ROADS AND THE SURVEY DEPARTMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9090, 26 June 1888, Page 3

ROADS AND THE SURVEY DEPARTMENT.

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, —Though the settlement of the country lands of this province has received a temporary check, anybody with ordinary foresight must see that a revival must take place shortly, or at least as soon as the owners of the large blocks in the interior make up their minds to accept a proper and, reasonable price. Much of the land, however, now in the market and likely soon to be there, is very placed as regards the means of communication, the road lines laid out being totally inadequate to the public requirements. This is a matter which the Survey Department should see to without delay. In this district, for instance, the want of roads is notorious. Immense blocks of land have been acquired from the natives by speculators, who, by erecting ring fences, have hampered the movements and interfered with the convenience of their neighbours to an extent which cannot be appreciated by those who dwell in more favoured districts. For this state of things the Government are, of course, to blame, for they, or rather their officers of the Survey Department, ought, in the public interest, to have taken care that when these lands were acquired by private individuals, the rights of the public were made secure. Not to mention other cases, which are numerous, the Auckland Agricultural Company's Okoroire estate lies like a huge barrier across 12 miles of country, severing the roads from Cambridge, Morrinsville,andTeAroha which converge afc the Okoroire railway station, from those leading to Rotorua, Lichfield and Taupo, which stop short in a ad dt sac at the southern end of the block, at the wellknown Hot Springs, which are therefore to be approached only by a most circuitous and inconvenient route from the North. I believe the proprietor of the Springs has made strenuous efforts to procure a road through Okoroire, but though the Piako County Council have expressed their willingness to do their part, the manager of the estate remains obdurate, and will not move a peg. If this were a matter that concerned the proprietor of the Hot Springs only, he might very properly be left to fight out the battle himself ; but it is a matter of much wider importance, involving the rights of the public, travelling and resident, and as such the Survey Department should lose no time in giving it their attention.—l am &c., Progress. Oxford, June 20,1888.