"THE BATTLE OF MAMAKU”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 870, 14 January 1930, Page 8

"THE BATTLE OF MAMAKU”

Sir,— In your issue of the 11th inst. you publish an article dealing with the Mamaku main highway. I, as the representative of the Rotorua Bus Company, took an active part in the agitation to have this road re-classified as a fourth - class road. Having an intimate knowledge of the traffic conditions on this road, also the needs of Rotorua as a town, in respect to road traffic, I should like to point out that some of the statements of Mr. Fitzgerald (Matamata county engineer) are not quite accurate or fair. In the first place you quote him as follows:—“The action has been taken principally to enable the Rotorua Bus Company to run regular services with heavy traffic to Arapuni.” Now I should like to stress this fact, that four-ton traffic is not heavy traffic, but medium traffic, and that the class of machine which we use on this run rarely, when fully loaded, has a total weight exceeding three and a-half tons. If, after expending £58,000 on 14 miles of road, which had already been formed, on which there are no bridges and no heavy grades or large cuttings, Mr. Fitzgerald can only produce a road to carry two and a-half tons (the classification of an ordinary clay road) then I think the money has not been expended to the best advantage. The inconsistency of the whole matter lies in the fact that the road under discussion is the main highway to Auckland (Rotorua’s only outlet to a large city). That the road was declared a main highway was the reason so much money was spent on it yet after this expenditure, Mr. Fitzgerald wishes to grade the road on the lowest class allowed in the Dominion. The contention is absurd. With respect to the 26 miles of sand and shingle road between Tapapa and Cambridge, which Mr. Fitzgerald quotes as being barely, possible to'

keep in order at present, I should like to remind him that this road is not affected at all by the reclassification of the Mamaku Road. It is now being used for loads greatly in excess of four tons. Mr. Fitzgerald’s contention that the opening of 14 miles of road on the Mamaku main highway is going to affect the by-roads of Matamata is surely not meant to be taken seriously. He is probably having a little joke all to himself. You quote him as saying that some of their by-roads will have to be reclassified from four tons to two and a-half ton loads. Mr. Fitzgerald admits their by-roads have been carrying fowr tons successfully to date, but because one 14-mile stretch of the main highway between Rotorua and Auckland has been classed as good as their by-roads, then these secondary roads must be immediately lowered in classification. It is hard to see why a road which has been carrying four-ton traffic should have been affected in its carrying capacity because another piece €>f road has been brought up to the tame standard. Mr. Fitzgerald’s quotation about the dog and the bone could be improved upon. I refer to the story of the dog and the manger. The proposed application to the Minister of Transport to lower the classification of certain roads in the Matamata County, which Mr. Fitzgerald mentions m your paper, is more than likely an attempt on the Matamata County’s part to block through traffic to Arapuni of a four-ton nature, and as that happens to be the chief attraction from Rotorua, I look upon their application with a certain amount of suspicion. Hoping that you will do me the favour of publishing this, as the matter is of great importance to the fir® I represent, and also to the town ot Rotorua generally. ALBERT SMITH. Chairman of Directors, Rotorua Bus Company, Ltd. J