TRAFFIC WAYS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 117, 19 May 1937, Page 12

TRAFFIC WAYS

A GREAT PROGRAMME

'THE NATIONAL OCCUPATION'

A MOTORIST'S VIEWS

"The Government has set surveyors at work in the' Ngahauranga Gorge, evidently with a view to reconstituting the road location through this craggy approach to the capital city," said a motorist to a "Post" representative today. "Perhaps it is the Government's intention to make a general review of the main road through Levin. It would be surprising, in* view of the many road improvements tackled since it came into office, if only the gorge were to be dealt with, as it is a generally accepted fact that it is intended to undertake many huge reading projects. I have recently travelled round most of the roads in the North Island, and it certainly appears to be the national occupation of the day. How long' can this country afford to carry out road reconstruction at the present pace? DTJAL TRANSPORT SYSTEM. "This road construction and reconstruction is proceeding simultaneously with a railway construction programme of a magnitude never previously known, at least in the period set for its completion, and at a time when everyone had accepted the idea that railways were by no means the most modern form of transport for travel, though they did provide adequate facilities for the hauling of heavy goods over long distances. We have heard a good deal lately -about the Government policy .of taking over the road hauliers. Why is it that these various road hauliers in all parts of the country have established such a good bjusiness? Because the public realise that they provide the most economical form of transport for a certain class of goods. If the success of the road services established was due to that, why should the public be denied a service which they had, and were prepared to patronise fully in the future? "The Minister of Public Works recently spoke of spending £10,000,000 on Public Works this year, and asking for a still further amount next year. Nobody would deny that motor traffic has developed in the past two years to an extent which was never contemplated, even having in mind the peak number of vehicles in 1929, but whether the motorists will be happy, along with the other ratepayers and taxpayers, to see such a large capital expenditure going on year by year is quite another question.^ "NATIONAL WORKS." "At the present time the Government is proceeding apace with the construction of the Milford Sound Road. Certainly this project was.put in hand by the previous Government, but the present Government is determined to finish the work, and when the Minister of Public Works was in the 'locality last February he was most enthusiastic over the.project, and declared that its termination was contemplated as one of the most important national works in the country. He is evidently looking forward to similar projects on which public funds canl be expended. Immediately a huge work like, this is put in hand in one district the ; parish pump squeaks loudly elsewhere, and Wellington is now looking with confidence to the provision of a scenic road in the Tararuas, a road which probably would not be open for more than seven months in the year, and which at any time would be subject to snow and ice conditions which would make travelling positively dangerous. Then we have a road which is being constructed through Auckland's mountainous area, Waitakere, a munificent Government providing the greater proportion of the cost. "These works are called national works, but in addition to this, on practically any road which can be named, there are gangs of men not only cutting off corners but building what maybe truly termed bold deviations, which from their nature will cost thousands of pounds to maintain, over the next few years. The road at Waikaremoana, built by the previous Government, is being widened out; the justification for this is problematical. Certainly the pushing ahead of these various construction works in every part of the country has enabled the Government to employ the men to whom, at the last Parliamentary elections, they promised employment, but placing gangs of men of from 10 or 12 to 100 in every part of the country is evidently only a palliative. When the public purse tightens up there will be a reaction which many of us rather fear to contemplate. When all these roads and railways are completed, if public finance does not interfere to halt their progress, we imagine that there will be more ways of getting about New Zealand than there will be people who have the money to take advantage^ of them, and certainly few New Zealanders who w.ill wish to travel to study a state of affairs they will be only too anxious to forget at home."