THE EDITOR, Sir:

I recently had the pleasure of visiting Malvern in St. Elizabeth and happened to travel to Santa Cruz on the route through a district called Stanmore. I was very impressed with the scenery and the beauty of the landscape. You could see the Black River winding majestically towards the sea and everything below the mountains seemed wonderfully awesome.

The condition of the roads, however, was appalling. The roads were narrow and there were no protective walls even though there was a precipice along most of the roadway. There were a lot of potholes and it was very hard to avoid them when you had to be concentrating on the precipice.

We were told that some of the roads were fairly new in the district called Abrahams and this was quite evident as the surface was in most parts good.

The area is heavily cultivated and one wonders why any government would allow the deterioration of these roads to continue. Santa Cruz sits at the bottom of these beautiful mountains and transportation has improved in the area.

The fact that persons have been building beautiful homes in these hills, some priority should be given to improving the roads as soon as possible.

I have every confidence in this new Government but I hope they will not allow the bigger picture to let them forget the needs of these beautiful countryfolk and the contributions they have made and are still making by farming and supplying the country with food and vegetables, even under dire circumstances.

On behalf of the people in Stanmore, Retrieve, Abrahams, Goodhope, Park Mountain and the rest of the districts in the hills leading to Santa Cruz, I call on those in authority to take time out to see for yourselves and HELP!

I am, etc.,

PATRICIA PAGE