TARANAKI ROADS.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 28 February 1918, Page 3

TARANAKI ROADS.

AND THE NORTH

VISIT OF WAITEMATA COUNTY CHAIRMAN TO TARANAKI.

MR. H. AITKENHEAD has just returned from a visit to Taranaki district, and informs us that he is sreatly delighted with the roads down that way. The following extract from the Hawera "Star" should be of interest to our ratepayers : —

a -x, ,conversation with Mr H. Aitkenhead the we]l-known farmer and breeder of draught horses of Helensville, who acted as judge of that class of stock at the Show, the eternal question that we are m the habit of putting to all visitors-'What do you think of our roads ?'—was put. f ,,™^ead is Chairman ot the Waitemata County Council and consequently is very much interested in Taranaki methods ot road construction and maintenance. So much so that he is accompanied by his county engineer (MrG.A. Jackson), and 7 *X? making full enquiries under the able guidance of Mr J Holloway, manager of RestarLtd. Wanganui. , ", In J repl y' Mr Aitkenhead said he had noticed that the question was invariably put with a complacent smile of assurance, well knowing what the answer will be, and no wonder. He had heard a lot about Taranaki roads .and they fully deserved their reputation. The miles and miles ot perfectly smooth iuirface that he had travelled over between New Plymouth and Hawera were a revelation to him. He said there was nothing of the sort up JNorth, excepting a couple of streets in the city of Auckland. t l am so impressed,' he added, with your roads, that I have tully made up my mind to move in the direction of adopting similar methods in our county And as a result of inquiries that 1 have made I see no reason to prevent us making as great a success of tarred roads as you have. I should like,to take this opportunity of thanking the members and staffs of the various local bodies for the kindly and cordial manner in which I have been met and supplied with full information, and also for the further information which I intend to get before leaving Taranaki.

Not only your roads, but your system of administration appeals to me. You are right up-to-date in all respects. Your boroughs are replete with all modern conveniences, and everything in connection with your local bodies -goes to prove that you have the right men in the right place. "'I am not quite happy about your toll-gates; they seem to carry one back to the good old days of Merrie England, and one halt expects to see Dick Turpin with his mask step out from some hedge and present a pair of pistols. But if the toll-gates are necessary to your road construction polipy, then by all means keep on the tolJ-gates. No doubt your good roads are largely responsible for your well-kept farms, which I have noticed everywhere without exception, and the natural corollary of the fine class of stock of every description to be seen on these same farms, which, for condition an d quality, are second to none in the colony. The crowning glory of Taranaki, to my mind, is the happy faces and robust figures of the tanners wives and children, and yet could it possibly be otherwise in such a country run by such astute business men as the laranaki farmers evidently are ?'"