A DEPLORABLE ROAD.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5225, 11 January 1928, Page 2

A DEPLORABLE ROAD.

PAEROA-HiKUTAIA HIGHWAY.

SERIOUS I MENACE TO MOTORISTS,

Adverse criticism has been heard frequently of late with reference to the condition of the"rnain highway from the Paerca borough boundary to the boundary of the Ohinemuri County at the Hikutaia Stream bridge. No doubt the heavy holiday traffic has increased the disrepair of the road, but there seems to be no logical reason why it should have been allowed to deteriorate to the extent that it has. That portion of the highway from the Hikutaia quarry to the.Hikutaia bridge, particularly, is a positive menace to motorists, and some of the holes constitute a very real danger. It is understood that at a meeting of the Ohinemuri County Council held some months ago authority was given for the scarifying and rolling of the worst portion of the road, but nothing has beep done. To-day the road is in a deplorable condition, and is unquestionably a disgrace to the local body concerned. It can hardly be advroiced as an excuse that lack of finance prevents the work being done, because the county is not exactly short of funds and is, no doubt, receiving a subsidy from the Main Highways Board for that road. Even if lack of funds was an excuse for undertaking comprehensive repair work, temporary relief could be given by filling in the worst hi.lps with metal blinded with spoil from the roadside.

Apart from the, serious inconvenience occasioned the travelling public, it is a decidedly short-sighted policy on the part of the council, to allow the road to reach its present bad state, because the longer the, work remains undone the greater the cost to ratepayers when repairs are put in hand.