TRAFFIC RESTRICTIONS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 136, 30 August 1927, Page 7

TRAFFIC RESTRICTIONS

THAMES-MERCURY BAY ROAD “To take away a man’s means of livelihood is a serious thing, and that the person concerned should make vehement protest is only natural.” The above caustic remark may be applied to the Public Works Department’s request that heavy traffic on the Coromandel-Whitianga Road be prohibited. To this demand the Coromandel County Council will not agree, but instead it calls upon the department to put the road in order. The road in question is the main road between Thames and Mercury Bay, and the -only outlet to Mercury Bay settlers. The bad portion of the road is between the turn-off on the Thames-Coromandel Road, four miles below the latter township and Mercury Bay, a stretch of IS miles. Three years ago heavy rains and consequent slips made this road impassable, and the repair work has not proved a success. At the present time lorry drivers often have to dig their motorvehicles out of the mud.

Within the last six months a new industry lias come into existence at Mercury Bay, which in reality is the aftermath of the fishermen’s strike in Thames. Unable to obtain sufficient fish at Thames, Messrs. Taylor Bros, and the Thames Fisheries sent to Mercury Bay for their supply, and the variety and quality was so good that they have sent their own boats and men to take up permanent residence at the Bay, and a valuable industry has been firmly established. The fish caught at Mercury Bay is brought into Thames by motor-lorries, and there prenared for market. It is these lorries that the Public Works Department maintains should be taken off. If this request is acceded to, it means that an injustice will be done to those men, and their dependants, whose only means of livelihood is fishing. It is estimated that 100 people would be affected by the result. A GRANT APPLIED FOR The settlers of the district are applying to the Government for a grant of £4OO toward the repair and maintenance of the road. The general opinion in the Coromandel Peninsula is that it is preposterous and iniquitous to even contemplate closing the road, and an injustice would be done to the inhabitants of the Baj*. LOCAL BODIES TO TAKE ACTION The Thames Chamber of Commerce, and all the local bodies in the neighbourhood are taking the matter up, and protesting strongly against this want of forethought on the part of the Public Works Department. MERCURY BAY Mercury Bay and Whitianga are .one and the same place; the former name was bestowed by Captain Cook, and the latter is the Maori appellation. The maintenance of the road under discussion should not be costly, as there is an abundance of metal in the locality. In the near future this road will form a portion of the main highway. The fishing industry, in conjunction with the rapid strides dairying is making in the Mercury Bay district, has created an atmosphere of prosperity, and to put restrictions on the oniy means of communication is placing a hardship on a thrifty and hard-work-ing settlement. The distance from Thames to Mercury Bay by the present route is 51 miles, and motor-lorries take five hours for the journey. The Government is constructing a road via Tapu and Coroglen, which will shorten the route by two hours. Last summer several cars made the journey from Thames via this road.