Around Viti Levu

Need for Completion of 180-miles Road

From Our Own Correspondent.

SUVA, June 18.

T'HE much-debated trans-insular road between Suva and Lautoka, on the mainland of Viti Levu, has come in for much criticism of late because, owing to the heavy rains, it has been more or less continuously closed to through traffic.

Much of the trouble is due to the class of traffic that is allowed to use the new highway. Buses of all sizes travel over it when it is open, and some of the Indian drivers are not too particular about observ ing the regulations with regard to the number of passengers their vehicles can carry, with the result that the buses are very often ridiculously overloaded, and tear up any soft patches. One driver, who struck a soft patch when he had a heavy load on board, and stuck, attempted to drive through without unloading, and con sequently churned the road into a mass of slush that was a trap for any following vehicle. Eventually, he had to unload, be fore he could get the vehicle out of diffi culty. By then, the damage had been done.

There is now a large and growing sec tion of the community advocating the earlv completion of the Suva-Sigatoka road, which,, with the present Sigatoka-Lautoka road and the Lautoka-Suva road, would provide a complete route of about 180 miles around the island—a great asset for tourist traffic, as well as providing an alternate route to Suva from the northern and western districts.