ROADS OUT OF REPAIR.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 12, 15 January 1929, Page 3

ROADS OUT OF REPAIR.

MOTORING IK NORTH ISLAND. COMPLAINT BY MR. SEMPLE. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, this day. Reference to the bad state of some of the main roads in the middle of the North Island was made by Mr. R. Scinpie, M.P., on hi 3 return fiorn a tour on which he was accompanied by Mr. P. Fraser, M.P., Mrs. Semple and Mrs. Fraser. They motored by way of Napier, Taupo, Rotorua, Arapuni, Waitomo and New Plymouth. Mr. Semple said that while thev found most of the roads in fair order, there were stretches which were urgently in need of attention by the highways authorities. He instanced the road from Levin to Palmerston North. It was hard to understand why the Highways Board was not going on with the sealing of that part of the main road. Barrels of tar were lying on the roadside and some of them had burst and the contents had run to waste. Heaps of gravel were also ready for use. Mr. Semple described part of the road from Hangatiki to the Waitomo Caves as "simply disgraceful." "And yet," he added, "it leads to one of the most wonderful tourist sights in the. world. The ! Government is spending a lot of money in building at Waitomo one of the most up-to-date hostels in the Southern Hemisphere, and deserves everv credit for that work.

'•The sealing of the road for a distance nf about six milps to the hostel and two miles to the caves is a matter of urjrencv." Mr. Semple added that the road from Otorohanga to Te Kuiti was also in e bad condition.

There was also much room for improvement between Piopio and Mahoenui, on the Te Kuiti-New Plymouth Road. A piece between Sanson and Foxton was also in bad condition.