The Northern Advocate Daily FRIDAY, JUNE 11, 1937. OTONGA BIDING AFFAIRS

Northern Advocate, 11 June 1937, Page 4

The Northern Advocate Daily

FRIDAY, JUNE 11, 1937. OTONGA BIDING AFFAIRS

BotUterod tor tranamlMlon through the post m a, Newspaper.

Ratepayers , iri the Otonga riding of tfle Whangarei County Council met last evening to discuss questions of interest to themselves and to county ratepayers Otonga ratepayers have been much exercised during recent months are a result of a belief that the county council, at the instigation of the Otonga riding member, had decided to prevent the use of the roads by farmers when moving stock from one part of a farm to another. The riding member apparently satisfied the -ratepayers at last night’s meeting that they had got a wrong conception of the part he had taken in' the matter, and it was also clear that the council had no intention of interfering with ratepayers’ rights so fai\ as the use of roads is concerned. There should never have been any doubts on this point, as the law provides that cattle, so long as they are in charge of some responsible person, have an absolute right to be on the road. That, of course, is not to say that cattle may be allowed to wander on roads ; penalties may , be inflicted for such breach, of the law. It is most desirable, however, and farmers who are • ratepayers should realise the force of the argument, that roads should not be made grazing paddocks for stock, even if the animals are in charge of an attendant, It is to prevent that sort of thing that xhe county council and the Transport Department are addressing themselves! Admittedly, there are occasions when it is impossible for a dairyfarmer to move his herd trom one paddock to another without using the public road. In such a ease the farmer is justified in exercising his undoubted right to drive the animals over or along the road. If, on the other hand, he can conveniently transfer cattle from one paddock to another without the help of the road, it is surely not too much to expect that he 'should do so. j It ought to be remembered that the sauntering of a large herd of animals along a road results in damaging watertables and laying the foundation for slips during wet weather. This adds to the cost of maintaining the roads in a riding, and, as a consequence, is not fair to ratepayers who try to safeguard the highways. As Ve remarked a few days ago, this'

iis a matter which calls for the ex- j | ercise of sweet 'reasonableness i j rather than arbitrary control, j ! and we feel that as a result of the i I discussion which took place last j evening the ratepayers of Otonga riding will do what they can to lessen the cost of maintaining roads, and, at the same time, make " it as easy v as possible for dairyfarmers to use those roads for legitimate purposes.