Road to the Heads.

Patea Mail, 5 June 1882, Page 2

Road to the Heads.

Some facts about this proposed road have not been publicly stated. Ratepayers should try to understand both sides of a

question before voting for or against a public loan.

Main drainage cannot be carried down Bedford-street without expensive iron pipes. The rapid fall of flood water would burst up any clay pipes. We have seen a strong brick sewer burst up with flood water on a much less fall than; Bedfordstreet. The cheapest plan is that of the Engineer, who proposes to carry a clay pipe towards the cliff along Egmont-street south. If pipes have to be laid, a track must be cleared ; and the . only difference is that the Engineer proposes to clear the track-over the pipe 15 feet wide instead of 7. This difference will cost less than £l4O ; and for it there will be a roadway cleared and clayed 16 feet wide. It is about this trifling improvement that some persons'make, absurd statements ,as to the cost of a road to the Heads. Party spirit blinds their judgment. -The drainage pipes have to be laid along that lino, say what you will. It;is easy, and we think desirable, to make the track along the pipe-line wide enough for carts. That part of the town is lost for want of a decent track. We believe there will be some good buildings along.that line, part of the way, when a road is made passable The street has also to be levelled full width as far. as the Cricket Ground, the sand being required for Bedford-street. That improvement, needs'no defence. No person has stated, but the fact ought to be known, that the pipes and the “ road ” are not to be carried even half

way to the beads. They are marked on the plan to;go just pne-third past the Cricket' Ground, and when the pipes and the “road ” reach the sandy waste, they stop : the drainage is there to be discharged on the sand to fertilise it. If it

becomes offensive at some future time, the drain can be carried the shortest route to the cliff. By clearing a track 15 feet wide for 300 yards past the Cricket Ground, the harbor reserve will become valuable building land, and this road will go through the best of the reserve. The increased value of that endowment for the harbor will be a wise thing to secure at a slight expense, and the money will come back to the borough in rates. ,