THE Bay of Plenty Times AND THAMES VALLEY WARDEN.

Bay of Plenty Times, Issue 3033, 9 October 1893, Page 2

THE Bay of Plenty Times AND

THAMES VALLEY WARDEN.

f Thssnir!tafth9 Tim*s HiaUtez-n n-, s::. — King John, Act i?, Monday, Octobee 9, 1893.

Since the holding of the County Council meeting last week a telegram { has been received from Col, Fraser, M.H.8., stating that the £2,000, subsidy of £2 for £I, "for the formation of Thompson's Track, promised by the Premier, has been placed on the supplementary estimates and passed. This news of itself is very satisfactory but there are still two rather difficult matters to be settled before the work is commenced, the first being how the £500 contribution from the Tauranga County CouncU is to be found. A good many people are under the impression that this has been already satisfactorily settled and that the money will be paid out of the general .revenue, but those acquainted with the. generally impecunious state of the Council will at once see the impossibility of this. Other ideas are abroad, but it was evident at last meeting that even the Councillors themselves do not quite understand the present position of affairs- as far as the provision of £500 goes, and we candidly confess that we ourselves are ceroainly in the dark on this branch of the subject. However, it is a big step in advance to have the £2,000 actually votad and we must give credit publicly to those Councillors who have been chiefly instrumental in carrying the work thus far towards success. The journeys to the Waikato and Auckland for conferences, interviews, etc., have entirely fallen to Crs Brown, Pratt and Killen, and to theso gentlemen the hearty thanks of a large section of the public of this district will be given for the arduous services they have rendered to the cause of pro gress in this locality. At last meeting of the Council, Gv Pratt was rather twitted with having recently gone to Auckland to interview the Premier, passing as the Chairman of the County. It is, true an Auckland paper stated that he was the Chairman, but nothing was further from Cr Pratt' s line of action than any attempt to pose as anything more than a member of the Council who was very much in earnest in the obj ect of his mission . Cr Pratt had originally no intention of going to Auck- ] land to interview the Premier, a duty which fell naturally on the Chairman's shoulders, but ho unfortunately, was too unwell, we believe, to undertake the journey and his mantle fell then on Cr Brown, but he also being unable to get away at the necessary time, Cr Pratt cheerfully stepped into the breach, having promised to act as ' emergency man,' and most creditably and successfully did he* carry out his vicarious mission. Crs Brown and Killen, subsequently, not to be behind hand, undertook the toilsome journey over the range to intercept the Premier in the Waikato and give him another broad.-ide, and the combined effects of the efforts of these three gentlemen are now before us in the_ form of the telegram mentioned at tie commencement of this article. Tie satisfaction arising from consciousness of a" duty well performed muSstat any rate fall to the -lot of these gentlemen, with whose energy we must also class that of Cr Witherow, who undertook cheerfully a duty tiiat would have daunted many a younger and loss determined and public spirited man, viz., a tour of inspection, for the information of the Council, of the bush portion of the road line over the range and this in the middle of winter^*- The new Council will, we hope, have the easier and pleasanter task of gathering the harvest sown by these gentlemen, whose term of office is now about- to expire.