AUCKLAND ROADS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16310, 17 August 1916, Page 4

AUCKLAND ROADS.

! I was glad to see in the Herald i that the attention of the public is bein<* j drawn to the state of our roads. It is to ; be hoped that this attention will continue, i as in the past the intejest of the public I in this great question has been spasmodic , and ineffectual. I quite agree that the • chief purpose for which the City Council i exists is to provide, primarily" as vcu I say, •' water, drainage, and roads,"' and j I would add "lighting."' It would, I j think, surprise most citizens if they knew ! how small, proportionately to the revenue iof the city, is the amount available for i the upkeep of our streets. After salaries, baths, parks, and gardens have ' been provided for, a very large portion . of the amount available for general pur- . poses has been expended, and the balance has to be spread over street repairs, scavenging, street watering, and many other items. But the real difficultv is the quality of the metal which is used on j the city streets. So long as the council . will persist in using the stone from the ; Mount Eden quarry on streets with heavy traffic, so long will w e have bad roads. | It is true that the quality of stone now being taken from that quarry is better ! than ever before, because it is from a i greater depth and is consequently closer ! in grain, from the superincumbent weight j when cooling : but that does not alter the | fact that that quality of stone is quite i unsuitable for roads which have to bear ■ heavy traffic. Another reason why we ; have muddy roads is because in the forma- : tion thereof clay is used as a binding ; material, when in reality it has a disinj tegrating effect, being washed out with I the first heavy rain, and the macadam. ■ though only just put down and rolled, is ; left in a very unsatisfactory condition. The principles of good road-making are ; not hard to understand, and anyone who : likes to take the trouble can. from books jon the subject in several of our public | libraries, gather sufficient information to ; let them see that many of the methods adopted in the formation of our city roads ' are altogether ont of date and the cause of a wasteful expenditure of the ratepayers' hardly-earned but cheerfully-paid : rates. I hope that the matter will not . be allowed to rest till we have better i methods, better metal, and consequently better roads. H.N.B. , |