THE WAIHI BEACH

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume IV, Issue 1199, 13 December 1904, Page 2

THE WAIHI BEACH

TO THB EDITOR Sir, —Please allow mo a little spaco in< : .' your valuable paper to explain to the Waibi publio its position with regard to tbe Katikati Heads and tbe Katikati Domain - Board, The Heads were leased and treated by the Crown as ordinary agricultural ground. In plain English, the general publio had as mnch right to use it as they have to use any Waihi resident's house and grounds—as much right to pitch a tent on it as I have to pitch one now in the Miners' Onion Hall. This state of affairs, considering how popular the Heads as a holiday resort is, my collonguea and myself considered an injustice on cbo part of the Crown, i Consequently, whori the lease wa3 for- ■< foiled we agitated to bavo the ground vested in trustees as a publio domain, suggesting to your Borough Counoil, whioh was then in embryo, that it should nominate out of its membors, or any persons thoy thought fit, three of the members of tho Board of Trusses. This they did not approve of, and the Crown refused to accopt as trustees a mixed body composed of the members of two local bodies, finally settling all dispute by vestingthe Heads in tho Katikati Road Board as a pubjio do>na ; n, (I am not awaro that it is considered an injustice that Waibi or ether visitors to Auckland aro prohibited from piiching tents in the Albert Park). To continue: Mr Stownrt and I, oa . behalf of tho Katikati Road Board, waited ■ upon the Borough Council and explained (0 them the position of affairs, and ofkod jjfl for tho sum ot £2O per annum to seo tho ground was fenoodsnd the rental spent to the best public advantage This was gradually squeezed to d«ath. A charge is now to bo levied, as per your advertisement, and all sums realised by it will bo spent on improving tho ground and making it moro attractive by fenoing, so that visitors' horsos will be secure if turned loose during a woek's visit; by sinking and maintaining a well to ensure good water; by the erecf'on of a she ter shed, and possibly a wharf for fishing visitors; also to see that sanitary conditions prevail. I am sure the Katikati publio would be obliged it Waibi residents would reciprocal) by getting tho Crown to set apart 200 aores of good land somewhere near to all Waihi «s attraotivo, and then to offer it to tho Katikati people for thr sum of 5s per fortnigh/ or free for one day, Failing the ability of the Crown to find such apiece of ground, wo would feel it reciprocal to feed our horses free of charge at tho town stables any timo we like to oouio in for a day, or if we waut to come in for a fortnight (which God forbid), feed our horses, and supply us with good camping ground, firowood, fish, oic.', if we caro to catch them, for tho sum of ss, Suoh a stato of affairs to exist not for one yoar or one generation, but for all time, and each your by. ihe expenditure of the revonno raised adding to the original attractive* ; ness, If your correspondent " Reciprooation " will fnvour mo with his name and ad* dress publicly or privately, I shall be delighied to go more into dotail and prove ■to bun that his political eoonomy is basedon raise premises,—] nm. etc, Cuas. Edward Macmillan, Member Kutikaii Domain Board.