MAKURI NOTES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3999, 29 December 1891, Page 2

MAKURI NOTES.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) On Saturday the. 19th the two contracts for metalling tbe road from the cradle to tbe Gorge were let, the price being 2a 4d and 2s sd. When these are done a dray or buggy will be able to go from Pahiatua northward as far as the Toretia Road, and then eastward via Ngaturi as far as the Makuri Gorge. In the Gorge itself one contract of 20 chains has been let to a gang of unemployed, and several more contracts will be let after Christmas. A certain Makuri resident, whom I will style Hornet, has freely criticised County Council doings lately. He maintains that if there is a dangerous bog hole in the County road the County should put up a shingle marked " dangerous'' and cut a track round the baa place, and generally should no/simply form a road and then utterly neglect it. This has in some way nettled the councillors, and at the last meeting Cr Whitcombe moved and carried the following resolution:—" The public, whenever each or anyone of them had a short cut from anywhere to anywhere else immediately publicly potify it for the benefit of any and all those whom it way concern, and that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Makuri township." The resolution is minuted at the bottom in Cr Whitcombe's writing, " Note, this to be sent to Hornet." It seems scarcely credible that such a distinctly " larrikin "outburst could be passed m the presence of men like Bolton and Tylee, and even less credible that it should be seponded by ( Mr Job Vile, yet such was the case. "Hornet" contends that tbe ] County should exercise vigilance, and keep tbe roads open. Now what do , we find at the Gorge. Parties of • unemployed are set to work to blast , along a dangerbustrapk varying froni 20 to 150 feet above the liver, often { overhanging a thm precipice. Do ( the County exercise the least super, j vision ? Unquestionably they ought to t have some officer instructed to keep j himself informed as to what is being r done. Tbo Gorgo is a County road, j and the County should insist on a j clear understanding as to whether j traffic will be blocked or not, and if so s advertise the fact, .so that a man may ] not inadvertently, go out to Makuri ( and then find he cannot return. The > Government would be only too happy to meet the' Council to any reaaoh- ] able extent.

" Hornet" gives as an instauce of County Council stupidity, the Te Aupapa road. It leads from Kaitawa to the Makuri river and then runs parallel with the river for a mile, finally losing itself in the bush. On the other side of the river runs the Makuri Valley road. The County don't make any provision for crossing the river, so traffic leads across by several privnte fords, all bad and none marked by direction posts. If a small sum were spent on thia road a dray could get from Pahiatua up to the Makuri gorge in about three months. There is actually £3OO on the estimates to bridge the river, but I have no idea where the bridge site is, as the river is skirted by dense bush. A temporary ford eould be easily arranged pending the erection of the bridge. Bush fires were starting all round on Sunday, and coming nearer on Monday. Heavy ram came on about 4 p.m. on Tuesday, and now (Tuesday night) the bush fires seem nearly extinct.