HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENTS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19732, 10 September 1938, Page 15

HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENTS

EXPENDITURE JUSTIFIED *a EXPANSION OF TRAFFIC BUILDING TO STANDARD (Parliamentary Heporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. la a brief- reply to the whole day's debate by the House of Representatives yesterday on the public works statement, the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. R. Semple, told members that the criticism had been fairly reasonable and rational. He justified the heavy expenditure on main highways by referring to the

tremendous expansion oi motor i"aflic and the necessity to visualise that in 10 or 20 years, to-day’s traffic would be doubled. Therefore, it was Quite futile to build on the old system.

Quoting as an example of modern methods, he described the Paekakarik: road deviation in the Wellington district, where a highly dangerous hill road rising to over 500 ft. was being eliminated and also 158 bends, with a saving in mileage of 41 miles, through taking the road along the sea level.

"I .am not blaming past Governments," declared the Minister, because the problem has arisen through ‘lie tremendous development of motor transport, and we must build highways to a standard so that there will be no tearing down in years to come.” Backblocks roads were, he said, receiving 15 per cent of the total expenditure, and there was £IOO,OOO more on the estimates for them than last year, while a further £36,000 would appear on the supplementary estimates.