The Great South Road.

Auckland Star, Volume XVII, Issue 206, 2 September 1886, Page 4

The Great South Road.

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —Iα last night'e issue of your paper I , observe a letter from Mr Robert Hall re Great South Itoad. With all due respect to Mr Hall's opinion, I beg to differ from the conclusions he has arrived at in this matter. Mr Hall says: "I have yet to learn that there is another case on record in this colony of tfie Government taking into their hands a trunk road when in good condition, levying tolia on that road for a period of years, and when the road becomes worn out, "slid must bo either ro-made or traffic suspendtd, deliberately persisting in ridding themselves of the responsibility." Now, the Government did not willingly take thia road into their hands. They simply received the tolls (imposed by tie /ate Provincial Government under a special Act of the Provincial Council), and expended the money on the road as far as it went in the hope that the ratepayers of Eden and Manukau would some dayiecognise their responsibility by bringing the Counties Act into operation, and thereby taking over this road. When the provinces -were abolished, and the Counties Act becama the chief form of local government, tha Legislature granted snbsidiea to county councils and road boards equal to £2 sterling; for £l raised in rates by the road boards. Tfaia was done in order to give the new form of local government a gcod start. Now, under thia arrangement the County Council of Eden received about £7,000 sterling a year for five years. Was not this money (paid direct to the Council) intended by Parliament for the main roads ? What became of it then f "It was divided between the eighteen road boards in the county, and expended by them—not on the main roads, but on the district roads. Why, then, was thismoney, intended by Parliament for the main roads, expended on the district roads ? LetMrHsll answer tbis question. Again, under the Roads and Bridges Construction Act, the County Council (if they had coaie to ttieir " light mind " and worked the Act) could have borrowed a largo sum of money for this road instead of which certaia'in; tereated parties requested the Government to remove the tolls, and they at once agreed to refrain from collecting them, but st the same time they very properly proclaimed this road within the boundaries of the road districts adjoining. And now, forsooth, after all this mismanagement Mr. Hall and many other ratepayers blame the Government for the disgraceful condition of thia road. The Government have no power to maintain this road. I cannot ccc under what Act, or from what money appropriated by Parliament, they cando it 1 think Mr Eall cannot point ont any road in the colony extending for ten_ or thirty miles from a leading cfty» through a populous district, and running parallel with a line of railweyi that is maintained by the Government, If the Government have expen dad all the tolls on thie road (and I presume they Will show an account if asked to do ao), then they have done all we can reasonably expect of them. It is, therefore, quite evident that if we want good roads in the County of Eden we must make them ourselves, or go without them.—l am, etc. t John- Bollard. Avondale, ?ept. 1,1886.|