THE Northern Advocate Daily WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE Northern Mail Daily. MONDAY, MAY 18, 1914. THE VALLEY UNSPEAKABLE.

Northern Advocate, 18 May 1914, Page 6

THE Northern Advocate Daily WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE Northern Mail Daily.

MONDAY, MAY 18, 1914. THE VALLEY UNSPEAKABLE.

REGISTERED FOR TRANSMISSION THROUGH THE POST AS A NEWSPAPER

.& •'■-■"'..■''„'■■ j ; Winter ... inconveniences • and hardships are recurring with their customary pertinacity in many of the Whangarei county out-dis-tricts-, the leading cause as usual being highway deficiences. Though • gradually—very gradually—these stumbling-blocks to reasonably easy inter-communication are becoming fewer in number, they "are still plentiful enough to substantiate the demand for a. more comprehensive method of administration. Obviously • the rating revenue is unequal to'/ the task of thoroughly forming and renovating roads, and the Government grants that supplement rates help: no further than a partial palliative of the grievance; so that the proposed radical change of abolishing the grant system altogether, #u..bs.t'itu.tiiig State responsibility: for the main arteries and utilising •rate revenue for side roads, should recommend.itself to every county similarly situated to that of Whangarei. The local circumstances have not been improved in the last couple of years by the fact that the council has had to go in for rigid retrench*ment following on over-lavish expenditure" and. thoughl, a strenuous effort"is still

bein"* made to reinstate the finances, recovery of the long leeway is. not likely to be accomplished before the end of the current nnan- . cial year. ' As an inevitable sequel many roads have suffered curtailment of even the modest average •mention thcv would have received normally, and the settlers ) are faced with another winter ol * discontent. One of the outstand- , ing examples is the 'Wheki Valley road, the state WM which is all the more crucial b-f cause it represents the only means of direct travel intercourse between the most important and next largest centres in the whoie ! northern peninsula. Xt had been anticipated that the grant at the Council's disposal would have been utilised in making several notoriously bad places less dangerous and negotiable without imminent risk to travellers, but apparently the council deemed it better policy to devote the money to improving one portion thoroughly. In pursuance of that decision metalling operations have been carried on from the Waiotama bridge boundary inwards, with the result that there is now about a quarter of a mile (approximately), or one , twenty-fourth, of the six-mile slough fit for traffic; so that, at the present rate of procedure, we may expect to have the whole stretch renovated and made traversable 24. years hence. The council is certainly adept at giviag us something to look forward to. Though one is enjoined, however, to be thankful for small mercies, the feeling of gratitude for this little section of metalled road would probably be all the greater if it had been provided without making the remaining 23-24 of. the valley road infinitely worse thfcii ever before —impossible as that conception may seem. People. ,\dio are compelled to adventure this route aver that the riietal wa.-« quarried at the eastern' extremity of the valley and carted the full length to the Waiotama desLina--. tion, with the result that the fewusable remnants of culverts, and bridges intervening have been shattered beyond Hope, leaving. dangerous depressions for overwrought horses to J ' be" cruelly lashed'through and steep ledges to be hurdled over. ' It is also < 'avowed that metal quite as good and more than sufficient in quantity was all the time availably within half a mile of the portion.;, treated,. ; The road is stated Lo be now worse than at any time- within recollection, and unless the council repairs the most mischievous spots the chances of vehicular traffic being'suspended altogether as the winter advances 'are' r ery probable. • Mr Massey ,'told a deputation- in .Whangarei'that he had once traversed the road and „ quite apprehended the importance < of something . b.eing done. An ounce .of personal . experience is ■ certainly worth more than a pound of , oral representations where Ministers' attentions are concerned, but Mr Massey's knowledge of the Wheki Valley road has not extended to the conditions as now-prevailing, and.we are satisfied that one trip over the unspeakable valley road just now would elicit from him, through the,, Public Works Minister, as prompt • a response as followed on his, ex : perie'nee of Kennedy's • bridge. The responsibility rests oh .the council,of urging the Premier to ' bring his partial promise into per-, * formance,, and in the meantime to go out of the way in order to effect at least a temporary amendmentof the very grave disabilities - that have to be confronted by the travelling public. ■.