COUNTRY ROADS IMPROVE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 530, 6 December 1928, Page 16

COUNTRY ROADS IMPROVE

HIGHWAYS BOARD TOUR MR. WYNYARD’S IMPRESSIONS “There is general satisfaction I throughout the country at the increased subsidies that the High- . ways Board is able to give, and at * the increased number of roads that can come under the scheme." Mr. M. H. Wynyard, motorists’ representative on the Highways Board, has just returned to Auckland, and this is his imiA*ession of the tour. The board tours throughout each of the two islands every alternate year for the purpose of getting in touch with the local bodies, inspecting their roads, and generally seeing first-hand what is required. The North Island is divided into three, and two portions of it have yet to be covered. The board will visit the Waikato and North Auckland early in the New Year, and will afterwards go to Taranaki and the central counties. “In general, the roads we visited recently between Wairarapa and Coromandel are showing a considerable improvement, stated Mr. Wynyard to The Sun. “In one or two cases the standard is not up to requirements, •and we are seeing that an improvement is made. “General satisfaction was expressed at the increased assistance the board was able to give through the petrol tax, and the old spirit of antipathy between the counties and the motorist has died a natural death. There is also satisfaction that a number of subsidiary highways have come under the scheme in the past six months. “Improved methods, largely due to the assistance and advice of the board, have been adopted, with beneficial results, and the system by which the board buys power-graders and allows the local bodies four years in which to pay for them has been taken advantage of in a great number of cases. “The general sense of co-operation between the counties and the board was evinced throughout the tour. In many coses the board was asked to declare additional roads as highways, but it was pointed out that these could not be considered until the annual review of the position made early after March each year.”