OUR LOST ROADS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13663, 30 March 1908, Page 2

OUR LOST ROADS.

KTQ'thfr Editpr.)^ '" Sir. — What is Feooming of our roads f In . wefc weather are exactly like .the yellow clay one seesji» a. ; ,ploughed .field and the mud on them sticks with the game tenacity. What would the ghost of JHcAdam say to our degenerate road makers who think 75 per cenj;, of mud will do for pre,s.e,nt us© noW^hat traffic has increased, so enprmously and modern machines such as motor car§, bicycles, etc- } necjd-sucli mudlesf' roads* The winter is just beginning and the prospeot. is. fearful ( >ll over, ,Xaran%ki. From New Plymouth to. Opi|?iftke l useo to be a model road. If you- took hail a. bucket fujl.of the surface . fcom the centre of this,roa.d, . filled the bucket with water, stirred the vmirfcare rapidly, round wit|i a stick and. poured off the water, it would still pass 1 for avei;v water. . Anyone to, try* the^experir ment now would find there was little -left* in trhe/.buoketi and the decanted water would be. more like pea soup, at least the upper- part; ' The- stone crusher and its staff of ! men certainly, are very much' up-to-date and stone seems abundant on the river beds, and the prospects of a railroad to Mount Eg-* mont especially to get stone , should keep'ottr Road Board from despairing of the future. But to an outsider there can be only two 1 conclusions (a) that the roadmakers are' scamping the job or< (b) that good roads do not pay. I thad occasion' to take a cycle 1 trip a fe*ftr 'days ago from Hawera to Okaiawa, Manaia, K.aponga, .and Eltham and sadly I called, to memory that»part of Bunyan's Pilgrims ' Progress which says "The roadio Hades is even paved with the best intentions." If the Road Board heard .gome of my 'bad' intentions a^l bumped into ruts and had to get off for in truth it was not possible to ride a hundred yards from Ndrmanby to Okaiawa (five miles) and I had to walk the whole way from Kaponga to E|tham (eight miles). I was carrying a portmanteau which rendered it ve^y difficult t.6 get . up or dowto. ' Fxqip Normanby to Manaig, 'is about 10 miles, with Okaiawa midway. About thr^ee miles before reaching Manaia ; a curiosity is 'to Be 4een in a toll" gate with a large white bp£rd stating thft condition oh which passage ia, pe^mittea. All sorts, ,of tyfftfLQp.. ..different, footing in tne pyes.of tne authorities., The motor! car \I noticed, was ta pay 2s, whije I as a cyclistu v ha.d to pay juat one. penny. But I ,n44, $0, get down to pay this pennj, and th'gj road was only ridable a, few hundred yards before X a^aofte^/ tbj^ tpll bar. I. was full of..w*atib^afid out v t> took my note book to enter the seal,© of tolls and having read the last. which aaid: "and fpr. any { animal nQt. .herein *ejaum,e*Hted 3d." I proppun^ed the. question,. How -much- would it- take , to -get the-: circus pas*.?- To bey.made ,to pay. ; v af]ker -all I had &u£e^ed ssecnted addi«g insult injury. ''Alasl ala*l (as- Hopd said) that road metal should .be so, dear and slush -and mud so oheap'.'^-rl «to,fetc., -„.. , , SA-. •' •■ .'■ -MADAM. -