RANGIRIRI DEVIATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18169, 15 August 1922, Page 8

RANGIRIRI DEVIATION.

PROGRESS ON NEW ROAD.

NO TRAFFIC FOE YEAR.

RELIEF FOR UNEMPLOYED.

It in. admittedly a come-and-go camp population at work on the Rangiriri hills road deviation. George Murphy, the wrecked Wiltshire stowaway, for example, sampled the work for three days, and passed on. Many others have shown only a little more staying power.

Sixty men are now employed on the preliminary formation, and 20 more are expected in the camp shortly. The work is under the control of the Public Works Department, and now represents unemployment relief, though the enterprise has been on the programme for about two j ears. Work was started about the end of May, and so consistently excellent has the weather been this winter that the men have lost three days only on account of rain. That in itself is a remarkable winter's record for outdoor work, even in the genial North. The basis of payment is on the principle of co-operative piecework, the prices ranging from about Is per yard, accordin? to'the varying distances the spoil has to" be trucked on a very light railway. The enterprise contains some of the familiar elements of dissatisfaction over earnings.

The New Highway Described. Some, gangs earn at least 10s per dav, and appear to be reasonably satisfied; others are less content with' less. Several of the men are philosophical in their outlook, a;.d explain that the work and wages are better than hanging about the distress relief offices in the city. Others declare that Auckland always * bucks up " in the spring, and they expect soon to pack np their swags. There are two canvas camps, each of 20 tents and a cook-house, at which the tariff is 22s od per week. . . The total length of the deviation is four and a-half miles. It begins at the northern end from the Mercer road on the east bank of the Waikato at Meremere, and runs almost straight across marsh and sideland to the falling spur of the Rangiriri hills, within sight of the railway near Whangamanno. 1-or the greater part of the distance the new road is practically level. The grades in places are easy, the stiffest being a rise of 1 in 20 for 10 or 12 chains at the most. A mile of the road is as straight as a ruler Ihe length of the deviation is about half tlio distance over the notorious Rangiriri hills road with its numerous sloughs, and at least ods "Devil's elbow." Worst Part Yet to be Done. The best portion of the deviation is well under way as regards formation. The worst part has yet to be done, ims includes a marsh some 24 chains in width. Hera and there strips of marsh and With a considerable depth of peat have been crossed bv a roadway of clay spoil, drainaee being provided by concrete pipes." Larger culverts will bo used in the draining of the wide marsh under the road. Even on the best portion of the solid clay formation several springs are already greasing the surface. Unless an adequate supply of metal be provided the road will in time become a nightmare for traffic. Doubtless the new road will be i efficiently consolidated and metalled before it is opened to vehicles. As a future part of the arterial high-, way between Auckland and Hamilton this deviation will never at its best be famous, for it is only a measured 20ft. in width; but the new track should certainly become a great substitute for the infamous rut over the Rangiriri hills. There, in a kind of crater of mud, a motorist had to sleep in his bogged car a few nights ago until daylight brought relief in extraction by a team of horses. And yet the Rangiriri road this winter is described as being in wonderfully excellent condition!

Consolidation Needed Before Use. It was once a military road, it is said, for the harried transport of troops; aa such, it may have served admirably in primitive warfare; but in these days it is well for a tolerant people that there fs no prospect of either Auckland or Hamilton becoming a beleaguered garrißon. A Taranaki man got through the Rangiriri road traps the other day with some minor casualties to his car. In the district his fluent comparisons with the tarred highways within sight of Mount Egmont are treasured ss an entertainment. There appears to be little prospect of complete relief from the scandalous road for about a year. At the best, tho formation work on the deviation will not be completed before midsummer. Consider- ' r.ble time will then have to be.allowedfor consolidation and efficient metalling. ' Without these the new road will be a j travesty of modem engineering. The work affords an excellent opportunity for the Administration to prove what the State can do in the mptter of making main arterial roads. Hitherto, outside Auckland, there has been little evidence that either the general or local government has been familiar with the old Roman axiom that a Rood road is the foundation of t.cae civilisation, the highway of tha conqueror in commerce, as in conflict.