The Waikato Times With which is incorporated The Waikato Argus. TUESDAY, JULY 23, 1918. THE ROADING PROBLEM

Waikato Times, Volume 89, Issue 13817, 23 July 1918, Page 4

The Waikato Times With which is incorporated The Waikato Argus. TUESDAY, JULY 23, 1918. THE ROADING PROBLEM

—*» The reading problem is no new thing but it is always forced to the front in the rainy season, and in years like the present it becomes unusually insistent. In this district the various local bodies had made exceptional provision for winter traffic, and were convinced that, taken all in all, the roads would be equal to what was required of them. The unusually wet season, however, has upset all calculations, and it is questionable if some of our public thoroughfares were ever in a worse condition than they have been this winter. The members of the several county councils are almost in despair; at each and everv meeting sorely-tried settlers, either in person or by petition, appeal for better roads and improved access, and, -while councillors are anxious to give these appeals favourable consideration, thoy, in the majoyity of cases, recognise that all they can do is to tinker and patch, and that the relief they thus afford is but transient and that in a few short weeks further appeals will be received. It is not the fault of the councillors that the roads are not better; the fa-t is that, the progress of settlement has been so rapid that the resources of the local bodies are unequal to the demands made upon them, an.l consequently the settlers have to endure disabilities and hardships which in themselves are sufficient to break the spirit of any but a hero. But the time has now arrived when the roading problem will have to be tackled seriously and in a comprehensive manner. Schemes will have to be evolved at once to provide good and _ . -. • .

permanent highways capable of carrying the greatly enhanced traffic jm-i----destal to the extension of the dairying industry cud the increased pro.taction, which the obligations of the Dominion render imperative. Replying to a deputation which waited upon him recently, to urge improvement of the roads of the middle area of the North Island, Hon. Sir William Fraser, Minis ter for Public Works, is reported to have said: "We don't want motor roads," and he went on to state that he believed another £20,000,000 would have to be raised next year to meet the war expenditure. We fully admit that the war must receive first considera tion—that everything e lse must give precedence to the carrying on of the struggle. which is fraught with such mighty issues to the whole of the civilized world; but we must not lose sight of the fact that the interest on the war expenditure will have to be paid, and this cannot be done if the producers of the country are unduly handicapped. Experience has proved that those factories in which due regard is paid to the working conditions and an effort made to keep the equipment up to date give better returns than those where haphazard and slipshod methods obtain, and what is true of a factory is true also of a country. The better facilities provided for the producer the more he will produce, and the better able will the country i be to meet its obligations. The time | has gone by when we could afford to , ignore motor traffic asd look upon the I automobile as a luxury. It has become ' a necessity, and must in the future be , given first consideration. Sir J. G. > Ward, speaking to a Times representa- (

tive some time ago, expressed the opinion that after the war State lorry services will have to be inaugurated as feeders to the existing railways; and he believed that such services would be installed in many districts instead of lines. To run such services would, of course, necessitate good roads in those districts in which they are inaugurated, and it is not improbable that, as the public service would also meet private needs,, the motor lorry proposal contains the germ for the solution of the roading problem so far as it applies to the back districts. The local bodies and the Government will have to co-operate in the maintenance of the lines of communication, and the State will see to it that roads are kept in repair. A somewhat popular proposal is that the Government should take over the main arterial roads of the Dominion; but there is a growing conviction that this is not the panacea for the travellers' woes, while some are dispos ed to argue that the last state would be worse than the first. But, presuming that the maintenance of a State service is inextricably associated with the highways, we can take it for granted that those roads will not be neglected. Sir .1. G. Ward's scheme, however, does not enter into the controversy at this stage, for the settlers have o face the question as it now stands, and thev

must recognise the necessity for selfreliance in the carrying out of any scheme that may be formulated, hi the near future the settlers of this and other districts anticipate great benefits from the inauguration of the dried milk industry on an extended scale. To obtain these benefits good roads ar e essential, and it behoves those interested to seriously consider the matter and to recognise that under present conditions they will have largely to help themselves and find the great bulk of the cost. As Sir \V. Fraser pointed out ":o the deputation already referred to. every acre of land served by improved roads is increased in value l.\ sin li improvement-', and there is no valid reason why such increase of valun shoo!,I be a gift to the iaadov n r ' n settlers pay for a n.ad ikec \ ; ,;.,e V. which is not always the case if |]„ , j get if for nothing. Sir William :l!l u - I tioimd "ne case in which the (i n - j 'in il had forie»d and metall, d a road ' ■"."■! t'0.J..,:,! |„ ; ,|: in vvh.- di-driH it'l I',; "';';;.,;; ;,; : ' ; ' l ' i i r ;;,'; V\" r ; " :; r '::- ' aide !„.,,. : ,s to '\\:.. ! .■::! 1.e.'',..' ;,.',■'■ '■■<■■■',■ t:.'m.-e!ves.-- i;