THE RAGLAN AND WAIPA ROAD.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 582, 12 February 1876, Page 3

THE RAGLAN AND WAIPA ROAD.

Sis,— A mbicriplion hi?ing been made in Ragl m for the purpose of trying to find ihe long desired truck to Wai a via < >rangi, . Messrs Sage and Turner, of Whata What*, have succeeded in fi.idiug tliii track so oftea unsuccessfully looke i for. On the- 2nd in.t, I accompanied them orer the line wlnoli leaves the present road at " Uazlett's" where there isafird accro** the Waitetuna. About ninety yards abore the ford, there U a good mte for a bridge, th>>re being .1 natural a| proach on either side The line crosses a fern pl.vn of a mile aid a half, aud enters the bush where there is a gentle elevation, by which it gain* the water-abed at alow eleva'ion. compared to any other track. The trttuk runs nearly east a d weti, and the detcenb which is moil gradual, O'iramences in an extensive level forest of the nche«t soil which the guides inform me 11 m reserve belonging the Aueklan i Uuivemty, and descends into the Wai pa plain by a long narrow ■pur. Three small outverts would be required on the flit between the Wmtotun* und the range, and on* •mall bridge (abou 8 ieet), and two em till culverts on t le Waipit plain. A soft compact stone similar to the Otago building none crop* out in several plioo* bo tween Whata What** and Wiiitetunn, and near tbe road tut re 11 lime-stone «o much required m Wai pa and Waikato. For the fourth time the General Government abandoned the roal via Maungaokahu on which there wer-* three bridges and three culverts for the presenthorribleandcireuitous track, on wh.ch there are eighteen bridg s between H izlett's and Waipa-The Waitetunabridgehasbeen carriedaway the bite being altogether "unsuitable for a bridge, owing to the rock not admitting piles to be driven a sufficient depth, and many of ihe other bridges being damaged and carriod awivj by the lato floods, it 1* to be hoped that Oovrrnment will have the Waitetuna bridge built on the nite near Huz'ett't and the money that would be required •pout in opouing tho direot track to Wai pa Why Government abandoned the old traok via Maunga o Kahu, w'lich was (ar better and several miles shorter than the present, I have ever failed tj ascertain. Mr Cox ihe ne*ly elected member for Wai pa 11 reported to have snid that he wondered *rhy the Kaolin peop c submitted to being so long kept without a road, tie would have wondered yet more had hu known H>i»i •ume of them from being so long without a road have become to demoraliz'd thai they do not want a road, but would preler to enjoy the u«e of the immense amount -of land unoocupied because Raglan is inaccessible by and. 1 speak feelingly on fhe subject becsi>t« on the present bornb'e track are tho bones of a favotite horse for whtth I refmed £f>o in the hand o* « Waipa settler, and when 1 bought Isnd beie from the General Go>ernmoi>t twenty-three ymrs sgo there was a good and direot road mad* and kept in rapair by thi If torn,

The Eicuse- Maker General, the Honourable Dr P ,llei , is reported to h&we itid to the deputatioa *bo brought th« cUim of Ratlin to a road to his notice when he yiaited Waikato a lew weeks ago, that a road from Cambridge toTaupoiiof more importance Thi* may or miy tut be the caie, but I fail to »cc that it has anything to do w.ta the matter, on the contrary, Kagl-m ha^ peculiar claims to bare the ro-id mud«». We were by the Gi-nernl Government depiired of uik poad nb >nt i y--aia ago, 'iiid not one farthing of|the twenty million loam hia barn expended for our benefit Under lhe«e circunaaumces I think that I am ri^ht in mculctting on iho rwmg generation, fo whom by the way there i« no iui table school hou«e, that it will be their bounden duty to repudiate the loan* they haTe neither borrowed nor benefit*! by. Uopiai; ' l»ai I may see no mere Engliih money squandered on bridges we should be better without, — I am, 4c, J C Johnstonk. tUglan. Feb 9 h, 1876.