OHOPE'S GROWING PAINS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 97, 6 December 1939, Page 4

OHOPE'S GROWING PAINS

THE move to call the Ohope ratepayers together in the near future will give Cr. McCready, an opportunity of learning first hand the needs of the growing seaside settlement, which in a few years will become one of the most popular resorts on the East Coast. The time is now opportune for the calling of all parties together in the mutual interests of the residents as a whole. The merging of the Ratepayers Association and the Progress League, both of which have been more or less in a state of suspension is necessary if there is to be any progress made for the creation of a representative group which will, take a definite interest in the place. Already there are opproxima.tely 500 permanent residents there, and this number will be swelled during the approacting holidays to between 2000 and 3000. Only by setting the township on a properly framed and properly administered basis can the authorities hope to conduct its advance in the correct manner. Now is the time to commence to move along these. lines —not a few years sence when the place has outgrown the authority of the County administration and become unwieldy. There are a hundred and one things which are requiring attention, but mainly they are covered by the institution and enforcement of local bylaws. Were it not for the fact that the present trend of local government is towards consolidation Ohope would be a deserving case for the setting up of a responsible town board, which could operate and attend to the affairs of the settlement on the spot. At the forthcoming meeting, ratepayers would do well to put forward helpful and constructive suggestions which will lead to permanent improvement in the administrative affairs of the Ohope settlement.