Citizens Say—

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 397, 4 July 1928, Page 8

Citizens Say —

(To the Editor.)

A MOTORISTS DILEMMA

Sir, — The City Council, which has surrounded us with a barbed-wire entanglement of traffic by-laws, might well give a little attention to regulating its own traffic. Motoring up Parnell Rise yesterday, we were confronted by a tar-spraying plant and a horse and dray drawn up 4>ll opposite sides of the street, blocking the roadway, with the exception of a narrow opening just about big enough to let a car through. Now, Sir, it is hard enough to coax a jaza buggy up the Parnell Rise at any time, without having Messrs. Baildon and Co.’s renovating plant monopolising the roadway. I would suggest that where it is necessary for the corporation to have two or more of these vehicles on tho streets at the same time and place, they should be parked one behind the other. If it happens to me again, I am going to lay an information against the council for obstructing traffic. GREAT SOUTH ROAD.

TAKAPUNA LOAN PROPOSAI >

Sir, — Experience has proved to Takapuna people that concrete roads have raised the rates and caused impoverishment of the borough, the wholesale dismissal of workmen, and almost complete abandonment of work on footpaths and side streets. Their main justification is where maintenance charges equal, or exceed, loan charges on concrete. This test applied to the proposed concreting of the road round the lake shows that the loan charges will exceed the maintenance by £ 600 a year, and, in view of the desperate need of every penny to rescue our footpaths and side streets from their present condition, there is a growing feeling that the concreting of Taharoto and Shakespeare Roads is an improvement that must stand over for the present, in view of other more pressing claims to the income of the borough. The road round the lake carries a comparatively small traffic, and it seems better that we should carry on for three or four years as at present. The traffic from Xorthcote could be discouraged from using the.road round the lake by erecting a large sign at the corner of Xorthcote and Taharoto Roads, “Turn to the right, concrete road to Milford.’* It would mean only a few hundred yards extra to travel via Hurstmere Road, and the wear and tear on the weak portion of the road could be reduced enormously. A big point is made of keeping good faith with the people round the lake by completing their road. As, the whole of the £IO,OOO unemployment loan was spent on concreting this road as far as Northcote, which although not in Milford, is an integral part of the road round the lake, there is no question that faith has been kept. The trouble is that we have “silk stocking” ideas and only an “all cotton” income, and there appears to be a tussle between the detrimental effect on the tyres of buses, only some 15 per cent, of which are unprovided with concrete roads, and the detrimental ef-

feet on the health of women and children who, in all parts of the borough, are forced to wade through mud and water to reach their homes. The Main Highways Board proposes to help Northcote Borough to concrete Its main road to the Takapuna boundary. Would it not be prudent to wait and see whether assistance can be obtained from the board for the Takapuna work also. If we rush this expenditure now we will lose the chance of aSO per cent, subsidy. Takapuna may not at present be entitled to assistance, but the petrol tax is a new thing, and the conditions under which assistance is granted are almost sure to be extended, so that we would be well advised to wait a year or two on these grounds alone. If ratepayers decide that the concreting of this road is not warranted at present they need have no fear in turning the proposals down. It is the council’s fault that we have to vote for all or none, and, should the poll be an adverse one, it will be the duty of the council to resubmit, at an early date, those items on which there is general agreement. I would vote for every propoal except this concreting one. In addition, the council will be able to include the £2,000 necessary to complete Inga Road bridge as a loan and thus obviate its expressed intention to take the money out of next year's revenue, a proceeding that will further rob our side streets and footpaths of their bare requirements. RATEPAYER.

WHY ANOTHER MILL-STONE?

Sir, The statement that the Government has decided to build a “desert railway” from Rotorua to Taupo must have come as a pleasant shock to the owners of the arid acres along the banks of the Waikato River. Why should they be considered when more profitable railways could be built nearer Auckland? There are two which would immediately become paying propositions instead of a dram on the already overtaxed lines through wastes of country from which there is no hope of deriving an income, let alone the interest charges on the initial outlay. Why not begin the line across the Hauraki Plains from Pokeno to Paeroa? This could be constructed for the same amount as the line from Rotorua to Taupo. Both would be 55 miles in length, but the Pokeno-Paeroa project would not be a drain on the Dominion. It would save the railways 50 miles of haulage on trains now running from the Bay of Plenty and Thames via Hamilton to Auckland, as it would be a direct route from the Bay of Plenty through a fertile country to Auckland. _ Tbis line has an added advantage in that the route has already been surafmA, and - th ®^ e are fcw engineering difficulties in the way. Moreover, is the Government so silly that it imagines tourists will travel by a slow goods train, stopping at every little station and wandering through acres of manuka-covered country when they can comfortably cover the distance between —a- .(Continued in next column.)

Rotorua and Wairakei in a few hours in a service car? I hardly think so. What is more, I believe that the Government recently constituted the Rotorua-Taupo road a main highway. It seemed st> when I last travelled along it a few' months ago. Men were w T or king at short intervals, a road grader was busily employed and the road itself was as smooth as a billiards table all t. j way. The only agricultural country which will be touched by the proposed railway will be the Reparoa Settlement, which at present is admirably served by road. Would it not be a more sensible proposition either to tackle the PokenoPaeroa railway or to go ahead with the Auckland underground, which would employ a large number of men and keep them near their homes and families? Surely there are sufficient nonpaying lines in the country already without adding another mill-stone for the next generation, which looks M though it will have to be a race of super-men to carry the legacy of trouble now being prepared for it? G.

OPEN-AIR SCHOOLS

Sir, — I was pleased to see on June 21 tlireport of a deputation to the Auckland Education Board, concerning open-air schools. The new model schools which the chairman. Mr. A. Burns, referred to are, I presume, of the same type as those in Canterbury. Our critic ism® of these schools are: 1. That they are too expensive to allow of old out-of-date schools which are injurious to the children’s health being replaced quickly enough. 2. Children require a life of activity in the open air. The closed schoolroom prevents the possibility of even a short run between lessons. 3. On one side the rooms ventilate into a corridor, which is unsatisfactory, and perfect ventilation cannot thus be secured. 4. The schools are noisy. Xoise travels along "the corridors. (In two of our latest schools in Christchurch there is not even a sound-proof floor between the two storeys!) The openair bungalow classroom of the Fendalton type has none of these faultsThe children are the country’s greatest asset and we must leave no stone unturned to make the school period a tim p of building up constituions, and no* putting a strain on them. To this e® d the open-air school is a great step i® advance. J. S. DAWE Hon. Secretary. Open-Air Schools League. Christchurch.

EPSOM RATEPAYERS’ ASSN.

Sir, — I was very pleaded to see by the papers that a ratepayers’ association has been formed in * Parnell, and 1 would lik© to see a similar one started in Epsom. The necessity for them i ? very great at the present time. The council seems to ignore the interests of the ratepayers on every occast®** I was speaking to a ratepayer of On® Tree Hill the other day, and he informed me that his rates for the current year would be £4 less than la?* year; quite a pleasant surprise in tbi? time of stress. One of the great®* 1 mistakes Epsom ever made was joining the city. My advice, at th* time, was to join with One Tree Hnj and to form an extended road boar? or borough. We would then have b*® the benefit of a splendid water supph* and would probably now be getting a substantial reduction in our rates, i®' stead of a rise. Even if the nianag®" ment of the council was fairly sati®" factory, there would still be a gre®* benefit to be derived from having * strong ratepayers’ association in FP* som, so that any complaint to be roam could be reviewed by that body an passed on to the council. I would “ only too pleased to assist in the f° r " mation of one, if others would do little as well. EPSOM RATEPAYER-