ROADING THE DISTRICT.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 480, 6 July 1912, Page 6

ROADING THE DISTRICT.

IMPORTANCE OP TIME. EARLY ACTION NECESSARY. « DETAILS OF ADMINISTRATION. ■■■"■■- NO. V.j \ ■■■ ■■ - . - / An important factor in the projecting of any scheme for the public benotfi is time. In connection with the promoting of the roading scheme it ib apparent that under ordinary conditions, and assuming that the ratepayers generally are desirous of undertaking the work as soon as possible, such a comprehensive scheme will necessarily involve a considerable amount of time and work, before the details were completed, and the statutory regulations fulfilled. In the scheme under review the position is complicated, inasmuch as the Awakino County is not yet operative. To be properly effective and equitable, the scheme must be carried out as a whole., therefore the interested counties—Waitomo and Awakinomust co-operate. Before v this is done the Awakino County must be brought under under the provisions of the Counties Act, and, have a Council elected." The necessary steps could be taken during the present sitting of Parliament, and an election of councillors could be held this year. It would then be possible for the two local bodies to carry out the scheme together. Polls would require to be taken in each county, and loans raised for the proper proportion to be contributed by each. In order to obviate the necessity of separate engineering, and divided administration generally of the scheme, it would probably be found advisable to arrange that the work should be carried out by the Waitomo County, ana" proper provision would require to be made ; for the expense of administering such an important scheme. In view of the fact that the portion of the Awakino County included in the scheme will probably become a portion of the Waitomo County as soon as the necesasry alteration of boundaries can be arranged, the foregoing suggestions should* be adopted, in order to simplify the working of the scheme in the present, and obviate any complication in future. An alternative to the foregoing suggestion is to wait until that portion of the Awakino County can be absorbed by the Waitomo County,when the whole scheme would be carried out in all its details by the Waitomo County. This would mean a delay of over two years, as the time for the alteration of county boundaries is fixed by Statute to take place prior to a general election of councillors. The next general election of councillors djes not take place until November, 1914, and arrangements for altering the boundaries would require to be made in the preceding April. • THE WORK AHEAD. It will thus be seen that there is considerable work ahead of the - Awakino section of the district in preparing to take part in Ihe scheme so as to initiate the work at the earliest possible moment. Enthusiasm is required, and an organising ability of no mean order, together with an intimate knowledge 1 of the ne'eessary steps to be taken in setting up a new county. The initial work of having the county made operative can safely be. left to the member for the district, and Mr Wilson will doubtless see that the necessary steps to that end are undertaken during the present session. With respect to. the organising and detail work the settlers will require to take the initiative, an carry the project through. There should be little difficulty experienced in raising the necessary enthusiasm. A RARE OPPORTUNITY The opportunity is rarely offered to settlers of acquiring metalled roads at a rate of less than a penny in the £, and the scheme, both to the large and small holders, is so advantageous that if the opportunity is allowed to pass, little sympathy can be expected in future complaint concerning bad roads and backblock disabilities. The examples mentioned in my last article of Pukearuhe and Aria loans indicate plainly that the usual cost of metalling loans in the district is more than double the estimated cost of the big scehme. In a plain business sense the settlers of these districts are being presented with an opportunity of saving half their present rate. In the case of Pukearuhe the thirds accruing on the Crown sections are sufficient to meet the present rate, and if the big scheme is carried there will be a balance left from thirds after paying the rate on the new scheme, which can be utilised for further improvements. Such a striking example should appeal to all the settlers interested, and if further argument is necessary material can be found in all the other loans in the district. RAILWAY AND ROADS. In connection with the suggestion that a railway should be constructed instead of raising a loan for roading there is evidently a misconception. The roads will always be required whether the railway is constructed or not, and it can be safely claimed that no smaller scheme of roading will be Anything like as cheap as the one now proposed. Let the settlers bid for the railway to the utmost of their power. In doing so, would be extremely bad policy to set the raillway against the roading scheme. The roads are urgently necessary in any case, and seldom has sucn a fine opportunity of co-operating in a broad and generous manner for : the permanent good of the people been placed before any community in