The Wairarapa Daily. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1884. THE MEMBER FOR WAIPAWA.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1603, 7 February 1884, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1884. THE MEMBER FOR WAIPAWA.

The industrious member for Waipawa, Mr Smith, has recently addressed his constituents at Woodvillc, on local government questions,- He has advocated the suspension of counties, the abolition of engineers in constructing roads, he has opposed tho opening tip of crown lands by roads prior to settlement, preferring that tho-Koad Boards do this work subsequently' out of ut Government grant, Mr Smith figures admirably as the champion of of Road Boards, more especially of bush Road Boards, but he scarcely impresses us as a colonial representative. No one in this community is opposed to settling bush lands in the best possible manner but few, we trust, go as far as Mr Smith and narrow every consideration down to a small road board point of view. Important questions of making and maintaining through lines do not appear to trouble Mr Smith, Ho is apparently indifferent to the consideration of what is tk more economical method of constructing and maintaining good roads. His policy is to give full'powers and all the money possible to road boards and let them do what they like untrammelled by engineering advice. The experience of most men-who have watched the operations of small Road Boards in the Wellington Provincial •District during the past twenty years is % that,a huge proportion of the lines .constructed by them have been badly, and expensively made. \Ve have hoped that a time was approaching when the money, devoted to roads Would he more wisely expended than it has been in the past; that a work which, in the past, would be scamped at three pounds per chain, would, in

the future, be made honestly at two. With men liko Mr Smith in power the prospect of improved methods being introduced is all but hopeless In his speech at WoodviJle he endeavored to set one class of settlers.against another, instead of uniting all irr promoting the general interests of the district, His programme :was a simple one, viz,: Eoad Boards with Government money to. spend. Wo have nothing to say against Eoad Boards. They have, when they have been constituted on a sufficiently large scale,' done good work in the past, and it matters little whether roads be constructed by a County or a Eoad Board staff, provided that they are well and cheaply made. The old type of Eoad Board in which engineering skill is dispensed with, is nob the model that we would desire to see re-established, and yet it is apparently the model which Mr Smith, of Waipawa, would set up. The North Island is admittedly a long way behind the Middle Island in material progress, and it is only by adopting improved methods that we havo a chance to catch up with our Southern neighbors. A man like Mr Smith, however popular he may make himself with small farm settlers, will rotai'd by the narrowness of his views the general progress of the Waipawa district.