ROAD BOARDS OR COUNTY COUNCILS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume I, Issue 79, 12 January 1881, Page 2

ROAD BOARDS OR COUNTY COUNCILS.

The question, as to whether the formation and maintenance of roads can be more cheaply and better attended to by county councils or road boards, has received constant attention in the columns of the Star, and it has not, we are pleased to notice, been allowed to die out altogether. Some of those who at first warmly advocated a separation of the northern and southern portions of this county, with the view of allowing the residents at this end the alternative of deciding in favor of two or three road boards or one compact county, hay , it is true, grown lukewarm and careless. The reason why does not concern us at' present ; it is sufficient for us to know that such has been the case. But, on the other hand, some who were at first opposed to the separation movement have since been able to see things in a different light. They have no difficulty in perceiving that two or three road boards could do all the necessary work, without the circumlocution that is at present required; or that one county council, with a competent engineer, and three or lour good overseers under him, could perform all the' work that may devolve upon the Hawera, the Ngaire, and the Waimate Plains Road Boards — that is, supposing the latter place be formed into a road district.

We have been led into making these remarks, in consequence of the discussion that took place at tlie last meeting of the County Council, in reference to the proposal for constituting a mw road district on the Waimate Plains. Councillor Winks said he was opposed to constituting any new road districts : what was wanted was a separation of the county ; and Councillor Milne strongly urged that all necessary work could be more cheaply done by the County Council than by a road board. At another stage of the proceedings, the proposal for cutting down the Patea hill came under discussion, and Councillors Gane and Winks pointed out how very much more urgent was the repairing of the Hawera-Normanby road. This had the effect of bringing forth some sharp retorts — which were, perhaps, pardonable, under the circumstances — from Councillor Homer and the Chairman. To everybody living at this end of the couuty it is as patent as noon-day that the road between Ketemarae and Hawera is, to all intents and purposes, the main road. The mail coach travels over it, cattle are driven on it, and three-fourths of the traffic between Wanganui and New Plymouth passes along it. Yet our friends at the other end of the county cannot see why they- should be called upon to maintain it, for the simple reason , that it has. never been proclaimed a county road in the columns of the Government Gazette. Owing to that neglect, the small sum of jgls or i!2O, which would have beeu amply sufficient at the commencement of last winter to put the road into a thorough state of repair, could not be spent upon it, because it was argued that it would have been illegal. Can the people at the other end of the county wonder, therefore, that the folks north of them cannot see the pressing necessity for getting an easier grade than the cutting through the Patea hill affords? Clearly, they ought not to. But as the county increases in size — or, rather, as the unsettled portion becomes populated — difficulties like these will tend to increase. We believe it will be for the best interests of north and south to cut the painter, and that as speedily, as possible. It would not be difficult for two or three road boards to do the work at this end of the county, without the aid of a council, or vice versa ; neither is there any reason why our southern friends should not be able to do likewis •. In Auckland three or four of the counties have not, up to this day, brought the Counties Act into full operation. They have been doing all the necessary work with the road boards. The same thing could be done here ; and, as we previously remarked, the formation and maintenance of all the roads, bounded by the Manawapou, Patea, and Taungatara rivers, could probably be more cheaply and more effectively done by the road boards, than under the present dual system. The matter will doubtless be simplified during the next session of Parliament; hut if the people's r presentatives will not legislate for them, then the people must take the bull by the horns, and legislate for themselves.