GOOD ROADS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4791, 19 December 1924, Page 4

GOOD ROADS.

ATTRACTIVE I’ROSI’ECTS. NEW ZEALAND CONDITIONS. Probably in no other country in the world, remarks the Christchurch Star, does the prospect of good roads seem so attractive as it is in New Zealand. It is hard to exnaust the possibilities for motor touring that would unfold themselves if roading difficulties could be overcome. This question presents itself rather forcibly at this time of the year, when holiday tours are being planned by motorists, for it still takes a certain amount of courage to embark on a really long trip, and the motorist has to know a good deal about “running repairs” at all events, before setting out. Good roads mean less wear and tear on vehicles, and fewer accidents, and wherever statistics have heen taken of the increase in petrol-driven traffic a remarkable increase has been found to go hand in hand with improved roads. California, which may be likened to New Zealand in , regard to climate and scenic attractions, lias just completed its traffic census, which shows an increase of approximately 47 per cent, over the figures for 1922, an increase equivalent to that registered between 1929 and 1922. That this increase is largely attributable to good roads can hardly be questioned, for good roads make touring a pleasure, and it is only necessary to glance at the illustrations in the numerous magazines given up exclusively to load-making problems to see that a vast improvement has been effected in the direction of laying down surfaces as smooth as the proverbial billiard table. New Zealand has taken the matter up in its highways scheme, and it promises to open up the country to the people in a way almost undreamed of a few years ago. The Dominion is rich in what the Americans call scenic highways, that is, economic roads that pass through country which is interesting and beautiful. and it is these roads that will be developed first, but in America they have gone much further, and buik scenic highways that have nothing to commend them but the fact that they form a scenic breathing v ground for thc growing motoring community. In New Zealand, fortunately, i; will be quite unnecessary, for generations to come at all events, to consider such a non-productive form of expenditure on tourist roads, for wherever, one turns, and particularly on the arterial roads, the grandest scenery unfolds itself. It is pleasant to look forward to the day when this little scenic wonderland of New Zealand will be roaded in a manner that will open it up as a holiday resort to its own people. For that reason one could wish that the highways scheme was being more rapidly developed.