NORTH ISLAND ROADS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19743, 16 September 1927, Page 14

NORTH ISLAND ROADS.

AUCKLAND IN ARREARS.

ACTIVITY FURTHER SOUTH. BETTER MAINTENANCE WORK. The Auckland Province is lagging oehind in loading work, and the superiority of the highway systems of Wellington, Taranaki and liawke's Bay is so marked that the travelling motorist needs no boundary-posts to inform him that he has entered the most northern province. Op portunity to observe this signal distinction in maintenance methods was taken on the occasion of a tour of 1750 miles completed by the service officer of the Auckland Automobile Association yesterday. The trip embraced a circuit of the east and west coasts, the outward journey being made through Napier to Wellington and the return via New Plymouth. Little which would appeal to motor tourists was missed, since the tour was made primarily to gather information tor a North Island road guide, which the automobile associations are producing. Only 500 miles of the total provided uncomfortable travel, and they were the seemingly endless miles covered between Auckland and its boundaries. The worst section of highway encountered in nine run ning days at the rate of nearly 200 miles a day, was the notorious portion of the Great South Road at Huntly. Intensive Supervision. Taranaki has its network of tar-sealed roads; Hawke's Bay pins its faith to common macadam maintained on the stitch-in-time principle, while Wellington has both bitumen and macadam kept at a standard which would confound the counties further north.

Throughout the three southern provinces, there is evidence of intensive supervision. Loose metaii is never hurled haphazard on the roads to be rolled in by traffic. Graders and surfacemen are encountered every few miles on any vital metal road t and in parts of Havvke's Bay and Wellington there are common macadam rods which present a surface little inferior to that of concrete. Any resort worth visiting has access which is beyond reproach, and mere pleasant and picturesque routes of little commercial interest are equally fine. Good Access to Resorts. In Wellington Province there is a run of 40 miles from Maste.rton to Castlepoint, a resort comparable to Auckland's Muriwai Beach. Instead of the rough metal and worse, ilay which is inseparable from the north, this southern beach is reached by a superb surface, allowing speeds of 35 miles an hour without a jar. There are a hundred (instances where the broader view in the south has linked up the rural areas. One could not imagine the Mamaku Bush Road existing in the lower territory of the island. The outlook on the roading question is vastly different and the policy of the counties seems to be based on the assumption that it is expensive to have bad highways.

So complete is the roading system m many of these districts that attention is now being given to painting the lily. On what appear ,to be ideal roads, corners are being cut back to increase visibility. Almost trivial grades are being eased, and ..n parts of the three provinces deviations are being found where' there is the slightest suggestion of benefit. Looking at all this fancy work, the Auckland motorist thinks how contented he would be to have similar roads even without the frills.