The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1885. THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2120, 14 October 1885, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1885. THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS.

The question as to what are the best means to open the country with roads is almost constantly uppermost in the winds of settlers, and within the last two years several eoheuißS )iavo been brought forwavd in this district,

When we look at the country, it is really no matter for surprise that a feeling of intense dissatisfaction preand the only cause for wonder is that there has not been more stir uiade. The. Government has, for instance, taken thousands of pouuds out of'tlie East Coast district, and we doubt whether even the hundredth part of the money has been returned in public ( works in the district, An instance, i which is only one of many, was. related ; by the Chairman of the Wairarapa East County Council yesterday. A ' man bought land in the Mungupakeha, his object being to take firewood off it. . There was a line formed road marked in the plan, and though the purchaser knew that it was only a myth, lie accepted the word of the department that it would be made without delay, It is now some years since he made the purchase, but the road remains as great a myth as ever, and so does the money which the unlucky investor hoped to make. There is scarcely a district in the colony where the same sort of thing does not prevail. It would be hard to ascertain what has become ot the money realised from the land. The bulk of it has either gone to support an expensive Government, or been squandered in works that do not benefit the country districts in any way whatever. During late years—in fact, since the abolition of the provinces—the Government has paid a little more attention to opening the country, and, what was formerly almost unheard of, roads are now actually being made through Crown lands that are about to be put in the market; but the improvement is only like a drop of water in the ocean, and much more is wanted. At yesterday's meeting of the Wairarapa East County Council one more scheme foropeningthe country was submitted in the resolutions moved by Cr Hawkins, which we publish elsewhere. On the whole they appear to us to be more practical than any of the others that have been nlaceil before the public of late. So far as the first resolution, which refers to the opening up of Crown lands is concerned, it will be admitted on all hands that it is necessary in the. interests of the Government and of settlers that the land should be opened before an acre is sold. With regard to the scheme to lend money for a long term, and at a low rate of interest, to local bodies, we are afraid that nothing whatever can be expected from the present Parliament. It is borrowed from Major Atkinson's Roads and Bridges Construction Act, of which it is a modification, which the present Government has seen fit to repeal in favor of a miserable subsidy. For reasons that have never yet been explained, nearly every Government that gets in power has a strong objection to granting local bodies power to borrow, while on the other hand they allow them veiy little wherewith to carry on their functions. A good many useful works were carried out under the Roads and Bridges Construction Act, but it was not allowed to exist long enough. A great deal of interest will attach to the report of the committee to which the resolutions have been referred, and till that is published it would be idle to speculate on the results. Whatever shape these resolutions may eventually take, they will be forwarded to other County Councils in the colony, so that they may be carefully considered before they are formally laid before the Government,