THE ROAD BOARD.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20647, 9 September 1932, Page 18

THE ROAD BOARD.

SERVING THE DISTRICT. MANY DIFFICULTIES OVERCOME. During its 48 years' service the Oxford Road Board, which held its first meeting in 1804, and its last on March 12ih, 1912, did much for the advancement of the district. Within those years it had laid out all the roads, and provided a complete water-race system. Starting with less than three miles of roads it finished with every port of the district roaded and metalled. With the exception of Gammon's, Cooper's, and View Hill creeks, every creek and watercourse had been bridged. It laid the foundations on which its successors might well build. The first Board was elected at a public meeting held in Mr H. Kenrick'a house on January 30th, 1864, the nr3t meeting of the Board being held later on the same day. The members then elected were Messrs H. Kenrick (Chair- I man), G. A. White, Wilson Fisher, H. Gordon, and S. Kedlern. Mr Ralle. a private school teacher, was appointed secretary, and the Harewood chapel was leased as a meet-ing-place for three nights a week at a weekly rental of 4s 6d. A permanent office for the Board was built at thu end of 1865. and this was replaced by a larger building in 1875. Successive clerks were Mr C. A. D*nby and Mr W. Stout, who in 1873 received a full-time appointment to act as overseer as well. Meetings were reduced to two a week, to one a week, and finally were made fortnightly. Valuation and Kates. At this time there were but two short pieces of made road, and it was the business of the Board to give facilities to the settlers to obtain "access to their land fronting on the main line of road." Every roadway was intersected by creeks, the bridging of which was a first necessity. In order to secure revenue it was necessary to proceed with the assessment of the district, and tenders were called for the compilation of assessment, and for the ratepayers' roll. Mr C. J. Sale was appointed and received £2OO for the work. The values put on land by the Board for assessment purposes in 1875 were as follows: Open land 4s an acre, fenced land 5s an acre, bush land 6s an acre, and cultivated land 7s an acre. The rate varied from 6d to 9d in the £ on the assessment and . in 1860 the total rate collected was £135. The Provincial Gazette of Canterbury, dated August, 1864. mentions that "the amount voted to the Oxford Road Board was .£1500." Some trouble was experienced in collecting the rates, and "legal proceedings'' were not uncommon. The Board had difficulty in securing sufficient revenue, notwithstanding grants from the Provincial Government. • The total revenue from rates was as follows: — 1860, £l6B 14s 8d; 1866, £46 14s Id; 1867, £142 18s 3d; 1868, £ll2 12s 2d; 1869, £166 15s 3d; 1870, £lsl 10s Id; 1871, £147 17s. The amount struck for 1872 was £IBB 14s 9d.

I Boads and Drainage. Most of the road formations at this time were associated with the bush activities, the roads dealt with giving an indication of the order and the direction of these activities. There are the roads leading towards the markets, as Oxford road, Barracks road, and Harewood Forest road —then Victoria road, Bay road, Sale's road, and Woodside road. The Board had early trouble with the control of the broom and gorse nuisances, and particularly with drainage. Straying stock were another difficulty, and in 1868 a public pound was put up on the suggestion of Mr R. K. Kenrick, who paid the cost of it, and held the position of poundkeeper for one year. The next year tenders were invited for leasing the pound. During the first ten years of the Road Board the following had been members of it: H. Kcnrick, G. A. White, Wilson Fisher, H. Gordon, S. Rcdfern, W r . Eeid, Pegg, Terry, Woodfield, D. Fisher, Luers, Lee, Cooper, Comyns, Gammon, Sladden, Sedcole, and T. W. White, and four of these had occupied the positon of chairman: Kenrick. Wilson Fisher. Redfern, and Luers. Messrs Ffiteh, McPhedron, W. F. Pearson, J. Skurr, and D. Sladden (chairman) were elected in 1882. Immigrants and Labour. Early in 1874 large numbers of immigrants were allocated to the Oxford district, many of these being from Austria. A large unoccupied building -was used as a barracks, and six cottages were put up, as well as 20 immigrants' huts, under the Public Works Depart-

