THE MANUKAU ROADS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15047, 17 July 1912, Page 10

THE MANUKAU ROADS.

| , ■-, ;♦ ■ j ' :■ '! "V' ■-~.: ".'■■■"■..■ ~; ; ,-'■.. I "WORST IN THE DOMINION." r . | HOPES OF BETTER CONDITIONS. '''■.'■'.'"'. ■: ■ f ) '. The setfiers of the Manukau County ore I hoping that change from tho old prM '■{.board svstem to the county system c>* con- | trol may result in the district having some roads worthy of the name. ~ . ; j A well-known settler in the district inI formed a Heral» representative yesterday j that the Manukau County, although settled for spme 60 years, has gained the unenviable reputation of having perhaps the very worst roads in the whole of New Zealand with the exception of the back blocks districts. ' ■ ' k ' There was an ample supply of good road metal to be obtained, he said, so that the bad state of the roads must be attributed to the defectis of the system of local government by a namber of small, inefficient bod ies. On most of the main roads, a considerable amount of money has been spent in metalling, but owing to the ineffectual way in which this has been done the roads are of little value. Half the metal lies in the water-tables at the side of roads, arid, jseldoni in any hew work undertaken is there any attempt to make a crown to the roads, so that the water cin be carried off.' Having dumped down a quantity of metal, generally at the wrong season of the year, the boards rested, apparently well satisfied that nothing further would be* req aired for 10 or 12 years. The .result has been that deep rrits have formed, which have never been filled, and the unfortunate settler bunrps oyer an ex* tremely rough attd uneven surface in-fine weather, while in the wet weather his vehicle sinks into deep sloughs, from which it is often extricated with difficulty. ' The trbubje seems to bej, he continued, that i-oad contracts have bisen undertaken without expert supervision,! Then, again, the work having been done j no surfacemen have been appointed to eee that the roads . were kept in something lite order. " The fact 'is,'V he concluded, "that none of the boards have been able -to afford such luxuries as engineers-and sprfacemen, and it is hoped that with the introduction of the county aystem of contool a, new order of things will be instituted in respect to the roads, which will remove tht> disgraceful reputation they have gained;