MAIN ROADS IN THE NORTH.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 184, 6 August 1890, Page 5

MAIN ROADS IN THE NORTH.

The Government bave, it appears, placed I i the sum of £1,025 on their estimates for ex« > penditure on the main Norbh Road from. 1 Warkworth bo Kawakawa. It is a very small sum for such a long distance, and would re- ; quite another added to ib to make much show, and even this baa nob passed the House yeb. The Govornmenb should bo forced to give £10,000 for thia work from I the general revenues of the colony, to pub | the Northern sebtlemenb in a bebber j position to pay Customs' duties, property tax, and imposts which they; have to contribute to, in common with; other districts in the South, who have not* only railways, but main roads. Take tho population norbh of the Waitemata aa 25,000, or about the 1-30-b. of the population of the colony, and allowing that thero haa beon £15,000,000 spent on railways ia the colony, of this the North has had only £186,000, and at any rate thero is £300,000* due ua on thab head, and if all the other" contributions to the improvement of tho ' roads by the way of subsidies, etc., is taken at£lso,ooo, fchereisstilla balance bhatshoulc. come to the North for the making of tho Great North Road. I only write in general, termsaslhavenotthedataat hand at present,,, bub would suggesb, since bhese are bhe days* of unions amongsball classes, bhab tho threo Northern constituencies should form a com-; , bination and insist upon this Government, _>. or any Government, doing jusbice to thai Norbh. There is little chance of tho! through railway being made -North' jbrf many years; for this generation, of men ito," is in the far-off future only. The next things is to try and geb our main roads made, as; they have been in other parts of the colony, i Taking the whole loan expenditure at' £30,000,000, allowing seven to have been,! wasted in the negotiation, etc., we in tha' North were entitled to one million. Wo did not geb -hat, but have to pay intere-fe bo bhab proportion.