BETTER FOR TRAVELLING

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 560, 12 January 1929, Page 11

BETTER FOR TRAVELLING

EAST COAST ROADS IMPROVED GISBORNE-OPOTIKI STRETCH (From Our Oun Correspondent ) OPOTIKI, To-day. As a result of several days of tine weather, the bad clay section on the East Coast main highway at Rakaur >.i. between Opotiki and Gisborne, has been rapidly drying up. thus enabling cars to negotiate the road with very little trouble. The weather conditions on this tion of the road have been the worst before has there been such trouble for cars negotiating the road. During the summer, horse teams have been very popular with motorists, whose cars have been bogged. Last week, during one period, hi ears, including the service cars, whn a. despite appalling conditions have continued a regular service between Opotiki and Gisborne, had to b*» dragged through the mire, passengers having to walk over the worst places. MOTORS ON TRAINS The bad road has given the railway a busy time and it is estimated t jr <t 2*>o cars have been carried on the train during the past lour weeks. A few days ago it was necessary to put an extra engine on the train the pull over the heavy grades, so great was the number of cars carried to Railhead at Motuhora. The Public Works Department Is doing its best to patch the worst portions and it is now anticipated that cars will be able to negotiate Rakauroa section with very little difficulty, even with further rain. The worst section is only about a quarter of a mile long, and the work is proceeding apace on the big deviation, which, when completed, will cut off one of the worst hills on the road. As soon as the deviation is completed part of the present road will he abandoned. Contracts for over 7,000 cubic yards of gravel for the road hav* just been called for, and it is hoped that the time is not far distant when the whole clay section of the road will bo gravelled, thus completing the remaining link of an all-the-year road round the North Island. Passenger services have carried a large number of travellers between Gisborne and Opotiki in December and the present month, and despite the drawbacks they have almost been able to keep up the usual timetable. (F rom V. si .rnl;i y's Late Kd’ :i ■