NOTES BY A TRAVELLER.

Waikato Times, Volume XV, Issue 1249, 1 July 1880, Page 2

NOTES BY A TRAVELLER.

Thk first item I have to note is that the new formation at Mr Leslie's gate is giving proof of better things than predicted of it. The recent rains have caused but very slight damage to the earthworks, and the road is gradually getting firmer. This is satisfactory to the travelling public as well as to the ratepayers. Mystery Creek bridge, the new part and the old, may be described as in t>tatu quo ; but it requires no gift of prophecy to say that the decayed old timber portion will soon tumble into the dark creek below. May no worse disaster happen. It is matter of deep regret that the Eangiaowhia Highway Board did not, when requested, hand over to the Pukerimu Board that mile or so of road between the Ohaupp Hotel and the junction of the Hamilton and Cambridge highways near the school. The Pukerimu folks proposed to gravel and render decent what was last year, and now again is, an exceedingly slushy, tiresome, and ill-conditioned piece of road. A lazy horse on this way would afford anyone so disposed a line opportunity for cursing road and Board and horse together. It is needless to remark that from Ohaupo to Te Awamutu there is now more mud and ruts than travellers wish for. The opening of the railway to Te Awamutu will relieve this road of most of its heavy traffic, and hence a better future is expected for it. The hunchbacked shape of the bridge on the Mangapiko near Te Awamutu is a memorial of the error of erecting it in its present position. The repairs consequent on the sinking of a portion of it through a bed of loose sand and the erection of a fence, to render the approach at one side safe, would cover the additional coat in placing the bridge a few yards fcigUer un,

oil a perfectly secure crossing. Bnt the narrow views of some people prevailed, and hence the hunchback which cannot be straightened. The approaches to the railway crossing at Ohaupo are in a very critical condition, and need immediate attention. Wheeled traffic is by no means safe hero. Fascines with earth covering are badly wanted. Besides, the cutting at the Paterangi side is very narrow, deeply pitted, and generally in as bad a state as could well be imagined. From this to Alexandra there is scarce aught else to chronicle than mud and ruts and slippery hills. But for very danger and unsightliness the cutting now in progress at the Mangapiko bridge, near Alexandra, bears the palm with all ease. It appears as if the Board and the contractor have agreed to render the passage as perilous as possible to man and beast. At one side is the cutting, varying in depth from 2ft. to 6ft., and at the other, a cliff to the river's edge, which cannot be less than 90ft. or 100 ft. Thus a driver is placed between two trapa, Scylla and Charybdis, and steady is the head and hand that will steer safe of the twofold danger. Had the cutting proceeded on the outside along the edge of the cliff, the peril would have been obviated by half, as in that case a high sandbank would be a protection on the inside. It is a marvel that the local Board did not foresee this position and stipulate with the contractor to execute the work in a rational manner. Surely the venerable Jehu who has to face that hideous cutting a dozen times in the week needs to say his prayers and invoke his guardian angel. It is to be hoped your journal will not have to chronicle a disaster at the Mangapiko cutting near Alexandra. Let not darkness overtake any traveller that way. The ways of some Boards need light. Traveller.