Mr Mitchelson and the Great South Road.

Auckland Star, Volume XVII, Issue 202, 28 August 1886, Page 2

Mr Mitchelson and the Great South Road.

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—There appears to be a great deal of fuss now being made over the state o£ the Great South Road, and the Government aro being severely blamed for allowing the road to remajn in such a disgraceful state. Now, Sir, I maultain that the Government are entirely blameless in the matter. There is nothing like throwing the blame upon the right shouldere, and I have no hesitation in stating that the local bodies are Ihe guilty parties in this instance. I happen to know something about the conditions upon which the tolls were abolished, and have a distinct recollection (when in office) of pointing out the difficulties that would arise from the _bqlf> tion of the toll gate, unless the local bodies were prepared to rato themselves, and there certainly was plenty of time given for the consideration of the matter. The whole question appears to me not to have been properly thought out, otherwise the presont crisis would not have occurred; I maintain that the Government has no right to treat this road as an exceptional one, and it certainly has no right to expend publlo funds for such a purpose as the maintaining a public highway leading out of the mOBt populous town in the colony, and passing through old established districts. Sir, thocolonyisoxpectedfodo much more than it can boi reasonably expected to do, and the time is rapidly approaching when wo shall be compelled to rely upon ourselves and not upon loans for any local works that we may need. There are two ways out of the present difficulty —bring tho Counties Act into force In both tho Counties of Eden and Manukau (tho Counties Act has worked Well and given satisfaction in every other part of thecolony—whynotinthisft. or re-establish tho toll. The argument that a tollbar has no right to be Within a mile of a borough is all moonshine; is it not a fact that a toll-bar exists on tho Hutt Road, within a quarter of a mile of the city of Wellington, and yet there is no noise made about it I— _ ours.etc, E. MITCHEL-ON.