PERMANENT ROADS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4610, 5 October 1923, Page 2

PERMANENT ROADS.

NETHERTON RIDING POLL. SOUND POLICY ADVOCATED. In column of this issue we publish a notice of the intention of the Hauraki Plains County Council to take a poll of the ratepayers of the Netherton Riding of the Hauraki Plains County on November 7 upon a proposal to borrow the sum of £47,190, for the purpose of laying down all the roads in that riding in a permanent form and with a bitumen surface. This poll will be the deciding factor, as to whether the Hauraki Plains County Council shall be authorised to borrow money to provide for the . cost of the construction of modern roads in the Netherton district, and il is in our opinion, the most importent proposal in the history of the development of that part of our district, so far as local body works are concerned, Wo understand from statements made at the recent meeting of the Netherton Ratepayers’ Association that the money sought to be borrowed is supplementary and in addition'to that already authorised to be raised for some of the the roads at Netherton. ’ The choice of a bitumen surface for these roads is without doubt a wise one, and in accordance with the experience gained in the Taranaki province. There it has. been found that the ordinary water-bound macadam road will not stand up to the requirements of modern traffic. The Taranaki counties tested the tarseal ing method of surfacing the roads, but have now gone in for the bitumen surface. Thames County has adopted this method, and likewise the Turua district, the ratepayers of which area sent delegates to Taranaki to gain first-hand information before their scheme was finally put to a poll. There are no doubt sound arguments in favour of treating the surface of roads with a waterproof material. Lt is the water lodging in hollows which hastens the destruction of roads, and the purpose of the bitumen treatment is to provide a wearing surface of lasting quality which will preserve -•'* the metal foundation intact. The county engineer estimates the extra cost of the bitumen at about £7 per chain, and from the remarks of - the various speakers at the Netherton ratepayers’ meeting it would seem that this added cost meant the difference between success and failure ; for while it was said that a water-bound macadam road would last from three to ten years (Turua evidently has had the experience of the Huirau. road breaking up in three years after its construction), yet on the other hand it was considered that a bitumen road properly maintained would last for the term of the loan. It certainly seems to us a sound policy to decide in favour, of that kind of road which will last out the term, & of the loan, and we therefore com-sC-mend to the favourable consideration of our readers in the Netherton district the proposal of the Council io lay down the approved modern type of permanent road, namely, the Bitumen Road.