BACKBLOCKS ROADS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22464, 7 July 1936, Page 8

BACKBLOCKS ROADS

A part of Mr. Semple's public works programme that will be generally approved is the improvement of subsidiary and backblocks roads. The Minister informed Kaipara electors yesterday that he had placed £BOO,OOO on the estimates for such works, or about double the sum voted last year. As county funds will at the same time be relieved of charges for main highways, stated by the Minister to amount to £150,000 annually, substantial progress should be possible. The average motorist observes and appreciates the great advance in highway standards since Mr. Coates brought in his scheme in 1924, but he seldom has occasion to note how rough and primitive are many of the access roads. Counties are limited by the rating capacity of farmers. Even with the help of subsidies from the Government, the road facilities in many districts remain very backward. The increased vote promised by Mr. Semple for this purpose should accomplish a great deal. It is a matter of national concern that the fanner should be given a reasonably good outlet for the product of his labour. And apart from economics, roads in isolated districts represent a social amenity of high value, an amenity that should if possible be given to the men and their families who set out to tame the wilderness and who thereby open up new sources of wealth for the general good.