ROADING OF DOMINION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 16212, 24 August 1923, Page 9

ROADING OF DOMINION.

GOVERNMENT’S PROPOSALS,

CO-ORDINATION NECESSARY

ROAD CONSTRUCTION

(Official Message.) WELLINGTON, this day

The expenditure lor Lite year ending 31st March, .1925, oh road construction and maintenance lias surpassed all previous records, states the lion. ,1. G. Coates in his Public Works Statement.

Tiro amount, of construction _ work carried out whs large and diversified in character. It lias been necessary to employ large numbers of unskilled men on relief works and the object has been, so far as practicable, to employ such men on work of general utility to the Dominion, consequently several of the leading highways that came under this category were selected; tiiid by Tneans of this inbor, been greatly improved by regmdihg, realignment and surfacing with metal.

The style of construction has, us far its possible, been standardised, special attention being given to the matter of curvature, as that feature is of great importance to motorists iii regard to safety, economy, and comfort. In bridge and culvert work the durability, strength and adaptability of concrete, whether plain or reinforced, arc being increasingly recognised and made use of. In addition to the allocation of available funds towards different districts, based on the usual factor of popultion, length of road, cost, of completing present roads, and forming new ones, jjresent loan indebtedness, etc., special allowances are being made for relief woiks and for certain roads that will act as temporary substitutes for railways, as well as for roads on which there are gaps that are at present in such a state as to interfere with through traffic.

The works for which special allowances have been made, as well as the large bridge construction works, have been carried out under the direct supervision of the Department, -but other works have, as hitherto, been entrusted to local authorities, in accordance with plans and specifications approved by the Department. As always have been the case, the applications for assistance were more than could be fully met, consequently it was only possible to provide for what seemed to be the most urgent cases, though every request lias received careful and impartial consideration.

Tho Main Highways Act. though passed during the session of 1922, does not come into active operation till April 1, 1924. Meantime, however, much information is being and will still have to be collected, and many problems eonadored bv tho board constituted in terms of tbs Act. ROADS AND TRANSPORT. Doubtless the secondary development of the country by means of railways is (essential at a certain stage, yet the primary development in any country must be by rohds. Very great, progress lias been made ill this direction during the past year, both in materially improving tho existing ronil* and in constructing new roads. The'expenditure of the Parliamentary appropriations for this purpose has been carried out by both the Public Works Department and local body organisations. Before passing to other matters I feel it is necessary to specially direct tho attention of lion, members, and to ask them in turn to impress upon tho country the absolute necessity of co-ordin-ation between all governing authorities concerned in the provision of means of transport of goods and passengers by land. Tho authorities in question are the Railways Department, which runs tin: open railways; the Public Works Department, which constructs railways and roads; the Main Highways Board, recently constituted with the object of co-ordinating and assisting in financing tho effort of loch] bodies in improving the. construction and ' maintenance of what may be termed the main traffic roads, and in addition the local bodies who operate on roads which will'not for the time being at rate receive benefits under the Main Highways Act. A co-ordination of the policies of all these authorities must result in tho saving of hundreds of thousands of pounds. The absence of a co-ordinated system must inevitably result in disjointed, ill-cop sidcrcd effort, necessary duplications of means of transport, competition that is entirely unprofitable to the community as a whole, and ip tho final conclusion the still remaining necessity to start afresh to plan again'‘.what should nave been'planned in the beginning.. It will serve no good purpose to criticise what has been done “or left undone in the past, nor would if be just to do so. Times are changing rapidly. Motor transport has enormously increased the range of travel, and organisation that hqs served in tho past must give way by natural process of evolution fo broader administrations, resulting in well con differed and co-ordinated effort of ah concerned. t FLOOD DAMAGE. During, the whole of the year tho progress of work generally has been considerably hampered by persistently bad weather. In certain localities very serious floods occurred', resulting in heavy damage and destruction of roads, bridges, and river protection works. In many cases the cost, of restoration has been of such magnitude as to be altogether beyond the resources of the local govening authorities. It has therefore been necessary for the Government to come to the assistance of local bodies, which will mean a. heavy addition to norma 1 expenditure.