THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. MONDAY, JUNE 5, 1922. MAIN ROAD TO PLAINS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4423, 5 June 1922, Page 2

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. MONDAY, JUNE 5, 1922. MAIN ROAD TO PLAINS.

At the farewell to Mr. Arch. White on Thursday last Mr. F. E. Flatt struck a true note when he said that what Paeroa required was go'od roads leading into it. This fact has long been recognised by all those who have the interest of the place at heart. Transportation is the first consideration of every country, and the highways are its arteries. What are we doing in road building in this part of the province ? The answer is—nothing,and nothing is likely to be done until public opinion is moulded in this direction. There is no public opinion on the good road; there is only a dim idea that there should be such means of communication, and that the modern highway is far too costly to even attempt the making. With this idea in the minds of the public the matter is allowed to drag along on the old earth road, with its dust and mud, in every recurring season. We cannot altogether blame our Borough and County Councillors for the state of our tracks and so-called roads at the present time, for until the public have been educated they are powerless to act. The present system appears to be to throw a few stones on to the clay and call il a metalled road. Thousands upon thousands of pounds have been wasted, and what hurts most, is that that waste is still go : ng on. Not alone is this waste confined to actual money being thrown away, but one has only to think for a moment to realise the great waste that is taking place in mna and horse-power. This waste of man and horse power is going on daily and year in and year out, and little is being done to alter it. The argument that the country cannot stand the expenditure must be dipco .inted when one looks afield and sees what other counties are doing. Throughout Taranaki are to be found highways that the people there are proud of, and we see no reason why such roads could not be constructed throughout our counties here. The delegation of Hauraki Plains County Councillors, after viewing the roads in Taranaki, recommended that class of roads, but beyond that nothing seems to have been done. The tar-sealed roads have passed through the experimental stage and should be well within the reach of the local authorities here. We feel that the matter of establishing a permanent highway from Paeroa to Waitakaruru, via Nethetron, Kerepeehi, and Ngatea, has only to be taken up by some of our leading settlers and business men to be backed up by every settler on the Plains.