are concerned realise that the allocation was a straightout free grant from the Minister of Public Works to the Returned Soldiers’ Association to give their members an allweather metalled road to their holdings from the railway as the allocation was not considered through the railway estimates the contract should not have been altered. The chairman: I gather, then, you have some fresh information, Cr. Ryan. Cr. Ryan: That is so.

The chairman: I was under the impression that the matter of road contract had been disposed of, but if councillors are agreeable the question can be reopened later in the meeting. At the conclusion of the ordinary business of the meeting Cr. Ryan said that he had enclosed in his letter a tracing of the road so that councillors would be conversant with the locality. The plan showed where the metal had been spread on the road and also the 23 chains of unmetalled surface. Cr. A. F. McKenzie: This matter has already been discussed so what is the use of opening the matter up again? Cr. Ryan: I have been asked to explain that the allocation for the work was granted to the Returned Soldiers’ Association to give the settlers access. The chairman: Are all the settlers on the road returned soldiers? Cr. Ryan: No, but the settlers consider that a great injustice has been done by leaving 23 chains of the road unmetalled when there was sufficient money granted to metal the whole road. The piece of road left unmetalled is not an all-weather road and the whole distance, approximately four miles, should have been metalled. One settler, he continued, had been advised not to cart over the unmetalled portion and the metalled portion was now breaking up. He contended that the ccontract should not have been altered, and the extra metal put on certain parts of the road would have been sufficient to metal the 23 chains left unfinished. Cr. F. Romayne: All our roads break up at this time of the year.

Cr. O. C. Pleasants: . I have not been over the road, but my son considers it has quite a good surface. Cr. Ryan: Then he is not much of a judge of roads. Cr. Pleasants: I think Cr. Ryan is under a misapprehension. The Returned Soldiers’ Association might have advocated the metalling of the roads, but the grant was made to the council through the Public Works Department and the amount of 7 metal specified was placed on the road.

Cr. A. Renner said that the whole point was that the contract between Rudsets and the Public Works Department should not have been altered. It was quite apparent that when the work was started they had no intention of doing the 23 chains and they should have known whether three inches of metal would stand on the road. A report was asked for by the council and it had not been furnished.

The county clerrk, Mr. J. McClenaghan, said that it had been rumoured that the Minister of Public Works made the alteration in the contract, but that was not so. The alteration was made under a clause in the agreeement.

Cr. Renner: The agreement should not have been altered.

Cr. Ryan: The chairman previously stated that it was never intended to metal the 23 chains.

Cr. Renner: They had no intention of completing the contract. The chairman, addressing Cr. Ryan: I thought you had some fresh information to place before the council. So far you have given none. We have talked this matter over on several occasions, but I must say that I would be very sorry to see another contract altered.. Cr. Renner: The contract should not have been altered without the consent of the council. The chairman: No doubt it was unintentional and we must now try and get the unmetalled part metalled and done with. We should pass a resolution and close the matter.

Cr. Ryan: From the time the contract was started till the time the agreement was broken indications showed that it was never intended to metal the 23 chains at the end of the road. Cr. Pleasants: They can start a contract wherever they like. They did their best to give ■ you a good road. Cr. A. F. McKenzie said he considered it unfair to criticise the work. The chairman said their aim should be to have the 23 chains metalled. When he was at Wellington he would, represent the matter to the Minister of Public Works. Cr. Pleasants: It would be unfair to ■do that when we have other roads unmetalled. The discussion then ended.