ROADING PROBLEMS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27523, 18 October 1950, Page 8

ROADING PROBLEMS

Sympathy For People In

Backblocks

DIFFICULTIES OF COUNTIES PA WELLINGTON, Oct. 17. Before the Government would spend much piore money on widening oneway bridges, it would have to rebuild the bridges that were faffing down, said the Minister of Works, Mr Goosman, in the House of Representatives tonight when the classes of Estimates under his control were under discussion.

The Minister said he realised the position of people in the backblocks and' was sympathetic toward their roading problems. “ Those are the people who, if they have not got a road, should get one,” he said. “ There are two or three people involved in getting roads, but I will be pulling for those in the backblocks.”

He said he had asked his department to let all the work that it could on a contract basis, continued Mr Goosman. One trouble, however, was that there were not the number of contractors in the country to do all the work that was offering. Mr E. B. Gordon (Govt., Rangitikei) appealed to the Minister to give more generous treatment to the larger counties in the matter of subsidies for road works. The maximum that counties , received was £2500 irrespective of whether they were large in size or small. Mr Gordon said that his county recently had before it a proposition that it subdivide into three so that it could receive more by way of subsidy to meet the roading problem that confronted it. The Minister said that both the Works and Treasury Departments were investigating the present position which was “foolish,” and had existed for a long time. Mr Gordon: Try them out with a £ for £ subsidy. Mr Goosman: If we do that, there will be no need for counties. The general feeling was that the country did not need speedways. Many bad roads ought to be made better before good roads were made better. He was certain that a great deal of money had been spent on the straightening of roads when other needs were more pressing. The country could not have every road a good one. Many roads could be sealed for the money that it took to build some classes of highways.