ROADS AND RAILWAYS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 109, 9 May 1924, Page 3

ROADS AND RAILWAYS

.''.' .' 10' THE EDITOR.''.' ■';'-.. "■'■.Jl. ''■ ' Sir,-^-Having- just-returned from; a .visit to. Lake Ta'upo, I" am sorry to'say tlie. roads are in.: a" more .disgraceful state than" ever,: and from Pcihui to'Taupo not' a solitary i road man vis'i'gle.,:.: My .'first visit to Taupp was.some'forty-years ago,: when I drove through to see tli2 pink and.^ white terraces. The road then, was in-: finitely .. better than now, and for iriany ; years it. was. a pleasure to ,drive one's "buggy and pair to Tnupo aiidlbacW. li.at-i terly it has been a misery,, andlthe.only improvement ..in: the road seems to' be notices, such ' as: '.'The. greatest' "caution is' "nece'.jsary'yfrom here-' toL'.tfie" foot; of: Dillon's Hill. 'Prive ■ slow."'--. -~; . ,

This, is riot a ,by ; road, .but tlie main' road from .-Wellington; .to'" Rotbrua,- and Auckland. In, particular the'slip near the top of Titiokura.is a menace .to life, yet nothing has been, done ■ (save to re: move the ..debris) during, eiglit'weeks to do away'with that"menace."".' "

When leaving .:Napier .the railway strike was .on, owing, I.' am t01d,., tattoo.much money being, spent on the. railways; now..the roads are '-striking owing to too little,-money being spent oil them. "As the railway .'.strike- is. off, I-.only, trust that for the 'sake of .civ,Uisation"one'-of the'conditions is that greater cleanliness be observed in -the carriages, wTVich are always more ;'oi\ less. dirty, >hile',: the' station conveniences are deplorable. I have often wondered if Ministers of the Ofown have ever investigated Palmerston North Station. I feel sure some old Wellingtonians'can bear me!out when I.mention ..that; the railway carriages in the' days of the Wellington and Manawntu •were,- infinitely cleaner," besides', bein"lighted with electricity. ' ■',",:' ;: '.:;

j I well know that the larger proportion of'officers and. msn in the iroilwav service are ; about as fine a , body-' of men as it is. possible:to. meet with, but,.imfortiinatelv, there seems to. be: a. considerable tail 'among them • that: w'afrs the (log:, arid nothing: emphasises this more than the scant courtes'v shown'to the Prince of Wales and to the British Navy —I am, etc., . •■ ■ ■ \ J' . . W. KINROSS WHITE. Napier, Gtlv May."-.--. ■ ■

Blankets owe their name to Thomas Jilanket, a -lleiniph ■ weaver who ' lived in Bristol about 1340. Ho" used a piece of rough unfinished cloth, which'had been cast asum. to -ivran himself in one winter night.-,--His' discovery made htrh-,rich.; »■ • A striking illustration of the lon^evitV ol rural Cumbrians was furnished^in.a recent^ issue 6f ■; the "West Cumberland: iNewsi It: contained nine death annbuhec-iiienls,-and the aggregate of. the -ages in. the obituat-y eolun,,) wn s 732 years' or an1 avei-aga ol SI, -O'hey ran'secl-from ■ 63' to •* ■•.-.. -.'■'■>: ■'..- •:■ '.'