The Sun FRIDAY, APRIL, 20, 1928. THE GREAT SOUTH ROAD

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 334, 20 April 1928, Page 8

The Sun FRIDAY, APRIL, 20, 1928. THE GREAT SOUTH ROAD

'I’IIE Main South Road from Auckland to Hamilton is the * greatest traffic highway in New Zealand. It is the chief means of communication between the City of Auckland and the rural centres of a province that now contains one-third of the population of the Dominion. In some respects it is more important than the railway. Road transport is more mobile, quicker and more efficient. For timber, coal, refrigerated produce, stock, etc., the railway will always be more suitable, but for the quick despatch of general merchandise direct to the country store or the farm the railway cannot compare with the motor. From Papakura, where the concrete ends, to Hamilton many portions of the road are a disgrace. Users of the road suffer great personal discomfort; and vehicles, whether used for passenger or goods traffic, depreciate twice as fast as they would on a road with a decent surface. The feelings of the motorist, however strong they may be on the subject, usually find expression in a letter to the newspapers with a plaintive inquiry as to why the Automobile Association doesn’t do something. Recently The Sun lias been giving the views of the county authorities who share the responsibility with the Highways Board for construction and maintenance. Several of them are wrestling with the problem of how to make tlie ratepayer’s pound do about twenty pounds worth of road work, and it is not surprising that complete failure is the result of their efforts. The job has long ceased to be one for a county council assisted by Highways Board’s subsidies. In a few short years a revolution in transport lias taken place, and new conditions demand new methods. One of the counties concerned, thinking in terms of wagons and teams, says it cannot afford to make a road that will stand heavy traffic which travels at a greater speed than 20 miles an hour. Hence it passes a by-law which is upheld by the Supreme Court, to slow down traffic and hamper the business of the whole province! One can hardly blame the council. It represents a few farmers who cannot afford to be rated to death for a national undertaking, but it is time that the county councils concerned and the business community of Auckland got together and made the Government recognise that a way must be found to solve the problem. There is not much difference between the cost of a modern road and a railway, but the operating cost of the road is vastly cheaper and the producers of the Auckland Province and the general public will be severely penalised and handicapped until this road is put down in concrete or bituminised macadam for its entire length. A portion of the vast sum being collected in the shape of petrol and tyre taxes should be made available for the work without delay. To stipulate that a rural local authority should provide either one-third or one-fifth of the cost of a job that is going to run out at about £IO,OOO a mile is ridiculous. The very ratepayers asked to burden themselves to this extent have already paid their share of the special taxes imposed to provide funds for road construction. Why should they pay twice?