The Dunstan Times FRIDAY, JULY 25, 1873.

Dunstan Times, Issue 588, 25 July 1873, Page 2

The Dunstan Times FRIDAY, JULY 25, 1873.

Bonciithtliellulcofllohentirely jcst the pen is mightier than the*word.

In revising the Estimates ve find tliatm the matter of Gold-fields' roads, pretty ample provision lias been made, still, unless we are'slmrp, and watch closely after our iuteicsta, there exists the/possibility of the money not being expended, or perhaps applied to some work not so immediately necessary as the repairs of the worst portions of the roads now in use. Erom Tuapeka to the Teviot we find the amount for maintcnanc n , now works, and works absolutely necessary to be 4,500/., not one shilling too much to make this horrible quagmire passable; next, Teviot to Alexandra, 1,528/., out of which 2 28/. is due upon former contracts, leaving 1,000/. for new works, and 300/. for repairs, these latter sums are much too low, and another 1,000/. might with advantage be added. It is difficult to say which end of this road is the worst, whether Tuapeka or Alexandra, and so far as our experience, and that of other travellers, leads us to conclude the whole line is so bad as to leave no choice whatever. In the busy mining and agricultural district between Alexandra and the Gorge Creek, many urgent repairs are necessary, and considering that so large a producing population is located here, together with the close proximity of a Municipal Town, we must own that the interests of Alexandra have been neglected, or perhaps, Alexandra has not been sufficiently alive to them, so as to keep the Member for the district thoroughly posted up in their requirements, for had the matter been strongly represented, we feel assured that Mr. Hazlett would only have been too glad to use his influence to procure more money for road making in this busy centre of industry. Dunstan to Cromwell, 2,020/., and Cromwell to Queenstown, 2820/., appear respectable sums, but when the nature of the works required to be done arc considered, the greater economy exercised in laying out these amounts the better. On the Rock and Pillar Road, 900/. is to bo expended, and from Palmerston to Eweburn, and from Eweburn to the Dunstan, the amounts to be appropriated are 5,203/ From Cromwell to Nevis the sum for repairs is 150/.; Clyde to the Nevis, 50/. ; we suppose that this sum to be expended between Clyde and the Half-way house. All those monies, ifjudicially applied, may effect many useful improvements, but notwithstanding the large annual expenditures our roads are becoming worse, every winter the difficulty oi reaching the gold-fields from Dunedin becomes greater, and the carriage of goods and passengers more costly. All this arises from the imperfect system of making

ai.d repairing roads, aud the absurdity of paying day labor to men over whom little or no control is exercised, and who at their very best do not earn the money paid them. If filling up ruts with mud and sand would make good roads, the services of these gentlemen would be most valuable, but the work is no sooner done, than it requires to be done over again. Were stone or even gravel to be used, the roads would gradually improve, but the labor of shovelling those ingredients is much too heavy for these labor-day making road makers, and we can only say from personal observations that we have seen them throw stones out of the way of the wheel ruts purposely to put in mini. Travellers between this and particularly notice the fact that where the ground is sandy, or the eaith easily' shovelled, a “ surface man ” as the Government engineers please to designate them, is sure be found working, but elsewhere, where the labor is irksome or'perhaps unpleasant, on the account of presence of stones or gravel, no repairs whatever are effected, unless the roadway becomes completely blocked,'' as v in (be case of slips at the Bluffs. To improve the roads, and secure’competent workmen to effect repairs, the present system of day labor must be dispensed with—the work must be performed by contract, and we really cannot see any difficulty in this, although the roads are imperfectly made,aplenty Would gladly contract to drain the roads, aud keep the ruts filled up With broken metal or'coarse gravel