THE NEEDED LINK.

Northern Advocate, 6 August 1924, Page 4

THE NEEDED LINK.

Thoughts of spring naturally associate themselves with vision's of outdoor life, which, of course, may have to do with both business and pleasure, and

of the facilities afforded for outdoor life in tli is district. LnsT Saturday

pleasure took a groat, many people from Whangarei to Dargavillo, and they found the journey by the Houto Road a long one, and in places not very comfortable. Cynics, of cotirse, may say that when people, give a (lav to pleasure it does not hurt them to go a few miles out of their way and bump over hillocks and into hollows; but. the importance of the connecting route between Whangarei and Davgaville, the two chief centres of North A'.-ckland, does not lie in the pleasure traflic that it carries. For serious business purposes a road adequate to ma.intain daily traffic throughout the year is required, and it is

obviously desirable that the most direct road should be available. That route lies, not around the Houto, but through the Wheki Valley. The Wheki Valley Road is, as everyone knows, a longstanding grievance on both sides of the Northern Peninsula. In the summer weather it is freely used, but in winter a few miles of unmetalled foi-

niation proves an impassable barrier, and traffic has to be diverted to the longer route. The Houto Road han served well, but we understand that the dangerous portion of it, in the neighbourhood of Kirikopuni, is to be remodelled, once traffic can be diverted from it to another route. This may mean that the Houto Road will not be available next winter, and Whangarei and Dargaville will have to rely on the Wheki Valley for communication. In that case the sooner the work of completing the Wheki Valley Road is resumed the better. Slips that have come down during the winter will have to be removed, and metal will have to be crushed for use on the road. Work of this kind, we presume, could be put in hand soon, and the Whangarei County Council should see that no time is lost. The completion of this main highway is surely a. work of the utmost importance'to both Whangarei and Dargaville, and it is absolutely essential that the road should be in a fit state by next winter to carry the daily traffic.