AKATARAWA ROAD

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 150, 25 June 1921, Page 4

AKATARAWA ROAD

The long delay in starting two bridges* on the Akatarawa (Upper Hutt-Waik-anaej road (about the point where the "old" road merges into' the "new" road, a continuation of the "old") is thus reported on to the Central Progress League by Mr. G. Mitchell, M.P.:

From a layman's point of view, these bridges should have been built when the formation was started, so that drays could have been used to cart the equipment and men's food, etc., as the work proßreesed j but the ■ gap still remains. Pack-horses have been used to transport

everything necessary, and this fine road, 'midst ..beautiful native scenery, must remain idle and useless for months to come, until the bridges are built. The timber for them is not yet on the ground. Why not build them in concrete? Cement is now plentiful, and there is gravel on the spot. We presume that the official reason for the delay is scarcity of cement for concrete construction and scarcity of hardwood for timber construction.1 That scarcity, apparently, has ceased, and the advocacy of concrete bridges, which has been voiced for some time in the Akatarawa and Hutt districts, appears to be reasonable. As, however, a Departmental decision appears to be like a law of the Medes a-ftd Persians, a sort of corner-stone which, if disturbed, imperils the whole structure, critics have been inclined to gang warily, fearing that, by questioning a part, they may lose the whole. Propitiation of " the powers that be " generally involves ' some degree of self-effacement. It may or may not be true that, in projecting the road formation miles in advance of the bridges, the horse has been put behind the cart; also, that the bridges should be in concrete instead of timber; also, that a small deviation of the road would have dispensed with the need for one of the bridges. But, in dealing with a technical Caesar, and with a situation in which time is the essence of the contract, it is.sometimes necessary to take not what one would prefer but what is obtainable. Timber pr concrete, two bridges or one, rests with officialdom. Get the job done!