ROADING PLANS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 9, 8 December 1937, Page 14

ROADING PLANS

FIVE-YEAR PROGRAMME. MINISTER’S INTENTIONS. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, Dec. 7. “I am sure county councils and settlers throughout New Zealand will derive very great satisfaction from the additional amount of money made available on the Supplementary Estimates for improvement of settlement roading,” the Minister of Public Works (Hon. R. Semple) said to-day, when commenting on the extended roading programme which is proposed by the Government for this financial year. The Supplementary Estimates introduced in the House yesterday make provision for an amount of £541,360 additional to the sum of £1,046,000 which has already been provided on the main Public Works Estimates passed by the House a few days ago. The total sum which Parliament has been asked to vote this year for country roading, apart from expenditure on main highways, is thus £1,587,360. “The passing of these Supplementary Estimates,” said, the Minister, “will mark the first step in my determination to tackle seriously the pressing need of many settlers in all parts of this country who for years have suffered the handicap of indifferent access. To fully grasp and understand the ramifications of the Public Works Department, it was necessary for me immediately I took control of the department to visit all parts of New Zealand. I was impressed to such an extent with the needs of back-country settlers that I realised that by nothing short of a serious and determined effort could any material improvement be effected, and it was apparent to me that the position would have to be viewed over a period of years, and the problem approached in an organised and considered way. I therefore instructed my department to confer with county councils throughout the country, to ascertain from them what settlers’ access roads required improvement, the nature and cost of such necessary improvement, and the relative order of urgency of the different roads, viewing the position over a period of five years. This was done, and the information received covered 6700 miles of roads giving access to 13,380 settlers at an estimated cost of £4,500,000.

WORK FOR UNEMPLOYED

“The provision made on this year’s Supplementary Estimates is the first step in our attempt to get these settlers out of the mud within five years,” said Mr Semple, “and 1 ain satisfied from personal observation and from the many representations which have been made to me during my visits to the country districts tliat there will be jubilation in many homes. “It is proposed under this extended ■roading programme as far as possible to obtain men from the unemployment registers in the different localities, and, in consideration of the labour thus absorbed, and to that extent, the Employment Promotion Fund will reimburse the funds of my department.”

“County councils generally have been extremely helpful in assisting my department to obtain the necessary information,” Mr Semple said, “and where they have been able to do so they have made offers of financial assistance. This, of course, is the customary procedure, but in many instances of these back-country roads it would not be reasonable to expect local authorities or the settlers themselves to find any large proportion of the expenditure to he undertaken. In these cases, therefore, it has been arranged that so much as can reasonably be given by the counties will be accepted and the metalling completed as soon as possible. “I appeal to county councils with confidence to assist my department and the Government in this earnest attempt to deal with what is indeed a pressing need. In many cases local bodies will be asked to undertake the works with their own organisation, and I am convinced from the many interviews I have had with local bodies that they will be ready and ‘anxious to press forward to the full extent of the funds which will now become available. “A RECORD YEAR.”

“I think it can be claimed that, although in the past much has been said about the necessity of getting backcountry settlers out of the mud, this is the greatest attempt that lias ever been made to face up to the position,” the Minister concluded. “It is_ an effective move forward. lam satisfied that the best asset a country can have is- an efficient roading system, and it cannot be expected that primary producers can compete effectively with producers in other parts of the world unless the means of transporting their production is efficient. “No effort will be spared by my department to make this a reconi year as far as metalling the ' roads is concerned, and the future will be brightened for very many settlers by reason of this honest attempt to meet their most pressing needs.”