The Northern Advocate MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1913. "MAIN ROADS."

Northern Advocate, 8 September 1913, Page 4

The Northern Advocate MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1913. "MAIN ROADS."

The announcement made by the Minister for Public Works that the Government has under consideration a plan for taking over the control and maintenance of all main roads in the Dominion is a reminder that Governments have struggled with this question ever since the abolition of provincialism. The arguments in favour of such a change are many and have been stated almost an infinite number of times, but though it is easy to put forward the case in favour of main road control by the Government difficulties of the gravest character present themselves when attempt is made to draft a working system. Indeed the mere task of denning what is and what is not a "main road" is itself so perplexing as to leave little room for wonder at the failure of successive governments to do more than "think" about the subject. The general idea is, of course, that it should become the duty of the central authority to maintain the "main" roads, which in many cases monopolise a great part of the revenue of the local bodies, and thue leave the latter free and with an unimpaired purse to attend to roads coming under another category. One result, would be, it is argued, to do away with the present demoralising system of doles from the national treasury, a consummation to be most devoutly wished, for nothing quite so extravagant, wasteful and degrading as the existing method could very well be imagined. In some districts no great difficulty would perhaps be found in defining the main roads but there are others where nearly the whole of the roading is of this class, and as the rateable value of these districts is very high the sole consequence if the Government took over the main roads would be to give, at the expense of the general taxpayer, a gift of considerable magnitude to property owners, well able to maintain and at only a minimum rate their various roads. In localities like these such a grant—for that is what it would be I —could only be regarded as a gross abuse of the public funds. Difficult and complex though the question may be it is to be hoped that the Government will, without going to extreme lengths, be more fortunate with its deliberations than its predecessors, since almost anything would

be better than the present unsatisfactory system of grants. Yet it is hard to believe that this subject could be very satisfactorily dealt with alone but rather should it form part of a plan for recasting the local government system altogether. Ministers have many times promised a Local Government Bill and it would, we think, be wiser for them to produce this measure, containing the whole of the changes suggested by Ministers in the existing law, instead of to follow the doubtful precedent of tinkering with the subject from year to year. The roading problem is one of the most vital to North Island communities, but pending stronger proof we are inclined to doubt whether this idea about main roads, even of it were shown to be practical, would really mean very much if made part of our public policy. Where county roads are bad the explanation is invariably to be found in the apathy of the local body, which instead of facing its obligations and working on a coherent plan, prefers to sit in a state of chronic expectancy awaiting the arrival of miscellaneous funds from the Crown.