TOWN PLANNING.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3464, 7 April 1930, Page 5

TOWN PLANNING.

INTERESTING REMARKS BY CENTRAL RERRES ENTATIVES.

Messrs Jas. Ritchie and Neil NlcoI«o» (chairmen respectively of Vincent and Maniototo Counties) attended the recent Town Planning Conference in Dunedin. Tire former, who is, of course, chairman of the Vincent Hospital Board, emphatically objected to the remarks of Messrs Knight and McLean advocating that Otego Hospital Board* be under sole control. The suggestion was that sole control would mean economy. Mr Ritchie remarked that Vincent was quite satisfied as things were and pointed out that if they had tc send a patient to Dunedin it cost a high price for their treatment. Regarding the mineral resources of Vincent Mr Ritchie was of opinion that an enormous amount of gold would yet be taken from the Kawarau River, as a new scheme was in hand by amalgamating the various companies and providing sufficient capital. Mr Nicolson agreed with Mr Ritchia regarding the Hospital Board, and said that Maniototo ratepayers were quite satisfied with their own board ■which cost only jd rates. '1 hey had built a new hospital, which cost only £IB,OOO without calling on the ratepayers. The county was very sparsely populated and had a population of 2,300 of whom about 1,000 were ratepayers in an area of 1,000 square miles. He considered that the county at present was not developed to any extent and would yet carry tea times its present population, irrigation would yet play a very big part in bringing about increased production. It had a very hard working and energetic population. He considered a great portion of the Maniototo extending from Naseby to Cambrian to be a great deep level gold and lignite bearing country which would yeild treasures of gold and oil in time to come. He gave instances of the gold bearing deposits at Naseby, Blackstone Hill St. Balkans and Cambrian where millions of gold had been won with primitive methods ol working and no proper bottom had yet been reached. Quartz reefing was also being started at Oturehua and the promoters had every confidence in the future in store for them.