THE BAGLAN AND WIARA ROAD.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 847, 20 November 1877, Page 2

THE BAGLAN AND WIARA ROAD.

l efctw aUuded to m u oar ~o'»rr «slifmaa of to day by Mr J C Johns one, and which we re-iuierc at tun reqaeat from oar is me oUrily4sh.lß74 Sia,—Tae Waikato Tiller'having repeatedly to the state: of the road f rom _to. VVaikato, par. tnps.you may consider the accompanying copy- 'dV a l 'letter ito the obmmiaßtboxr of Waikato of onffioient public intelreat to marie publication.-.At oie time we were told that. * Todd's lne' le*diug to Alexandra was to bo made, as another that * Heapuy Y line * to - Kbinokbi iki,. eyen yet more cirbditoua; was to be eommenead,? while the shore direot line .via. KjOyangi ie not even examined iby our engineer. Tne matting of ,the> road ia all in all Co ihis ioug neglected district whiohtHs not. bad a farthing of the Vogei lo ins expended upon it, ; thyße not in tho secret it ia strange that tne preaeas roid is. far longer and in worse repair than waa the track iuuae cwenfcy-oue ye*ro ago. There is even the abaurd snpjositiuu taat bur surveyors 'are jotiioa* of Maori -' akiil, forgetting that Maori knowledge iof -the f payees hi* been acquired . duant; generaciona, aud that our mi.i'ary eugtneeis a-lmic that the beautiful ffortifioatipus of P.ko Piko'and Pa Tikangi: taught .them a I'eßSon. The making of this road is of considerable to Waikato. To ma'iy of the riaiu'g geaeratim the sea mußSibe only/a aame,for, they have not seej it, an I were a ahort'oarc road mad-' to WhktAwba'aj We should iu summer have many visitor* 'or aea bathing an i fishing. And a maiket* would be found for delicious fish of harbour, wbi are ao superior to those of -hiß+at Qj*bh. -I am, 4c, J C Johnstonb. \.>"

ToHarote, R»g]ao, I J>ue 30, 1874. ' Te Sarofce, Raglan, 'Janu»ry27, 1874. • Sifij—The brevity of your Visit to Raglan having preventod inj waiting a |'on •''yiouj : I'• have r tbe honor to addles yoo on, the subject of the proposed Waipa road. My apology for troubling you is, that I am the oldest European residem hare; have always takeu an interest hi ihe subject, and have paid even more money tor 4and any other person in the dstrict, and ,1 ; m»y ads, the hope that if thd contemplated, road'he., |ade, it iu some degree restore" the" value :of property in: this ■, district reduced •« nonentity bv the war >irid subsequent oog ! eci. ' .There are rtf kno«vn track from Kagliri to'Waioa :—No 1 via K*ra kariki; No. 2 vi* Karakariki; No. 3vi Ko Uo«; No. .4: vi* Ko Orangi ; No. 2 via Ko Te Rua Harore; No ,o via Toka Hou-hou. . ■.•' No. 1 Passes this house, iu "tri - Bhortestvotd, but could ,notba uiai< passable■ for ;wh«eled carriages, 'No, 5 Surveyed by M»jor Heapuy more than two years ago is ibrbiddi.igly oircaitous "bridges' required very numerous, and was fnd is objected to by, the Hauha. natives. 'No. 3 This wa* the road m use in 1858 1 is a con iderably shorter and better Hue thin the present, there were few bridges, but it. fell into disuse,. because at the present it : c oases the Waitstuna river. A bridge of ; one.span could not be built by Maoris. ' No. 4. Those Mioris best aoqu anted with the country assert that this is the <-most,- practicable p ss,for a cart road. Io the year 1857, my neighbour and i ioud tbo cbie£ Te Vaiene, Wuitetuna, consented to mtk a oat road for this puss tor £201). il. strofitdy recommended ; the nutter, to the notice of Gr pernor Colonel Thom« Groro Brown, .among, other .reason'.« u gingthe. necessity of the road froin a military point of view. In reply I was informed that, his Excellency |regretteq that there were .0/ funds available/ for the purpose. In 1859 i he Maoris at my request a*ain con«entel t» m ike this r<>ad, hue would uoi iccp les-1 la i frio3 for the work./ His Honor J. Williamson, Eiqtv,;Superi \teiu d-nt, kindly placed the money on the eatimV-et, but d uring ,my temporary absence from Raglan in vlaron, his tlon.»r vi 4 ed ttfglari, and was p rs aded by : -o'ha of ihV .redden s-.t.tjat ,it would be for toe interest of the pi oe *n<i ihmsel»es to build brilges of sawn timber in the settlement. His Honor conaented.iand t'.ey builctvro and a bait bridges; What have beer, the value of the proposed road in 186 -63 64 tis difficult to estimate. ' No. sis 3 >id to be the second best piss. * No. 6 The present read was opened about years ago to enable the Alums io built a bridge of ohespn across tt.s Waitetuna river. The hill is Btoe,>.and the limestone or jppiag out make it "more slippery than No. 3 line, while the bridg s are more numerous and the road several miles longer, ~ 'Among the nitives aaqu 'dnied with the passes areHukopo Te Ngori, residing at WhitaWhata, and Wi Ateue, at Takapiu ui, near Raglan, and 1 wou'd suggest that the passes be ex>» mined before a line be decided on—l have,&c,. 'J. 0 JOHNSTONS. •J Mackay, Juu., Ksqr., f Commissioner, Waikato.'