BACK-BLOCKS ROADS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3795, 14 August 1936, Page 7

BACK-BLOCKS ROADS

PROGRESSIVE POLICY WANTED. NEEDS OF KING COUNTRY. The urgent necessity for a progressive reading policy, particuarly as it affects certain areas of the King Country, was emphasised by Mr W. J. Broadfoot, M.P. for Waitomo, in the House of Representatives. Mr Broadfoot said that he had constituents who had been marooned for the last 30 or 40 years, and yet he knew of no territory that had made more progress of a substantial character in the last six or seven years than the King Country. He would like the Minister of Public Works to give consideration to the area. It contained hundreds of miles of unmetalled roads, and many of them were in a bad state of formation. A great deal of productive work could be done. In recent years departmental policy had been to give metal access roads to all farm schemes. That was a sound policy. It was exceedingly hard for people, who had no proper all-weather access to their properties, to observe how more favoured sections of the community were given much better conditions to-day, 'access being provided within twelve months of ths settlers taking possession of their properties. The old settlers, who had contributed to the development of their district and New Zealand, were worthy of greater consideration. The metalling of these roads should be accelerated at once.