WAIMEA COUNTY ROADS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 18 November 1926, Page 3

WAIMEA COUNTY ROADS

(To The Editor.)

gj r With yonv permission, I should like to rdply" to .ypiir correspondent who seems,to gloat.over tjj.tr fact that .fcb'e' Waimea County, Co'i>. cij: at ihtif | a sfc meeting, carried, a resolUi'on that special of.cJ.ers \n fclare'nce to- ,certain main roads. (mostly in Motupiko riding) should be revoked. The effect of such revoking will be Unit the ratepayers in ' Motupiko riding will be called 'upon, more than ever, to shoulder the burden of providing for the maintenance of roads in other ridings (some nearer the City of Nelson). Much i.,> service is given to the necessity of encouraging settlement in the back-blocks in order to counteract the drift to the cities. That the members County Council or a majority thereof, should cast their votes as they did, is a sorry tribute to the public-mindedness of such Councillors.

Cr, Berryman's motion, viz., that all special orders declaring main roads be revoked excepting so far as affects main highways, is in the direction of a reform that is long overdue. No other county in New Zealand has declared roads to be main roads with such recklessness as the Waimea County. Expenditure on main roads is pooled and each riding pays towards such expenditure in such proportion as the C.R.V.. of the riding is to the C.R.V. of the County. The more expenditure on declared main roads iy a riding, the greater the contribution from other ridings. This tends towards a competition among the ridings for expenditure on main roads. I am of the opinion that expenditure is lavished on main roads, not always with duo regard as to whether such expenditure is warranted or not, and to the detriment of required expenditure on byroads. 1 think that until such time a\ Cr. Berryman's motion is given effect to, tlie Waimea County will not function as a County in the best, interest of ratepayers in the County, nor within Jlie meaning of the Counties Act. The same remark applies to the ridings. When the estimates for the current year of the Waimea County were adopt, eel, the following .paragraph appeared in your paper: "Regarding the item, of '£l2o for the Motueka Wharf-road, Cr. Wilkinson objected to the amount coming out of the riding account, as a- resolution had been passed by the Council declaring it to be a main road. On his motion, the item was reduced to £20." The absurdity of the Council's main roads policy is clearly manifest in the above paragraph. Because the Waimea County Council will not listen to any suggestions foi reform, does not necessarily mean that reform is not required. The state of affairs in the County rather suggests that reform is abundantly necessary. "Anti-Reform" savs "these roads . .

earned Government subsidy." Such subsidy existed only in the mind of "Anti-Reform."—l am, etc., JAMES PAGAN.

Kohatu. 16th Nov