THE COUNTRY SETTLER.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2238, 9 July 1908, Page 2

THE COUNTRY SETTLER.

ROADS TO BE MADE TO THE BACKBLOCKS.

SOME IMPORTANT PROPOSALS

Deliver! ig the Financial Statement on Tuesday night, tho Colonial Treasurer, dealing with country matters, said:—

In various parts of the Dominion there is more than ordinary activity in the matter of settlement,‘and those portions of tile country where public requirements and the conveniences of people are yet but slightly established, cull for an increase' in the amounts of loans obtainable. Under the Loans to Local Bodies Act the present limits are: for county councils £6OOO per annum, for road boards £3OOO, for boroughs £2OOO and for town districts £3OO. .Frequent representations have been made to me both in the House and in the country that these limits aro insufficient to meet the requirements of flood bodies. I propose to submit legislation by which the limits for local bodies loans may he removed in cases where loans are obtained outside the Government, but with State guarantee. If they borrow direct from Government the present limits must -remain. 'For these State guaranteed loans, security by special rate and also a sinking fund will be provided and the proceeds paid to the public trustee. Loans should provide for a sinking fund at 1 per cent, and of this amount I propose that Government should pay i per cent and the local body the other per cent. The money should without difficulty be obtained at 4 per cent, and under such a system, with lenders secured by a guarantee of the Dominion,there would be an easy method of local bodies financing, under which I venture to predict that public bodies would not require to levy at the out-, side more than half the maximum rates .upon property owners, that which they did levy being used' chiefly for administrative purposes and the provision of a sinking fund. At present tlio tendency is that when the full amount of an advance under the Loans to- Local Bodies Act is made the Government is asked to pay a subsidy of £1 for £1 upon its own advance under the Loans to Local Bodies Act and it is impossible that such a system a.s this should bo allowed to continue.

The present system o? roading b.v some of our local bodies is :in the highest degree- unsatisfactory. I was more than astonished to find upon my recent tour through the- north that more than one impoi-tant county council carried on its work without the services of an engineer. The result is, to put it mildly, that far from the best results have been obtained. The absence of road metal owing to many difficulties renders many of the formed roads, during the winter especially, perfect quagmires, making tho lives of maiiv of our settlers a misery. Every effort should bo made to change this. I will submit to the House proposals to provide for a number of stone crushers to ho sent there. These will be required to be either worked by the Roads Department and charged to a local body or lent to tho local body with a" charge for interest and depreciation and worked by themselves. Tho employment of a local engineer should ho made compulsory. To help this a reduction of 25 per cent, on the-hau-lage of metal for local bodies will be made by the Railway Department. 1 feel confident that it the county is to have the full benefit of the work of the settlers- of land, a great forward .movement in these important matters should be made. With the assistance that I have. outlined for financing local public Bodies and with active, methodical. v.vi [-controlled provision for formation and metalling roads in the interior of the country, I a*m justified in anticipating that within five or ten years a great transformation will be effected, and thatwithin those periods a very large decrease in the amount of moneys required for loading purposes will take place. I should expect to find Now Zealand in tjiis respect as well roaded as any other country in the world. Honorable .members will recognise that there would obviously be also a large decrease in tile claims upon the central Government for roads. I commend these proposals to the most careful considemtion of the honorablo gentlemen. ROADING WORK. Roading different parts of this country is a'matter of the greatest importance.' In view of the energetic settlement that has gone on all over the Dominion, the time has arrived when greater steps than hitherto inijst Jbe taken to provide roads for our settlers in the' backblocks. I propose tlijs year to ask the House to provide £650,000 for roads and bridges. Of this amount £250,000 will be especially devoted to roads in the Lackblocks and will be continued-for a period of four years, including the current year. A million in all will be expended tor this laudable 2iurnosc.