The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1909. THE ROADS QUESTION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2416, 3 February 1909, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3,1909. THE ROADS QUESTION.

If the loan proposals regarding roads arc carried at to-day’s poll, the ratepayers will he committed to the expenditure of a large sum of money totalling £41,000 without any reasonable assurance that they will get value for their money. There is a hare possibility that this large amount may bo spent under the direction of ilie present Mayor, who is notoriously incompetent in regard to all matters of finance and has not the sagacity to recognise the fact and secure the .advice of qualified officials. The present overseer of works is an excellent officer so far as the duties of that position arc concerned, but he is not and docs not profess to be a qualified engineer. Therefore it would be manifestly absurd to entrust him with the preparation of a scheme involving an expenditure of £41,000 iand with the subsequent management of the work. Yet this is virtually the position. Mr. Morgan, acting under instructions from the Mayor, has prepared a schedule of works embracing practically every thoroughfare in the borough. When ■first submitting the proposals to the Council His Worship declared that the Overseer’s estimates were for permanent work, 'hut when asked the question. Mr. Morgan asserted that this was not so, and he only claimed permanent work for the central 'highways and “passable” roads for tho remainder. As a’matter of fact, such competent experts as Messrs G. Grant and A. F. Matthews declare unhesitatingly that nothing better than patchwork can be expected for tlio amount allocated to tho different roads and streets. These gentlemen havo absolutely no interests to servo in this connection but thoir desire that ratepayers shall know the true position, and their practical knowledge should be of the utmost service to voters in coming to a conclusion.

An unfortunate aspect of the question is the inducement that is held out to ratepayers in all parts of the town to vote for the loan because a certain amount, small though it be, is to be expended in their particuhu locality. Thus a resident of Whittaker Street is tempted to support the loan because the sum of i-466 is allocated for that particular road. He may know full well that the amount mentioned is not half enough to give a permanent work over the distance to be covered, yet he looks upon the grant as a long way better than nothing, and possibly favors the loan. But when that L'566 is spent the roadway will still fie so far from satisfactory that after two or three ymms the cost of maintenance will be extremely heavy and in five or six years the road will have worn away. Then the ratepayers will have to sanction another loan to do the same work over again or. spend a large sum out of revenue to keep a passable thoroughfare. Meantime interest on the £566 has still to be paid for another 30 years by ratepayers who are getting not the slightest benefit for what they are paying. To talk of handing down charges of this kind to posterity is immoral and discreditable to the community. It is the same way with most of the other items, and for the sake-of a “passable” road that can only last five or six years at the outside it- is suggested loan bearing interest for 37 years shall be authorised. We should be sorry to think that the people of Gisborne would resort to methods of this kind once the position was made plain to them,* even at the instigation of the disingenuous Mr. Lvsnar. In regard to the construction of permanent work such as is now proposed should be done on Gladstone Road and other of the chief streets, the position is entirely different. A projierly laid macadamised road, tarred and rolled and constructed as a city thoroughfare should be, is a permanent asset to a town, and it is quite proper that the cost of such a work, which is necessarily very great, should be spread over a term of years. For this reason we would favor a loan of from £20.00£) to £25,000 for the purpose of constructing permanent work in the main streets. In all probability, if the present loan proposals are rejected, this is what will fie agreed to by the Council and subsequently placed before the people. This should obviously be the first step in the formation of Gisborne thoroughfares, and when the first loan had been satisfactorily expended another could afterwards be raised to N continue the permanent works into the suburbs. In the meantime the reduced cost of maintenance on the parts where permanent work had been done would leave more funds to be devoted from ordinary revenue to attend to the other roads. We are as anxious as anyone that Gisborne should be provided with better roads, but the work must be undertaken on sound lines, and we are convinced that the passing of the proposals at present outlined will remit in grievous disappointment to those who support them.

The least mischievous of the issues to he placed before the ratepayers today is that relating to the improvement and acquisition of recreation grounds. In the more important matters that have been simultaneously discussed, this one has not received a great deal of attention. However, considering the paucity of public reserves in Gisborne there is a good deal to be said for the acquirement of the properties • mentioned in the proposals., and we shall not be surprised to find that this loan is sanctioned.