THE GREAT SOUTH ROAD.

New Zealander, Volume 10, Issue 887, 14 October 1854, Page 3

THE GREAT SOUTH ROAD.

We have been requested to give publicity to the following Petition 'which has been presented to His Honour the Superintendent. When we consider the ail but impassable condition of that portion of the road to which the petitioners solicit the attention of His Honour; when we bear in mind the great amount of traffic passing along it ; when we reflect that it is the sole highway to one of the finest and most improving districts in the Province ; and above all when we consider that strenuous assistance can only be made available before the hay and potato harvests commence, —we heartily hope that means may be found to afford a prompt compliance with the anxious prayers of the industrious and enterprising settlers. To His Honour the Superintendent of Auckland. The Memorial of the undersigned Inhabitants and Owners of Property in Otahuhu and the neighbouring districts, Humbly Shewed), — That during the whole of foe winter the traffic between Auckland and the various parts of the Southern District has been seriously impeded, and at times almost entirely suspended, ,ia consequence of. the dangerous state, of the roads ; and that your memorialists, in common with many other persons have thereby suffered great inconvenience and no slight amount of pecuniary loss. That the portion of road most urgently requiring attention is that part of the Great South Road which commences at the Scoria Causeway, commonly called v Ormsby’s Bridge,” and extends as far as Mr. Waters’, at Papatoitoi. Nearly the whole of this road is fenced on both sides, and the traffic is consequently confined to the reserved line ; while the soil is in many places of such a nature that the surface breaks up at the beginning of the winter, and docs not harden again until the summer sets in. That at the present moment a considerable amount of labour might be obtained in the interval between the potato planting and the harvest, and though the road is just now too soft to admit of the advantageous employment of labour, jet it would be desirable to begin immediately to prepare the metal, so that, as soon as the season shall permit, the forming and metalling may be commenced and proceeded with simultaneously. Your memorialists would respectfully impress upon your Honour the great importance of this road, arising from the fact that it forms the only means of land communication between the town and several extensive and fertile districts, containing a large amount of acreage already under crop, with the certain prospect of an immediate and rapid increase. They therefore beg your Honour to cause the necessary steps to be taken for an early commencement of this most necessary work. [Here follow 107 signatures.]