MONEY FOR HIGHWAYS OR ROYAL COMMISSIONS.

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1926, 26 October 1926, Page 4

MONEY FOR HIGHWAYS OR ROYAL COMMISSIONS.

IT is >shown on surveyors' maps as a road; according to thUi 'Hi'glhWays Board it is a; main highway—but in reality it is a standing disgrace to the i'.ocal authorlity an'd! to the Government oif this .country. W;i irefer to tftue road l conn'ecti'ng between Kawbia and the Main Trunk railway. To attempt a description of the road as it stand? to-day could scarcely convey a correct impression of this wilderness of mud and desolation. The soft eaaliih formation of the road itself is ploughed furrowed in every direction. Huge rutg and holes make traffic well nigh Impossible. Traffic, in an kndteavour to negotiate tine quagmire, has taken to tfhe unformed sideis of the road, cutItftng a way through the scrub, ant! leaving a trail of mud and pot holes in every direction. In more than one placte, fences have been le/vlelleU to the ground so that vehicles could divorc to the paddocks. Generally, if a worse road is to be found in this or any other part Of the world, it woiuld be baffling Itio imaglin£. its 'c'lescription. iHere is a connecting link in a main highway which serves, as tl.l:: outlet for a considerable expanse of ba;ck country. About a dozen miles back from Te Awamultu •tlhie metal ends and the slough begins. IFor sSx or seven miles it continues and, thlan, metal again. The irony of the Whole tilling is,thalt the far end of the road for>in>e<d and metal'ldd— -teat megP.ect of this intervening .six tor seven'miles, inullintes

[the value of the work" already- complieiLed and keep's 'the settlers locked in practically Itlhroughout the winter months. The road Jin question is under the jurisdiction of the Otorolfranga County Council. The- metalled! portions, are controlled toy Waipa Ciounty and'TKawbia County—lthe former having 'control of the road near the rail-Way and liifte latter having jurisdiction over the section siduated between* Te Raii-a-Moa and the coast. It is true Ithait the Otorohanga County has only a limited area of settled country ft-iorn whiich to draw rate revenues for this road—the same also is true of Ka'whia County yv'hiich. has, nevertheless, 'w'iith. commendable* pluck, ifiaced the .problem and shouldered the responsibility. Meanwhile, the Highways Board is .expectedi to do -something moire Ith&n class the road a main highway. Having diverted from a route which earlier giovernmieintal authorities had recognised for miany years as the outDet for Kawhia the Highways Board has dome nothing. Rumour has it that an inspection is to be made between now and Christmas—which interpreted in a Avay customary with Government concerns, means thait in an 'indefinite future some pronouncement may he made. It i-q faralcal to 'think that the summer season auiudti be awaited hello re inspection can he made; if work Sis to l\i\ attempted this season—-and the urgency of the case demands it—/ then at-1 slolch formalities should by noW be completed so that ia start could he made for|tlh'wi(tlh, ~ .\. I'Pterhapls we shall hear the bogey of mcniciy arid an effort on that score to justify further delay. The Government will shelter behind the Highways Board, but the pelaple, me • imagine, wlill not : submit to continued •neglected. Mi* Coates, a year ago, -proclaimed himself and was acclaimed hy the supporters of h'is pa/rty as "the man who gets) things done.' Here is.a case for practical doing.' If money is the difficulty the pleop'ie will very properly want to know how it (happens that the resources of the Slt'ate are •frittered! away hy the innumeraible Boards and Commissions which seem to have become such a part .of oiir national life, while, works of urgency as this remain neglected. What did . iit cost the counltry to 1 v ttie cultural Banking Commission, on its jaunt overseas simply to afford the Government a way out- of immediately tackling thia agricultural finance protoUeni? And whlat willl.be ithe -cost: of a Local Bodies (Finance Board whose purpose is at once to reftieve the Minister of Finance of tihe unpleasant task of giving Ihis precedent consent to local bodies' loans proposals. And also, oif this' Town .Planning Board, which at once takes some" responsibility off the shoulddrs of Ithe Minister of 'PuhHic Works. The Maori Arts and Crafts Board! wall als!o> drain the puhllic revenues and it is surely.,of lies-, ser 'importance to an outlet road such as this, Boards and Commissions comb at will'.-—to suit t'h-eawhim and pleasure of the politician who ■ receives a full 'yeiar'a salary and might reasonably iba ealliefd-upon t6~db ;; a full yaatr', s work instead iof calling ah all these manifold 'lesser State.. governm&nbal bodies. If money -can he found for these thlings, 'then tlh'e Govternment Willi 'find it difficult indeed to make the coun|try believe tha|b for the sake of the wherewithal ia work of such untJlouhtkid (urgency as this Kawhia-Kawa road should remain unattended to for aMo'ther season.