ROADING PROBLEMS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2137, 1 May 1914, Page 8

ROADING PROBLEMS.

A. COUNTRY MEMBER'S VIEWS.

PRACTICAL POLICY NEEDED.

Asked by a Dominion reporter whether he favoured the- adoption of some more comprehensive scheme for roading tho.back-blocks than exists nt present, Mr. D. H. Guthrie, member for Oroua, returned an emphatic affirmative. He said that ho was one of those who held that the best possible facilities should bo given for the construction of roads throughout the newly-settled districts. Nothing would tend more to promote the permanent prosperity of tlieso'districts than bringing their settlers into touch with markets for their produce. "I admit," Mr. Gutlirio' continued, "that in a spasmodic manner this has been recognised in tho past ami that much has been done, but the policy of the past has not been a practical and permanent one. In my opinion . political inlluonce has militated against tho efforts that have been made m the- past to shapo such a policy. I was pleased to see that tho Prime Minister, in a recent speech, suggested the possibility of raising /a special loan of considerable magnitude in order to "deal with this pressing problem of road-con-struction in a comprehensive way. His idea of placing before the peoplo of the country a r proposal to raise a loan of £1,000,000 for tko special purpose of promoting the reading and development uf tho back-blocks settlements gains additional weight from the fact that Jio has recently, made extended tours through th'e different portions of -the country where tho need for roads is most pressing." , . Mr. Guthrio went on to express a hope that before long the disbursal of money available for opening up the country would be controlled under a systora which would preclude the. possibility, of log-rolling or of any resort to political influence and would ensure such funds being applied and expended where they were most needed. He added that he'was prepared to go further and to express tho opinion that the people of tho country, would bo behind tho Government if it decided to raise a further sum of. money, even though ' it might be large, for the purpose of procuring control over tho largo wasto areas of the Dominion which were steadily being enhanced in value by the progressiva policy of railways development. This Would be a decided stop forward as compared with the policy pursued in tho past under which these increased values had gone to individuals and to speculative syndicates.

Control of Expenditure. With regard to the expenditure of the money provided by the State for the opening up of undeveloped districts,' 31 r. Guthrie declared himself a. strong advocate of entrusting tho expenditure of those funds, once they had hcen allocated on sound lines, to those most deeply aud.'vitally interested in .the districts to be benefited;-namely, the local bodies. At the same timo'ho'did not go so far as to say that tho.expenditure •liy the Government of money for publi;; works of this kind should bo discontinued. In many parts of New Zealand there were localities which had no local bodies prepared to undertake tlio construction of those works. So far as these districts were concerned the. Government for many reasons would be wise to retain in tlio hands and their Departments the'power of expenditure. On tie whole, however, Mr. Guthrie'stated, tlio counties .had maintained a .high standard in road construction and in his estimation had produced better resultsthan had been achieved by Government expenditure in .regard., to both utility and economy. In many cases the- work done by. tho Government was of a needlessly expensive character. Bridges, for example, wero sometimes built to stand-; ards that would enable them to bear the weight of attraction engine whore no ■traction engme was.ever likelv to pass over them. The Government 'naturally enough insisted upon public money .hems; expended upon works of the 'most substantial *ud lusting character, but it did not always Follow that money so suentwas spent in the best-interests of the development of the country. On occasions itwpuld pay to spread' out tho cxuemlitnro.pvcr more work. Mr. Guthrie said that ho had found that tho power given .to counties, in the recent amendment of the Counties Act, to build workmen's houses,, was highly appreciated by tho local bodies and ho predicted tlmfc before very lone full advantage would bo taken o'f this provision. The Kikitea County Conned had made a start upon the erection o. workers homes and no doubt other counties would shortly follow this example. . ■ ■ '

Local Government Reform. p.'i.-tlie. subject of local government reform Mr: Gutlirio expressed himself very definitely. "Speaking as a member ol many years' experience in county atlimnistration," lie said, "I am of opinion that thfiro is no crying need for any drastic change being made in our form's or local gowmment. A few anomalies oxist winch can bs very easily wiped out. For Distance, it is desirable "that thoio should bo a'simplification of the merging of small"local, bodies into a smglo larger oncv where the necessity for immediate local control does not now exist as it did in-tho past. The anil should bo to nimble the ratepayers to readily give c-ficot to their desire in such rases The process of change, bowever, should be one of easy and natural evolution and should not »t> forced Full allowance'must be made for local'circumstances which cannot well be met by any general act. Marked improvements hare been made in .tlic cnimtv law bv tlic amending Act of last session and a tow more such improvements would to i»v mind largely meet the demands of tho country in .this ouestion at the preI think " S n,d Mr. Guthrie in conclusion., "that the allocal:iou of Government assistance should be removed' as fir as it is npssiMo to remove it from the sphere of -political influence and a Ji'itisfaeforv system would embod-- a Mefimtf! classification of our local bodies according to their needs nml the state odeveoinnent reached by the areas under their control."