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Dunstan Times, Issue 425, 10 June 1870, Page 2

Mr. Shepherd has at last done a sensible thing, his motion for the maintenance of the roads by contract, it is exactly the system that has been long ‘ wanted, and ought to have been pur- • sued years since, and many of the ■ present difficulties, connected with i travelling would have been obviated. ' Mr. C. E. Haughton’s picture ot day ‘ laborers repairing roads, as that of 1 pic-nic parties, is true to the letter, ■ and the idea is indorsed by every tra- ' veller. The system of surface men r is absurd in the extreme. There is I an utter want of supervision. Such in reality is impossible, and where this is the case, we all very well * know, that not one laborer out of a i thousand will do his duty. There is ' little sympathy in the Colonies, and ! more especially in Otago between the s employed and their employers. The f object is to obtain wages, by doing as little as possible towards earning ! them, and if this is the case with pri- , vate employers, it is more so with the ■ Government, who with the ignorant ■ are always consideied fair game to s practice any imposition upon. The r roads in Victoria and New South s Wales have for very many years past - been kept in repair by contract, and - the system has answered admirably, t it is not so much that more work has I been done upon them to keep them . in repair, but that injury has been - prevented, contractors finding it to 3 their interest more to protect the i roads from damage than to make re- - pairs. In Otago a sudden rush of 3 water may come and flow over a i road, cutting it up into deep chasms 3 and not a single road laborer will go - out of his way to prevent it, but were - the repairs contracted for, plenty of > what are now designated as acciden--3 tal damages to roads would never 1 occur'. Repairs Could be efl'ei ted r much cheaper by contracts than by 3 the system of day labor, ruts, int stead of being filled up with mud, . would be repaired with something r more substantial, and when once a - bad place was made good, it would

not be required to bo done Over again almost the very next day. There are plenty of persons residing near the lines of road, who would be glad to contract to keep them in repair for a very little money, and the work would be much better done, and at considerably less cost, than by the present wasteful system of day labor. Mr. Shepherd’s motion must be hailed with satisfaction by every resident in the up country districts.