NEEDS OF NORTH

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 866, 9 January 1930, Page 14

NEEDS OF NORTH

BETTER ROADS WANTED HON. E. A. RANSOM’S TOUR From Our Otcn Correspondent WHANGAREI, Wednesday. This morning- the Hon. E. A. Ransom, Minister of Public Works, visited the Furua-Kaikou district, and this afternoon received deputations concerning various roads in the Wliangarei county. The first deputation sought an increase in the grant allocation for th© W liangarei district. Cr. L,. Webb, Whan gar ei county chairman, said the .North Auckland allocations were last year reduced by approximately £13,000. The grants the Xorth had received were not nearly enough for the work the county would like to do. At present the council had £3,500 lying idle, waiting for £ 1 for £ 1 subsidy. It was thought that consideration should be given to the fact that there was £220,000 worth of native land from which no revenue was collected. Yet the Maoris, who had now had to turn to the land for a livelihood, were benefiting by the roads. Cr. Webb proceeded to give instances of the difficulties backblock farmers had in getting manure to their holdings, and urged helping them. Regarding relief works, Cr. Webb said that though many of them were of value, they were not giving relief to settlers who urgently required improved roading facilities. The Minister promised to look into the questions raised, but said the figures quoted concerning the reductions in allocations caused him some alarm. He was doubtful if anything could be done about the extra £I.OOO for this years’ allocations. The districts that were getting an unfair quota were those classed as deteriorated lands. VALUE OF HARBOUR BRIDGE Referring to the Auckland Harbour Bridge, Cr. T. X. Blake said his council had no definite figures to work on. The council thought there might be a charge against the northern counties and maintained that it was directly interested, and the money could be expended to better advantage on Northern roads. In any case, they had no road to get to the bridge if it were built. The Minister assured the deputation there was no cause for anxiety at present. If the Commission now set up decided the bridge was warranted then the council could make the necessary rev>resentations. A subsidy of £2 for £1 for the Kaimamaku Bridge was asked for by Cr. L. Webb. He said the timber in this bridge was not good and it would cost £ 450 to rebuild. His riding only collected £1,200 in revenue and could not possibly give £1 for £l. Assurance was given that no doubt something would be done. USING UNEMPLOYED Crs. .T. T. Walker and J. H. Hayward asked that the Tauraroa-Omana and Maungatapere-Kaigoose Roads be opened up by utilising the unemployed. Cr. Walker said the road had never been opened up and settlers had been there 20 years. The farmers there were returned soldiers and they had to work on the public works. Cr. Hayward said the Kaigoose Road connected the Oakley Road and the district was an old settled locality. One settler had offered £9O toward the formation and another had given the land and would do the fencing. Crs. J. A. S. McKay and T. X. Blake spoke on the desirability of utilising unemployed. Cr. J. A. S. McKay said much of the money being spent on unemployed was not being spent to the advantage of the county. When it was to the detriment of the county, the money should not be spent in opening tourist resorts and providing pleasure for city people. When it was depriving the farmers of urgent necessities it should stop. The roads in many parts had a tendency to drive settlers to the town. Also many men were leaving farm work to go to relief works, where they were paid 14s a day. After endorsing the previous speaker’s remarks, Cr. Blake considered the position would be relieved if men were put on relief works in small gangs, then they would be scattered over the country and if farmers required labour for a few days it would be easily obtainable, where as at present a lot of trouble was experienced in obtaining men. Mr. A. J. Murdoch, M.P., Marsden, congratulated the Minister on his first official visit to the North. There were more clay roads for the mileage in the Xorth than in many other parts, and therefore more consideration should be shown for this part of the country. Mr. Ransom said the previous system of automatic allocation showed him that North Auckland would be one to suffer. He could now see the needs of the North. The relief work in the Whangarei Road district would con- j tinue, but he mentioned that more j money was being spent in this road district than any other in New Zea- J land.

K small camps were established many overseers would be required, and he was not prepared for men to work alone, and be paid 14s a day regardless of the amount of work they did. He had a scheme by which many of the larger relief gangs would not continue when the work was completed, but the men would be placed on farms to do clearing-up work. The expenses would be charged against the farms and repayable by the farmers over a period of years. The Minister then visited Tauraroa to inspect the proposed road connecting Tauraroa and Omana.