They are the bane of motorists and the cause of bad language on the part of those who are engaged in the transport services. The streets of the suburbs are worse than those in the city, and for the last ten years some of them have been going from bad to worse. The system of street patching favoured by the City Corporation dates back to primitive times, and results year by year in an increase of mud in winter and of dust in summer. The problem has become so serious as to necessitate the expenditure of a large sum of money before any substantial improvement can be made, but the expenditure will not be justified unless there can be some guarantee that the improvement is likely to be permanent. A report by the city engineer, as a result of his recent visit to Australia, has directed attention to the merits of the concrete road. This class of road is much in favour in the United States, and has been adopted in some of the cities of Europe. It is claimed that, although the initial cost of construction is high, concrete represents the cheapest durable material for street construction, and it is easy to believe that the road made of it furnishes an ideal touring highway now that motor traction is so freely used. The City Council will be well advised if it takes into consideration the desirability of testing the method by laying in concrete one of the principal thoroughfares. Rattray Street, where the traffic is always heavy, may be suggested as a thoroughfare which invariably becomes a sea of mud after a spell of bad weather. It will be important, if the council can be persuaded to embark in this experiment, that the concrete should be so laid as to give the best results. Otherwise we should probably hear the system of concrete road-making condemned upon grounds that are in reality not incidental to it.
A complaint having been made to the Government that the wife of a railway employee at Paekakariki was competing with a local dairyman in supplying milk to various customers in that township, the Hon. W. H. Herries has caused inquiry to be made into the matter, and has written upholding the officer's freedom of action. The Minister states:- ``It appears abundantly evident that a considerable number of the residents of Paekakariki are not in sympathy with the attempt that is being made to curtail the liberty of Mrs Foley by implying that her husband is neglecting his duties as a railwayman and competing in railway time with outsiders. I have already made it quite clear in another similar case that the Railway Department cannot interfere in the domestic arrangements of its employees, and so long as railwaymen devote themselves to their duties in railway time there is no reason why they should not supplement their earnings in their own time. Where, as in this instance, the wife and family of a man in the lower ranks of the service has the energy and ability to assist the breadwinner, I am of opinion that they should be left to do so, even if not encouraged.''
On Wednesday no less than 14 binders were to be seen at work cutting grass in the South Hillend, Heddon Bush, and Drummond districts (says the Winton Record). Several of the crops might be termed exceptionally good, while it is expected all will average well. Probably the best oat crops in the district are to be seen at Boggy Burn - once a swamp, now a beautiful fertile plain. - ODT, 17.1.1917.
