PLAINS ROADS.

Thames Star, Volume LVII, Issue 15679, 4 October 1922, Page 8

PLAINS ROADS.

MR T. W. RHODES’ VIEWS. \ j •Speaking in the House of Representatives recently, j\lr T. W. Rhodes said: “I havje had shown to me poster plans where it stated that roads would be forced, and that the work would be done out of the' Hauraki Plains Account. 'Those were original plans. Now, Sir, we have to consider what is really intended by the phrase “roads will be formed.!’ The only way that they can be constructed, with lasting benefit to the district, is by their being metalled, and there is no doubt that there ai)e among the set,tiers some who went in at the very •outset, who have not got a .metalled road up to the present time. They contend, and I think, rightly, that they are entitled *to have metalled roads, and the Government have a big expenditure in front of them if they are going to provide roads of that class —macadamised roads — throughout. If the Government cannot their way to do that in entirety, I think it would be quite a fair thing that the Hauraki Plains Fund should stand a subsidy, for metalling any of the roads there that •the settlers are willing to provide £ for £ for. I know that the Minister has done a great deal in the way of improving the roads. .We have every reason to suppose that in the case of the land which has been more recently sold, there was a very* considerable “loading,” and profit placed on it; and that a lot of that land, which has still to be balloted for, will stand a certain amount of “loading,” and in that way quite 'an appreciable fund could be built up. And if it could not possibly be put to.better purposes than to provide Toads for the .benefit of the existing settlers and those who come after. It is well known that heavy carting 'will be the order of the day iff that district for all time. The milk has to be carted to the factories every day—in some instances twice a day—and to stand heavy loads hike that the settlers must have the very best roads possible. The settlers are willing to rate themselves, and the local bodies are putting big rating schemes before them. There are proposals before the Government now asking for £ for £, and I submit that the Hauraki Plains Fund ought to come to light, aiid a good deal ought to he spent from that fund, and in so doing the Government will only be carrying out to some extent the promise made to at least some of the settlers in the earlier stage of this development .work, that the roads would be formed. As far as the Hauraki Plains are concerned, they cannot be said to be completed until they have, not a sprinkling of metal, but a really good coat of metal. If that work is done it will push the district ahead and aid very materially in increasing production. . It will give access to some sections that cannot be worked now, and will be a good thing all round.”