MARLBOROUGH ROADS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 102, 4 May 1929, Page 27

MARLBOROUGH ROADS

NO REASON TO COMPLAIN In the course of his presidential address to the annual meoting of the Marlborough Automobile Association, Mr. E. P. Furness, on the subject of roads, said:— '' Shortly after our last anua.l meeting the Main Highways Board visited Blenheim for the purpose of reopening the subject of the proposed deviation through the Dashwood Pass, and representatives of this association participated in the largo deputation which waited upon it. Naturally, it was ■with the greatest satisfaction that we learned that the board had reversed its previous decision not to sanction the road. The Marlborough County Council agreed to.find its share of the cost. The ratepayers of Awatere County overwhelmingly evinced their confidence in the project, and we are- all bow anxiously awaiting the issuing of the plans by the Highways Board and the instructions for the commencement of the work.

/'lt is very pleasing to me to be able to' congratulate tho Borough and County^ Councils of Marlborough on the excellent condition of the roads of the district. After a tour covering nearly 1200 miles in the North Island, I returned to Marlborough quite satisfied that, apart from tho stretches of bitumen or tar-sealing I met with, our Toads are better than any I travelled over. Once off the paved surface, the North Island roads are, many of them, very bad indeed, and they aro often ■worst in the vicinity of the towns. Many visitors to this district during the summer just past havo warmly praised our roads; I will quote but one, Mr. J. S. Hawkes, secrotary of tho Canterbury Automobile Association, who wrote as follows in a recent issue of the Christchurch 'Press': 'As a motorist of over 20 years' experience, I can honestly say that the general improvement to the roads in the northern portion of this island is remarkable.'

"Our sister association at Nelson is to' be commended on the fine result of its efforts to have the Wangamoa Hill made safer for traffic; while the improvement of the highway north of Kaikoura is equally remarkable. Tho "West Coast road once it is completed should be a great benefit to motorists desiring to go to the Coast, but it is to be hoped that the portion between the Branch River and the Wash Bridge will be attended to before through traffic becomes general. The position as regards the Picton-Grove road remains very much tho same as it waa last year, and it seems fairly hopeless to expect any amelioration in the near future. This is to bo regretted, as the road is one of the most beautiful I have ever traversed."