King Country Chronicle Saturday, November 29th, 1913 MAIN TRUNK ROAD.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 623, 29 November 1913, Page 4

King Country Chronicle Saturday, November 29th, 1913 MAIN TRUNK ROAD.

An outstanding feature of the Public Works Estimates for several years psat has been the studious avoidance on tha part of the authorities to make any provision for the completion ofjtho i Main Trunk "road running north and south through this district. J i was fondly hoped that this year would see j a movement, in the direction of nro- | ' riding proper road acec-st; to and from : Te Kuiti to settlers residing in the i J districts to North ; >.r.d Sou Hi of the j ! town. However, the necessary facili- j ties are stiil denied, while an appliea- j 1 tion for a subsidy to a metalline loan ' to carry out work on the vVaitoii por~ j tion of the road has also been refused. } As we have pointed out previously m t thsno columns one of the chief draw- ' baefce to the town and district i n the ' iilack oi proper access roses to the set- . tlement North and South of To Kuiti. j t and ss settlement increases the drew- • back will be felt to an infinitely 1 I greater a:;tent. An argument nsai j « against the granting of money for ! 11 the construction of the road in ques- ! tion is to the eliect that the road is ■ ♦ parallel to a railway, and no hard- j !• ship is inflicted on the aettleis by I 0 the non-completion of the road: ! J that the Government was not justi- j r, fied in making grants for rot u 1 - \ competing with the railway for * traffic of the district. It ie difiici It to consider such statements seriously i ,< bus the fact remains that all at- 1 h

trmpst to induce the Government to construct the road have failed, and it appears 'as though the Department officials give weight to 'such flimsy contentions. An additional reason for the studied neglect of the authorities is no doubt to be found in the fact that the road will open up a considerable quantity of native owned land. The last mentioned reason has been freely used from time to time aB a pretext for providing money for roads and it must be admitted in many instances the reason is perfectly legitimate. In the case of the road under review, however, the importance of the matter to the district and to the Government lies in the fact that the road in question is a main arterial thoroughfare or, rather, it will be when it is constructed. It is the only outlet from Te Kuiti north and south except by rail. Besides opening up much valuable country along its route it will tap numerous by-roads leading to country which is rapidly becoming settled. The settlers in these districts must have a main road leading to the markets of the diitrict. It is ridiculous to expect that settlers should be forced to use the railway to reach the marketß of their own district because it iB impossible to get there by road, yet such is the case for many miles to the South of Te Kuiti. To those acquainted with the district argument is unnecessary to demonstrate the necessity of road connection and it is to be hoped a strenuous combined effort will be made to induee Government reconition of such an important work. The position of the road to the North of Te Kuiti is somewhat different inasmuch as there is a possibility of reaching Te Kuiti by travelling exactly double the distance which should be travelled were the main road completed. The route was surveyed between Te Kuiti and Hangatiki yearß ago, but no effort has been made to carry o»i the work • Only three or four miles of construction work is necessary in order to com. plete the connection and open up a northern outlet from the town. Excellent dairying country would be tapped and the road to the Waitomo Caves shortened by many miles. It ib an'amazing thing that the townspeople have not banded together in an attempt to obtain these facilities which are of such vital importance to the commercial progress of the place. It is certainly high time decided action was taken to that end, and it is to be hoped the efforts will not slacken until the desired end is achieved.