URGENT ROADS NEEDED.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 556, 5 April 1913, Page 2

URGENT ROADS NEEDED.

A LONG TRIP. The first four-wheeled vehicle to reach Marokopa was that of Mr John Bell, Kiritehere, on Friday of last week. The waggon was brought from Te Kuiti, and had to come by a very round about route, Mr Bell drove from Te Kuiti via Otorohanga and Te Rauamoa to Oparau from whence the vehicle was taken by launch to Kinohaku, the horses being brought along the bridle track from Oparau to Kinohaku. The rest of the journey was negotiated without any very stirring adventures with the exception of the crossing of few bad and narrow bridges on the Marokopa valley road. The trip occupied over eight days, and is a sorry performance considering the length of time settlers have been in the Kiritehere district. Had the Pomerangi and Mangakakopu roads received their fair share of treatment during the years of settlement this trip could have been negotiated more comfortably., and in one day and a half, instead of eight or nine. The advent of such a vehicle as this is a certain sign that roads are wanted, and it is to be hoped that when the next Estimates come down that the Roads and Bridges Government will remember that there are two roads that require widening at the earliest possible opportunity. Petition after petition for years has been forwarded to the proper quarter in connection with these roads with the result that very little has been done. The forming of these two roads would mean the connecting link for vehicular traffic from the coast to the Main Trunk, and would not only be a blessing to settlers but a help to business people at Te Kuiti. It is only those who are cognisant of the conditions that know the isolation that theße incomplete roads cause in a largely settled and fertile area of country.