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Waipawa Mail, Volume 2, Issue 115, 18 October 1879, Page 2

The Hawke’s Bay Herald of yesterday says “ We hear tlie revenue of the Waipawa County Council is totally inadequate even to keep in repair the roads in the county, and unless the revenue is increased bv some means, the roads will go from bad to worse.” About one-third of the rovenue of the county is spent on maintaining the main road through the Seventy-mile Bush as far as it runs through the Waipawa County. This road is an arterial road ; over it are carried the mails from Wellington and Napier ; it is the connecting link between the railway systems of Wellington, Wanganui, and Napier. The road traverses bush land, necessitating heavy expenditure for maintenance. The lands are largely held by natives and the Crown, and are not therefore liable for taxation. To make the cost of maintaining a main arterial road such as this, a charge on the counties through which it runs is, we

submit, a great injustice. The road is of quite as much value to the Hawke‘s Bay as to this County; it is in a very large measure a benefit to Napier. The question of dealing with roads such as these is a very important one. Wh can never have good roads in this county if a large portion of our revenue is annually spent on the Seventy-mile Bush road. It is a question upon which legislation is necessary. The maintenance of arterial roads should be a charge upon the general revenue of the° colony. It seems to be very generally anticipated that subsidies to local bodies are soon to be stopped, in which case increased taxation for local works will, in many counties, be necessary. No one would expect the Waipawa County, when the subsidies cease, to increase taxation in order to maintain tlie Seventy-mile Bush road.