Road Making.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 13 June 1890, Page 2

Road Making.

- — —■♦- • It is satisfactory to find the Go-~ vernment are realising .that ■theii' chief duty is to upen up the land for settlement, and to act more as Administrators of a great -state,' tlun as Ministers of a petty kingdom. Outside politics are out of our way fur discussing, and our legislators will do the least harm by leaving these questions severely alone. The Minister for Public Works, in his speech to his constituents, has foreshadowed f-otne of the probable proposal*? ot the Government in .their*., dealing with the land, and he. ex-., pressed the opinion, now very general, that land must be opened up by roads. How this should be done is of course open to criticisfh,' the Minister suggesting, that as it talkes money to bny laud and make roads, they must borrow to do so. as the revenue cou'd not find tbe cost. He proposed, that this should be d,oneby issuing land debentures and rpad de-, benturea, both; apparently : from 'a slip of the tongue, to become * first mortgage charge on the land. To all our readers it will be evident thatthere.' cannot be two first mortgages. However granting that ,he meant that theses charge* sttall-be 'lie first two mortgages on the land thtt result wi'l be the same, though differently expressed. In this view a cen tinman well known. Mr Maca* thtir. the member for Manawatu, strongly differs with him. ashe rightly lnbls that the Col ny pledged itself not to borrow further till after n certain dat**, and if we borrowed on the London market, or in the Colony, by way of denatures, it is borrow ing still, and is a distinc*; bfoaoh of our nrrdert«kin?. Mr Fergus bad sugffoste.l that the first debenture- 1 ? thould be issued to purchase ilje

land*, aft.r it was the land * should^be revalued, and thj v^lue of | th#road to*eadh particuliar sectioff , assessed by a competent officer. By this prdcess the estimated value of i the land pnd ro«d would be lumped and the land would the . be available ko be taken upon deferred payment, : lease or other easy terms, without the chance of the Government re-" ceiving a return of their money exdejjt in the same manner aa they re- ; ceive the price of the land, Ail the se* tiers. wou^d Still lie under the liability of local bodies rating them to maks' roads ia other, parts of tho, dißttiet. It is no ■wtrndei* therefore * that Mr Macarthur, who haa had a very large experience in local boards administration suw where the weak spot was, denounced it, and suggested another plan. We may notice, by the way, that because he has done so he has been accused of being disloyal to his pai ty, because he is unable to see that every thing that they propose ie good. The suggested amendment to this scheme is practical and sensib c, Mr MacartW at once with* drawing thie. land from liability ior ratea to outside bodies for roads, as the body empowered to construct roads won. d have no liability, in respect to this particular distriot where rpads would be made by the Government. Every reasonable person will admit the fairness of this proposition. Ha then suggests that as the settlers -would have, in any case, to pay % the roads, and. under his proposal would get them at once, they should be specially rated until the. whole sura advanced was repxid in»>j Woare not quite clear .where the.mon'iy is to come from,. unless it is intended to raise the mousy as is done by the Bond Board's now-, under a special . Local Bodies Lpans. Act. Wo may be to d tbat theie is a very little .difference betweeo the Minister's and Mr Macarthur's proposals, but wbat- litt c there is, .sb^w* the practk-ai know'edge of the subject to be. wiih the latter. The Minister would wait for th« r<*turn of his advance for an indefinite term, and 'leave his occupiers free to be rated unnecessarily, Mr Macarthur fixes a titne, and gets the loan repaid, by such a simple process as securing a payment which would have ot'ier 'Wfce gonS elsewhere. We shall be able to refer to this quesfi6n again , when the Bill cootaining the Minis- j ter's scheme is brought- 1 before Parliament.