The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1883. ROAD MAKING.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1491, 24 September 1883, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1883. ROAD MAKING.

One of the principal" local industries in the Wairarapa is road making. Some twenty or thirty thousand pounds are spent annually,,.in this district on

work of this; character, and yet with all our experience, aH'our .Counties, Road Boards, Boroughs, and Town Boards, our roads are made, very

badly, Perhaps it would be more correct to say that they are only partially made, .No road can be considered finished I'■ till'.' it' presents a smooth hard surface! : I'd'-the .Wairarapa we are, both in town and country,' absolutely without a properly: finished-. road. When a new line is constructed a certain anfount ,ot .rough, and often inferior.metal is placed upon it,, and this is deemed to be the completion of it. The task of breaking up and consolidating the metal, instead of being performed by hammers and rollers, is left' to private enterprise!'' Waggons, carts, buggies, add, horses hoofs, in time bring the' surface of the road fairly smooth, but tho cost of finishing a road in this fashion must.be enormoijsly expensive, It is good for wheelwrights and blacksmiths,..but if the cost of it were set down against the road it would probably amount to double the original value of formation and metalling. In this age of machinery it is evident that by calling in;thea)d 4 of stone-breaking machines, and .rollers' the work of road construction'could be performed at a considerably savingi due regard being had to efficiency. Our present roads are not by any means efficient. We do not know a single-one either in North or South' Waharapa .that is frae.from ruts, unless it be some new; patch where rough metal has been laid. 'lt is extremely-probable that if £20,000 is spent annually in: the Wairarapa at leasf ,£5,000 out of it is wasted and thrown away by the unsatisfactory methods adopted in constructing roads. The reason of this is

that the work of road making is divided between at least eleven different local bodies, and not. a single one of them is strong enough to adopt the bestmethods and bring suitable machinery into.use. The multiplication of local bodies'is a serious drawback to road : making in the Wairarapa, and it is well worthy the consideration of the representative men of the district whether some basis of union could not be agreed upon by which improved systems of construction could be adopted. . The welfare of

the district as a whole is lose sight of, ai)4 some ol our local bodies appear, to think that their special, mission. is to fight ■ each other, We would ( gladly see both in town and country a growing public feeling in favor of bettor roads, cheaper roads, and more roads, If it pays to .make'a hundred miles of railway through the Wairarapa at an average cost of £5,000. per mile, good' roads at £3OO or £4OO per

mile ought to he remunerative, There is a question about the ultimate value of the railway,, hut there'can: lie .'no.' doubt dfroads.beingprofitaljlejif they,, are laid off in a .'right direction, and' 'ooMtfucted economically and on right principles. The question, of {improved road construction is one that should be faced I Our roads are' scarcely what they should be, notwithstanding the' fact that we possess experienced and skilful engineers, It is not the latter, but the local bodies which employ them and fix the conditions under which they work who are really responsible for inferior road construction.