THE WHERE AS A REFORMER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2426, 12 September 1900, Page 49

THE WHERE AS A REFORMER.

A* few weeks back, says "Fortis," in the j Australasian, I made mention of the efforts of the League of American Wheelmen with I respect to its work and political influence in j urging the importance of road improvement. I The L. *A . W. had been successful in having a I plank put into the platform of the Republican I party which reads : — "Public movements look- 1 ing to a permanent improvement of the roads! and highways of the country meet with ouil cordial approval, and we recommend this sub-J jecn to the earnest consideration of the seve-j lal States." The president of the American! League was" very much pleased with the actionl of the 7 Republican Convention in inserting! that good-roads -plank, observing that it w»*al the second act in a carefully-prepared plaii tol nationalise the movement for better liighJ ways. The first was the introduction in theß Jar-i; Congress of a bill appropriating! 5 OOO.OOOdoI (£1,000.000) for road improvement! ! The third will be the adoption of a good-roadJ j plank by the Democratic Convention, irl ' which he expects the same success as in th« preceding ones. The Highway Improvement Committee of the League of American Wheelß men, to which is credited the securing of th<S Republican plank, had worked most assiduß ously for two months in adopting and perfect! ing- its resolution. Further, it "has cordiallH invited the aulomobilists to. join in the moveH ment, whilst the support of the agricultural organisations has long been assured. ThH farmers in the States now almost generallß recognise the fact that good roads arc a posfl live necessity to their welfare, and thougH many of them were opposed to the wheelmeH a few years ago, they are now numbei'eßJ amongst their staunchest friends. This is diAJ principally to the good-roads campaign whicHJ the wheelmen have carried on for nearly 3 r ears ; but not a little of it can be attributeßJ to the fact that thousands of farmers and theflj

sons, in all sections of the" country, now are wheelmen. Our own league was urged repeatedly, very shortly after its institution, to initiate a similar movement in this colony; mil the suggestion was met with the reply that it would take too long before anything • materialised. Six or seven years have thus been lost, equal, perhaps, to the 20 years of the American league, for when they started operations cycling was vefy different to what it now is, and, added to this, the years of work in by the Yankees not only would have 'jtood us m good stead as an example, but have also broken the ice, so to speak, and aided in a good degree to educate the public mind. It has always been a matter of regret with me that the League of Victorian Wheelmen did not organise a goods-roads bureau, in connection with its efforts to effect something for the benefit of tourists. This sort of work need not have interfered with the ordinary business "of the leegue, but could have, to some extent, keen made a routine matter, plus personal enthusiasm, which would have been followed by V co-operation of cyclists of a, more or less hearty character. We have had many evidences of late tliat good roads are as indispensable to the welfare of the community as they are to the well-being and advancement of cycling, perhaps more so. Wheelmen, by ■utilisiug a peculiar zeal for the improvement of the highways, actuated by their desire to indulge in their pastime under the most favourable conditions, are, in reality, rendering themselves and posterity more lasting- good as citizens o£ their country than ihat which ■they derive in the pursuit of their recreation. After they are done with the wheel as. O-pas-' time'anct recreation, they ore still-citizens, and any benefit which may "have resulted from their efforts in the direction' of improved roadways and other concessions relating to travel (stimulated by the increased knowledge which -cycling afforded them) will stiil be theirs, and will prove more advantageous to them in every-day life and to the commurity in which they dwell. If there be any 'drubt that no class of the community other than wheelmen would profit by the improvement of the roads, it may be mentioned that the daily papers teem with instancss showing how the comilry lacks even decent means of communication, to the detriment of those localities in particular and the colony in general. In June last the village settlers at Yallock pointed out to th? Minister for Lands that their children, had to walk from one mile and a-L' carter up to four miles to school at Yannatiisin. During the winter the roads are in such a bad state that the little oiies cannot ~ possibly get through even- when if is hot raining; yet if the children do not attend the statutory number of days in each quarter the parents are summoned and fined. Another instance, le-s j than two weeks ago, occurred, where a Koo-wee-rup settler was brought down to Melbourne and imprisoned~'jtor six hours because he could not pay a fine of 2s 6d, imposed at the instance of the Education department, for the offenca of not sending his boy, aged seven years, to school through almost impassable swamps ! Another phase of the matter is where bad roads affect the producer. Ourt think of the closer settlement at Wandovolo. They have.no roads, and for all the good that closei settlement is to the selector?, in the absence of passable roadways, they might as ■nrelV be 100 miles apart. .1 remember reading in the Argus during the early part of this year -fchs- utterance of Mr R. W. Best. MX. A., _ who supported a deputation from South Gippsland, which asked for assistance from the Government for road-making. Mr Best paid : — " I have found holdings abandoned in consequence of the impassable roads." Numerous other instances may -be cited, but these should be sufficient to warrant the wheelmen's agitation for good roads.