ROADS ARE A DISGRACE

NZ Truth, Issue 1177, 21 June 1928, Page 19

ROADS ARE A DISGRACE

Dunedin Brings Despair To The Motorist's Heart (Prom "N.Z. Truth's" Travelling Representative.) "Rattle his bones over the stones, " wrote the poet, but when it comes . to taking an automobile tour through the South Island, the degree io which your bones become dislodged depends largely on the county or borough m which you venture. RIGHT here let it be written that m For the main highway to an impormost cases the borqughs are more tant suburb, the Dunedin-Port Chalat fault than the counties. mers road is a disgrace,, while many In some cases it is unnecessary to df the other suburban thoroughfares read the notice that states: "Woop, are on a par. woop! County boundary ends here; Undoubtedly, the state of the roads Bumble Borough begins," as the pot- m the southern city is a drawback to holes, cavernous and yawning, are suf- its progress and constitutes a heavy ficient guide. handicap on the motor-selling and serHowever, first things flrst, and the vice industry, first thing that struck "N.Z. Truth's" A comparatively timid motorist will travelling representative when he got make as far as Dunedin, but when it his touring car off the Tamahine at comes to getting out of it and on to Picton was the charge of seven shil- Invercargill- the courage of Horatio, lings for wharfage. the driving ability of Ben Hur and Shades of the dear, departed Edward the patience of Job are required to Kelly! It was only three shillings at traverse the section between Dunedin Wellington. and Gore. Some respite fqr a susceptible pocket, Pot-holes on pot-holes; single however, is found when the car begins column, massed formation, two by two to purr along the broad highways and four by four — they lie m ambush through Marlborough and Nelson. everywhere and rush out to smite __, ... . , . „ the invading automobile until its The roads there, considering the jointg cry out perforce to high heaven fact that they are metal, are ex- for mercy> for there is none to be eel lent; so, too, may the west wrun& from the corrugated bosom of Coast be complimented. Mother Earth— or that part, any way, Albeit somewhat narrow, as the con- that comes under the aegis of the tour of the territory legitimately par- Clutha County Cuncil dons, the roads m that -rugged, beau- How the ears of the members of tiful and much-abused part of New that bod y must burn unceasingly! Zealand are all that can be desired, Pass Gore and Southland territory and are kept so by an intelligent sys- begins. Verily, 'tis as the relief of the tern of sectional maintenance. barque that runs out of troubled The highways of , Canterbury are waters into the refuge of a harbor mostly wide and well metalled — and so serene. -J they should be, when the motorist Southland has good cause to be pays fourpence a gallon petrol tax and proud of its main roads, and makes the country is as flat as a billiard- every effort to get the New Zealand table motorist, who is worth far more than There is . a bad stretch between th e average overseas tourist, to trayChristchurch and Ashburton, where an erse them. unnecessary amount of exceedingly Something should be done to heavy river metal has been flung on bring Otago into line, for otherwise the surface, regardless of its binding mU ch of the Southland effort is qualities and without consideration for going — and will continue to go — the grading of the road. Round about f o r naught. - I Timaru and Oamaru roads are excel- _. , .. „ . . ,__, , t Summed up, it may fairly he said that South Island roads are good sixLeaving Palmerston South, bad cylinder jobs with the exception of to indifferent. In Dunedin they Dunedin and Clutha,' where the stantake a turn — a decidedly marked dard ranges from rough four- cylinders j turn — for the worse. to plain milk- cart. J