NOTES BY A TRAVELLER.

Waikato Times, Volume XV, Issue 1261, 29 July 1880, Page 2

NOTES BY A TRAVELLER.

Enginei;ii or architect lam not ; natheless I feel bound to affirm that the new earthworks at My.steiy Creek will not stand the test either of a scientific eye or of the weather. Gentlemen gf the Road Board ! venture the expense of tome 4ft. moie to its width and height and you shall succeed in removing from it the ugly chaiacter of a limping job. The sinking tendencies of the loose sand will very .soon bung it much lower than its present level, and then it will become an unsightly causeway indeed. I am not an alarmist, and yet I marvel at the non-occurrence of some collision at the approaches to the railway bridge at Oh.iupo. The cutting on the west side — steep, narrow, and muddy, with perpendicular "walls Bft. or 10ft. high — is padly in need of widening. Conveyances fiom opposite hides would be sure to come lo a deadlock here, and yet they may find themselves in the pass unawares, owing to the angles at either end. Moreover, the brie! ire is toituous and at elbows with the road, exhibiting no lanre amount of engineering skill. I frr/i n« iiiair dangerous place. Mr Antony Tm nwoM takos up the nuniiig next as butcher at t'haupo. Strict attention to business will secure him a payable trade, as ii, did for his predecessor, who.se failing health caused him to relinquish hi.3 stand. Under the able management of Messrs Buckland and Hunter, rattle silos euntiuue to flourish at Oh.mpo. The attendance of man and beast improves in piopoitiou as lapse of time obliterates the unpleasant idea of the plouio scare. I believe no fear of infection is, apprehended now for either the homo or the br^tia. What is a surfaceman ? How does he depoit himself ? Is he a paying institution ? ( 1 ) It is apparent to any one ■who tiavels that our roads are disfigured in divers ways. Theie are, for instance, ruts, and slipi, and waterpools, and defective driiuiug, the vlttlh blemishes the smfacetuan is employed to remove, the Board defining his duties, his mm ye, and his mileage. (2) Do you feel anxious to kuow how a surfaceman deports himself 'r Not a few such men have I seen in my d ty, and I am bold to testify that there is nothing noteable, one way or the other, about their deportment. Kely on it that an example of civility and good breeding will not be lost on a .surfaceman. You shall find him sufficiently corteous to return the compliment. Learn to remove from your nimd all terror of such a man. (3) Is he a paying institution ? Of course he is all that, if the old proverb, "A stitch in time saves nine has any force. Highways, now indifferently planned, requne occasional repairs. Where such roads are abandoned to their ov> n devices what strange capers they cut, entailing on Boards far heavier expenses at the close of a bad season than a surfaceman would cost for a whole year. Like a tidy housewife, a surfaceman keeps his road m trim and decent order. Touching such an institution, whioh, I maintain, it would be piofitable for boards, for the travelling public, and for taxpayers, to support, I shall lefram from saying more, unless sharpened up by contradiction. For, some body dso may, perchance, hold opinions on the subject not sequarmg evenly with mine. Who engineered the bridge at the foot of the sand pit over near Stokes' 'r Well, the said budge is now a hunchback, ami', taken together with its dilapidated approaches, it fairly beggais description. Travellers had better look sharp, else the black deep creek beneath " bhall be their winding sheet,' the whxlh Mould not be over pleasant. " Small time sync" that {structure was put up, and already it is but fair t:> &oiuid a warning vote,