Little River To Have Community Centre

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31754, 10 August 1968, Page 12

Little River To Have Community Centre

A community centre is to be built in Little River, it was decided at the monthly meeting of the Wairewa County Council yesterday. .It will replace the Little River Hall, which was burnt down in November, 1965.

A public meeting called in April last year to consider the use of the $lO,OOO received in insurance after the fire decided to erect a new. hall and to obtain the balance of funds required from a special rate levied on residents in the Little River and Kinloch ridings of the county. It also decided to apply for a grant from the Golden Kiwi funds. The council was advised yesterday that no grant had been received from Golden Kiwi funds.

“There has been quite a lot of discussion in the area recently about a hall or community centre and it is time we did something about it,” said Mr W. S. L. Mcßae, chair man of the council. There was considerable discussion on the proposal from the special public meeting that funds be raised by a special rate in one year. It was felt that less opposition to this would be raised if the rate were levied over three years.

“As several organisations would want to use the new building, it would be better if

it were called a community centre and designed as such,” Mr Mcßae said. It was decided that the centre would be built on or near the site of the former hall. The County Clerk (Mr W. F. Aydon) is to look into the additional rate levy that would be necessary to finance the building, which is estimated to cost $20,000. Flood Damage.—A letter was received from the National Roads Board giving reasons why assistance in restoration after floods earlier in the year had not been as great as that given to other councils in the area. ‘‘As the damage, estimated to be $15,000 in the Wairewa area, was not as great as the $90,000 in the Akaroa County or $50,000 in the Mount Herbert County, it was not considered the need was as great,” the letter said. Allocation Reduced.—The council was advised that its allocation from the Department of Agriculture to treat noxious weeds on unoccupied Crown land and Maori land within the county had been reduced 10 per cent. A grant 01 $738 for Crown land and $126 for Maori land was made for the current year; Litter campaign.—The council decided to contribute $lO towards the proposed national anti-litter campaign.