THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, MAY 4, 1925. ROAD MAKING AND MENDING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19008, 4 May 1925, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, MAY 4, 1925. ROAD MAKING AND MENDING.

An engineer participating in Saturday's celebration at Rangiriri said that road making in Now Zealand had come into its own. Engineers were being given sufficient money to do the job, whereas in the past they had had only half enough. These two sentences sum up completely one aspect of the transformation wrought within the past few years in the whole business of attending to public thoroughfares. The Main Highways Board stands as its embodiment and its epitome. The organisation is not perfect*; the results already apparent are not above criticism. Whatever blemishes may be found in cither, it is nevertheless true that a measure of concentration has replaced the complete diffusion of effort which preceded its inauguration. What is more important, the means adopted to provide the money essential to the success of any scheme have produced results. Reports for the financial year just ended show that the Highways Board has at its credit a sum of £581,715 in the form of cash and investments. Events have combined to swell the funds available for the board's work. When it came into existence there was a substantial amount already in hand as the fruit of the tyre tax instituted some time previously. The past year was an unusually good one financially, in that registration fees under the Motor Vehicles Act were heavy. This item, together with license fees, produced £257,500. No subsequent year will witness such a wholesale registering of cars. That special item in the accounts cannot be maintained at its phenomenal height. The finances of the board are in a very healthy condition all the same. During the year it authorised the expenditure of £331,287 on road construction. Of this amount £230,573 was expended. It has done well. The existence of so substantial a balance should embolden the board to go even "further, by encouraging and aiding a higher level of effort. The Main Highways Board is not primarily charged with the duty of making or maintaining roads. In some circumstances it can and does undertake the work. Essentially, however, its function is to cooperate with the local authorities, to stimulate their efforts, and to subsidise expenditure on thoroughfares declared main highways. This is notiin accord with the original plan, but the scheme which Mr. Coates first produced failed to survive the controversy it occasioned. Many people believe, with good reason, that the change was not for the better, but it is no use wasting regrets on that feature now. The system adopted is embodied in the statute law. It is at work. The only course, then, is to make the best of it, to strive to produce from it the highest degree of efficiency possible. One of the salient points about it is that the local authorities—generally county councilshave to do the work, the board contributing toward cost by subsidies. It provides one-third of expenditure on the maintenance of main highways, and onehalf of what construction costs. It has just been announced that Parliament will be asked to sanction the contribution of 50 per cent, of maintenance. This seems a practicable and desirable way of utilising the funds with which the board is now so well endowed. The result should be a greater incentive to zeal in the counties, and conse quently better roads—the objective of .all effort. A difficulty which, if not grappled with, may prove a real stumbling-block has developed, however. It has been noted during the year that money already apportioned for the use of local bodies has not been uplifted. The reason of course is that the work upon which it should have been spent has not been done. The local body is required to p*ove that it has earned the money before it can get it. It is stated that in the South Island many county councils are averse to borrowing for road construction. They restrict their efforts to what can be done out of revenue. Consequently they are limiting the amount they can obtain from the Highways Board. The situation cannot be dismissed by saying it is their business if they do not embrace the opportunities offered thorp. It is their business only up to a certain point. The main highways scheme has been deliberately made a national business. Co-operation between the parties to its efficient working is essential.

While some local bodies may be failing to do all the constructional work which the board would be ready to subsidise because they do not wish to borrow, it is stated that others fail because they cannot borrow. The difficulty and cost of raising loans are complained of vigorously by some of the county councils. Where no effort is made the Highways Board should use every endeavour to stimulate activity. The agitation for a separate board for the South Island has not been dropped, the contention being that the preponderance of assistance tends to go to the North Island. Reports presented to the Main Highways Board show that the South Island would be better occupied taking advantage of what the present scheme offers instead of carrying on agitation founded on parochialism and not supported by facts. A reminder should be given, as sharply as necessary, that no

county council, in the South Island or the North, will be helped by any Highways Board until it is prepared to help itself by doing its own share. In so far as difficulty in raising loans exists, some means of assisting should be devised. The board should sec what can be done in this direction, for it is not desirable to have the smooth working of the scheme impeded in any way. It has been observed also that some counties find it very difficult to finance maintenance work, and so qualify for the board's subsidy. If the quota is increased to 50 per cent, as proposed, that particular trouble should be removed at least in part. A suggestion that a system of progress payments should be instituted also appears useful. The main principle followed in maintenance is that the subsidy is on work done, not work planned or needed. It is perfectly sound, but it need not necessarily bo vitiated by a process of progress payments, properly safeguarded. Finance lies at the coro of the whole roading problem. Lack of money has been the chief obstacle to improvement in the past. It was largely to overcome it that the main highways scheme was instituted. The accounts of the board show that money has been obtained in generous quantities. What is called for now is an improvement in organisation, a tightening up of the process of co-operation, so that the available funds may-be applied to the best advantage. Given that, the engineers and their staffs can be trusted to produce the roads, just as those of the Public Works Department did at Rangiriri once the Government provided the money.