USE OF PUBLIC MONEYS

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27368, 5 June 1954, Page 8

USE OF PUBLIC MONEYS

SPENDING ON ROADS DISCUSSED

VIEW OF FARMERS’ LEADER

An appeal to the public to exercise moderation and judgment in making demands for expenditure of public moneys was made by the president, Mr D. W. Gray, in his address to the annual conference of the North Canterbury provincial district of Federated Farmers yesterday. “Promises of public economy can only be implemented if the public as a whole moderate their demands. Before these demands are made let us be sure they are reasonable,” said Mr Gray. “Can our small population afford them and are they likely to help production or reduce costs? Some of the so-called free services had arisen from a genuine desire td give everyone a fair chance in life, and notably in education, he said. Noone could deny that facilities to open education to all paid a national dividend and no-one wished to see people suffering from sickness and dying because they could not afford medical attention, but the inevitable army of people employed by the State (“that is ourselves”) to administer these services was a drag on the productive capacity*’ of the country. New Roads Board There was now a new Roads Board with a formidable task ahead of it. Transport was the life blood of the country and they wanted the best roads—that the country could afford. “It will have to be decided whether we can afford roads to take the largest trucks with cheaper operating costs or a cheaper road to take smaller trucks with perhaps higher operating costs,” he continued. Engineers had given New Zealand some very good roads. It was natural that when they were asked to make a road that had to stand up to hard work for a long time they should give rhe best design they could, but New Zealand was a comparatively sparsely populated land. Could the country afford to have roads as good as other countries with a far denser population? Roads were being tnade capable of carrying vehicles travelling at very high speeds. Then in the interests of safety and ensuring the life of the road a speed limit was placed on all traffic. Much money had been spent in’ realigning curves and filling hollows, and good approaches had been constructed at cross-roads. Then people were prosecuted because they travelled too fast and were involved in an accident causing perhaps injury or death. “Would it not be cheaper to have a good dip that would make people crawl when approaching a main road or railway crossing,” said Mr Gray. All over New Zealand bridges also needed to be replaced. Was it necessary that they should all be the same width as the roadway. They were a very costly item. On all except, highways carrying a very large amount of traffic and where there were very long bridges which might cause serious delays he would say that the half minute or few seconds lost on a one-way bridge would not amount to anything in the national economy. In his view it was sound policy to build good roads and wide bridges, said Mr W. H. Faulkner. Although the population of New Zealand was small, it was wise to look ahedd. Mr Gray said he believed in roads able to carry a good volume of traffic, but he questioned the building of costly two-way bridges on roads not carrying much traffic. Mr I. L. M. Coop said that there were cars coming into the country now that could travel quite safely at 60 miles an hour, but there were high gorse fences on roadsides and trees at comers.