CORRESPONDENCE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 97, 28 August 1908, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

♦ The column* of this paper are always open to lettlen to give publicity to their requirement* and grievances, but in ihc cane of a reflection on a Government official, it should be remembered that auch officials have not the privilege of reply. A» long u correspondence is confined to criticbing the system, wc shall be pleated to publish it t when the criticism extends to the officer, in the Interwt* of fairplay, we must decline.—[Ed. K.C.C.I TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—l have heard a lot of grumbling . lately about the Btate of our backblock f roads, and in my opinion the grumble/ will become general very shortly untasi* there is some alteration in the manner in which our road grants are spent. I will give you an instance which came under my notice last month, that ! consider to be a waste of public money. | I believe it is a general thing for the overseer of the district to give the men working on roads under his supervision a progress payment monthly, :unl to go from one gang to another supervising work and paying, but in ilie present instance the overseer of a v>•>;»] district, not one hundred miles from Awakino, went his rounds alright supervising work, but not paying. The foreman followed on his track with the lmg up, distributing the few shillings owing on the different roads. Now, Mr Editor, I would like to know why the overseer didn't do the paying, and why incur the extra expense of sending , the foreman round. I know for a fact that the overseer and the foreman arrived in the Aria district about the same time. One supervising and the other payiing. Could not the foreman be better employed, or doeß the management think that we are not interested in the expenditure? Don't you think that it iB about time the settlers took a hand in the road matters? At present we have the unenviable reputation of having the worst road in the Dominion, and any stranger travelling from Te Kuiti to Piopio would certainly give it the cake, especially the deviations, of which there are three or four, and if we are ever able to cross them our journey from Piopio to Te Kuiti may be shortened by about a chain. I think the money would be better spent in metalling, during the summer months, than making chains of "impassability" for the winter. An alteration in the method of expenditure would be very acceptable, and the settlers should see to it, otherwise our share of the £250,000 will be as usual —buried in mud. At the present time in the Aria district, there are only two or three men working, and yet the available money is disappearing, as officials visit the district frequently, and charge ten or fifteen shillings a day travelling allowance, besides horse hire and expenses, all of which is paid from our grant, and not a single slip shifted for the money, and it is abotft time we woke up to the necessity -df having our money spent on the roads for which it is granted, and no tin paying travelling allowances to Inspectors and Engineers, who come here to inspect work when they know perfectly, well that there is no work doing.—l am, etc., A SETTLER. 4 Aria.