MAIN ROAD CONSTRUCTION

Waikato Times, Volume 89, Issue 13817, 11 July 1918, Page 7

MAIN ROAD CONSTRUCTION

COMBINED ACTION URGED At Tuesday's meeting of Die Waipa County Council the supervisor. Mr \V. 11. M.inili'iio, suhmittciJ tin- following l't'liorl (in the question of good muds: — In view of changes taking plan', anil more especially of Ih<is<- likely to take place, in the character of the traffic on county mails, it has 'iirred to iiiat lliis is a matter requiring careful consideration liy (lie Council. Tlie advent and rapid .uTowlli of motor Iraflic of various kinds, especially that of heav\ lorries, is bringing ahout a condition of affairs altogether different to wliat has obtained in the past, and the time is near when it will be neither possible nor dilutable to construct and maintain roads solely out of local taxation, t'niike what has been the case previously, county roads now have to carry not only their own local Iraflic, but also a law amount of what may be called "through" traffic from oilier districts. Fuiiber, tin- volume of Iraflic is s; really increased, owing not only to increased population, but also lo the fact thai people travel so much more both for business and pleasure than they did formerly. Instances could be shown upon our own roads where the expenditure of ;.;,.vi ;■:■.• i nnd'-i 1 | - nf ; pounds during the last summer has 1 n practically thrown away owini: to excessive motor Iraflic, combined with constant wet weather. The plain inference is that more substantial and permanent methods most be adopted in order (n cope with the Iraffic. and :; ; my judgment no ordinary macadamised road will stand under the Iraflic of the future. Roads will have to be constructed of some conglomerate material, though what it is to be need not be discussed just now. The first question is the financial one—where is the money to come from? it seems to me that it is useless for any single local

body to attempt to tackle the question alone and unassisted. Pressure must ! be brought to bear upon the (iovernment to force them to move, and tins can only be done through a big combination of local bodies working through their Parliamentary representatives. I suggest that an attempt should be made to bring about such a combination and united action, with a view to get ting the Government to tackle the question and deal with the whole question in a comprehensive way. The lines of the scheme I would like to see adopted would be ;i near approach to the Victorian system, whereby (he Government would raise a large loin for the express purpose of lending to rural local bodies for the construction of their main roads, such loans to carry automatically a i for t subsidy from the consolidated revenue; the works to be carried out by the local bodies themselves, subject, of course, to the approval of the Public Works Department. The present system of lending money to local bodies in small sums has. no doubt, served a very useful purpose in the past, but it is wasteful and useless now when roads must be laid down in some permanent material that will stand present-day wear and tear. To expect local ratepayers to find the whole of the money for the construction of main roads which, under present day conditions, are often called upon to carry more outside than local traffic, would lie utterly unreasonable, Hence the proposal that half the money for suclr roads should be provided out of the consolidated revenue. A proposal has been made, and pretty generally supported by local bodies, that the Government should take over the main roads: but in my humtole opinion such action would only make bad worse. One lias only to see to what perfection "Government stroke" is carried in some departments already existing, or to

travel through districts where the roads are already under Government control, and no sensible man will wish to bring another big department into existence to be similarly managed. If it is supposed that the. Government taking over the main roads necessarily means the Government finding the money to*construct them, I fear such anticipation is altogether too optimistic. Such generosity is altogether absent in the case of departments already existing, as anv local body which has had dealings with, the Railway Department has bad ample proof. I further claim that local bodies obtain far and away better results for their expenditure than is obtained under Government supervision, a statement which, I think, will hardly be disputed. Of course the is only a general statement of the position; many details will require to he arranged, but it appears to me that the sooner the question is discussed in its larger aspect the sooner will something tangible result.

The report met with general acceptance, various Councillors expressing the opinion that the time had arrived when the reading problem would have to be dealt with in a methodical and comprehensive manner. The position is fast becoming acute. It was decided to defer the consideration of the report until next meeting, when it will be fully discussed.