REPAIRING OF ROADS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18827, 30 September 1924, Page 9

REPAIRING OF ROADS.

CRITICISM OF METHODS. . WAITEMATA COUNTY WORKS

SPECIMENS FROM TITIRANGI.

" PRODIGAL WASTE OF FUNDS."

Ten pieces of rock from five to seven and ►hatf inches long, up to three and a-half inches deep, and to one and threequarter mches wide, were brought to the Herald Office yesterday to support a compiamt against tho road V maintenance methods of tho Waitemata County Council They were picked up on the Titirangi Road on which ruts arc at present receiving attention. , if

" Apparently the council imposes no check upon the metal supply," said the gentleman who gathered > tho exhibits. -The roadman accepts anything that is sent along. It is.a singular way of doing business, and partly explains why the roads of tho county are in such deplorable condition. Such material is useless for road patching. *

" There is another cause of prodigal waste. The metal is thrown into the ruts and on to bad spots without rolling or binding, and the result is that it is soon thrown into the water tables by tho motor traffic, which is heavy on the Titirangi Road. It is disgraceful waste of money." ,The complaint gives point to tho contention of Sir. M. H. Wynyard, of the, Main Highways Board, and others, that- the chief essential in a roading scheme is provision for regular maintenance. It is simply the application, of the very sound motto, '." A stitch in ,; time saves nine." On probably most roads in the North, : if not throughout most parts of the Dominion, roads on which much money has been spent are rapidly falling 1 into disrepair, under the strain of motor traffic, because the controlling authorities do not employ sufficient staff to repair " pot holes " in their early Stages, • , " The common policy," remarked a close observer who travels a , v great. deal by road, "is to pay practically no attention to a road after it is metalled. Soon the metal is being scooped out at the rate yards a mile every day, and what might have been maintained as a permanent job at little cost, is a " washout " in a few years, when another substantial loan is required to reconstruct it. If on important •metalled roads a surfaceman was employed •for every three to five miles, hundreds of thousands of pounds would be saved annually. Members of councils who hesitate at employing mote men could satisfy themselves by a simple sum in arithmetic. Most county councils are pursuing a very short-sighted policy that results in a much heavier ultimate burden for the ratepayers.", '■.'■'; .