ROADING THE PLAINS.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXII, Issue 2781, 26 April 1911, Page 2

ROADING THE PLAINS.

SOME OF THE WORK.

The possibilities and potentialities ot the Hauraki Plains are now becoming wider known, and people are waking up to the fact that the immense area of land once known as the Piako Swamp will in a short space of time become splendid fanning country. Already a number of settlers are scattered about in various parts of the plains, but their chief handicap is the want of roads. The cry of the backblocks settler is always for roads ; he wants to be able to carry his produce to the markets, and thus reap his reward for his hard toil. There are several Government grants for roads on the Hauraki Plains, and the expenditure of a good deal of this money has been entrusted to the Ohinemuri County Council. With a view to inspecting the location of the proposed roads Mr F. Strange (a member ot the County Council) and Mr C. Bray (the County engineer) made a visjt of inspection to the plains^ returning on Monday afternoon. The work will be put in hand almost immediately, and tenders will probably be invited for the June meeting of the Council. It is practically all formation work on fairly high ground, and it can with advantage

be carried out in the winter time,

One of the roads on which money is to be spent is the Mangawhera Road, for which there is a Government grant oi ,£620. This road when made will give the settlers access towaids Tahuna. A line of road, of which this is a portion, is laid out from Tahuna right down as far as Ngarua, It will be a formed road over high land, and there will be some fairly large cuttings to be made. The Kaihere Road, for which there is a grant of runs from the County boundary to the Waikaka-Waitakaruru Road, and the outlet lor tne settlers m this vicinity will be to Ohinewai. Portion of this road (about 60 chains) has already been formed, and along the rest of it there is now a track eight feet wide. The grant will be spent in making a dray road for the full width.

A road that is 6t vital interest to Paeroa township is the 7 one that will eventually go from Tirohia to Tahuna. In dry weather it is possible to walk along this line of road from the Waihotf River, opposite the Tirohia railway station, to Tahuna. Portion of this road irom Tirohia through the Awaiti Block is already made, this porti6n being known locally as Butler's Road. From the end of this road there is a big drain right between the Piako and Waitoa Rivers, and a substantial grant fqr a road along this line is to be spent by the Public Works Department. The spending of a grant to iorm half-a-mile of road on the opposite side of the Piako River, has been entrusted to the County Council, and this road will give settlers access to the present Morrins-ville-Tahuna Road. There is also a grant of .£125 for what is known as Tahuna-Proctor's Road, the spending of the balance ot this grant being in the hands of the Huntly Road Board. A grant of ,£IOO has also been made for a road to give access from Tahuna to sections 2 and 3 of block IX, Waitoa. In conjunction with the Government grants there is also a sum of /430 from " thirds " to be expended, and most of this will be spent in connection with the roads above referred to.

The making of these roads must do much towards opening up the plains, and making the land attractive for intending settlers. The County Council will lose no time in carrying out its share of the work, and if the Public Works Department is equally diligent a considerable step will have been taken towards the roading of the " roadless "

plains,