ROADS UNHARMED.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 193, 15 August 1931, Page 17

ROADS UNHARMED.

Council’s Allegations Denied by Mr Ell. WORKED IN CONJUNCTION. “Apparently the Heathcote County Council is determined to make my load of difficulties in connection with the advancement of the Summit Road still heavier,” said Mr H. G. Ell, in a reply to the allegations made against him by the Heathcote County Council. “This morning a man came from the council and cut off my electric power at the Takahe. I begged him to leave it on for a short time, until I could get the water supply tanks filled, but the man declined, and cut it off. The result of this is that I will have to carry every drop of water from the ground floor for to-day and Sunday, the busiest day’s in fhe week. “I rang up the County Clerk and asked for an explanation, and he said that to connect the v power supply, the council wanted £lO. I approached a resident of Cashmere, and he advanced me the money, but when I paid it into the council office, they informed me that the power would not be turned on until Monday morning. Co-operation. “As regards the work done on the Summit Road, I have co-operated with the council to the extent of working there personally’. This I did from 1905 to 1918, when the new road through Victoria Park was opened. I have amongst my papers communications w’ith the Permanent Ways Department concerning the Gazetting of this road. The road was not cared for by the council and at a point opposite the 1000 foot stone, in 1920, when I was living at the Kiwi, there were two dangerous potholes right on the bend, with a drop of 14 to 15 feet on the outside. “I went myself to the place, quarried stone, and filled in the holes. Many’, many times have I done similar work, removing slips from the water-table, and thus preventing the road from becoming flooded. During the years I lived at the Kiwi it was my practice every morning to walk down the road and remove any fallen rocks or earth that may have come down during the night.” Mr Ell stated that he held receipts for scores of pounds, for wages paid to men who had worked on the repair of the road. Not long ago, he had to face a summons from a man whose wages had got behind. Now he had a claim against him for carting and contracting work. “ What more co-operation does the Council want?” he asked. Exchanging Land. “ The road from the Sign of the Takahe to the Kiwi is, and always will be to me part of the Summit Road,” continued Mr Ell. “In an earnest desire to get rid of dangerous corners, I appealed to the late Mr J. Cracroft Wilson to exchange with me some land of his, one block at the tram terminus, and another one this side of Red Point. The exchange was effected, and I had to foot a bill for £8 8s for surveying and drawing up the deviation plans. This land is now par£ of the road, and it is being used by the Council. Though I appealed to them to return to me the £S 8s they refused, on the grounds that I had not applied early enough.” Continuing, Mr Ell said that the allegation that he had done £3OO worth of damage to the road was nothing more than a public scandal. Opposite the 700 ft stone, he explained, the road was only 13 feet wide, and there was a hollow at the outside of the road, with a drop of five or six feet. If this hole were filled up, Mr Ell knew, he said, that he could get a good grade, and so he put men to work and took rocks from the surface of the old road, filled in the depression, and made the new road safer for traffic. It was in use at the time the Council took charge of it, and had formerly been under his control. A Distinct Gain. “In repairing that stretch, I used my brains and my judgment,” he continued. “ The work done was a distinct gain, at no cost to the Heathcote County Council.” Mr Ell also gave as an instance the walls he had built for retaining purposes. 44 The Council will listen to statements by one who is openly at enmity with me,” said Mr Ell, “ and yet it has never made an inspection of the road. 44 As to the wood referred to at the Council’s ‘last meeting, concluded Mr Ell,” I wish to state that it has been carefully stored by me to be given to the unemployed. Already two loads have been carted to the Takahe, and there I have unemployed men at work cutting up the logs by hand. They take home as many blocks of wood as they can when they go home. (A report of the Heathcote Council’s discussion appears on page 15.)