The Star. TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 1926. DELAY IN CITY ROAD CONSTRUCTION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17831, 27 April 1926, Page 8

The Star. TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 1926. DELAY IN CITY ROAD CONSTRUCTION.

From every quarter, the City Council is receiving complaints of the bad stale of the roads, and in several cases it has been compelled to undertake new construction, notably on Armagh Street from the East Belt to Stanmore Road, one of the worst pieces of road in Canterbury, and on Buckley’s Road. The very wet winter last year found out the weaknesses of the old system of macadamising, and it has become increasingly apparent' that this system is the most costly to maintain and the least satisfactory even under the best of conditions. This fact has been recognised for the last fifteen years or more, and the late Mr T. E. Taylor, when he was advocating the complete reconstruction of the city’s roads in 1910, had in view alternative modern methods in which maintenance costs would have been so low that the scheme would have financed itself and become no burden on the rates. Since then, road engineering has made rapid strides, and while it cannot be said that the delay has been anything in the nature of a blessing in disguise, there is no doubt that at the present moment a scheme of modern reconstruction could be decided on at very short notice from the experience now available, and there is little doubt that such a scheme would be far less expensive than the present piecemeal, patching methods. For this reason it is rather regrettable that the City Council has given its engineer as long as twelve months in which to prepare a report on road reconstruction. The question is really the most urgent one that the City Council has to deal with at the present moment, and to delay it for twelve' months merely for a report is what might be expected of a Government department, but not of a local body which is seriously embarrassed-from every point of view by the state of its roads.

It seems to be a positive passion with some public men, whenever they see a vacant plot in the city, and above all a grassy triangle, to cast about for some means of, “ improving ” it or making it “ useful.” For many years there has been a wide open space near the corner of Kilmore and Colombo Streets, where a leafy tree has been subjected to the indignity of sheltering a telephone box. This little reserve, this “ triangular piece of land,” which might so easily have been beautified or at least left as it is, has been marked out for the erection of public lavatories at an estimated cost of £250. This is a very modest sum compared with the £3OOO that was spent on the monstrosity in the White Hart triangle, but the objection is not so much to the amount spent on these structures as to the wrong principle of using central reserves and open spaces for such purposes. Public opinion is totally opposed to the disfigurement of the city in this manner, and one would think that past experience would save the present members of the council from suet* ° bad error of judgment as is proposed in this case.

The return of chilly mornings is a reminder of the miseries that are in store for primary school children in the poorly-heated schools that are a legacy from the early days of the province. It appears that the Education Department is prepared to pay the full cost of modern heating installations in new schools but offers only half the cost in the case of the old schools, which are most in need of heating. This is a perennial cause of complaint in Christchurch, where heavy frosts throughout the winter bring a great deal of suffering to the majority of the children. The openair schools movement has the great merit of throwing the whole school open to the sun’s rays on the frostiest morning, and in this respect it is centuries ahead of some of the old structures that still persist. Perhaps the Education Department has realised that a modern heating system in an old school is something like a new patch on an old garment, and if the realisation of this fact brings the modern school nearer, it is so much to the good. Relief in this direction is a matter of agitation, and it is to be hoped that the new Minister of Education will not be left long in doubt as to the views of the school committees on this important subject.