THE RING COUNTRY CHRONICLE. WEDNESDAY, FEB. 9, 1910 TOPICS OF THE DAY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 232, 9 February 1910, Page 2

THE RING COUNTRY CHRONICLE. WEDNESDAY, FEB. 9, 1910 TOPICS OF THE DAY.

AS a paragraph in our last issue informed readers, the work of metalling the Te Kuiti-Awakino road at its worst point out of Te Kuiti commenced on Friday last. The bearing of the quality of a road's surface upon the trade of a district will be plainly shown when the few miles of metal necessary to give us a fair surface towards Pio Pio are laid. Statistics have been compiled in other places, showing the intimate relation between good roads and good trade. There is little doubt the same conditions apply here. If the Pio Pio settlers, for example, can cart their dairy produce in comfort to Te Kuiti next spring, and the storekeepers are able to send out supplies the year round, instead of being limited to the summer months, the prosperity of the district is placed on a sounder footing, and prices of supplies will adjust themselves to a level in keeping with the improved facilities. ******

ONE of the first requirements of Te Kuiti, when it reaches the dignity of a municipality, will be a reasonably framed set of building bye-laws. The opportunity which exists for planning our town on broad and progressive lines, so that suitable open spaces may be reserved and the "distances between dwelling houses be maintained at safe limits is one not to suffer to go by. In England to-day opinion points to the need for townplanning, and places like Garden city have sprung into being, planned at the outset to be spacious, healthy and artistic. It is to bo feared that the cultivation of the beautiful is a remote object with most of us, but there is no reason why we should not do our best to develop our town on hygienic and sanitary lines. ******

SPEAKING the other day to a recent visitor to Europe and America the question of the present state of opinion on road construction cropped up, and this was the reply given: In America the roads in the United States and Canada are very similar in quality to those in New Zealand, and but' Cor the hard frosts of winter would be much inferior to ours. In England, of course, hundreds of miles of good metalled roads exist, but the dust problem, accentuated by the immense increase in motor traffic, has led to the adoption of the "tarred metal" process of treating the roads, and every few miles, in some parts of the country, may be seen the elaborate plants of the local authorities for spreading the tar on the metal. It is stated that the amounl of pitch in the mixture must be at least 55 per cent. The surface, after the treatment, is described as ideal for motoring or driving over. ******

A correspondent criticises the train service between Te Kuiti and Hamilton. It is all right, he thinks, from Te Kuiti to Hamilton, but it offers no facilities for visiting Te Kuiti and returning the same day, except one reaches here late in the afternoon and returns at 2.0 a.m. What is wanted, he suggests, is a morning train, leaving Hamilton or Frankton at 8.0 or 9.0 a.m., and returning at 5.0 or 6.0 p.m. It is to be feared there is no hope of getting such a service. Some time ago the Minister for Railways was expressing the opinion that the country was ripe for an extension of motor railway carriages for passenger traffic. It is not only ripe, it is over-ripe, and the astonishing thing is that no attempt seems to be made to link up the important provincial centres with such a service. Such a self contained motor carriage touid serve Te Kuiti and Frankton as an addition to the express services, and might be timed to run at hours convenient to both towns. The Chamber of Commerce, doubtless, has schemes of train improvements ever before it. It will, perhaps, remind Mr Millar of his projected plana for the immediate future.