The Examiner. FRIDAY. JUNE 28. THE GORGE ROAD.

Woodville Examiner, Volume XIII, Issue 2385, 28 June 1895, Page 2

The Examiner. FRIDAY. JUNE 28. THE GORGE ROAD.

The effort which has been needed to prevent this road being again opened for traffic is anything but creditable to those who have taken part in such opposition. We do not know whether the people of Palmerston as a whole support tbe scheme of a few land speculators which has been set afloat, but we believe that they would not so far abandon all public honor. The bridge now over the Manawatu River at Palmerston was built out of a vote for a bridge on the Gorge Road at Ashurst, but which, by dishonest scheming on the part of a few people at Palmerston, was wrongfully diverted from Ashurst to Palmerston. That was in the days gone by so we shall let it pass. The Gorge Road is, and always must be, the main thoroughfare between the East and West coasts. It is a level road, and with ordinary care is no more dangerous than the roads we travel over every day. Theroadhas been opened for traffic between twenty and thirty years, and notwithstanding all the talk we hear about the danger of it, tbe fact is that there have been fewer accidents on it than on any other main road, while the traffic that has gone through it has been immense. The bogey of danger is thus all nonsence, especially raised to support an nnworthy scheme, which is as fallacious as the argument called upon to support it. Then we are told that it is so subject to slips and to being frequently blocked. That argument applies just as much to the proposed road over the hill, as is shown by the fact that the late floods which blocked the Gorge Road also blocked theNapier-Woodville, Hardings Road and most of the roads in Pahiatua County. There is, therefore, nothing in that argument. We are then told that the Gorge Road is unnecessary as the Palmerston-Pahiatua Eoad will do just as well. We have no objection to the Pahiatua-Palmerston Boad. In fact we think it ought to be made, as formerly promised by the Government. To say that this road will answer the purpose of the Gorge Road is utterly absurd. The main traffic across the range is not from Palmerston, but from and to the immense area between Palmerston and Taranaki. That traffic concentrates at Fielding and then cuts across to the Gorge. Were the Gorge Road closed all the traffic would have to go nine miles around to get to Palmerston, and then, when it got to this side of the side of the range, it would have to travel another nine miles extra to got to Woodville. Such a proposition is utterly absurd, and if this course were adopted, as suggested by the member for Palmerston, the people up the Pohangina Valley and north of Fielding would demand that a bridge be erected at Pohangina, and that a shorter road should be constructed over the range on the north side of the Gorge. In this course they would be quite justified, and what is more—the Government would be bound to concede the demand. If the Government closed the Gorge Boad, to help a few speculators at Palmerston, they would be bound, as a matter of equity, to make provision, whereby the people on the north should not suffer any injustice, and that provision , would involve the Government in an expenditure of £15,000 or £20,000. I By accepting the Gorge Boad, and reinstating the bridge, the Government would meet the whole case justly and equitably, and would have only one bridge. By conceding the request of the Palmerston land speculators they would have to face two immense undertakings, to suit each end of the district, and each of these works would be much more costly than the reinstatement of the Gorge Bridge.

We shall now deal with the Palmerston demand. That is that a bridge should be erected at Holcowhitu, opposite Terrace End. This bridge would necessitate fourteen spans on cylinder piers. The Pohangina railway bridge of nine spans cost over £9OOO, so that the proposed bridge at Hokowhitu would cost little short of £12,000 to £14,000, of which the Government would be expected to contribute a considerable amount. But the gross impudence of the proposal is evident from this that the Palmerston people have already a bridge to connect Palmerston with Fitzherbert at a point a mile and a half further down the river. Now, who are the ringleaders in the movement? Mr Welch is interested in the Forest Reserve Special Settlement Block. Mr Wallis, though chairman of the Fitzherbert Eoad Board, has a block of 1500 acres of land near the bridge site, and Capt. Gardner, the other deputationist, has a similar area on the other side of the read. If the bridge is made at Hokowhitu, it will add £lO an acre to the value of their land for sub-divisional purposes. That is, these gentlemen would pocket between them about £BO,OOO

mit of a transaction of which" {Key want the public to find the cost to the tune of £12,000 to £14,000, when by making a mile and a half of road they can reach the present bridge. We are rather surprised at Mr Firani thus selling the interests of his constituents in an important and populous district like Ashurst, in order that be may back up a few land speculators in a discreditable transaction. We have not the slightest objection to the Hokowhitu bridge being made, provided it does not interfere ■with the Gorge bridge; but in any case we consider that the gentlemen who are to benefit so largely from the work ought to pay the cost out of their own pockets, and not throw it on the public. Then, again, the scheme for constructing the Hokowhitu bridge, which the land speculation deputation, backed up by Mr Firani, submitted to the Minister of Lands, was calculated to mislead that gentleman. It is proposed to put on a toll on the Pahiatua-Palmerston Road, but it has been forgotten that the Pahiatua County Council have a say in this, and as they have to maintain the road in their district, they are not going to let the promoters of this selfish scheme receive all the plums. • They will therefore either insist on receiving half the tolls, or they will build another tollgate on the Pahiatua end of the road. As to raising money by loan towards the work, several Fitzherbwt ratepayers inform us they consider the bridge utterly unnecessary, and they will oppose any attempt to raise a loan. How, then, is the money to be raised unless the Government undertake the work in great part ? We believe the Hon. J. McKenzie is a shrewder man than to be led into any such trap. Besides, we should think the people of Ashurst should have something to say about Mr Pirani’s action in so deliberately throwing over their vital interests, in the way he did on the occasion of the deputation. * Then the relation of the Goi’ge road to the railway renders it absolutely necessary that it should be kept open for maintaining traffic when the line is blocked. The Gorge, too, is one of the choicest scenic spots in the Colony, aud the tourist traffic will yet be worth as much to New Zealand as twice the output of our mines; so that every attraction to tourists should be carefully looked after. For this reason alone it is most important that the Gorge Road should be left open. As to the request of the deputation, that the Government should re-construct the bridge, there is the fact that the Government did maintain it for years. It is the main connecting link between the East and West Coasts, and therefore a colonial work, as much as the Otira Gorge Road, which the Government has all along maintained. Then the Manchester Road Board are still burdened with the cost of constructing the old bridge, as they have to pay the interest on the loan • for another 14 years, though the work for which the money raised has been destroyed. Again, it is very unfair that the Pahiatua County should be liable for half the maintenance of the Gorge Road, in which it has little interest. All things considered, the only solution of the difficulty appears to be that the Government should take over the road and bridge and maintain them, collecting the toll for the maintenance. The worst aspect of the whole affair is the way in which a few Palmerston land speculators have tried to take advantage of the misfortune in which the districts interested have been placed by the collapse of the bridge. These gentry would be the first to shout that it was wrong to hit a man and trample on him when he is down. Yet here they have shown an utter want of that public honor and consideration for the misfortunes of others which are generally regarded as attributes of any man worth the name.