ment, at a cost of £lO-each. Labour was in over-supply, and various schemes to employ them were set in hand, including road and drainage work. The pay was 8d a yard,'while the interpreter who worked with them received Is a yard. The footpaths of the township were formed and metalled in 1874, when also the recreation reserve was secured by the Board, and some 15 acres of it planted in bluegums. In 1883 it was reported that tne total area of bush lands was 8644J acres, of open lands 42,038* acres. The value of the bush lands was £8 7s an acre, and the open land £8 4s Bd. The total amount expended since 1874 was £51,025 0s 10d, and that on bush lands was £II,BBO, including £SOO granted by the Provincial Council for bush roads, and showing a balance due to the bush of £2555. There were 97*-miles of shingled roads. The balance-sheet' for May Ist, 1885, showed a balance of £1320 lis 8d; receipts £2366. 4s 8d; making a total of £368*3 16s 4d. Of thjs amount £1240 was for bush roads to the upper Ashley. „..:„„ The Road Board went out of existence on March 30th, 1912, when the was placed under the control of the Oxford County Council. The first meeting of this eouncil was held on April 24th, 1912, the members being C. F, Bassett, A. Baxter, H. Campbell, H 1. Cooper, J. Cross, J. McCormaek, and J. Wells. Mi D. HaWke was. the last.chairman of the Road Board, and Mr fl. Campbell the first chairman of tne County Council. ' .. - 1 During the 20 years m which , the Council has been directing.affairs, the remaining creaks have been bridged, and improvements have been effected throughout the district. The rest room, the hospital, and the town hall are evidences of its activity. ■

PUBLIC HALLS. CHANGES THROUGH THE YEARS. Perhaps the. first public building in Oxford was the original part of the building that was for many years the Baptist Church in East Oxford. This was built entirely at the expense of Mr T. S. Mannering, for Divine worship. The next public* building was probably the Road Board Office, in which, though small, public meetings were held. The first hall was the Drill Hall, erected in 1860 or 1866. It was cheaply built, the timber being slabs, but it was not dismantled till 1924. In 1875, the Oxford Town Hall Company- was formed for benevolent purposes,, and tne Town Hall was erected, but unfortunately was-soon destroyed by fire. A new hall was erected in 1880. The plans were prepared by Mr Simpson, architect, and Mr George Keats was the builder. Except; that the building was a cold one, it served its purpose ' well for nearly 50 years. The Oxford Benevolent and Improvement League purchased the hall in 1924. On June 3rd, 1931, the new town halL which had cost £4189, was erected by the County Council. The money was made up partly of a loan and partly of funds handed over, by the Benevolent League, which also ceded to the council its interest in the old hall. -' : The Coronation "Hall'was erected .in> 1912, the Oddfellows' Hall about 1575,. and the Carleton Institute Hall inlßß4.

THE SA\BIILLINQ

PERIOD.

A MAIN INDUSTRY.

FIFTY, YEARS' ACTIVITY.

. Nowadays, when the ; Canterbury Plains and the nearer foothills are covered only with tussock, V the former, importance of the timber-milling industry in the Oxford district is likely to be forgotten. The foundations of this industry were laid in 1859, and it remained important for the next 50 years. ■ ■■.';.-. „ The first mill-owners were Messrs i±. Kenrick and H. B. Quinn, who purchased an area of 390. ..acres ■../ from Messrs Bhodes and Boys,, who had bought up bush'land as -a', speculation Their. mill /was at the foot of the present High on the eastern side, and to it went the pioneer satanillers, among whom were Messrs; T. Crowe, G. Keats, J; Marin,. S. Weeber, J. Sloper, T. Woodfield, ,F. Bryanf, W.. Eeed,, H. Gordon, C. Masßey,' J. Pegg; and G..A. White. •';"'.. ";.• . ■'• '. /'■ -. ' The hardships and disabilities of these pioneers were .great. There were no houses nor shelters provided for them, and as they arrived, they had at once to set to work to\provide what shelter they could, as fast arid as best as they could. Mrs J. Mann, who died in 1914, arrived. in' the sawyers' settlement, where she was the first woinan, in January, 1860. • ; . .".'.. Beginning the Work.

