SEALED ROADS.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20169, 23 February 1931, Page 10

SEALED ROADS.

NORTH ISLAND AND THE SOUTH. MR FREEMAN'S COMPARISONS. 1 ■ .■ ■ "i "The highways position at. present seems to bo that the North Island has now obtained all that it wants, find that tho poor South Island is again being left far behind," stated Mr F. W. Freeman, on his return from the conference of the New Zealand Society of Civil Engineers yosterday. "It was indicated at the conference that the Government is now slowing down on highways construction. "For one paved road in tho south there ar6 15 in the north, and outstand* ing features are thp continuous Btretches of paved roads to be found everywhere," From Wellington to Now Plymouth there is bitumen surface for over 230 miles, and for 20, miles beyond. Then again from New Plymouth,to Te Kniti, ! away, in the interior by Mt. Messenger and along the Mokau-Awafcino coast there is a further 3d miles of it. The engineers in tho north seem to-wish-to seal road' surfaces as Boon as tho roads were formed, for. they consider tb4t itr this way they saved maintenance costs. , , "The comparatively minor town o£ Palmerston-North has left Which is supposed to be a major centre, tit behind. , There are continuous 'stfetohes of paved surface 'in every | direction, and these give accommodation to . over SO lines of motor-buses. Most of it is of a similar nature to the ssphaltic concrete on the Ashley section here,-and within 40 miles Of tho city it is applied to practically all the ar«t! terial highways. "Since the declaration of the htain I highways in 1924 £2,813,068 has .been I expended in tho North Island, and only I £073,795 in the South, or, in other I Wotds, only one-quarter of the total has I come here, in place of one-thifd, as the 1 proportion should be in accordance the proportion of population and motor registration figures. . After making fail deductions .there is still £2QO,QOO to the credit of the South Island in the, main highway funds. It all goes to show; that wo must- be > more militant' tb see that the money, for the highways is put on tho roads, for the purpose .for which it was collected." Mr Freeman mentioned that at the conference the Christchurch. members had endeavoured to obtain a discussion on the question of unemployment works, 1 but had not been successful. £Te con-, sidered. that this was to be" regretted, as the men in conference were all, concerned in constructive work, which was really the best line of employment in the present conditions. 1 Some of the Work beiitg provided, in the nature of grubbing und Cleaning up under fentfes and along roads ih remote ,areas> was mere trifling, and entifely • unproductive. The headquarters service and the "service to members of the Auckland Automobile Association Mr FreepiaU OOnsid* ered to bo probably the best" in the Dominion. For its 10,000 members the Association provided ten patrols ia all,. with branch patrols in H&milton, roa, Whahgarei, and Glsborne, one tov» ing patrol, and five .attached to headquarters. Hundreds of miles away from Auckland the smartly uniformed officers could, be seen servicing members of the Association. Both the Auckland and the Wellington .Associations .had done outstanding transport Telief work during tho Napier earthquake disaster.