THE KING COUNTRY CHRONICLE. FRIDAY, JULY 12, 1907. THE WINTER SEIGE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 38, 12 July 1907, Page 2

THE KING COUNTRY CHRONICLE. FRIDAY, JULY 12, 1907. THE WINTER SEIGE.

I The voice from the wilderness this year is making itself heard in quite an unusual manner. Instead of grumblings loud and deep there is a universal thanksgiving for a favourable season and consequent good roads —in comparison to past years. All good or all bad is only such by comparison, and when compared with roads in more favoured or older established districts, the highways of the Rohe Potae would hardly emerge with credit. However, in contrast to previous years, the settlers are in a position to congratulate themselves on an improvement. That the said improvement is merely consequent upon one of Nature's fickle moods is by the way. The winter seige will be the shorter, and the opportunity for progress on the various sections is greater in consequence. That a favorable season should make such a difference to the out-back settlers conveys in a striking manner the necessity for improved means of transit in the district. Much has been said and written on the subject of our roads, and the efforts of our local body have been unceasing for the inauguration of a better system. Still the same deplorable conditions are of annual recurrence and it seems as if it is only by catching Nature in a relenting mood that the life of the pioneer is i made bearable. A more striking con-

clemnation of the system, which is responsible for such a state of things, could not be shown than in the thankfulness of the settlers at the occurrence of a season, whereby the roads are rendered passable. It is now over ten years since the first sections were opened in the King Country, and most of the land has been taken up over five years, still we have the spectacle of impassable roads presented to us each recurring winter. For this state of things the Government is unreservedly condemned by some, whose only remedy for all existing evils is a change of Government. Partisans on the other side attribute it, in some dark, mysterious manner, to the machinations of the opposition party, who are held responsible for all the sins of omission and commission that arc perpetrated by the various departments. As a matter of fact it is due, among other things, to the blind adherence of the powers that be to an obsolete and unbusinesslike system of providing for one of the greatest and most urgent works in the whole colony. The want of decent roads is not confined to the King Country, nor is it confined to the Auckland province. It is, however, much more in evidence in the North Island than in the South, where a splendid system of roads was completed before the North had begun to think about progress. The want of roads in the opening up of new country has been felt for many years, and the fact that settlement has been progressing much more rapidly than the roads could be provided has led to a vast accumulation of road work throughout the whole of the North Island. Like other important works which affect the whole colony, and the satisfactory completion of which would enhance the national prosperity, the question of roads has developed into something more than a political party matter, to be used or abused by those in power for vote-catching purposes. The winter seige has become altogether too familiar in our back country districts, and it is a high time a national policy of roading was adopted to meet the already over-strained situation. A sound statesmanlike scheme could be evolved which would meet the case with probably little more cost to the Government than the present unbusinesslike system. The settlers do not object to pay for their roads, but when they see money which could be spent in doing permanent work, sunk in nuidholes, and used in patching roads, which get worse instead of better, they can be forgiven for lifting up a protesting voice and condemning the perpetuation of such a manifest stupidity. The Government is a very large landowner, and in offering the land for selection the proper roading should be the first item in the valuation. If the land cannot return the cost of good and sufficient roading it is not worth having. That it will do so, however, we have pointed proof in many cases, and no time should be lost in developing a scheme, whereby the possibility of a winter seige will be eliminated, even in those seasons when Nature forgets to be benign and deigns only to parade her frowning aspect to those to whom the present beneficence means so much.