The plant was in' positionin March, 1860, the contract for felling, crosscutting, and logging the 390 acres being let to Messrs White and Pegg. Milling could not begin until a new saw arrived from England, but. when it did the industry got a good start, and induced the arrival of many other Though- there was a plentiful supply of timber, few of the. early .houses were built of sawn- timber, ifcut of sods or slabs, and with a thatched - roof, the windows being sometimes- made with calico. Mr Gordon and.his family,liyed for some time in an excavation in the clay bank near' the mill. It had the advantage of being free from draughts. The first timber house built was Mr H. Kenrick % and the next was one for Mr G. A, White, erected on the site of Mr L. Watson's'residence at "Caldbeck." This -was the first .building in Oxford to"redeive' a coat erf paint.. The two enormous guiri trees (Eucalyptus Obliqua) growing here were gpown from seeds planted by ; Mrs G. A. White in 1861, and are first ±6- be planted in Oxford. ; One, is a particularly fine specimen, being over 100 feet in height, and having a circumference of fifteen feet. •■'"-: . : - ;; ; : . '• \ v ; '- .-. .: - ' ■;'.

Transport Difficulties.-. At this time "there was only one road in Oxford—that between the Commercial Hotel ami Parish's Corner, the present Main street. /The road .was formed by Mr J. Paget. At first Oxford settlers had to depend for-their letters and'news upon the jouriieyings of .individuals to and f rom Bangibra,; but it Avas not long before a weekly horseback mail was instituted* giving' place to a bi-weekly wail-cart service. ; The chief market for ; timber, was Rangiora or Christchurch, though it was from' Oxford timber that the first houses in Courte.nay and Kirwee were built. Almost the only '-means of conveyance was by-bullock dray, which absorbed inuch ,ojf the profit, the journeyirfgs" bkckwatds forwards being slow and, •with risk. As ttere was"a prospect 'of

the-trade being permanent^*&ftSraff placed across the stream tapOßuSOTl&.j, num. The punt but as the stream cslwuftUyl«»l»VS! had to be abandoned a punt was present gorge bridge,'W4vWMe4iWi||J the bridge was built, • s;'•' Before railways- -ware. 'y*ygraß other schemes were propMCttiigajJl clieaper conveyance of ''*^ftoS" t ra||H nicdity. One of these«'<waß JSftiJraiH li&hment of a tramway- to or Kaiapoi, and the this purpoße are stilt ■ "Tram road." •-* t .Klllilli . As time went on the westward; and with settlement. The order of and forming of roads , sponded with the erection in not'a few cases' the fltecto W#,#g|j after the. mills. rr The 'first. jmjMJg|g| road was ''ffarewbod-Forest which the first mills started. ing of the railway in 1875 impetus to the industry.', ' years all the bush' on the cut out, and the landclearedJfc!W|||Hl verted into farms, while tlio trOJpMHMj bush on the hills gave P 8 ** 1 "?^™ Savage of Bush Bush fires swept the district »*gniH time to time, the first serious, jfaejjgggil in 1876, when five mills, and much valuable stroyed. The most disaßtronsJtjgSJßJll on Friday, January 15th, lßjß.*j[raHj stroyed mills, houses, and property of Messrs Byde, Frahm, Lilly, Jensen, Marsh, £wfj|£| McGillivray, Briar,- Askew, Bossiter, Sharplin, Mile*, Dohfman, W. Osborne, Miieheiottj wM| Wynne, Stevenson, Williams/ Kno-les, Mrs W. Kaowles,:BßK;a«| Luers, and the Rev. J. & ld f ||l &L jfl estimated direct damage WM -*i§|ji This fire" swept almost the wfrWJNjH| standing bush. , <'•>* §S Henceforth, until the close dustry, within the nextonly sawmilling operations we»_isH| i View Hill district, and those *¥£»g a small scale. ; ~.. I <*jß| Flax milling was also-earned***tH some time with varying fortunes, Wm attempt at' View Hill on Greek; by Cooper, Willoh, was unsuccessful. Other -mills .WgjSSffl Gammon's Creek, and on Messrs Bichardson-and-Co.'s i*s'jjjH Ashley Gorge, where 100 menMrmTC| ployed, ran for'seven years. 'J l '!*-^jH